Week 50 12/15/19

Think ahead.  See ahead.

Freedom is a creative act.

Week 35 9/1/19

Creativity is far more rare than commonly understood.

This is because there is value on the one hand, and price on the other.  What is the cost of freedom in a free culture?  What is that which is priceless worth?

Week 20 5/20/18

Have you heard the term "avant-garde" lately?

Such is the unfortunate nature of a complacent culture, lacking in foresight and vision.  Nonetheless, one moves, and moves forward.

Ambimusica.com

Value and Respect

All cultural roles are available to the artist, for whom choice and responsibility are one.

One's duty is to one's art, not to social expectations, academic and cultural criticism, or the various "demands" of the public.

It is self-reliance, coupled with individual freedom, that makes this possible.

Pop Downturn, Reform Pop

What is know as the "popular imagination" conforms to a dull immediacy.

By "immediacy" I am referring to the dubious sense of urgency associated with the omnipresence of media.  The dullness, or lack of imaginative acuity, is the consequence of incessant repetition of the same ideas, beliefs, and social norms in opposition to the same "transgressive" perspectives, as if these latter were, in fact, of any consequence in comparison with expression of original, creative thought.  That is the state of culture, unless and until efforts are made to transcend the mundane, and those efforts recognized as essential to the idea of a forward-thinking civilization.

Equanimity and Tone

Light, space, and atmosphere are conducive to evolved thinking.

Sound in the aesthetic environment enhances, but does not dominate. This is the nature of refined, or, if you prefer, critical thought, in that it is self-sufficient, highly informed, tempered by experience, and internally motivated. Thus the composer rejects bombast and predictability, holding to a vision defined by intellectual curiosity and perceptual stimulation.

Élan Vital

The art of sound, as I see it, contributes to sustaining the light of reason.

The aesthetic moment is one of clarity of consciousness evoked through experience of art, and yet it is outside the awareness of all but a very few. Though it may be refined, and overanalyzed to an absurd degree, it is merely a moment of vigorous insight into life itself and the act of living with awareness and grace.

It is available to all, sparked by perception and cognition, unfettered by politics, identity issues, cultural disputations, or the influence of the juggernaut of digital mass media on the collective zeitgeist.

It requires nothing more than recognition of the contemplative means by which such understanding is conveyed.

Pause, reflect.  Listen, and hear.

Atmospheres for Imaginary Settings

Cultural conditioning sets limits that define music.

Certainly in free societies this does not have to be the case, and with knowledge and percipience come broader, more critical perspectives than those associated with predictable musical content.

In point of fact, very few listeners, songwriters, and composers take an interest in expansion beyond the generalized commercial and academic horizons, not because audiences would have no interest in such endeavors-- a lack of interest in musical genres and fashions, even the so called "refined" ones, declines precipitously as the listener moves further beyond adolescence-- but because the knowledge of advanced aural compositions, their aesthetics, and their purposes have yet to articulated properly to the public at large.  Ambient music, as defined by Brian Eno and others, has indeed been established as such, and with intellectual clarity according to its character.

But it is what I would call the sonic setting composition that is different in nature than ambient music, engaged, as it is, with the perceptions and consciousness of the listener, and created according to an entirely different paradigm. This requires analysis accordingly, and ultimately, a kind of introduction, via informed artists and individuals, into the broader cultural setting.  Otherwise one need expect no more than the perpetuation of the state of things in the musical arts.

Enigmatic Pursuit

New and unformed roots inevitably take hold.

When music and audience are altered irrevocably, pivotal changes transform expression of sound.

Commission

The Black Mountain School project creates sound environments.

These sound environments are designed to complement diverse settings by replicating the paradigms of spontaneously occurring aural phenomena, both "natural" and "man-made".  As such, these works are not predicated upon concepts that are traditionally "musical", but rather upon the perceptual qualities of active listening and passive hearing.  Such perspectives are associated with apprehension of tones, patterns, and myriad variations of sonic impressions, some based upon aesthetic constructs of the visual arts.

Peculiar methods and techniques necessary to compose sonic atmospheres of this nature originate solely with the Black Mountain School project and continue to be developed in our studio.  While the listener may detect a host of artistic influences, these are unavoidably displaced in the course of the work by the intent and goals of the compositions and recordings.  In objective terms, the discriminating listener will find no other "experimental" or "mainstream" productions that are analogous to the work of Black Mountain School.

Were it otherwise the case, the project would have no purpose, and no raison d'être.

Atemporal Music

Out of radio and recording technology emerged the three to four minute popular song.

Even so, modern innovations in technology and musical artistry extended the length of recorded works, highlighting the subtleties of composition and expression evident, by the mid to late nineteen fifties, in albums such as Miles Davis' Kind Of Blue.

Now, for composer and listener, time is of far less consequence, and the aesthetic of creative listening anticipates sound works reflecting the nature of these profound changes in both audio recording and the experience of music.

Minimal, Singular

Refer to Poe.  Every word contributes to desired total effect; those failing to do so must be excised.

Originality is more often a matter of removing, rather than adding content.  With sounds, one also manipulates imagery in the way of words, as connections to the imagination. 

Through ideas, juxtapositions, archetypes, emotions, tones, that is to say, all the systems and structures in the continuum of creative force, visions conveyed become visions inspired.

Fusion

Underground  minimalism.

These musical efforts have their origins in underground rock dating back to the late 1970's through the early '90's, when small music clubs proliferated in the Mid-Atlantic region of the U.S.  Magazines like Trouser Press, Matter, and the New Music Express gave some coverage to the scene, and ultimately some bands were esteemed by music critics and grew to be popular and successful in the mainstream.  My musical interests tended toward the experimental and improvisational, as reflected in the aforementioned journals' comparisons of recordings by groups I worked with to the Doors and the Velvet Underground.  Such press coverage was minimal; the groups were insignificant, except that they provided a great deal of experience in performing and recording, expanding my awareness of both cultural and technical ideas and processes.

As to nostalgia, that would be absurd.  I do recall one evening after a long rehearsal, relaxing and listening to an album titled Evening Star by Robert Fripp and Brian Eno, and becoming aware, with sudden certainty, that this music was, in terms of heightening intellectual and emotional awareness, far superior to anything possible with rock, jazz/fusion or otherwise, and that beside it rock and roll was, at best, boring. 

That moment made all that is under consideration here possible.

Shape-Shifting

There is always a distance between art and audience.

It is sometimes necessary to extend one's perspective beyond the limits of ones experience altogether and perceive from such an unexpected point of view.

In the deck of the Tarot, the card of The Hanged Man.

Upon Reflection

While designing a work of manipulated sounds the interest is focused on the process, and in large part it is the case that what might be generously called the composer's perspective-- fed by the familiar works that directly or indirectly influence the outcome of the sound design-- is not very apparent over the course of that process.  Later, following a number of times spent listening, some of those influences come to mind.

There are some basics informing all these Black Mountain School works, from general elements of sound and production to specific pieces.

Generally speaking, along with such works as Eno's Music for Airports and On Land, it is possible to perceive the impact of a variety of musicians and albums upon the sound and production qualities.  Among them are Pink Floyd's Ummagumma, Wendy Carlos' Sonic Seasonings, Roxy Music's For Your Pleasure, and the "atmospheric" qualities of such diverse albums as Miles Davis' Kind of Blue, Close To The Edge by Yes, Green River by Creedence Clearwater Revival, Azimuth by the group of the same name, Nat Adderley's Calling Out Loud, and a variety of tracks by The Doors, David Bowie, and The Velvet Underground.

Quite likely there are some elements of The Three Stooges in there as well.