December 31, 2007
Random 2007 Music notes
| Top 10 on my iTunes (#Play Count) | ||
| Adieu Mario (Extrait de Mon oncle) | Jazz | Trio Rousseau, Tortiller, Vignon |
| What a Difference a Day Made | Jazz | Sarah Vaughan |
| Life On Mars? | Pop | Seu Jorge |
| Habla Con Hella | Soundtrack | Alberto Iglesias Featuring Vicente Amigo & El Pele |
| Yumeji's Theme (In the Mood for Love) | Soundtrack | Umebayashi Shigeru |
| Cantaloupe Island | Jazz | Herbie Hancock |
| Koop Island Blues | Electronic | Koop |
| I Say A Little Prayer | R&B | Aretha Franklin |
| Linus & Lucy | Jazz | George Winston |
| Just Can't Get Enough | World (???) | Nouvelle Vague |
Recent and automatic favourite right after seeing them live at the San Francisco Jazz Festival: Tord Gustavsen Trio
Site.
In musicology, my main field of interest is the psychology and phenomenology of improvisation. Although recognizing the importance of established jazz analysis and jazz history, I try to develop this field of research in directions that are not covered very well in jazz theory as we know it. I draw heavily on the psychology of relationships developed by German psychoanalytic Helm Stierlin and Norwegian psychologist Anne-Lise Løvlie Schibbye, both of whom offer a very exciting approach to the ancient notion of dialectics. It's all about living the paradoxes of life and art dynamically and fruitfully. It's about coming to terms with contradictions recognizing both sides of polarities without getting stuck in the middle-of-the-road. It's about synthesizing – locally, non-monolithic and (if you like) "post modernist" – your dilemmas. It's about moving creatively in a neo-Hegelian "Aufheben" kind of way. I approach dilemmas like closeness vs. distance, moment vs. duration and gratification vs. frustration, and I try to explore them combining empirical jazz research (interviews and analysis) with contemporary "scenic" music theory, psychodynamic theory and dialectical philosophy. -- Tord Gustavsen on the themes of his Musicology Ph.d. Dissertation
*****
In love with Mussorgsky's "Pictures at an Exhibition". The piano original version, not the silly Ravel orchestration.
"Pictures at an Exhibition was written as a group of pieces for piano in 1874. The pictures were mainly watercolours, painted by Victor Hartman, a friend of Mussorgsky, who had died the previous year.
The piece is a musical description of walking around an exhibition of Hartman's paintings. A recurring 'Promenade' movement represents the visitor. Each of the pieces has a movement conjuring up the mood invoked by the picture, or in some cases even painting the picture in music." -- from the BBC
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June 05, 2007
It just occurred to me...
that all footage of Elvis either in his beardless, boyish, white sock wearing, teenage-screaming phase or in his bloated, cheesy white outfit, intoxicated, middle aged women on anti-depressants screaming phase should be erased. An Elvis in a fit body, wearing black leather and singing in a sexy, coarse voice is all we need to remember. Oh and, leather or no leather, I'd erase the teddy bears, lonesome girls and love me tenders crap too.
Posted by claudia Permalink | Comments (1)
It just occurred to me...
that all footage of Elvis either in his beardless, boyish, white sock wearing, teenage-screaming phase or in his bloated, cheesy white outfit, intoxicated, middle aged women on anti-depressants screaming phase should be erased. An Elvis in a fit body, wearing black leather and singing in a sexy, coarse voice is all we need to remember. Oh and, leather or no leather, I'd erase the teddy bears, lonesome girls and love me tenders crap too.
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December 17, 2006
Faves
I'm always saying I'm not a musical person but...here are the most recent acquisitions at the iTunes Store for slatkushee's iPod :)
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Henry Mancini - "Pink Panther Tune" - coolest music ever.
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Harry James - "You made me love you" - first heard on Woody Allen's "Hannah and her sisters". In fact, Hannah has the best movie soundtrack ever.
*****
Fatboy Slim - "Bird of Prey" - because I love Jim Morrison's voice and The Housemartins were one of my 80's favourite bands.
*****
Geoffrey Burgon - "Brideshead revisited (Main Theme)" and "Sebastian's Summer" - most beautiful TV series ever; the rare case, or probably the only case, where I find the series better than the book.
*****
Beastie Boys - "Ch-Check it out" - I love the concept of jewish rappers.
*****
Miles Davis - "So what" - second coolest music ever.
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June 10, 2006
I'm....
******
random summer cheesy euro-disc silliness
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January 25, 2005
V. Mescherin's Ensemble of Electro-Musical Instruments
Why is it that kitsch appeals to me so much? I do have a weird sense of humour at times; maybe that's why I find aesthetic worthlessness amusing?
Thanks to a colleague, I found a store in Lisboa that sells cd's for 1 Euro. Among other weird, unsellable stuff was a two volume set called "Easy USSR". I had a heard a bit of it before (it was one of my colleague's acquisitions) and had found it hilarious. The cover had a nice retro graphic design style... I bought it.
Inside, the leaflet unfolds to show a chronology of V.Mescherin's life and USSR history (I think, since it's in russian). Mescherin, according to the wikipedia, was a Soviet musician who used synthesisers in the 60's, 70's and 80's and "his music could be heard virtually everywhere, in elevators, on television backgrounds; the Soviet government asked him to prepare a version of the Internationale (The former national anthem) for use in a Sputnik satellite in 1959".
Inside, a perfectly bizarre, the kitschest primitive electronic music from the 60's and 70's with terrible titles like "On the kholkoz poultry farm" or "Ethiopian joker's dance". Here's a sample from 1973's "Dancing Dwarves":
More about Mescherin here.
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