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Originally Posted by zevokes
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I listened to the songs on your ilike page, z, and have some more feedback to give.
"Let's Bang," "Spiral Caught" and "Prayer" all remind me of folk songs mixed with Native American chants. When I lived in Wyoming, I liked going to Pow Wows to get close to my Native American roots (of which I, alas, have none), and I enjoyed the chanting and spontaneous drumming that arose among various groups/tribes over the course of the day. Your songs have a lot of repetition, similar to the the chants in the Pow Wows, and your voice is strong. You even do some yodeling!
I had a hard time understanding the vocals (the actual words and their meaning), but in "Prayer" I felt the somewhat bluesy lyrics were very rhythmic, which perhaps relates to you being a drummer: you like complex rhythms.
I also listened to "The Sip" and "Oh Yeah." "The Sip" has an eerie feel and you are doing the throat singing, as well as using piano and drums and a bubbly sound, which give an interesting beat. Again, you use lots of details. I found myself wanting the deeper sounds to be drawn out and accentuated...perhaps lower notes sustained throughout parts of the song to give a more cohesive, solid sound beneath all the intricacies you like.
I realized that one reason your songs sound meditative to me is that they often lack clear build-ups and releases (common in pop music). The energy level doesn't change dramatically throughout the pieces.
In "Oh yeah," an orchestral-sounding song with a repeated motif, there *was* a buildup around midway through (after which "trumpets" enter and the piece takes on a Copland feel). I expected to hear a sudden introduction of drums into the piece near the beginning...something to make the energy rev up to a higher level earlier on. "Oh yeah" was my favorite of those I listened to today, probably because as a violin-player I gravitate to the orchestral sound of this piece.
Your "synthetic" songs verge on being controlled chaos, which is part of their appeal for me. However, I'd prefer more definite build-ups and releases so that I felt more form in the chaos. Also, during "Oh yeah" I found myself wishing again that there were more base to create a solid feel under all the syncopation. I enjoyed very much all the details of the different sounds, and the rhythms, but wanted to hear a clearer over-all shape to the song.
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Originally Posted by zevokes
the whole of Bjork's Medulla is composed of only mouth sounds. it's quite amazing. mind you, like me, she's taken tiny pieces of her voice and other peoples' voices and turned them into all sorts of other sounds. so sometimes you're probably thinking, "there's no way that's made of a voice," but it all is. it's very much different from all her other work.
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I listened to one of her songs from "Medulla" and can hear she is a musical adventurer.
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yes, it is me throat singing. my dad got me into it by showing me these Tuvan throat singers, who write their music as messages to the wind and rivers and mountains and so on. i'm not very good at it, but find that rhythmically i can achieve a pretty neat didgeridoo-type sound. there's much more to it than i have time to concern myself with, and by no means call myself a throat singer.
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It's an interesting effect and one I don't know how to achieve. I have enough troubles with regular singing!
A didgeridoo sound *is* nice, though.
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i unfortunately do not have an external hard drive to back up all my stuff. see, i'm the stereotypical broke-ass musician that when he does have money, blows it on instruments, food, coffee, and cigarettes (and bills and rent of course), and sometimes i don't think about the things i REALLY need (ie. external hard drive), which of course bites me in the ass on a regular basis. i'm currently in search of work too, which makes this problem more apparent in my life... but you know, whatever. i think i have some luck coming my way....
what kind of music do YOU make, Erica?
-z
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You mentioned quite openly in the "Spiral Caught" video that one of your goals is to make money through music (which I interpret as meaning you want to survive doing something you love). That has got to be a challenge! Since I like to make music purely for fun, that takes off all stress. Do you find much of a conflict between your desire to make music that you feel is revolutionary, and your desire to make music that people will pay to listen to?
You asked about my music. I make fledgling (as in no songs are in their final form yet!), lyrics-driven music using all "real" instruments (that vibrate the air). I play in my spare time when I am alone in the home, which is infrequent, and so I have less time than I want right now to play. I love the whole process of making/recording music very much, though. Thinking that I'll have a big chunk of alone time to practice gives me something to look forward to for days!
Unlike you, I'd say I'm not the stereotypical musician (except that I do tend to acquire a lot of instruments). I don't know how many middle-aged moms suddenly get the urge to create their own music after over 30 years of playing other people's music in classical music groups! Maybe there are some of us out there. I haven't met any yet!