From Oliver

"this is dumb - but give it a minute - it has a lil' surprise... WHAT!? OK."

review: Larry Polansky's The Theory of Impossible Melody

For those not familiar with Larry Polansky, The Theory of Impossible Melody, a collection that includes highlights of his many focuses since the mid 1970's, serves as an excellent primer for the composer's music.

On "(B'rey'sheet) (in the beginning...) (Cantillation Study #1)" (1985), Polansky incorporates text from the Torah (sung by composer, performer and Polansky's wife, Jody Diamond) with "live interactive computer". As the voice recites, the software interprets and outputs a set of rules to determine intervals and tuning, creating an intriguing series of intricate textural shadows that eventually unwind into a series of suspensions and sustained notes during the final section of the piece. "Epitaph (Four Voice Canon #21) (tmfg)" (1975) is a conversation between the composer's improvisations on fretless electric guitar (each voice in a different tuning) versus his MEAP software, all wrapped in a mensuration canon (a technique where each subsequent voice uses an augmented or degraded rhythmic duration and all end simultaneously). As per the tradition of this form, each subsequent sound file inspires increased, bristling tension via serialized panning, pitch, length and "spectral stability" until the argument finishes in a hard-right squeak. The 23-minute highlight of the disc, "Simple Actions/Rules of Compatibility" (1989), is a bi-formal work that merges an HMSL performance (software Polansky designed as a live A.I. style tool, one that morphs simple musical gestures into sophisticated musical forms) with a digitally enhanced narration by Australian poet, Chris Mann. The result is an FM synth-driven cacophony of glassy beeps, bubbling glisses and LFO sirens elided by Mann's tongue-twisting phrases at the 11:33 mark. Polansky uses Mann's voice as source material, "one of the (simple) musical 'actions'", which he feeds into HMSL, the program quickly morphing the artist's prose into a nervous sidecar of glitches, staccato screeches and legato bass tones. The disc's coda, "Psaltery" (1978-9), is, on paper, an incredibly complicated fifty-one pitch-based work for the one-string instrument of the same name. However, despite the complexity of the extra-musical processes (the graph in the liner notes is a head spinner), the system is transparent and the piece emanates elegance, beauty and a meditative aesthetic in the vein of Ellen Fullman's long-stringed instrument performances.

During a master class, Polansky once said, "Every composer has one, maybe two great ideas during his lifetime", but as evidenced on this album, Polansky has made a career of taking numerous intriguing yet difficult ideas and making them extraordinary. For example, he may not have invented the mensuration canon, but his three decades of dedication (see "Four-Voice Canons") earns him near-ownership of the genre. Likewise, Polansky's fervor for and exploration of Gamelan, computer-assisted composition, microtonal scales and just intonation translates into a mastery few possess on one of these subjects let alone all of them.

Dave Madden

http://www.squidsear.com/cgi-bin/news/newsView.cgi?newsID=893

yes (Janes Addiction and Nine Inch Nails tour this summer -- together)

NIN: Burn Live from on stage, Melbourne 2.25.09 [HD] from Nine Inch Nails on Vimeo.

NIN: 1,000,000 Live from on stage, Sydney 2.22.09 [HD] from Nine Inch Nails on Vimeo.

Sometimes, I can't figure out what to say

I start over at "Rambling background"

Chain and the Gang
Down With Liberty… Up With Chains!
K Records
Street: 04.07
Chain and the Gang = Mojo Nixon + Modern Lovers + D.N.A.
Rule of thumb: be very skeptical of anything that smacks of "No Wave", especially anything after 1984, as it is one of numerous genres that non-musicians hear and think "this is so easy, I can do this". But look back at any of the bands with substance during the heyday and you see musical geniuses such as Arto Lindsay and Glen Branca at the helm. After five seconds of the slinky "Chain Gang Theme (I See Progress), your mind screams "New York, 1980", but you notice Not some dumbshit with a borrowed Jasmine acoustic.
Describe what it is
Old school political messages which works, somehow "politics, you gotta throw a brick (July twenty-six)"
From rocking "interview with the chain gang"
Starts simple
Shows depth
Purposeful sloppiness
Reparations

Rambling background
Chain and The Gang is Nation of Ulysses, Weird War, The Make-Up etc. founder Ian Svenonius's latest punk outlet, and, knowing his penchant for anything goes, this project is exactly what you expect: anything goes! Rooted in a sloppy No-Wave aesthetic (the interesting, creative version of that crud), ___'s lackadaisical
He still hates indie rock and stupid interviewers (" America is still one big conspiracy ("Deathbed confession")

Pissed but cool vocal delivery
(You might mistake this for a re-release from 1980)


The line-up and style might change, but the song remains the same: Svenonius' 13-Point Program to Destroy America is still in effect.

Squid's Ear -- First Review!

http://www.squidco.com/cgi-bin/news/newsView.cgi?newsID=866

I is famous

http://www.unplggd.com/unplggd/flickr-finds/flickr-finds-organized-workflow-or-a-messy-production-076943

Bit Blob

"The Bit Blob is a digital noise maker that's controlled by connecting its contacts together, allowing you to bend your way through unlimited sonic madness. You can also connect LEDs, audio outputs, or other Bit Blobs between control pins!"