Context Free Sound

An experiment in responses to artificially anonymised music. Different people in different cities around the world listen to the same piece of music and respond.

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On holidays!

We're on summer holidays for a short while. Back to scheduled broadcast in August-ish.

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This week's track was a slice of German disco from 1977. Mandy B Jones' 1,2,3,4 (We Ain't Got Much Time).

MBS (Sydney): "This track sounds most like a cover of a 70s disco tune – noting here that I profess only a selective interest in disco music, so I’m lost trying to think who might have originally been responsible for the song, if it is a cover. The aesthetic giveaway, of course, is the classic disco string sound, zing-zanging all about the place with a punchy insouciance that creates a brilliant contrast to the plucky acoustic guitar riff and the breathy female vocal. Probably a relatively recent release, my guess is that it was the last thing recorded for the band’s album (the hidden ‘joke’ cover song track) and now everyone’s decided it has to be the single (if such a thing exists anymore). Fun and enjoyable, a bit of party music really – not for serious consumption."

BC (Wellington): "Foot tappin’ syncopated beats that break out into a 70s string arrangement (which harks back to the string arrangements of songs like Le Freak by Chic) and accompanied by some orgasmic moaning in the background. An interesting mix of elements, make for a catchy pretty catchy pop tune."

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This week's track was Black Paladins by Joseph Jarman. Jarman was a multi-insturmentalist with the Art Ensemble of Chicago and here is plays saxophone with percussionist Don Moye. The spoken word from Jarman is a recitation of Henry Dumas' poem.

AC (Sydney): "I studied poetry for many years, so I happen to know the text of this piece - Henry Dumas. For the first 30 seconds I thought it was being performed by the Last Poets, but I don't think they ever had much more than a drummer as musical backing. I do really love a lot of this spoken word performance that came directly or indirectly out of the Black Panther movement -- the Last Poets and the Watts Prophets, some of Gil Scott-Heron's work too. It's lyrically so powerful and also challenging, I often wonder to myself what my place is, if any, as a white listener to this music/poetry -- I become a kind of eavesdropper on black power. These artists were such important forerunners to rap, but are not often popularly acknowledged as such. This track is really only a minute of spoken word, though, before the jazz takes over. I don't know much about jazz but I like what I hear. It's loose but purposeful. Who's the drummer, I wonder? Who's the saxophonist? The music seems to enact the text: "We shall be riding dragons in those days/Black unicorns challenging the eagle". A free-jazz attack upon the racial and rhythmic restrictions of white America."

PH (Sydney): "At first I thought I was listening to Saul Williams, but not for long. It began to sound more like something, more Beat poetry than rap, with live musical backing . . . And lo and behold, we launch into some kind of free jazz groove. It's not something I'm going to be able to identify. I have a higher threshhold for this kind of stuff than I used to - but I still have a sneaking suspicion that I don't see the point when it's all just chaos and the sax is squalling away. I'm fine with squalling sax when it's teamed up with garage rock sonic assault a la Matts Gustafsson, but find it harder here . . . I'm still guessing this is older than Matts or John Zorn's music. Maybe not '60s but '70s."

MBS (Sydney): "Spoken word as a prelude to some late bebop sounding jazz? Haven’t heard it this good since Branford Marsalis and Buckshot le Fonque. This track leans more into the left-field than Buckshot though,  as the straight lines pretty quickly veer into some fusion bass a la Jaco Pastorius, before busting into a free jazz, drum dominated breakdown. Squawking saxophones go to war in the battle of the crazy solo that almost leaves for dead the Wolfgang Dauner free jazz album I (coincidentally) had playing this afternoon. The mash-up of references makes me think that this is relatively recent, as does the very clean production. Not for everyone, if you needed to clear the floor this might do it for you – but I definitely dig it, very keen to find out more…."

SL (London): "Ah ! The joys of the compilation album. In 1968 I bought a sampler album called Rock Machine Turns You On which introduced me to the joys of an eclectic mix of artists including Moby Grape , Spirit , The Peanut Butter Conspiracy and Blood Sweat and Tears .... I already knew about Dylan , Cohen and Taj Mahal ! The Art Ensemble of Chicago was drawn to my attention on a compilation called Universal Sounds of America from  Soul Jazz released in 1995 ... I recognise on this track the amazing saxophone of Joseph Jarman but with other players and a tune I do not know!" 

BC (Wellington): "Finally.. some jazz! This piece is by American jazz artist Joseph Jarman  -  and begins with a verse from a Henry Dumas poem. This piece is interesting – it starts off after the poem sounding  like quite a standard (if contemporary) jazz piece then breaks into a free flowing section of improvisation then back into something a bit more structured Listening to this piece makes me picture a smoky, crowded jazz bar in the 60s , even though this piece was composed in more recent times. Recently, I saw the  film ‘The Connection’ (1961), by Shirley Clark which has a great jazz soundtrack and this piece brings to mind that film."

KTC (Sydney): "I thought at first this was The Last Poets but now I think not. I know embarrassingly little about early spoken word considering I think of myself a hip hop fan. Like The Last Poets, this piece hits my soul with the goodness of jazz and the curiosity to know more about the people that speak this truth."

KH (Melbourne): "I thought it was will.I.am's voice at first. Ha ha, then I was feeling a Spike Lee film, like Mo Better Blues. It was like I could see a small stage, in a small room with red velvet walls and yellow stage lights. I think that I would like this piece more if it was in a film context. I really don't get jazz; maybe if I was drinking red wine; but I'm not musical."

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Meet SL from London. SL is one of our weekly listeners and so I asked a few questions . . . 

Q - Tell me about your preferred music listening setup/environment. 

My preferred music set up is at the end of a needle. I have many records which I play. I do not like - in fact I dislike -the word "collect". For the past four or five years I have been restricting my purchases to 7" singles - they are easier to carry about and play out! 

At home I play my records on a Vestax or Numark battery powered turntable, historically through a BlockRocker although I have just treated myself to a JamBox which is easier to carry about! I have an "audio in" socket in my car so I can plug in my turntable and play on the roadside - people do not dance without a dance floor so I have gaffer tape to create one on the pavement! 

Q - What's your earliest memory of actively listening to music?

My earliest memories of "actively" listening to music are probably as a 4 or 5 year old in my grandparents front room. Either listening to 78's on their radiogram - Fats Waller , Artie Shaw and Caruso spring to mind - or my father playing the St Louis Blues on the piano. Fast forward to me as a seven year old playing my drum, yes drum, a red sparkle snare that belonged to my cousin who disappeared one day with the Hare Krishna movement never to be heard from again, along to the Top of The Pops on television in the early 60's. My first concert was The Beatles Christmas Show in 1964 at the Hammersmith Odeon!

Q - What's your favourite record with the worst/most inappropriate cover art?

My favourite record with the most inappropriate cover art is, without doubt, my copy of John and Yoko's Two Virgins which my father "found" when looking round the deserted Apple Corps Shop in Baker Street for a property developer client in the summer of '68 .

Q - What's your least favourite record you bought because of great cover art or sleeve notes?

The first record I bought because of the cover art was Pink Floyd's Umma Gumma - not the front sleeve but the back with all of the bands gear laid out. At the time I did not get the music - the Floyd had moved on from watching Emily play but I was 15 and clean - by 17 I totally got it !

Q - You are a vinyl lover, so tell me what you look for when you go record shopping? 

Record shopping - it's instinct. I seldom listen to a record in store. I trust implicitly Nigel and the girls behind the counter at Rough Trade West, Eli at Oye Records in Berlin and Chris at Northside Records in Melbourne. I make mistakes and learn from them and sometimes I buy the same record twice - that's "white label" for you! You have to be quick - the good ones come in limited runs and when they are  gone they are gone. I will not buy second hand - that's "cheating"!

Q - Now music is primarily digitally distributed, what do miss most? And what do you think has improved?

Being contrary I let the digital music thing drift slowly by. In fact I think that the quality of vinyl is improving, "cult" labels such as Fruit de Mer are pushing out great cover versions and the promo/DJ use only stuff always gets toes tapping. The joy of playing my vinyl out and about is that invariably the "punters" will not have heard my version before and Shazam will be of no use to them whatsoever !

Moi ? Je ne regrette rien ! 

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This week's track was Roy Budd's The Thief taken from his 1975 soundtrack for Diamonds, a b-grade heist movie. As with most Budd soundtrack work, it has been much-sampled - Wu Tang, Prince Paul, even LTJ Bukem.

As befits a soundtrack element, it is super short and its sonic qualities clearly defined its context. Easy pickings for our listeners this week although fewer respondents this time too.

PH (Sydney): "This is nice but seems a bit insubstantial. At only 2 minutes it feels like a small piece of a bigger work, and it is a bit soundtrack-like. It reminds me a bit of Future Sound of London's latest Amorphous Androynous stuff, The Cartel, which is a slightly-electronic take on '70s spy/heist movie funk soundtracks. But here there's not much more than a skittery beat, bassline and some big band/brass instrument samples. I like it but it seems not very notable."

KTC (Sydney): "Way too short. Felt like it was just getting going. I do love a tuba. Outtake from a Bond Movie soundtrack or The Avengers. Need to get my spy outfit on and sneak around the house. Fun."

SL (London): "Jaws on speed ! #Book'emDanno"

DJO (British Columbia): "Sometime after midnight a very sleek sports car the color of a starless night materializes next to me. An impeccably groomed secrete agent very slowly turns his head to look through me and revs his engine just enough to make the hairs rise on the back of my neck. There are no other cars at this isolated cross road. He revs again but i suddenly realize the light will never change."

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This week's track was Except Memories by Insa Donja Kai recorded for Berlin label Sonic Pieces.

Taken from the album Insomnie Joyeuse, this Berlin trio's debut album is described in the press release as;

With Kai Angermann on percussion and Insa Schirmer and Donja Djember on cello, there is an uncompromising peculiarity to the trio's sound. And yet while such a combination is unusual to come across, the fragile beauty is undeniable. Angermann's breathy, subtle drumming adds a refined texture to the recordings, and works as a perfect backbone as the dueling cellos soar and plummet overhead. Far from a mere collection of exercises, 'Insomnie Joyeuse' moves us through the three musicians' passions; from haunted cinematics, through heart-wrenching melancholia to chiming explorations into shimmering gamelan-inspired magnificence.

Cellos always seem to evoke similar emotions in listeners and this one was no exception. 

SL (London): "A Solo Cello will always wrench my gut , bringing the anguish that comes with Pablo Casals rendition of Kol Nidre ... and that's where this piece starts my journey ... but then the muted percussion comes in and takes emotions to a more hopeful place ... then a second cello joins the conversation ... and I am not alone."

BC (Wellington): "This piece definitely sounds contemporary to me. It starts off  sounding quite melancholy but soon changes to something way more dramatic (like a number of other pieces that we’ve been presented with which have had dramatic changes in tempo or mood). The piece makes me think that it could be a piece of music  that could accompany a dance piece, perhaps about the tumultuous relationship between a couple? Maybe I overanalysing a tad."

KH (Melbourne): "I'm guessing that this is a cello? I'm wondering if it has been amplified to have a kinda electric sound. It's not really a happy piece; can cello's ever though sound anything other soulful and retrospective. In a film this piece would play in the 'conflict' stage which could be a period of loss, or death. "

PH (Sydney): "Cello! Very nice too . . . The sul pont effects (scratchy harmonics being introduced) point to either improvisational or folk styles. Combined with the percussion, with wobbling pitch shifts and only a subtle pulse if any, it could be drawing from Asian music. I think it's probably a composed work from the contemporary classical world though. The drums could even by kettle drums?"

MBS (Sydney): "This one is definitely something that sits firmly in my interest and I would be very interested to hear  / see this performed live. A Kronos Quartet influence can be readily detected in the string playing and what appears to be the desired timbre for the work. As an individual work, the track itself also has a distinct flavour – contemporary experimental string playing arcing over snatches of African drumming and percussion. Not for everyone but definitely some attractive sounds and clever textural tricks woven into the arrangement. Probably brand new, but I seem to get the age of tracks so wrong I’m sure this week will be no different.

KTC (Sydney): "I love the cello (it is a cello, right?) but not huge fan of the combination with the drums as I feel they detract from the power of the strings. Were they playing in different rooms without knowledge of what the other was playing? I'd like to hear just the strings in a big, old church in the middle of winter."

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This week's track was Me at the Museum, You in the Wintergardens by New Zealand singer Tiny Ruins.

Taken from her new album Brightly Painted One (Spunk/Flying Nun/Bella Union), Hollie Fullbrook is joined by bassist Cass Basil and drummer Alexander Freer.

Not surprisingly a few people picked the tune straight away - and could immediately place its context.

BC (Wellington): "This one is by Tiny Ruins (Hollie Fullbrook) – a Kiwi artist and the song is called Me at the Museum, You in the Winter Garden and it’s off her recently released 2nd album. The acoustic guitar, and minimal instrumentation and vocals make the song sound intimate, bare and wistful The singer's voice seems quite familiar but yet I can’t quite pin it to any other female singer of this ilk.  Also seems quite reminiscent of the female folk singers of the late 60’s/70s like Sandy Denny etc."

SL (London): "Ha ! Ahead of the curve this time .... such a distinctive voice , fragile and immediately  recognisable if you have heard her sing just one bar before ... put on my radar in April by one of my favourite record stores in London , recently opened in New York ! Singing in London on Saturday ..... loving this track ...... I really should change my plans!"

KH (Melbourne): "Is it titled In the Winter Garden or at The Museum? I don't know, I don't normally like folky, solo, singer/guitarists, and female especially for some reason!  But there was a nice quirkiness to this little ditty that didn't seem to conform to traditional verse/chorus structure. It would acompany a young adult Indie film well I think."

KTC (Sydney): "A beautiful, timeless voice that could be from the 60s or from now. I'd expect a tune like this to be used in a indie flick about teenage angst set in Seattle. I'm not much of a fan of that picky, folky guitar but it is a pretty piece of music."

PH (Sydney): "This is really pretty. I don't know what the other CFS peeps will think of this but it's definitely my kind of thing, and I should probably know what it is. It's nothing unusual - but songwriting like this suits a simple guitar accompaniment and the lovely orchestrations in the background are subtle enough not to intrude. Her voice is pretty and some might suggest not that special in its tone or delivery, but I'm not generally fussed by that. I'd like to hear more. Thumbs up."

MBS (Sydney): "I’m immediately taken by the winsome vocal, so plaintive yet expressive. Lyrics like this make me feel stupidly sentimental for some reason (which makes me sound like an old codger, I realise this), especially as the guitar line has a gorgeous retro feel about it, no doubt influenced by the pretty low key production. Another one of these tracks where age is deceptive – could be a Seventies track, could be brand new – but its irrelevant in this case, as the clear musicality is easily appreciated. Short and sweet too."

DJO (British Columbia): "After 11 plays = producer fail. This track and that voice …that voice …was made for so so much more! The love and loss is lost, rather killed, by such a flaccid feel good cozy barn prop yard kiddy show performance. The talent is obviously there but beat down and tired, or just bored(is that a genre now?). Yet her voice has the rough diamond sound. Like an old clarinet, wood, reed, smoke. Get that girl some food, a coffee and a heart to heart about bein real up in the feel… "how would T. Rex do this track? Or Rodriguez?(obviously without his producers!) …no no no!! Don't do it like them just think about it. hello?" …or "do you mind if i throw this pitcher of ice water into your face and slap you on both cheeks?" And when she's all fired up get out of the way and oh yah be sure the tape is rolling. This ended up as easy jazz next to the museum gift shop register. But like anything easy its hard to love."

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When music is divorced from its subcultural context, it suffers from the meaning-deficit that vitiates all art-for-art’s-sake activity.

Simon Reynolds, The Wire, Feb 2013

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This week's track was Ninos du Brasil's raucous Essenghelo Tropical. 

Released on Hospital Productions, usually associated with bleak electronics, drone and black metal, and a label emerging from the long lost NYC record store of the same name, Ninos du Brasil's EP from which this track comes is a bit of a surprise.

The press release for the EP - 

Ninos Du Brasil is the Italian battery of Nicolò Fortuni and Nico Vascellari. ‘Novos Mistérios’ follows their debut LP for La Tempesta International/Tannen Records with an acutely stripped down blend of mostly “live” recorded percussion and explorative electronic sound design.

The project, and album, is a radical inversion and consolidation of the duo’s respective backgrounds in performance art, punk bands Inspired by the febrile humidity and sensory overload of Brasilian carnival music, they temper layeres of roiling, propulsive percussion with electronic drones, effects and tribalist vocals to militant, hypnotic effect. Six tracks charge between technoid polymetrics, kinky minimalism and meditative ritual with particular focus on rhythmelodic cadence and carefully constructed atmospheres of festive evil.

What does the context of the record label releasing music play in its interpretation and reception? What subcultural pigeonholing still works when music now circulates so easily? Ninos du Brasil's next 12" is coming out on James Murphy's DFA Recordings.

PH (Sydney): "Tribal! When the beat comes in I like the overdriven kick/bass under the rest of the percussion. Again, it's interesting being context-free so I can't tell where these vocals are from, although hearing it on the radio would be the same. I'm guessing South American? Listening to the words and trying to comprehend them is making me think of Adriano Celentano's Prisencolinensinainciusol... which is a bit unfair. Anyway, the shouty vocals are fun."

RT (Sydney): "Promising start for me. Deep bass / samba style percussion / loving it . . . then . . . the chanting ... make it stop! Instead of getting me up on the dance floor, it made me want to run out to the courtyard and seek solace in the soft trickle of the water feature. I was sure it would stop and the instrumental motifs be allowed to fly in open sky but, sadly, no. A crowded space it remained. Too much of the stressful chanting and not enough of the uplifting beats for mine . . . Perhaps says more about my state of mind than the quality of the track but there it is."

BC (Wellington): "Percussive… monotonous….unintelligible…."

MP (Sydney): "distant rhythms and echoes all converge into a pulse that hypnotises, energises and unifies into oneness"

MBS (Sydney): "Relentless, flowing drums – like those of an endless, joyous street parade – create the sound carpet for this track. And a comfortable, deep pile carpet it is too, making it difficult to not get caught up in the punctuating cowbells and slithering cymbals that keep the infectious tempo moving. The chanting vocals could easily be those of a real street carnival – simple, direct, repetitive enough for the revellers along the way. However after a few listens the vocals became distracting for me, seeming a bit too rough, abrupt perhaps, when compared to the smooth, slick percussion that structures the track. Hard to say the place and age of this music, although one could easily speculate that it emanated from some hardcore dance music movement from say ten or even fifteen years ago. Not a life changing track, but even for all its flaws it would quickly fill the floor."

DJO (British Columbia): "Some UK footy team got shipwrecked in northern Brazil 100 years ago. 100 years later they have the best pregame entertainment in the league. 6000 drummers and a vocalist with a coconut megaphone. A big dude in a grass dress and "909" emblazoned across his t-shirt beats a elephant sized kettle drum. Instead of the wave the crowd does the bump until the barricades bust and the playing field is overrun with wild naked dancing that doesn't stop 'till the new moon."

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This week's track was Rashomon from Golden Teacher.

Released by Glasgow's Optimo on their own label, the press copy said,

Golden Teacher started life as a studio collaboration between Glasgow’s noise punk trio, Ultimate Thrush and Glasgow’s all analogue house duo, Silk Cut. The results of their collaboration turned the ears of all who heard them, not least Twitch who after one listen asked if he could release the project on Optimo Music label.

Recorded live, direct to tape at Glasgow’s legendary Green Door studios with minimal overdubbing and editing, the tracks feature various associates of the band contributing vocals and additional percussion. It’s a little hard to describe Golden Teacher’s sound (always a good thing in our book) but imagine Arthur Russell’s Dinosaur L jamming with Bobby O, K Alexi Shelby, Liaisions Dangereuses, Imagination, some voodoo drummers and Sly & Robbie. It is in our opinion one of the most original and wildest records to come out of anywhere in 2013. We like to call it hypno-psych voodoo groove.

(Optimo Music)

So over to our ears who heard this devoid of context.

JS (San Francisco): "In 2014 I think they call this Heterodisco.  Bauhaus-y vox with an on trend mystical / cult vibe styled lyrics. Pretty sure it white guys doing latino / afro feels collaborating with the "needs more cowbell" quartet playing "needs more cowbell"  I can imaging the 7" coming with artisan sleeve and limited to 666 copies. "

PH (Sydney): "It's interesting that it does make a difference not to know whether this is from the 1980s or now . . . While I'm not generally a fan of the 4/4 kick drum, I don't actively dislike this. The vocals are interesting but are no better indicator of whether it's from now or old. Makes me think for some reason of Wolfgang Press. This kind of music has the sort of elemental characteristic of electronic music, of gradual layering (in and out) - a la David Holmes' mix of Sabres of Paradise's Smokebelch 2 . . . The fidgety bassline is an aspect I can't place. The beat's made of obvious drum machine sounds, cowbell and such - all sounds that I would avoid like the plague if I was making a track. The bassline is evolved through via knob-twiddling, so it's probably a famous analogue synth bass but also not one I would choose to use . . . But I do quite like the vocals and they make the whole thing passable."

SL (London): "Nurtures (?) the dream .... Rashomon .... standing at the gate ... what he sees is what he smells ... the #Context is in the lyric ... the film is a Kurusowa masterpiece ... the music is forceful and driving ... somehow pushing to an inevitable conclusion ... yet the suspense hangs ..."

DJO (British Columbia): "Funky acid house techno tickles my balls till my ass starts to notice… but then homie with the mic, just like a bad d&b mc 80's at the neck machismo, has pissed on the vibe like some drunk fuck letching around the dj booth trying to usurp any syrup he can pour on himself. 303 just gave up and 909 kick went home alone cause trap'o'matic is slopping time all over the shop and the weak as bass line busts out in a way that makes everyone back away and gasp. As one the entire audience stops dancing and decides its time to go out on the deck and have a smoke. One says to another(between cowbells) "you know this might have been fresh in '87"

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This week's (epic) track was Alone Again With The Dawn Coming Up by Apparition.

Available for free download, this long mix/cutup is a homage to The KLF's all time classic ambient album Chill Out. Recorded in 2001, it chops up film dialogue and various electronic music to conjure up a dark journey. Apparition now records as Black Swan and has his catalogue available on Bandcamp.

DJO (British Columbia): "I remember walking into my first chill out room at a warehouse rave in 1991. There was a freedom in the sound and no stage to orientate judgment. The sound came from the system though the dj thing was over in the corner working away like a busy beaver. clearly meant as a place to chill from all the dancing, the sound took on a kind of cinematic landscape moving in an intangible direction scooping us along full of surprises like looking out the window of a train in the swiss italian alps where the window on a river scene is whipped away by the flashing lights down the black of a tunnel only to pop out into a completely different valley a few seconds later. The rules here are different. Is an ocean in tune? What scale does a black bird sing? Is the wind in the trees or the trees in the wind? These are the rules of music concrete which is to say there aren't any. Running around the edge of our conciseness the sounds poke fun at our memories our associations, our assumptions. This track is concrete wrapped up like a eary 90's dj's chillout set"

SL (London): "Listened to this three times now and still not made it to the end  ... Hypnotic .. On the shore with a shell against my ear ... The waves rolling towards me ... Then sleep ... Listened to this four times now and woke up just as the spaceship was landing on the bed ... And it woke the seagulls too ... Then silenced them!"

KH (Melbourne): "I stopped at 21:30 because I had to use my phone. I'm wondering... Is it a homage to a film?"

MBS (Sydney): "I plundered a few dictionaries to discern the best definition of the word ‘epic’ – the most apt description for this track. In my mind, the epic being an ‘extended narrative poem’ connected well with the length of the track, the moodscapes, and the returns made to the initially established ambient motifs. Even more relevant though, especially on second listening, is that an epic celebrates the feats of a demigod, deity or hero. The track certainly has the expansive feel of a Kubrick soundtrack, a Pink Floyd or Massive Attack conceptual intro/outro or most of Jean Michel Jarre’s output, with the spectre of the Wagnerian ‘super-man’ and his story hovering in various guises – the concentrated, declamatory organ sounds, sampled voices and diving bass lines equally propelling the tale possibly being told. Parts of this are inherently compelling whilst other sections slip into soundtrack territory, sounding a little lost without a plot as an anchor." 

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Great short video on how the chance discovery of an old track in YouTube in one context (post-grime 2014), leads down a deep wormhole to a completely other context (NYC vogue scene 1998) and back again.

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This week's track was Dama Dam Mas Qalandar (The Sound of Wonder) performed by M. Ashraf with Ahmed Rushdi. 

This performance is from the 1970s film Dekha Jaye Ga, one of the many hits to come from the Lahore film industry nicknamed Lollywood.

The song is an ancient spiritual in praise of Sufi saint Lal Shahbaz Qalander and has been versioned many times in both Pakistan and India.

I first discovered this version through the excellent Finders Keepers compilation The Sound Of Wonder! Rare Electronic Pop From The Lollywood Vaults 1973-1980. There's a fantastic fan-made YouTube clip that combines the song with Sesame Street's Grover to great effect.

This week we had quick responses!

BC (Wellington): This song sounds like it’s from some 70s Bollywood movie. It has some interesting instrumentation firstly starting off sounding quite industrial beginning with syncopated percussion then progressing to a quirky sound with the vocals and a mixture of different instruments. It’s hard tell what they are - accordion? Horns? Synthesizers? it’s sung in English. then again is it? It sounds like a mixture of English and some other language. It’s an unusual arrangement compared to Western ones and not one that I would say follows expected Western rules of composition. It’s as real mishmash. A mixture of middle eastern perhaps? Indian? A song of contrasts but quite catchy.

MBS (Sydney): Quirky – now that’s an understatement for this track! Perhaps this is a song straight off a Bollywood movie soundtrack – story-like lyrics, English intermingled with a foreign language that could be Hindi, super-weird 70s synthesiser sounds clanging with odd guitar riffs, echo-ey handclaps in the fade out as if from some ‘audience’ in the film … Every one of the many (!) verses threatens to lurch into a different style of music altogether, with such a strange array of novelty sounds and effects peppering the track. It’s quite a challenge trying to work out how old this track is – in conventional terms, the song could be anywhere between 30 and 50 years old – but the clumsy production “qualities” could be fooling me too. Musically the track doesn’t enlighten me terribly, but I’m sure in the context of the film I’m imagining it to be in, it would successfully illuminate the love story being told.

SL (London): Joyful in so many ways ... #Tuneful #Lyrical #MakesMeWantToDancical

DJO (British Columbia): "Martin Denny goes to Bollywood and its freaking me out. Did i just crash a wedding?… can you back up with that triangle dude!…Though i do like your synthi chops …but no I'm not going to sing with you.. Ohh fuck my date just started dancing! Ok when are you gonna start clapping?… Ohhh yah there you go! Let me out of here before i start  grinning and bouncing with the rest of this circus act!"

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This week's track was Study No. 2: An Approximate Series of Approximate Harmonic Series by Seth Horvitz. 

Taken from his Eight Studies for Automatic Piano album it, 

makes use of simple, computer-aided compositional processes to test the limits of human perception and machine precision. It relies on a bare minimum of technical means to explore notions of temporal distortion, iterative process, and elegant complexity. Presented in an immersive concert setting without the presence of a human performer, Eight Studies questions traditional notions of live performance and musical “life.”

Horvitz also records under several pseudonyms and is best known for his work as Sutekh. There's a great interview with him from 2012 in France which is worth watching. 

When he came and played in Sydney in the early 2000s he was just beginning his explorations of the piano and I remember his commitment, even on tour, to tracking down practice studios.

This week's responses are interesting in the context of what the track actually was. Everyone picked up on something being slightly off-kilter about it.

BC (Wellington, NZ): "When I first listened to the beginning of this piece I was trying to analyse the sounds – are there 2 pianos or just one? On one hand it sounds quite traditional in its structure and then again quite contemporary. Then I listened to the piece more. It evoked for me the build-up of a short summer rain storm. Starting off with that burst of rain you get (illustrated by the long flourishes of notes that are played in the beginning of the piece) then slowly petering off to the rain drops hitting the window and rolling down the window as the storm ends (represented by the introduction of the shorter notes played amongst the flourishes which then disappear and then you’re left with singular notes towards the end). I rather liked this one!

SL (London): "#Virtuoso #Clinical #Cold #NeedsDrugs (Acid - preferably bad ! The musician ... not me !)"

NS (Sydney): "This is an intricate score. Full of drama and psychological story telling. A piece performed perhaps for a theatre or contemporary dance work? I think those would be the only contexts in which I could fully appreciate a sound such as this."

KH (Melbourne): "I'm not sure about this track. The first half was more appealing on the second round of listening. On the whole though it made me feel a little mentally confused, especially trying to focus on individual parts; I felt like I couldn't and then I likened the experience to a mental illness. Was this proper piano playing or the kind that I would do and I felt like it sounded kinda sophisticated. Does that matter? I could imagine that it would accompany some images well. I don't think though that I would ever think, oh I might just pop on that tinkerly piano track."

MBS (Sydney): "This piece conjures of memories of competing at piano competitions. There would always be someone who chose to play some ridiculous, hyper-virtuosic, ‘new music’ sounding work. As if this demonstrated edginess… unfortunately I cannot divorce these thoughts from this track. Undoubtedly the person / composer performing this week’s track is very skilled. But the range of expression is loud, louder, even louder. And the composition sounds like Hanon, Dohnanyi, and Czerny having a mash-up session."

DJO (British Columbia): ""Chico Marx got booked in the wrong club. He was fed Magic Mushrooms and green tea for his hot meal and told he had to improvise. The audience took turns throwing grapes which he deftly caught in his mouth while playing...playing he didnt know what. His eyes laughing, coat tails swinging, grapes and fingers flying, and then, when the grapes ran out, slowing till finishing like the last efforts of a wind up toy."

KTC (Sydney): "I find the rawness of unfiltered piano to be quite honest music; the personality and emotion of the player is transparent and exposed. I kept thinking about Picasso when listening to this. I assume the musician is an accomplished classical player who has eschewed traditional skills to explore the outer edges of what is possible with the medium. Just as Picasso (an accomplished traditional painter) did when exploring Cubism."

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This week's track was 23 Lashes by Rrose.

Rrose is a US electronic musician who has been an important part of the resurgence of American techno first with releases on Sandwell District and later on Rrose's own Eaux label and Stroboscopic Artefacts. Playing with Duchamp-inspired pseudonymity, Rrose performs live in disguise and says

I prefer to think of it as crafting a new identity rather than distorting the old. Anyone who wants to know my "real" identity is welcome to email me privately, but I respectfully request that members of RA not post information here or on other message boards. I'm not trying to remain anonymous per se, just trying to occupy a tidy, humble place on the internet and keep the project as self-contained as possible. 

(Resident Advisor interview 2012)

In Playground Magazine, Richard Briophy argues that the new embrace of the early 90s 'faceless techno bollocks' represents a concious shift away from 'celebrity DJs' but also a move towards putting sounds over image first.

This week's track wasn't to everyone's taste and the lack of context and information played to the intentions of the artist behind it. 

DJO (British Columbia):"The driving momentum of the minimal cuts through the historical quark soup. A plastic and alien soundtrack to the histories of the world becomes free from them. A force field. We are all foreigners with a voyagers heart thumping and pulsing, seeming one, being all together on the dance floor with our references gladly shed at the door. Every single synthetic drum beat is born bit by bit at each beat and bar for us to float or land on. The air between classic Roland synthesis and the air between ourselves is also music, also shape. A freight train on the rails of hope or just plain home grown sober unity. Of course our ancient souls free up together at once and at the same time, as if magically, from our ancestors known and unknown and unknown unknown, treachery.  Free your ass and your mind will follow is an understated shift in paradigm"

SL (London): #Countdown #Suspense #TexasChainSaw #KillerBees 

MBS (Sydney): This track I found too repetitive, too elemental and rather flat in the production. ‘Twas the same eight bars over and over, the only points of difference being the knob twiddling and bar sliding that allowed the more prominent sounds to wax and wane across the unrelenting bland beats. No amount of darkened room or super-dooper headphones could save this for me, sadly. I sincerely hope that this isn’t by an artist I usually enjoy.

KH (Melbourne):  Interesting. Beats. Heartbeat beats, pulse beats racing, dis-cor-dant  The journey of life. Or jumping out of an aeroplane? Or Just Beats

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However, despite the intimate setting of the Cloisters chapel, where the sandy-hued bricks and religious art instantly instilled a quiet contemplation, most people seemed to prefer to experience “The Forty Part Motet” with their eyes closed. Few even walked around while I was there, instead selecting a space at the center or a place by a lone speaker and then closing themselves into their own world with the music. Nevertheless, even with eyes shut, there is still the transporting experience of the Cloisters around you, so that when you open your eyes you’re not just suddenly pulled out of this meditation into a white museum gallery where you will wander next to art that may have very little to do with the sound installation, but instead move to another work that has that same reverential history.

http://hyperallergic.com/93177/music-for-a-solemn-space-the-first-contemporary-art-at-the-cloisters/

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This week's track was Fountain of Light by David Åhlén.

Released in 2009 on Swedish label Compunctio, it comes from David Åhlén's debut solo album We Sprout In The Soil. The album was a surprise when it landed in my letterbox in Sydney for reviewing and has recently been followed by an equally delicate sequel.

At the time of its release, the PR materials contextualised David's work; 

David grew up playing classical violin and listening to hymns. As a son of a Baptist minister he began to sing and perform in his father’s church at the age of three. As a teenager he started to write songs and play in different popbands. After moving to Stockholm in 1995 he founded Namur (R.I.P.) with his brother Tobias. Namur released one EP and three full-length albums. They toured Europe and US with their apocalyptic dance-rock. David Åhlén is now current with his new acoustic solo project, only bringing his nylon guitar and his angel voice as instruments.

This week everyone got pretty close to the piece despite its brevity.

SL (London) - #Fragile #Minimal #Pure #Acoustic #GooseBumps

KTC (Sydney) - If Matthew Herbert and Antony Hegarty were monks in an Italian monastery in the 15th century, then church music would have been this cool.

NS (Sydney) - Bass and voice. A minimalist love song. Scandinavian melancholy. Clean and complex.

BC (Wellington, NZ) - I like this one. It's stark, beautiful, intimate contemplative and melancholy. The falsetto of the vocalist and the lone bass player combine to create this mood. I can imagine the vocalist and bass player performing in a small lounge or parlour to a few people listening intently.

MBS (Sydney) - This track reminds me of an early Baroque arioso – both musically and lyrically…. maybe it’s even a contemporary reinterpretation, the melody and form is convincing enough to be as much.

A taut, sparse, sometimes bulging bass accompaniment forms the ostinato – repeatedly moving away and then back closer to the vocal line. The plaintive text reinforces a particular moment or emotion, a fragment of what could be a bigger story.

Is it part of a group of songs? It would make more sense if it was, and this would also fit with the Baroque connections.

DJO (British Columbia) - "I tried to understand the words but after eleven listens i still only had half the puzzle… gave up trying to understand, meaning being stole away by feeling. Sometimes we want to withdraw when the world seems overwhelmed by meanness, cruelty and raw dumb violence. And then a thing so frail small and beautiful quietly begins to sing which stops the world spinning and even the cyclops holds his breath to listen harder.

The year is 1640. If your balls aren't cut off you keep um in a cup.

She curls around her, locked high in a castle tower. Her lovers shoulders sobbing from the kings blows, a beautiful girl dumped in a fountain of light and pure water, and robbed of her youth. She shelters her with unconditional love, scarred by understanding. By the slit of a window the eunuch sees it all and unblinkingly sings their song true, bowing gently on a string."

MP (Sydney) -  dual voices  merge  pacing back and forth baroque courtly dancers give a gentle nod to their counterpart moving closer to form a tense yet clandestine union.