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Looper's Delight
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Oh my, it's some loop philosophy... how can I resist? 8() How ya doin', Rick? "Rick Walker/Loop.pooL" wrote: > Matthias (whose music I adore and who I consider a good new friend) > wrote: > > "I just shortly repeat what Kim an me pointed several time at on this > list: > With FB constantely at max, the loop turns into a ball on a chain: >The > phrase you started with keeps you in the same mood, you cannot evolve >when > you feel its time, just revolve, chopp off... ;-" > > This can happen, certainly, but there are many ways of making music. > I, personally, am not a fan of Jazz Fusion as an example, > but to categorically state that this music keeps you in the same mood > because I don't happen to enjoy the form is absurd. I personally didn't take Matthias' comment as an aesthetic judgement at all. To me, it's an expression of a technical concern, and a very important and valid one at that: what do you do with a loop once you've built up a texture, if you don't have feedback control? I would speculate that the comment about "the same mood" is not a reflection of Matthias' personal listening taste, but rather the loopists' challenge when working with a loop without feedback: how do you evolve the texture aside from either overdubbing more and more layers to it (thereby creating an ever-denser texture), and/or ending it abruptly (which are the two possibilities Matthias described in his original remark)? Feedback is an incredible tool for this sort of thing, and Matthias' incredibly fluid and organic style would be unthinkable without it. It's just like I couldn't imagine doing what I like to do without a momentary Replace function (and, increasingly, 8th/cycle quantization, cycle-quantized loop switching, DirectMIDI, etc. etc.) - that's MY own solution to how I develop a loop and change its direction. (Ironically enough, I can regularly play a whole concert without ever touching the feedback control...) > I love repetition, personally. I have loved Terry Riley, Philip >Glass, > Hamza El Din, Reggae, et. al. I like their stuff too. And I would point to works like "In C" or "Music For 18 Musicians" as good general examples of the sort of principle Matthias is talking about: the idea that you can evolve the loop by fading various elements in and out of the picture, and that over time, the entire textural content of a basic "loop" can completely change and evolve, in subtle and organic ways. > It's really o.k. if Kim or Mattias don't. But let's keep our > communications and our aesthetic biases clear. A personal aesthetic > predilection is exactly that: a personal predilection. It's ok to >have > them without being judgemental about others. I don't believe either Kim or Matthias are opposed to repetitive music - if they were, they'd very likely find something to do with their lives other than design looping software! 8() And in the case of Kim and Matthias, it's important to remember that you're talking about two guys who have designed several versions of a software which is utterly without peer in its particular focus and design angle. There are things the EDP was doing in its software version 8 years ago that STILL haven't been duplicated or matched. I can only imagine how frustrating it must sometimes be to have spent so much time working on an instrument that's still so underrated and misunderstood. So I'm all for discussing these expanded possibilities, because it increases the general understanding of the tools of the trade. And it also allows a fascinating insight into some of the creative corners of the design process in general. For instance, the EDP's painstakingly-programmed 127 discreet feedback values assume a tremendous amount of significance when you see and hear Matthias' seamless work. Some of the more "out there" Echoplex functions make more sense when you find out that Kim Flint is a big hip-hop, jungle, and heavy metal fan. I think it's fantastic that there are folks like yourself, Rick, who are making great music with very simple units like a DL4. But I also think it's important to make people in general aware of the possibilities that lie beyond simply recording, repeating, and overdubbing. A lot of these techniques are not very difficult to use, they already exist in many of the devices people presently own, and they can open tremendous doors into different technical and aesthetic avenues. It's one thing to choose to work within very tight technical constraints, the way you have. But it's another thing to be unwittingly constrained by one's own expectations of the parameters that are available, simply because they never explored the other options out there, you know? > Everyone is Creative. I think there is a disturbing trend in western > culture specifically to be perfectionistic and judgemental. > I think that we, as artists and loopers have a great opportunity to > reverse this trend (if only in a small,small way) and actively support > people's creativity. It's all good. I agree that it's important to encourage people to do their thing. But I also adamently feel that it's JUST as important to approach an art form from a respectfully critical point of view. In other words, don't just settle for what's commonly available. Don't just work within the parameters of what we commonly associate with these tools. Don't just accept that looping HAS to sound a certain way. Why shouldn't we challenge ourselves - and one another - in a healthy, respectful, encouraging way, to go beyond what we expect, and what we already know we can do? I haven't seen anything that Kim or Matthias have said that I would describe as disrespectful to other people's music. Can they be blunt? You bet. Direct? Absolutely. Fed up with the status quo? For sure. Challenging? I sure HOPE so. But I think that's how any art form grows and develops - by having a healthy dissatisfaction with the way things are already done. Maybe this is easy for me to say, Rick, since I've heard both of these gentlement express their very deep respect and appreciation for your music. So I know they're not knockin' ya... far from it, in fact. Well damn, I guess this is a brain spew and a half. Time to get back to practicing! Hope y'all are well tonight. Woo hah, --Andre LaFosse The Echoplex Analysis Pages: http://www.altruistmusic.com/EDP