Looper's Delight Archive Top (Search)
Date Index
Thread Index
Author Index
Looper's Delight Home
Mailing List Info

[Date Prev][Date Next]   [Thread Prev][Thread Next]   [Date Index][Thread Index][Author Index]

Re: Re: Re: Rick's percussion post



On 7/22/64 11:59 AM, Louie Angulo wrote:
> "Ok bro,something still intrigues me though,in Antwerp after my show
> you said to me that my performance was nice but you wish i hadnt use
> canned loops,then you realized after seeing my video that i had done
> it all myself and you were amazed."
>
Important distinction.    I was backstage and unable to see your 
performance so I only
heard it and didn't get the whole 'gestalt'.    I felt a little sheepish 
having said that to you
because I was unable from the backstage room to really get a good 
perspective on your set.
It was,  if you'll recall,  the standout set of the whole festival as 
far as audience response went.
I was actually quite proud of you for that.

"Which tell me that the musical end result from the rhytmic perspective

was now only acepted because i had done it with my mouth."

Well, that of course  is my feeling about it,  but I'm also just one person
and NOT the arbiter of all things aesthetic and good

"Yet you really liked Margaret Nobles performance but she used analog 
grooves coming from the Jomox drum machine to accompany her looping."

Such different types of music,  it's like apples and oranges, Luis, 
really.   I think Margaret is particularly adept at picking intriguing 
timbres and she comes from a much more avant garde/experimental space 
than I think you do.     I happen to resonate with her sonic choices 
particularly.     In the case of your performances,  I personally think 
that you are very soulful
and heartfelt (and talented) with a bit more of an 'inside' 
aesthetic.    It's just my personal take on it, but
I really like it when you go the simpler, less high tech and in my mind, 
'more organic' route, but I certainly don't want to
make you think that I want to fence you in, aesthetically by saying it. 
I truly support you to do whatever it is you want to do artistically.

I'm currently writing the most inside record of my entire 
life.........it's strange and fun to not be relying on a lot
of looping ,  digital sound design or experimental elements.   I also 
run the risk of people really
not resonating with what I do on it.    But it's important as artists 
that we just be who we  feel we need to
be so I hope you understand that this the base philosophy of all of my 
comments.

I'm really interested in the dialectic, here at L.D.     Sometimes, for 
me,  it's really good to say something
strong and then to learn from the other strong responses that people 
post in reply or in opposition.

> Soooo my question is:
>   if i use a drum machine should it only be strange and abstract for it
> to be accepted by loopers?
I can only answer personally, which is just me, of course:       When 
rhythms are conventional and sound choices are
conventional,  I prefer very minimalistic grooves.   They sound more the 
way drummers play or they sound like a hell of a lot of looped rhythmic 
music dating from the beginnings of hip hop through trip hop to the 
current era.
I also love when people use fascinating substitutions for the kinds of 
drums found typically in trapset drum kits (kick, snare, hi hats, 
cymbals, toms, cowbells, tambourines, triangles, et. al.)

Personally,   I love very exotic sound choices just because they give 
the ear a breath of fresh air (to be synaesthetic
about it).     I still am a fan, personally,  of minimalism in such 
choices.
> should loopers not use drum machine grooves even if u program them 
>yourself?
Personally,  I love drum machines.   I have a collection of about 17 
machines from the pre-digital era
and two or three digital drum machines on top of that, including an 
Alesis SR16 that I have frequently used
only to trigger more idiosyncratic and personally designed 
percussion/drum sounds in samplers I've owned.
I also love the work my wife has done, taking simple analogue drum 
machines used to accompany organs
which she then processes through analogue guitar stomp box pedals to 
make interesting timbral choices.
> should a drum machine be only used for production but not for live 
>looping?
Personally,  I'd never make such a constraint...................it would 
be like asking,   should acoustic guitars
every be used for live playing........as always, the answer has to do 
with what is actually done with the
a drum machine.
> should a drum machine better stay home and be banned for live looping?
LOL,  now you are just getting silly, buddy.    I'm not an anti-drum 
machine Nazi, after all.
> should we not use the midi sync functions from looping devices like
> the EDP and Mobius to operate with groove boxes?
> should loopers be not allowed to dance?
Absolutely.      Looping dancing prison Gulag is where I'd send them all 
(that's sarcasm there, I hope you understand).
> shoulkd we egg this scientlogy guy for using a drum machine live and
> never let him into our loopers cult?
Well,  I obviously have hit a nerve with you for my comments.   I didn't 
mean to single you out,  honestly.
I just used you as an example with my own feelings about all the 
performances I've seen at all the loop
festivals in Europe, the UK, Japan and North America.

Please dont' take it personally.............it's just a jumping off 
point for a dialectic as I
mentioned earlier.

I'm actually a huge fan of yours, bro.    You have to understand that,  
or at least talk to the dozens of people
who I've sung your praises to over the years.

respectfully and with love,    Rick