Tag: Music
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George Lewis, Improvisation, and the Rhizome
This is the written portion of a presentation by the same name I gave at the College Music Society‘s Northwest Chapter conference. George Lewis is one of the most significant composers in the world of computer music and improvisation. Beginning his musical career as a trombonist with the AACM (American Association of Creative Musicians) on…
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The Tragic Self-Image of Kanye West in Jeen-yuhs
I’ve been watching the new documentary on Kanye West, Jeen-yuhs, over the last few weeks. For someone who may only know Kanye for his recent output, his controversies and media persona, this documentary purports to show the opposite. It humanizes someone who has long passed the point where Kanye West the celebrity became a virus…
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Favorite books I read in 2021 (and 2020)
If I can be so presumptive and assume that people are interested to hear what books I read this year, here are the ones I liked the most. To keep myself from rambling, I’ll keep my summaries of each book to one or two sentences. These are organized by the order in which I read…
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Davis Stubbs’ Fear of Music, Zappa, and some ephemera
On a recent trip to the local bookstore I picked up two books: The Real Frank Zappa Book and Fear of Music. The former is pretty well-known: Zappa is a recognizable name among most people, even if they cannot tell you a single song of his besides “Valley Girl,” “Bobby Brown Goes Down,” and maybe…
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This is Not Normal: Negativland Live
I have made it a goal to post at least something each week here, but last week I was busy with boring personal stuff that isn’t pertinent to this blog. So now we resume your regularly scheduled programming. I recently saw San Francisco experimental music legends (?) Negativland, who are embarking on their It’s Normal…
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Composing update 8/9
In addition to my work as a writer, a sound engineer and soon-to-be grad student, I am also a composer.* I spent much of last year studying the modern orchestral repertoire, for I wanted to compose an orchestral piece. Having not much else to do after being laid off, I threw myself into an overly…
Continuous Variations 