At 1:45 I started to draft a comment about my enthusiasm to listen to you and your muse. Something held my dialogue. The Tower. My word I'm only 3:50 in and looking for a seat belt. Thanks again captain I'm going for a swim 🫡
Hi @Madgura. I always really appreciate your interest and enthusiasm, both for the talks and for the music. "The Tower," a recent composition I wrote and recorded in my room/home studio, ended up being a sort of theme that ran throughout the session. Glad you are enjoying the waves, as choppy as they tend to get at times...
@@MarcLowe So after taking my listen I have a question. Is your creative process one where you feel as if you perform the entire time or do you initiate the process and let creation happen? Or do you have a different experience with creating?
@@Madgura When I am using backing tracks, as in the first part of this session, they, along with the visuals (when I have access to a projector -- here I simply layered them in during the editing process), create a sort of "frame" upon/within which to perform the improvs and/or "songs," as with "The Tower" or my reinterpretation of David Bowie's "Hallo Spaceboy." As for the improvisations you see in this video where I am not using any backing tracks or visuals -- everything after the first 30 minutes, basically -- they (the improvs) lead me, or, rather, I just sort of get out of the way of things and let the music happen. If I wanted to be more "metaphysical" about it, I would say something like, "I allow myself to become a vessel for the sound," or "I allow whatever comes to me at each moment to just flow out of me," or something like that... Many viewers/people in general might, perhaps, object to this way of describing the process/experience, but it's actually pretty close to this, I think...and yet, it is very difficult to describe and would be impossible to "teach" anyone else how to do, since this is simply *my* process/my way, or at least it is at this moment in my development. The style/s you see here very much developed over a period of time, several years just experimenting with different ways of trying out things and coming up with different/new ideas. A lot of it may be thanks to all of my "alone time" since Covid here in Tokyo. There is no set "method" or "rules" to this form of music/sound-making, or at least none that I am savvy enough to be able to "codify" in any way, unfortunately. I can't market it to anyone, and it doesn't get me any bitcoins or fancy meals at fancy restaurants. There are, at times "starting points" that come to my mind for these improvisations, certain vocal themes I might begin singing (such as parts of "The Tower," as I did on the final improvisation, or, at one point midway through it, bits of my own songs from the past, such as the beginning of "The Dial Is in the Bathroom," along with its concomitant piano melody, or "Black Nail"), but those things, too, always happen spontaneously. Nothing was pre-planned here apart from which instruments and effectors I chose to use and which to leave at home (for example, I played neither the acoustic nor electric guitar, nor did I get behind the drums, which I sometimes do). The backing tracks/video projections of course have to be planned in advance, but in the case of this session, I had utilized this particular set of backing tracks for the first time ever. In fact, I wanted to see what would happen before my next "electronic" show on August 29. I am not yet sure whether I will do all/none of the set with video, or just go on stage and do a 30 minute-long improv without them. Maybe some combination thereof. Thirty minutes flies by as if it were five or ten for me.
At 1:45 I started to draft a comment about my enthusiasm to listen to you and your muse. Something held my dialogue. The Tower. My word I'm only 3:50 in and looking for a seat belt. Thanks again captain I'm going for a swim 🫡
"smoke colored sludge funk" is something that popped in my brain listening. A genuine taste of delicious madness.
Hi @Madgura. I always really appreciate your interest and enthusiasm, both for the talks and for the music. "The Tower," a recent composition I wrote and recorded in my room/home studio, ended up being a sort of theme that ran throughout the session. Glad you are enjoying the waves, as choppy as they tend to get at times...
@@Madgura Maybe better than "smoke-colored sludge fudge" at least... (?) ;)
@@MarcLowe So after taking my listen I have a question. Is your creative process one where you feel as if you perform the entire time or do you initiate the process and let creation happen? Or do you have a different experience with creating?
@@Madgura When I am using backing tracks, as in the first part of this session, they, along with the visuals (when I have access to a projector -- here I simply layered them in during the editing process), create a sort of "frame" upon/within which to perform the improvs and/or "songs," as with "The Tower" or my reinterpretation of David Bowie's "Hallo Spaceboy." As for the improvisations you see in this video where I am not using any backing tracks or visuals -- everything after the first 30 minutes, basically -- they (the improvs) lead me, or, rather, I just sort of get out of the way of things and let the music happen. If I wanted to be more "metaphysical" about it, I would say something like, "I allow myself to become a vessel for the sound," or "I allow whatever comes to me at each moment to just flow out of me," or something like that...
Many viewers/people in general might, perhaps, object to this way of describing the process/experience, but it's actually pretty close to this, I think...and yet, it is very difficult to describe and would be impossible to "teach" anyone else how to do, since this is simply *my* process/my way, or at least it is at this moment in my development. The style/s you see here very much developed over a period of time, several years just experimenting with different ways of trying out things and coming up with different/new ideas. A lot of it may be thanks to all of my "alone time" since Covid here in Tokyo. There is no set "method" or "rules" to this form of music/sound-making, or at least none that I am savvy enough to be able to "codify" in any way, unfortunately. I can't market it to anyone, and it doesn't get me any bitcoins or fancy meals at fancy restaurants.
There are, at times "starting points" that come to my mind for these improvisations, certain vocal themes I might begin singing (such as parts of "The Tower," as I did on the final improvisation, or, at one point midway through it, bits of my own songs from the past, such as the beginning of "The Dial Is in the Bathroom," along with its concomitant piano melody, or "Black Nail"), but those things, too, always happen spontaneously. Nothing was pre-planned here apart from which instruments and effectors I chose to use and which to leave at home (for example, I played neither the acoustic nor electric guitar, nor did I get behind the drums, which I sometimes do). The backing tracks/video projections of course have to be planned in advance, but in the case of this session, I had utilized this particular set of backing tracks for the first time ever. In fact, I wanted to see what would happen before my next "electronic" show on August 29. I am not yet sure whether I will do all/none of the set with video, or just go on stage and do a 30 minute-long improv without them. Maybe some combination thereof. Thirty minutes flies by as if it were five or ten for me.