Tuesday, March 11, 2008

the ruffmix test

play this thru speakers, then record the speakers. will this nested MP3 player thingy work? here's a fragment of a movement from one of three new albums we're working on:








Monday, March 10, 2008

Symbiopsychotaxiplasm: Take One


please watch William Greaves' film: "Symbiopsychotaxiplasm: Take One" (criterion DVD release).

shot in 1968 in central park with three film crews and a couple of actors all trying to get through a flimsy dialogue with little help from the director(greaves). everything falls apart. a bus with square wheels. what is composed and what is coaxed and what is totally spontaneous? electric miles davis soundtrack. an ugly disaster of improvisation or a sophisticated multilayered composition? also pulling at opposing ends are that of a single organizing hand and that of the will of the collective. discord is fostered on set. radio interference on the mics sound like minimal theramin solos. self-reflexivity in the most obvious of ways, but fresh for the time. is greaves really directing the movie or is he acting as a director? is he bad at both?

as my noodle roasts over this movie, i am reminded of a moment of reflection during practice last where the idea that the FWOE creative process and aesthetic could be the ultimate (utopian) realization anarchy & art - where craft, practice, accidents, structure, improvisation, & consensus (coming together of individual & group) are the music. images of the fantastical are illustrated by scraped-together by fragments of the mundane. ordinary instruments are used to coax unfamiliar arrangements of sound. of course, i didn't say those things, i'd just parroting what i remember from our conversation. but i'd love to see them elaborated upon / corrected in this here blog.

just watch "Symbiopsychotaxiplasm: Take One" and get back to me.
cloaca.