Post-Keyboard?
after the last few years of dipping my toes into the world of making electronic music i finally have had the time to give it my full attention.
the explosion and rampant experimentation of form factor in iphone and ipad music apps have made it possible to get hands-on with a wide range of digital “controllers”. my thesis and starting point for this journey begins with an observation and a question:
- it’s interesting that in the electronic music revolution during the last 50 years, much of the music has been performed (at least melodically) based on a 17th C technology (the keyboard)
- the question i pose and am attempting to solve is that if you don’t make electronic music with a keyboard, then how will you make it?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-dAjULeWbI
Alt-Classical (2011)
What is Alt-Classical?
DIY, open instrumentation, alternative venues, mix of amateur and professional performers, music lies somewhere between art music (music meant to be contemplated) and pop music (music meant for mass consumption).
Alt Classical EP (2011) by pbailey
tracklist
Fearless Leader, (2006, revised 2007)
was partially inspired by a quote from the Hungarian composer Gyorgy Ligeti: “ Now there is no taboo; everything is allowed. But one cannot simply go back to tonality, its just not the way. We must find a way of neither going back nor continuing the avant-garde. I am in a prison: one wall is the avant-garde, the other wall is the past, and I cannot escape.”
An Eye for Optical Theory (Michael Nyman Cover)
It is interesting to note that the although all of Nyman’s music from the Peter Greenaway film The Draughtsman’s Contract was derived from a Purcell chaconne, the ground bass (on which this piece is built) was subsequently discovered to have been written by a lesser-known contemporary of Purcell. This arrangement uses most of the melodic materials from the original piece, freely combining them to create a bizzaro world second cousin of the original.
Life’s Too Short (2006)
is a lighthearted meditation of life, death, and nihilism based on the writings of Friedrich Nietzsche (iconic German philosopher) and John Sinclair (Los Angeles based writer).
Cheap Admiration (2005)
Is loosely based on a harmonic deconstruction of Sonata Ciacona by Johann Pezel (1639-1694) who worked as a musician in Germany and was promoted to town stadtpfeifer (band director) in Leipzig in 1670. Later in his career he applied for and was turned down for the job of Cantor of St. Thomaskirche, a job that J.S. Bach would hold 50 years later.
myinnersatan (2005, revised 2006)
started as a cross between counterpoint exercise and a contemplation of the soul crushing emptiness of desk work.
Principal of Sufficient Irritation (originally titled 11/25/05)
is three sections of five melodic/ostinato gestures that can be performed in endless variety. in rehearsals a unique roadmap and orchestration is decided upon and explored during the performance. The title is based on an interesting concept in P.K. Dick’s “Ubik”.
Undone (The Sweater Song)
Weezer cover FTW!
Paul Bailey Ensemble (PBE)
is an alt-classical garage band that plays the music of a variety of living and dead composers. The group was created in 2002 as DIY forum outside the usual and limited channels of art music presentation.
credits
released 16 February 2011
Paul Bailey, Trombone
Bruce Gallego, Electric Guitar
Eric Hendrickson, Keyboards
Scott McIntosh, Clarinet
Ryan Nunes, Vibraphone
Carl Stronach, Bass Guitar
With Special Guest Piano
John Marr on “Undone (The Sweater Song)”
Life’s Too Short Vocals
Nicole Baker, Mezzo Soprano, Spoken Word
Sean McDermott, Tenor
Paul Cummings, Bass
Life’s Too Short Graphic LIbretto
Recorded, Edited, and Mixed by Paul Bailey and Marlon Luna
Mixing and Mastering Consultant/Coach/Head Cheerleader Jon Brenner
Recorded at California State University Fullerton, Swing House Studios Hollywood, and Because They Are Dead Studios, Highland Park
Bookmarks for November 28th through December 3rd [del.icio.us]
![Bookmarks for November 28th through December 3rd [del.icio.us]](http://www.paulbailey.us/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/just-do-it1-150x150.jpg)
Bookmarks from November 28th through December 3rd:[del.icio.us]
- www.wanderingear.com – [del.icio.us]
- furthernoise.org issue November 2009 – [del.icio.us]
- Stasisfield.com : sonic planar analysis : experimental audio and visual art – [del.icio.us]
- The Narrowcast Future « Alan Furst’s Program Director Blog -
“Like it or not radio and all media are changing. There is no choice. Technology is the reason. Technology is changing the way we live, how we use our time, and what is available to us. We once thought of ourselves as ‘radio people’ or ‘TV people‘, now we are now simply in media. The web changed how we do our jobs and more importantly what those jobs are today. A person who concentrated on audio must know about written content and video. Radio news reporters now produce video pieces for their websites. The lines have blurred. Here’s the big one. Narrowcasting will replace broadcasting.”
- What is on the other side of Siberia? The Jewish Autonomous Region. (1) – By Masha Gessen – Slate Magazine -
“BIROBIDZHAN, Russia—Never have I heard so many snide comments about an upcoming trip. “Don’t bother coming back,” said a co-worker, laughing nervously. Birobidzhan has a way of making people laugh. Several of my colleagues were convinced I was joking. The word itself is not inherently funny, but the idea for which it stands is bizarre enough and its history is macabre enough that it makes people giggle. It is also ridiculously far away.”
- Facebook | Kronos Quartet: In C Interviews: Morton Subotnick -
“Can you give me a bit of background about the Tape Center and your relationship with Terry? Okay, well the tape center was a co-op, a very early electronic music studio that Ramon Sender and I started in 1961, I think it was. We also had a couple of performance spaces, so we did lots of performances. And we were a group of us, it was Terry, Pauline Oliveros, Ramon, myself and several other people were doing concerts together….”
- Writer Evan Ratliff Tried to Vanish: Here’s What Happened | Vanish | Wired.com -
“In Wired issue 17.09, Evan Ratliff wrote a story about how people disappear in the digital age. Then he went on the run himself, with Wired readers trying to track him down. His story in Wired issue 17.12, Gone, tells what happened. This blog shows the history of the hunt.”
- Seth’s Blog: Getting meta -
“Wikipedia contains facts about facts. It’s a collection of facts from other places. Facebook doesn’t have your friends. It has facts about your friends. Google is at its best when it gives you links to links, not the information itself. Over and over, the Internet is allowing new levels of abstraction. Information about information might be worth more than the information itself. Which posts should I read? Which elements of the project are at risk? Who is making the biggest difference to the organization? Right now, there’s way too much stuff and far too little information about that stuff. Sounds like an opportunity.” bpb (i’ts all about curation)
- Helicopter Parents: The Backlash Against Overparenting — Printout — TIME -
“Dr. Stuart Brown, a psychiatrist and the founder of the National Institute for Play — who has a treehouse above his office — recalls in a recent book how managers at Caltech’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) noticed the younger engineers lacked problem-solving skills, though they had top grades and test scores. Realizing the older engineers had more play experience as kids — they’d taken apart clocks, built stereos, made models — JPL eventually incorporated questions about job applicants’ play backgrounds into interviews. “If you look at what produces learning and memory and well-being” in life, Brown has argued, “play is as fundamental as any other aspect.” The American Academy of Pediatrics warns that the decrease in free playtime could carry health risks: “For some children, this hurried lifestyle is a source of stress and anxiety and may even contribute to depression.” Not to mention the epidemic of childhood obesity in a generation of kids who never just go out and play. “
- Los Angeles Eat+Drink – Fried in East L.A.: Antojito’s Carmen and the Breed Street Band of Mexican Vendors – page 1 -
“Until recently, the center of the Eastside street-food universe was located in a small parking lot on Breed Street in Boyle Heights, a nocturnal band of vendors drawing customers from as far away as Riverside and San Diego, serving sticky, sizzling, crunchy, meaty snacks from all over Mexico; salsas hot enough to burn small, butterfly-shaped patches into the leather of your shoes; and quart-size foam cups of homemade orange drink. Over here were huaraches; over there Mexico City–style quesadillas; crunchy flautas; sugary churros; gooey tacos al vapor. The vendors never stayed open quite late enough, but Breed Street had become something of an institution, a place to take out of town visitors, a great quick dinner before a show. Sometimes there were even clowns.”
Bookmarks for November 21st through November 25th [del.icio.us]
![Bookmarks for November 21st through November 25th [del.icio.us]](http://www.paulbailey.us/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/hands1-150x150.jpg)
Bookmarks from November 21st through November 25th:[del.icio.us]
Los Angeles Eat+Drink – Fried in East L.A.: Antojito’s Carmen and the Breed Street Band of Mexican Vendors
- Photo Gallery: Fried in East L.A. With Antojitos Carmen & The Breed Street Band of Mexican Vendors – Los Angeles Restaurants and Dining – Squid Ink -
“Need a visual aid for your print edition? Jonathan Gold visits the Breed Street vendors of East Los Angeles (“once you abandon yourself to the magnetic chalupa forces you will be lured across the river again and again — the CIA could learn something about mind control from antojitos masters”). Click through for Anne Fishbein’s spectacular photos and read more in Gold’s Counter Intelligence, “Fried in East L.A.”
- Categorical Enervative: The Trouble With Genres | Classical Music -
People, we’re not really serious about adopting this “alt-classical” terminology, are we? I thought it was a joke, like “hobocore.” But no, it seems that there’s effort afoot to push it, un-ironically, into the classical lexicon.”"
- Books of The Times – The Voice That Helped Remake Culture, From Terry Teachout – Review – NYTimes.com
“With “Pops,” his eloquent and important new biography of Armstrong, the critic and cultural historian Terry Teachout restores this jazzman to his deserved place in the pantheon of American artists, building upon Gary Giddins’s excellent 1988 study, “Satchmo: The Genius of Louis Armstrong,” and offering a stern rebuttal of James Lincoln Collier’s patronizing 1983 book, “Louis Armstrong: An American Genius.” (wish this book was on kindle and it would be my holiday reading)
- Los Angeles Eat+Drink – Choza Mama (j. gold review) -
“Oh, Old Pasadena, dasher of hopes and destroyer of restaurants, a hostile, traffic-choked terrordome where only the strongest survive, where rents are breathtaking, where even the best-financed enterprises founder on the rocks. But out of the ashes of Hooters, within the very walls once saturated with testosterone and stale tap beer, comes Choza Mama, scion of the well-loved Burbank Peruvian restaurant, introducing Cusqueña and tallarines where once were Miller Lite and hot wings, and soft Latin American music where the likes of Hootie and the Blowfish once brayed”
- MIDEM(Net) Blog: Bruce Houghton: Doesn’t It Feel Lately Like Everyone Is In The Music Business? -
“The line between music fan and music professional has become difficult to draw. The demise of traditional media and rise of social networks means that fans are as powerful as publicists and radio promoters once were. Digital distribution has given everyone access to the consumer that was once funneled through a few. Everyone with a web site had the potential for global reach. I’m an authority, not because Billboard prints my words, but because I do. The Bad News: Everyone is your competitor. The Good News: Innovation is everywhere. It’s time to stop worrying about the bad and start embracing the good”
- When Sysadmins Ruled the Earth -
“Introduction: I’ve changed careers every two or three years ever since I dropped out of university in 1990, and one of the best gigs I ever had was working as a freelance systems administrator, working in the steam tunnels of the information age, pulling cables, configuring machines, keeping the backups running, kicking the network in its soft and vulnerable places. Sysadmins are the unsung heroes of the century, and if they’re not busting you for sending racy IMs, or engaging in unprofessional email conduct it’s purely out of their own goodwill. There’s a pernicious myth that the Internet was designed to withstand a nuclear war; while that Strangelove wet-dream was undoubtedly present in the hindbrains of the generals who greenlighted the network’s R&D at companies like Rand and BBN…” (great story… make sure to read the woodie guthrie copyright quote”
