The latest installment in my ongoing discussion of art and aesthetics with Marvin over at New Sophists’ Almanac is now online. IT touches on jazz, hip-hop, evaluating the validity of an art form, what constitutes a “world art form”, and also a suggested experiment regarding the way we look at and evaluate art. Go have a look.
Category: MUSIC
Music Stuff
Here are all those links I was looking for. Last night, Dabang Band opened (without me, due to my damned finger problem) for labelmates Zzam (which I think they’re translating as “Drowsy Music” in English though their name is just a stylized way of writing the verb “sleep” in Korean). Anyway, they were good enough to convince me to buy a copy of their new CD, which doesn’t appear on their own CD (it’s just been released, maybe they haven’t updated yet) but which can be seen and sampled on the website hosted by their label, Cavare. Cavaret is, incidentally, …
My Mom’s Favorite CD Of Long Ago
I was playing this CD for Lime a few days ago, and then again today I subjected Heather to it, since I had it out when she was over for tea. I decided to Google Florence Foster and found this online: a page with CDs by the hands-down worst singer I’ve ever heard. With audio clips that are worth checking out! (The clip I’ve linked to begins the copy of the CD I have, and it was enough to have Lime saying, “Please! No more! Turn it off!” amid wild laughter. There’s a woman this Florence Foster Jenkins has a …
New Sophistry
Here’s a link to an article I wrote for the New Sophists’ Almanac, titled Rap and the Ghetto. I don’t know much about rap, mind you, but then again it’s primarily an attempt at a parallel with jazz history, and a bit of blabbing about what art is and how we may or may not define “maturity” in an art form. Or something. Go read it.
Musings On The Smiths
I think the most beautiful lyric on The Smiths’ Singles collection is in “This Charming Man”, the line, “I would go out tonight, but I haven’t got a stitch to wear… This man said, “It’s gruesome that someone so handsome should care.” There’s something really desolate in the line, something very Oscar Wilde, something horribly crunched-up inside, something a bit like Tori Amos but less insincere somehow than most of her work… and yet with the same weird feeling that in singing pain, one triumphs over it. With Tori, though, it feels like a therapy session; with Morrissey it feels …
New Music (Well, New To Me)
Here are some of the things I’m listening to these days which are new to me, or else which have reappeared in my life again, after a long absence: The Smiths. Myoung Jae loaned me a copy of the CD that collected their singles and it was funny, the conversation that he and Mer and I had about it. “When Myoung told me he’d loaned you the Smiths, I was surprised you hadn’t heard it.” “Yeah,” I said, sometimes it sounds like something coming from me myself, the lyrics feel like they’re coming from inside me.” “Yeah,” Mer replies. “I …
Ariranging
Horrible, horrible sound quality, but here’s a clip of me messing around with my flute. I’m playing the most famous of Korean folksongs, “Arirang”, which is one of those, “My baby’s gone, what shall I do?” lost-love songs. As you can hear, I still can’t really play the flute. But since it’ll be my only instrument for most of my stay in India (barring my buying something new to learn there), I shall probably be not-bad at it once I get back to Korea… as long as I practice everyday, that is!
I’m listening to Bach again now…
… and reflecting on how this music has so profoundly impacted on the way I think of music in general. There’s this line I’ve started playing lately in Deep End, one of the songs we play in my band, which is simply these arpeggios, and I commented about how hard it was to play these sustained arpeggios live, suggesting it might not be the best idea to attempt it live. Myoung quipped something about it being something “common in jazz, isn’t it?” and I replied: “No, it’s Bach. It’s figured bass!” and that’s exactly what it is, melody and bass …
My Favorite New Toy…
… is my flute. Brought it to band rehearsal tonight. Ended up promising I wouldn’t play it on every song forever, but it was fun trying it out in so many different tunes. Looks like it will be normally used in at least two songs, and rather useful for a few others once we get into the studio. While in India I really MUST practice. I also need to print a flute fingering chart because my 3rd octave is really shaky, and it’s also the only octave audible above roaring guitar and bass riffs. Hmmm. Flute flute flute. I don’t …
Excitement about Fingering!!!
First of all… Get your mind out of the gutter! I mean fingering charts. See, I just bought a flute for my trip to India; flutes are great because they’re compact, light, easy to carry around, and for me it’s a chance to practice an instrument I haven’t tried to play in a long time. I was never very good to begin with, but having started on a pawn shop flute with keys that didn’t seal even after repairs, one shouldn’t be surprised.