Forum – Wk 5 – “Collaborations Pt 2”
Forum – Wk 5 – “Collaborations Pt 2” 2 9/03/07:
Luke Digance - Merce Cunningham, Sigur ros and Radiohead:
Stay on your toes people..
I’m not sure how I feel about the idea of composing music for dance. Maybe it’s because I’ve never truly understood dance as either an art form, or as a method of releasing the tension incurred through day-to-day life. Surely I’m missing out (possibly the consequence of my own inhibitions), but I’d rather ride my bike or something…The collaboration of Cunningham’s ‘Split Sides’ dance production and the two sophisticated but quite different musical entities of Radiohead and Sigur-ros, seems very much to reflect the implied meaning of the title. By this I am of course referring to the obvious contrast between the two musical compositions provided for the work. Splitting composition duties between two separate artists (and keeping their works separated through out a performance) is perhaps a directorial approach that I have witnessed from others in the past, but never really questioned or thought about. I found this to be the most interesting aspect of the work presented.
I thought it strange at first that Luke would present on a work he had not actually seen performed, but then the question arose: What if the presentation was about something from the distant past, before one’s time for instance? Therefore it stands up as a valid insight, in my opinion at least. After all, our esteemed history lecturers refer to performances from hundreds of years ago on a regular basis, with only dots on paper, post recording era audio, and modern day symphonic realisation to gain a sense of the original sound don’t they?
Note to all future presenters – if you’re going to have music playing in the background, turn the volume WAY down. It’s quite disorienting to try and determine the point someone is making, while music plays at conversation level in the same room (unless you’re at the pub of course).
Daniel Murtagh – Mike Patton:
Mr Bungle, rapid time changes, stylistic crossing insanity, hold on while I put up my savant guard…
These are the things that spring to mind when I hear Patton’s name, and there was plenty of music to substantiate this preconception on display today – except for that pop track from the California album, what was that all about? Mike showing off his versatility no doubt, and it was this infamous versatility that Daniel pointed out when asked the question: “What to people hope to experience from a collaboration with Patton?”
I did enjoy what I suspect was a vocal imitation of a guitarist torturing a floyd rose tremolo system, during the collaboration with John Zorn. The list of Patton’s musical exploits is enormous so I’ll end by saying I’m looking forward to a collaboration between Patton and David Lynch should it eventuate.
Darren Slynn – Steely Dan, Zappa and Weather Report:
This next sequence of notes will be analogous with tomorrow's temperature in Auckland..
I suspect an accomplished public speaker judging by his visible confidence, Darren’s presentation, while showcasing a lot of interesting information on the above mentioned musicians, seemed to fall short of identifying what I would consider to be a noteworthy or ‘abstract’ collaboration of sorts. After all isn’t rock and jazz combining with fusion really just rock and jazz combining with rock and jazz? I always thought of fusion as a combination of the first two by definition – correct me if I’m wrong, I’ve probably heard too much Frank Gambale.
Word count prevents further expressivity. Stop.
Alfred Essemyr – DJ’s and the artists they borrow from?
I must say, I’m not sure if this one qualifies as a collaboration in the truest sense of the word. However there were some interesting insights into the problems faced by DJ’s and other collage or scratch type artists, especially if they specifically want to work with vinyl. Australia is always last on the list for all things cool in the western world, isn’t it sad?
Reference:
Stephen Whittington. “Collaborations Pt 2”. Forum workshop presented at EMU space, 5th floor, Schultz building, University of Adelaide. 29th March 2007.
Alfred Essemyr. “Collaborations Pt 2”. Student project presented at EMU space, 5th floor, Schultz building, University of Adelaide. 29th March 2007.
Darren Slynn. “Collaborations Pt 2”. Student project presented at EMU space, 5th floor, Schultz building, University of Adelaide. 29th March 2007.
Daniel Murtagh. “Collaborations Pt 2”. Student project presented at EMU space, 5th floor, Schultz building, University of Adelaide. 29th March 2007.
Luke Digance. “Collaborations Pt 2”. Student project presented at EMU space, 5th floor, Schultz building, University of Adelaide. 29th March 2007.
Daniel Murtagh – Mike Patton:
Mr Bungle, rapid time changes, stylistic crossing insanity, hold on while I put up my savant guard…
These are the things that spring to mind when I hear Patton’s name, and there was plenty of music to substantiate this preconception on display today – except for that pop track from the California album, what was that all about? Mike showing off his versatility no doubt, and it was this infamous versatility that Daniel pointed out when asked the question: “What to people hope to experience from a collaboration with Patton?”
I did enjoy what I suspect was a vocal imitation of a guitarist torturing a floyd rose tremolo system, during the collaboration with John Zorn. The list of Patton’s musical exploits is enormous so I’ll end by saying I’m looking forward to a collaboration between Patton and David Lynch should it eventuate.
Darren Slynn – Steely Dan, Zappa and Weather Report:
This next sequence of notes will be analogous with tomorrow's temperature in Auckland..Word count prevents further expressivity. Stop.
Alfred Essemyr – DJ’s and the artists they borrow from?
I must say, I’m not sure if this one qualifies as a collaboration in the truest sense of the word. However there were some interesting insights into the problems faced by DJ’s and other collage or scratch type artists, especially if they specifically want to work with vinyl. Australia is always last on the list for all things cool in the western world, isn’t it sad?
Reference:
Stephen Whittington. “Collaborations Pt 2”. Forum workshop presented at EMU space, 5th floor, Schultz building, University of Adelaide. 29th March 2007.
Alfred Essemyr. “Collaborations Pt 2”. Student project presented at EMU space, 5th floor, Schultz building, University of Adelaide. 29th March 2007.
Darren Slynn. “Collaborations Pt 2”. Student project presented at EMU space, 5th floor, Schultz building, University of Adelaide. 29th March 2007.
Daniel Murtagh. “Collaborations Pt 2”. Student project presented at EMU space, 5th floor, Schultz building, University of Adelaide. 29th March 2007.
Luke Digance. “Collaborations Pt 2”. Student project presented at EMU space, 5th floor, Schultz building, University of Adelaide. 29th March 2007.
posted by David J Dowling @ 3:58 PM
3 Comments:
Here is the relatively clean pic of you. Probably time for a pic update anyway, methinks.
Nice work G-man, but what happened to the psychadelia? (everyone knows smoking's cool man)
Nice blog. Love the caption under the pic of Wayne Shorter.
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