… and I can't believe this got sent out with a typo that refers to Pauline Oliveros as a "pioneering experimental composter." That should obviously read "composer." My apologies to everyone!
You probably think my 'deep listening' albums would be from electronic artists. But I'm focusing on albums that transport me to a memory place, usually back in time. A time when music was fresh and exhilarating.
I'm no fan of nostalgia. But, for the purposes of this exercise, I think nostalgia is an important anchor — at least for me.
So I'm going to listen deeply to The Feelies' 'The Good Earth' (and, those who know me well are unsurprised). It brings me back to when I was discovering music on my own for the first time and getting excited about the imagined spaces — and feelings! — that the most basic of music can evoke. As soon as the first notes ring there are no troubles in the world — that's what this record does for me.
Thanks again, Michael. I really appreciate your doing this week after week. It's a huge bright spot in my now dismal Saturday mornings. Sometimes it reads like your pulling great ideas out of my scrambled and overworked brain and organizing them into something coherent and entertaining as hell. Not that I want to take any credit for what you are doing, it is just uncanny how much our deep thoughts about the business of music align. Of course, I am not a brilliant artist such as yourself just a survivor from some golden era of music that never really existed so I appreciate what you do all that much more. Ok, enough with gushing platitudes, a big thanks to you will suffice and on to what I am really here for - dialoguing...
1. No shame in name dropping the Beatles, any musician of a certain age is going to have some sort of connection to them. It's inevitable just like "stealing" arrangements and chord progressions. I never really realized how much Ziggy Stardust was just a bald faced rip off of the Alice Cooper Band's Killer album until I did some deep listening yesterday. It didn't change how much I felt about either artist (both get big hearts) but made me think more about the cosmic ether from which we are all drawing from for inspiration. There are only so many notes and arrangements and we are all tapped into the same engine that makes them go.
2. I was born with a defective aural nerve that allows me to hear the separation of frequency bands better than most humans. It has it's downside, I can hear hi-pitched whining sounds like the old VHF and UHF frequencies and they can be quite painful. The upside, I can hear all of the different sounds going in music and discern them the same way a cook can tell the spices in someone else's meal just by taste. I have been able to do this for as long as I can remember so deep listening has been a huge part of my life for almost all of it. As a result, I have intimate relationships with much of my collection. Today I plan to dig into some spiritual music - Bill Evans' Sunday the Village Vanguard and John Coltrane's Ole. In times of crisis, I always look to jazz to calm my head because it so much easier to slip into that deep listening mindset that works just like Calgon taking you away -at least for me.
3. When I was a profession writer, Jonty was the only journalist who would ever criticize my work - in a positive and professional way. I was surprised that even read my work, because I consider myself mostly a hack with a hamfisted approach to writing and he was a real writer. He told me that I sounded like I enjoyed hearing my own voice in my writing and that voice was often funny. He suggested I was probably better suited to writing comedy about music than churning out online content week in week out. Sorry Jonty, I never got around to that but i really appreciated the notes of encouragement. He was a sweetheart and I will miss him.
Thanks for doing what you do and I look forward to a lot more installments of Ringo Dreams of Lawn Care in the not so bright future ahead...
an update on the results on Bandcamp's (and its artists') big day → https://daily.bandcamp.com/features/update-on-fridays-campaign-to-support-artists-during-the-covid-19-pandemic
… and I can't believe this got sent out with a typo that refers to Pauline Oliveros as a "pioneering experimental composter." That should obviously read "composer." My apologies to everyone!
You probably think my 'deep listening' albums would be from electronic artists. But I'm focusing on albums that transport me to a memory place, usually back in time. A time when music was fresh and exhilarating.
I'm no fan of nostalgia. But, for the purposes of this exercise, I think nostalgia is an important anchor — at least for me.
So I'm going to listen deeply to The Feelies' 'The Good Earth' (and, those who know me well are unsurprised). It brings me back to when I was discovering music on my own for the first time and getting excited about the imagined spaces — and feelings! — that the most basic of music can evoke. As soon as the first notes ring there are no troubles in the world — that's what this record does for me.
Nice one with Cahuacho
Thanks again, Michael. I really appreciate your doing this week after week. It's a huge bright spot in my now dismal Saturday mornings. Sometimes it reads like your pulling great ideas out of my scrambled and overworked brain and organizing them into something coherent and entertaining as hell. Not that I want to take any credit for what you are doing, it is just uncanny how much our deep thoughts about the business of music align. Of course, I am not a brilliant artist such as yourself just a survivor from some golden era of music that never really existed so I appreciate what you do all that much more. Ok, enough with gushing platitudes, a big thanks to you will suffice and on to what I am really here for - dialoguing...
1. No shame in name dropping the Beatles, any musician of a certain age is going to have some sort of connection to them. It's inevitable just like "stealing" arrangements and chord progressions. I never really realized how much Ziggy Stardust was just a bald faced rip off of the Alice Cooper Band's Killer album until I did some deep listening yesterday. It didn't change how much I felt about either artist (both get big hearts) but made me think more about the cosmic ether from which we are all drawing from for inspiration. There are only so many notes and arrangements and we are all tapped into the same engine that makes them go.
2. I was born with a defective aural nerve that allows me to hear the separation of frequency bands better than most humans. It has it's downside, I can hear hi-pitched whining sounds like the old VHF and UHF frequencies and they can be quite painful. The upside, I can hear all of the different sounds going in music and discern them the same way a cook can tell the spices in someone else's meal just by taste. I have been able to do this for as long as I can remember so deep listening has been a huge part of my life for almost all of it. As a result, I have intimate relationships with much of my collection. Today I plan to dig into some spiritual music - Bill Evans' Sunday the Village Vanguard and John Coltrane's Ole. In times of crisis, I always look to jazz to calm my head because it so much easier to slip into that deep listening mindset that works just like Calgon taking you away -at least for me.
3. When I was a profession writer, Jonty was the only journalist who would ever criticize my work - in a positive and professional way. I was surprised that even read my work, because I consider myself mostly a hack with a hamfisted approach to writing and he was a real writer. He told me that I sounded like I enjoyed hearing my own voice in my writing and that voice was often funny. He suggested I was probably better suited to writing comedy about music than churning out online content week in week out. Sorry Jonty, I never got around to that but i really appreciated the notes of encouragement. He was a sweetheart and I will miss him.
Thanks for doing what you do and I look forward to a lot more installments of Ringo Dreams of Lawn Care in the not so bright future ahead...