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Looper's Delight
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BEAUTIFUL EMAIL TED! As beautiful as your music. I've always been terribly impressed with your performances, and your CD, but I'm still in the dark as to why all the self deprecation? I really think you're always much to hard on yourself. Here, of all places, you will not be judged by your ability to pull off a hit pop single. You shouldn't not do pop because others are doing it well. Who fucking cares what others are doing? Fripp and a ton of others are doing what I'm doing a billion times better, but so what? I loop for myself. If I can entertain others from time to time, so be it. I'm finding more and more that IDM (Intelligent Dance Music) audiences LOVE what I'm doing. Maybe my loop technique isn't state of the art, but no one really cares... OK, well we do, but not for music's sake. We're geeks. So I put this out: Structure is for the WEAK! ;^0 Mark Sottilaro On Saturday, October 12, 2002, at 02:30 PM, ArsOcarina@aol.com wrote: > Hi all, > > Just thought I'd pop in with my own $.02 about musical > forms as it relates to looping (for me). > > Any of you who might have been unlucky enough to have > ever heard any of my stuff will no doubt have noticed the > distinct lack of ABA, ABACAB or any other "forms" > in what I do. There may be a beginning and a middle > and an end . . . but nothing really quite like a song > form there. > > True, mostly it's because I'm a musical ignoramus, but > not entirely. I don't come at music from a "musical" > background to begin with (I'm a painter/designer/visual > artist by training/temperment/profession). So, you'll just > have to excuse my lack of "formal" acumen where music > is concerned. > > Although I was a little more than just somewhat aware of > song structures as I went about making looping music > for the past umpity-ump years, the analogy I always > had in my head was one of either painting or juggling -- > not making "pop" songs (or any other kind of "songs" > for that matter). > > In painting there are forms and a set of aesthetic > principals (maybe) at work, but none were obviously, > directly analogous to musical forms as such (or so it > seemed to me for a long time at least). I was/am a big > fan of the American abstract expressionist painters > of mid-century so I expect that might explain why. > Think Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, Willem De Kooning, > Franz Kline, Robert Motherwell or Helen Frankenthaler > and you'll sortta have the idea. > > On the other hand (to me), looping seemed/seems a lot > like the art of juggling. In juggling, you toss a series of > objects in the air and attempt to keep 'em going. If you're > really good you can juggle several items and do things like > add and/or subtract objects of different shapes, sizes > textures and colors to the juggling "loop" to make it > interesting, challenging, entertaining, beautiful. > > The delay loop is like gravity -- where stuff you toss up > keeps falling back at you (even your musical "clams"). > The challenge for me is to keep it going and make it > interesting (even if there is one object -- like a red > apple --that is always there in the loop from the > beginning to the end of the piece. It sorta gives > the goings on a certain "continuity" and wholeness. > > But, maybe I'm just lazy . . . > > I love certain kinds of "pop" music. But I guess I never > really thought there was any good enough reason for > me to try to do that. So many others were already > doing it so well anyway. Why bother? What could I > possibly add to THAT cultural conversation? Not much, > if anything. > > I listen to a lot of non-western musics and to jazz > in which there is a musical statement (the head) > and various extemporizations of it over time -- then, > finally, a return to the simple beginning statement. > In some ways this seems like an ABA structure but > in another way it seems like AA'A"A'''A''''A form, > or some such (to ignorant ol' me). I know this is > kind of weird. But that's sorta where my brain was > when I started doing all of this looping schtuff -- > and it has been there ever since. > > I know that looping gear has advanced a long way > in the last 20 years. I may actually create "A" > "B" and "C" loops in my EDP as I'm going along > now . . . but stupid me is still thinking of those > not as ABABABCABABA but still as AA'A''A''' etc. > It's a mental flaw and limitation I suppose -- like > the one that prevents me from singing and playing > at the same time (I can't do that either). Oh well. > > So sue me . . . > > My hat is off to those folks who CAN actually think > in this way and rehearse and study their looping gear > 'til they've got it so licked that it finally can enable > them to craft perfect pop song structures like > nobody's business (solo or in a band) in the heat of > the moment. I can't do that -- just like I can't sing and > play (or dance for that matter). That craft is an > amazement to me . . . and beyond my kenning or > ability to replicate in this lifetime. > > Maybe in the next one . . . > > Best regards, > > Ted Killian > http://www.mp3s.com/tedkillian > http://www.pfmentum.com/flux.htm >