Blogariddims 6 / Collide+Coalesce

Another guest post! this time from the esteemed Soundslike1981, who's taken up the gauntlet for part 6 of Blogariddims. This is by far the most eclectic set yet, both in terms of texture and scope of artists/eras, and is a very worthy addition to the excellent mixes ('Adrift', 'The Cave' and 'Gloaming') posted over at Dissensus which first introduced me to Soundslike's work.

You can get the mix directly here:

http://feeds.feedburner.com/blogariddims/

Or sign up for the podcast here:

http://www.weareie.com/audio/blogari...ogariddims.xml

OK - Headphones on? lights off? Concentrating? - off we go!

Blogariddims 6 / Collide+Coalesce - Soundslike 1981

[00.00 - 01.50] 01 David Fanshawe "New Year Celebrations" (1974)
[00.20 - 05.30] 02 Miles Davis "Go Ahead John" {Version} (1970)
[03.50 - 09.40] 03 Massacre "As Is" (1981)
[04.00 - 17.50] 04 This Heat "Metal" (1979)
[05.20 - 11.00] 05 Bali Kacek Choir "Sekaha Ganda Sari" (1974)
[05.30 - 08.40] 06 Bjork & Robert Wyatt "Submarine" (2004)
[08.20 - 12.00] 07 Autechre "Stud" (1996)
[06.50 - 13.40] 08 AMM "Later During a Flaming Riviera Sunset" (1966)
[09.40 - 15.00] 09 For Carnation "Being Held" (2000)
[11.00 - 14.40] 10 Huun Huur Tu "Exile's Song" (1994)
[14.30 - 21.40] 11 Luc Ferrari "Music Promenade" (1969)
[15.10 - 23.20] 12 Mark Hollis "A Life 1895-1915" (1998)
[17.30 - 24.40] 13 Maryanne Amacher "Living Sound" (1979)
[21.00 - 25.20] 14 His Name is Alive "Detrola" (2004)
[23.00 - 32.20] 15 {Modified Guitar}
[23.10 - 28.20] 16 Suicide "Frankie Teardrop" (1977)
[24.00 - 28.00] 17 Einsturzende Neubauten "Zum Tier Machen" (1982)
[24.20 - 27.50] 18 Specials AKA "Housebound" {Remix} (1984)
[27.00 - 36.00] 19 Deadbeat "Portable Memory" (2004)
[28.00 - 42.00] 20 Arthur Russell "Reach One" (1973)
[29.20 - 31.50] 21 John Cage "Six Melodies for Violin & Harp, No. 4" (1950)
[32.00 - 36.00] 22 Tanzania Tribal Musicians "Wagogo Marimba" (1975)
[35.10 - 45.50] 23 Harmonia "Sehr Kosmich" (1974)
[35.30 - 42.00] 24 Karlheinz Stockhausen "Kontakte" (1959)
[35.30 - 46.00] 25 {Modified Guitar}
[35.40 - 38.50] 26 Rachel's "Artemisia" (1999)
[37.00 - 45.10] 27 Matmos "For Felix" (2001)
[38.40 - 43.00] 28 Low & Spring Heel Jack "Bombscare" (2000)
[42.30 - 49.30] 29 {Analogue Synth} [42.50 - 46.10] 30 Dave Brubeck "Far More Drums" {Version} (1961)
[43.10 - 48.30] 31 Lalo Schifrin "First Chase" (1969)
[46.00 - 49.40] 32 Arthur Russell "Just a Blip" (1982)
[45.30 - 50.30] 33 {Analogue Synth}
[46.00 - 51.20] 34 Scanner "Emily" (2003)
[47.10 - 49.50] 35 {Modified Radio}
[47.30 - 50.20] 36 {Modified Radio}
[49.10 - 51.10] 37 {Modified Guitar}
[49.30 - 50.40] 38 OMD "Romance of the Telescope" {Remix} (1981)
[48.30 - 56.40] 39 Alvin Lucier "Music on a Long Thin Wire" (1979)
[50.40 - 56.30] 40 Can "Vitamin C" {Remix} (1972)
[52.00 - 56.10] 41 Steve Reich "It's Gonna Rain, Part II" (1965)
[45.20 - 57.40] 42 {Modified Guitar}
[56.40 - 61.20] 43 Bill Evans Trio "Jade Visions" (1961) {Version}
[59.50 - 61.40] 44 David Fanshawe "New Year Celebrations" (1974)

Ideally, this mix wouldn't be a mix at all. Instead, each track would be played from one of half a dozen or so PAs set up in chapels and side halls of St. Paul's, or in caves of some deep cavern, with the listener free to move about and change the emphasis based upon her position. I'm interested in the way one piece affects another, totally recontextualised and freed from doing all the aural work of standing alone. While I've mixed certain elements to stand out above others, I hope that a listener can, with headphones at least, pick through the sound and focus on particular elements if he so chooses, or step back and see if everything does in fact coalesce, or merely collides.

I'm not even close to being a professional DJ or a proper blogger like most of the Blogariddim's crew, so I feel honoured to be invited to participate. For better or worse, I'm "self-taught" when it comes to my musical obsessions, never having had the fortune/misfortune of being a devotee of a particular scene or movement. I'm just looking for a visceral and emotional sensation, wherever or whenever it comes from in sound--and my ears find it everwhere from a Giorgio-produced Donna Summer track to a Carter Family tune to to Jaipong to the sounds of a city street. This may make me a dilettante; but I don't think of myself as a dabbler. For me, it's just instinct furthered by exposure to approach music like this, and I don't think I could listen any other way.

My methodology for the mix was not highly theoretical, but rather ad hoc (although it builds on tendencies I've been approaching for a while). I am not a beatmatcher, but I wanted to texturematch, for lack of a better (and real) word. I picked pieces I thought might have some sort of synergy, that had plenty of space in the sound stage to allow them to be morticed together without being a (total) mess. Then I sequenced a central skeleton of tracks, perhaps the more "song-y" elements, like an unsegued mix.

Finally, and more carefully, I stretched the rest of the elements (making a few by remixing or recording where needed) to flesh out the body of the mix. I didn't have a particular emotional arc in mind, though I think certainly emotional build-and-release emerged. I have immense respect for those like Droid & Slug who mix in this thick fashion on the fly. With my limited means, I simply edited in Soundforge and sequenced with a multitrack, much like I would do if I were producing music of my own.

Thanks to Droid and the other Blogamuffins for letting me have a shot. I've made/am working on other mixes in this vein, so I'd enjoy any feedback/criticism that could help me hone the process to make the results more enjoyable for people besides just myself. Email me at soundslike1981(at)gmail.com

I can't offer up particularly insightful running commentary, but here's something of a play-by-play that will at least make it seem like I had some sort of a scheme in mind as I cobbled together this Frankenstein's monster.

[00.00 - 01.50] 01 David Fanshawe "New Year Celebrations" (1974)
[00.20 - 05.30] 02 Miles Davis "Go Ahead John" {Version} (1970)

Warming up with Jack DeJohnette going insane, with a little amateur dub treatment to make it a little more mad.

[03.50 - 09.40] 03 Massacre "As Is" (1981)
[04.00 - 17.50] 04 This Heat "Metal" (1979)
[05.20 - 11.00] 05 Bali Kacek Choir "Sekaha Ganda Sari" (1974)
[05.30 - 08.40] 06 Bjork & Robert Wyatt "Submarine" (2004)
[08.20 - 12.00] 07 Autechre "Stud" (1996)

Segueing into one of This Heat's more abstract bits underneath the muscular trio of Massacre brewing up, as Bjork/Wyatt come in a capella in languid fashion. Trying for a steady build, I bring in the highly percussive Kacek choral work over the unfurling drum/feedback snarl of Massacre, and Bjork takes it up vocally. Slowly the drums beatclash out into a fuzzy little bit of Autechre's fuzzy futurism under a haze of feedback, the Balinesian vocals tying the whole thing together.

[06.50 - 13.40] 08 AMM "Later During a Flaming Riviera Sunset" (1966)
[09.40 - 15.00] 09 For Carnation "Being Held" (2000)
[11.00 - 14.40] 10 Huun Huur Tu "Exile's Song" (1994)

The AMM is kept low in the mix for texture, with For Carnation laying the foundation of a looping bell and a steady, sombre beat under the liquid violin/vocal dirge of Huun Huur Tu, xoomei Tuvan throat singers. The bassline of the Carnation and the melody of "Exile's Song" play off of each other in one of many instances of lucky near-synchronicity.

[14.30 - 21.40] 11 Luc Ferrari "Music Promenade" (1969)
[15.10 - 23.20] 12 Mark Hollis "A Life 1895-1915" (1998)
[17.30 - 24.40] 13 Maryanne Amacher "Living Sound" (1979)

A lot of space in the mix during this sequence, taking Hollis' careful minimalism out of doors and into the jungle. "A Life" builds and shifts in a mix-like fashion on its own, melting into what follows.

[21.00 - 25.20] 14 His Name is Alive "Detrola" (2004)
[23.00 - 32.20] 15 {Modified Guitar}
[23.10 - 28.20] 16 Suicide "Frankie Teardrop" (1977)
[24.00 - 28.00] 17 Einsturzende Neubauten "Zum Tier Machen" (1982)
[24.20 - 27.50] 18 Specials AKA "Housebound" {Remix} (1984)
[27.00 - 36.00] 19 Deadbeat "Portable Memory" (2004)

A mournful bit of piano and car horns gives way to the paranoia of Suicide and Einsturzende Neubauten, which is then bolstered by a little attempt at remixing the opening bars of "Housebound," which slowly builds melodic loops and intensifies into a mess of almost-jungle-ish clattering. This all breaks as "Frankie Teardrop" reaches its harrowing climax, while Deadbeat's electronic crickets sneak in under hellish waves of synth fire.

[28.00 - 42.00] 20 Arthur Russell "Reach One" (1973)
[29.20 - 31.50] 21 John Cage "Six Melodies for Violin & Harp, No. 4" (1950)

A slight reprive from what precedes it, this slight, nimble, almost sweet violin and harp melody finds Cage working in an almost traditional mode. Heavily modified guitar bellows from below into near stillness with Russel's ice-flow organ playing.

[32.00 - 36.00] 22 Tanzania Tribal Musicians "Wagogo Marimba" (1975)
[35.10 - 45.50] 23 Harmonia "Sehr Kosmich" (1974)

Deadbeat's organic futurism returns as Tanzanian folk musicians drift from close-miced clean into watery depths.

[35.30 - 42.00] 24 Karlheinz Stockhausen "Kontakte" (1959)
[35.30 - 46.00] 25 {Modified Guitar}
[35.40 - 38.50] 26 Rachel's "Artemisia" (1999)

The dulcet tones of Rachel's clash with Stockhausen's treated noise.

[37.00 - 45.10] 27 Matmos "For Felix" (2001)
[38.40 - 43.00] 28 Low & Spring Heel Jack "Bombscare" (2000)
[42.30 - 49.30] 29 {Analogue Synth}

"Bombscare" floats patiently toward its climax, with Stockhausen and Matmos' bowed cages add a foreboding feeling of decay, something falling apart around the dispassionately steady vocals of Low.

[42.50 - 46.10] 30 Dave Brubeck "Far More Drums" {Version} (1961)
[43.10 - 48.30] 31 Lalo Schifrin "First Chase" (1969)

Another amateur attempt at dubbing up a swinging, playful Morello solo. "First Chase" is one slow build, slowly darkening the tone of the drumming into a frantic ride.

[46.00 - 49.40] 32 Arthur Russell "Just a Blip" (1982)
[45.30 - 50.30] 33 {Analogue Synth}
[46.00 - 51.20] 34 Scanner "Emily" (2003)
[47.10 - 49.50] 35 {Modified Radio}
[47.30 - 50.20] 36 {Modified Radio}
[49.10 - 51.10] 37 {Modified Guitar}

A simple synth beat, vocal-like cello and cello-like vocals carry this segment, with bits of sound I recorded for a wider stage of sound, still fitting in the "world of echo" Russell creates.

[49.30 - 50.40] 38 OMD "Romance of the Telescope" {Remix} (1981)
[48.30 - 56.40] 39 Alvin Lucier "Music on a Long Thin Wire" (1979)
[50.40 - 56.30] 40 Can "Vitamin C" {Remix} (1972)
[52.00 - 56.10] 41 Steve Reich "It's Gonna Rain, Part II" (1965)

One more jittery attempt at semi-dub treatment (the completely stark "Romance") abruptly shifts into one last attempt at remixing (Can's unbelievably cool "Vitamin C," with the emphasis entirely on Leibezeit's machine-with-a-soul drumming). "Vitamin C" cooks slowly, eventually adding second and third loops of the main beat to build into an emphasis on all beats, and Reich's "Rain" diturbs the cool.

[45.20 - 57.40] 42 {Modified Guitar}
[56.40 - 61.20] 43 Bill Evans Trio "Jade Visions" (1961) {Version}
[59.50 - 61.40] 44 David Fanshawe "New Year Celebrations" (1974)

Bill Evan's perfect Trio is taken into an underwater cavern, ending the mix on a dreamlike and mysterious note.