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>once again, Looper's Delight is pushing the geek-o-meter way into the red.
>Now I certainly deserve some of the blame, but even I reach my limits with
>endless babbling about this and that feature about whatever the latest
>gadget is. Now I know you're all capable of much more enlightened
>conversation, so let's have it!
>
Oh man, it's a sign of how far gone we are when it takes a top ten list to
improve the discourse....
>1. How about this: What are the approaches you take improvisationally /
>compositionally in creating and building a loop? Is there a structure to
>it
>all? And leave the gear specifics out!
>
Lately, I've been doing a couple of things to make the loops less overt.
One thing has been to turn down the output of the looper, and just blindly
punch thins into it for several minutes before I listen to the loop. It's a
good memory exercise, trying to make things work together coherently based
on what I remembered of what I play. Surprisingly, it's more interesting on
tonal loops than noise loops.
obligatory listening list, in no particualr order:
Cujo - Adventures in Foam: Very nice jazzy drum 'n' bass, like Squarepusher
except the jazz stuff is coming from a less cheesy place. Also, by the same
person is Amon Tobin - the Piranha Breaks EP, also very nice.
Aphex Twin - Come to Daddy: alternately leeringly evil and surprisingly
pretty, this is a fun and disturbing 33 minutes. One thing I really like
about recent Aphex is how condensed his compositions are. Parts of this
remind me of John Zorn played on cheap synthesizers.
Miles Davis - Dark Magus/Black Beauty/In Concert: These are the new
re-issue double CD sets, with cleaner sound, better liner notes and a WAY
cheaper price tag than the original japanese CD's. These are all raging
live performances from Miles' electric bands. It's amazing how conemporary
this stuff still sounds, after 20 years.
In a similar vein, Panthalassa, Bill Laswell's remix of Miles studio work
from the same period is very respectful. Laswell's hand is pretty
transparent here, you only really notice his work if you compare the mixes
to the originals, he stays absolutely within Miles' original concept.
Arcana - Arc of the Testimony: The rhythm section of Tony Williams, his
last session before his death, and Bill Laswell, with solists like Pharoah
Sanders, Buckethead, who actually sounds like he has a soul here, Byard
Lancaster, etc. This is what fusion should have become, and Williams
playing is so great that it makes his loss all the sadder.
Astor Piazzola - Libertango: I've started playing bass in a band that does
tangos, as well as some other latin American styles, and Piazzola's stuff
just kills me. This record, a live recording from 1984, is totally
masterful.
John Zorn/Bobby Previte - Euclid's Nightmare: around 30 improvised
miniatures, most lasting about a minute. Very concentrated, small, and
restrained, and surprisingly beautiful.
Kim mentioned:
>
>Dr. Octagon - Dr. Octagonecologyst
if you like this, check out "The Instrumentalyst" instrumental remixes from
the above CD. Dan Nakamura, AKA the Automator, is one of the most
interesting hip hop producers today.
________________________________________________________
Dave Trenkel : improv@peak.org : www.peak.org/~improv/
"...there will come a day when you won't have to use
gasoline. You'd simply take a cassette and put it in
your car, let it run. You'd have to have the proper
type of music. Like you take two sticks, put 'em
together, make fire. You take some notes and rub 'em
together - dum, dum, dum, dum - fire, cosmic fire."
-Sun Ra
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