RE: the meaning of loop music

["Per Boysen" <per@boysen.se>]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Doug Cox [mailto:dougcox@pdq.net] 

> But does it really matter if a phrase (in this case "Live 
> Looping") that a group of people take up to describe their 
> approach to live music is really a genre, a style, an 
> approach, a whatever?

Good point IMHO. Personally I have had this vision, since 25 years, of a
music I would like to make. I've never come as close to my dream as I do
now by using loopers when improvising live. Guess that's "Live Looping"
for me. 

> Perhaps we don't have, or aren't looking at, a good 
> historical example of something as powerful and fundamental 
> as live looping tools coming to fruition.

Another interesting thought! Some days ago Matthias and I improvised
with a Swedish "noise musician" at a club. Afterwards a guy in the
audience asked me what we were doing, by technical specification. He
said he could hear pretty well how Matthias was fading loops in and out
(although he did understand how he got his guitar sound by polyphonic
distortion) as our group improvisation went on for an hour or so. But he
said he had not been able to understand the techniques I was using,
although he liked the music. So I told him about looping, reversing,
multiplying, truncating, destructive SUSinsert (dropping in 16ths,
128ths or whatever), unquantised and unrounded inserting (not in replace
mode - hope I get the terminology right?), running two loopers synced
while manipulating tempo sync to achieve polyrhythmic, EDP half speed,
Repeater real time pitch change and time stretch  etc etc....

Then the guy simply said: "Aha, I see. It's just what Bach did with pen
and paper, but you guys are doing it in real time and you don't need an
orchestra to hear it." 

Best wishes

Per Boysen
-------------
www.boysen.se
www.looproom.com <-- 1st Swedish Looping Festival, May 16 to June 4