When I started composing, I was very concerned that the aesthetic quality of my compositions retain an universal sense of 'beauty.'
After studying composition I became only interested in absolving myself from beauty, perhaps even being so bold as to redefine it. Compositions dated from about 2001 (although these will have been begun in 2000) to as late as 2005 reflect this search very clearly: Rugosa Rose, Woad for Indigo, Crush. But as I eschewed the obvious forms of prettiness in my work, the work itself became alarmingly pretty, as my audience attested.
Now I don't think about beauty or prettiness at all, I couldn't care less about those things.
I'm more interested in the form than in the content: John Cage said that it's form that will define composition, or music writing, of the future. The future he spoke of was, is, in fact, the present.
Ngoma Lungundu has already been both hailed and criticized for what it is - hailed for reaching in new directions and teasing the aural palette in an unexpected, but pleasing way, criticized for not actually being what its form claims it is: pop music.
Creating something wildly new, while adhering to a form, doesn't guarantee its universal (i.e. popular) success. The ears trick us when we perceive the content, which, no matter how we order it , or mould it to or within acceptable forms, will betray our true intent [or the true intent of the music.]--
I've started composing for The Velvet Watt Vol. 2. I am conceiving my new compositions in context of albums, collections, or groups. The compositions I am working on form a trilogy of albums/collections that haven't been formed yet - I understand more or less what the content is, I might even know what the result will be, but the fun is remains in getting there and seeing where the projects lead me next.
For the second round I'm thinking of the pieces simultaneously in two ways: the material needs to be engaging as a live performance - all of the pieces on Vol. 2 will be for acoustic instrument and supporting interactive electronics. I'm also thinking of the pieces theatrically, but more in terms of an iconic narrative than a dramatic narrative. That means to say that these works refer to forms that may be familiar, but will appear expanded or even distorted. In other words, Vol. 2 is, predictably, an extension or further exploration of what I began in Vol. 1.
Right now I'm entertaining the concept of the pop/club single and the remix. There is always the danger of hyper-intellectualizing popular forms. The fact is, they are simple for a reason, and imbuing them with content beyond their gravity is pompous (and pointless). But these forms, ideas and devices are pointers for me, since it's where I began. I've been fascinated by interchangeable music from the start, the remix and the re-edit, going back even more, the arrangement. I started out doing vocal jazz arrangements and my teachers were always astounded at the ease I took in complex chord structures voicings and voice leading.
In the 80s, the 'extended remix' was a great invention (actually, it was invented in the 70s, but didn't take off as a commercial form until the 80s when the '12" maxi single' became a viable retail item, effectively replacing the 45 single), but the most exciting part to me was hearing the song broken down into its various parts as a device to extending the song's basic structure. Occasionally a DJ would do something really radical to a song - I remember when Eric 'ET' Thorngren remixed Eurythmics' 'Would I Lie To You' - the rock-n-roll breakout hit for the formerly all-synth act. (
Factoid: Eurythmics are the duo who made it absolutely clear to me I wanted to make music: their early studio work still stands as some of the most exciting, forward looking recorded work around. I'm particularly fond of their lesser known B-Sides, the off-mixes, early mixes, demos, variations or just weird improvisations in the studio that still sound like they come from an eerily displaced future). I remember saving my change to buy the album having only heard a clip from 'Conditioned Soul' on MTV, even though when Eurythmics made the shift to acoustic-rock, my friends were all convinced I wouldn't like it.
Then the single, 'Would I Lie to You' came out. It was a smash, yet in one of those weird pockets, somehow I missed hearing it for nearly 3 days after its release (unusual for me, especially given I was such a devoted fan). I was warned, forewarned and discouraged from seeking it out by friends who were convinced I, the techno-guy, could love nothing with guitars - apparently my obsession with Sam and Dave had gone overlooked!
But look, Eurythmics as a duo were a strong act, and they made the transition with real sparkle - they managed to do things that were just not-quite-right to keep the pop form fresh. Listen to 'Would I Lie To You' and you'll realize you're only listening to the reference to a genre, not to something directly out of the genre. It's this twice-removed coolness that makes the singles so interesting. They moved from the haunting strains of 'Love Is a Stranger' and 'Here Comes The Rain Again', accompanied by an orchestra of fantom electronic instruments and tape effects, into a realm where the instruments were real, but the songs were just as weirdly disconnected. 'Would I Lie To You' has very little in the way of melody and its drive depends hugely on the percussion and horn riffs pulled along by the David Stewart's roaring metal guitar. The organ is mixed too loud, as are the backing vocals, devices that made the s trademark ong stand out as very contemporary while others, like the Fabulous Thunderbirds who covered Sam and Dave's 'Wrap It Up' managed to sound status quo - relying on the the strength of the songwriting as opposed to a new, interesting and dynamic arrangement that provided a fresh listening experience. When I heard 'Would I Lie to You' I had to ask - where's the melody? And the hook? Annie Lennox sings her choruses almost too close into the mic, feigning calm coolness years before Neil Tenant made it his in the Pet Shop Boys, and juxtaposed that to her full-belt during the verse, the exact inverse of a typical pop format.
Naturally Eurythmics popularity banked on club singles. As a club single, 'Would I Lie To You' probably wouldn't have cut it, at least not in the gay clubs. So ET (Eric Thorngren) stripped it down to the percussion and instead of horns and guitar, sequenced an organ loop with a weird slap-back reverb that made it bounce all from speaker to speaker. He punched up and detuned the bassline and put a similar echo on it, making it sound bizarrely out of place. Lennox' vocals were placed right in front, making them sound cool throughout, the sort of detached performance Lennox was known for in singles like 'Who's That Girl.' The mix turned the hot, top ten radio single into experimental B-Side material - but it was perfect to slide in on the club floors of the 80s, right between Chaka Khan's 'I Feel For You' (rife with samples, synths, drum machines and similar echo effects, produced by dance-floor guru Arif Mardin) and the Tom Tom Club. And it retained all of the things that Eurythmics were known for before they changed styles.
The slightly adrift form of the B-Side has always fascinated me too. Many of my favorite bands best, or at least most interesting material was to be found on the B-Side. Pet Shop Boys, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Tones on Tail, Bauhaus (and Eurythmics). It's a lesser known fact, but 'White Horse' by Laid Back was in fact a B-Side. If I'm not mistaken, Laid Back was a reggae act (or the A-Side was a reggae influenced single; I had it - never listened to it). And who can forget Prince's 'Erotic City' - if ever there was a testament to the power of the B-Side!
Going back to Eurythmics, I remember reading that early in the band's formation they had conceptualized themselves as 'a futuristic cabaret act.' Or an act from a cabaret of the future. For those who remember the imagery, that's where the wigs, costumes and masks came in, remembering that this was post-glam/post-punk London. That image and idea has always stuck with me.
I remember listening to the sound track for the film 'Liquid Sky', a film that has still got reverberating effects on my work, and thinking,
I wish all music sounded like this. The sound track to the film was highly experimental and was realized on an early fairlight synthesizer. Many of the tracks were baroque compositions sequenced into the Fairlight and played back with odd voicings. Other material was atonal, arhythmic and simply odd - but absolutely captivating!
After thinking a minute, I looked at my record collection and realized - most of the records I listened to (which included recordings by my mentor, Morton Subotnick),
did sound like that, or at least close to it. (F
actoid: the Art of Noise realized their first recordings on a Fairlight synthesizer as well - one of the first sampling keyboards. Although it offered seeming limitless possibilities, it was in fact very limited. The splashy effects that resulted in the exciting explosive layered sounds were the machinations of studio engineer JJ Jeczalik, who, according to Ann Dudley, was a kind of mad man running from control to control, knob to knob, flipping switches on and off to make things sustain, cut short, explode, disappear). Pop music had become pleasingly fascinated with new forms.
Now, you have to dig to find artists in the pop bins who embrace this idea. Even Art of Noise doesn't quite fit the bill there. Eurythmics became a little banal (although David Stewart's side projects have been interesting). But new artists, Alva Noto, Oval, L'Uomo - these are the ones who have continued making that oddly mechanized, but warm and exciting music that I crave to hear. It's music that takes me out of the possibilities of
this world into the possibilities of another world I didn't know could exist - even if it's only the suggestion of a world like that.
These are the ideas I'd like to explore on the next CD.
I'm not saying more than that, but suffice to say the new folio will be a surprise when it comes out, and I am confident that as material for live performance, it should kick things up a notch or two.
Listening:
everything.
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