July 12ths

7/12/1995

(Brian Eno Diary)

“Howie’s mixes: baffling, some completely uninteresting (to me), then the occasional perfect gem. I think he has a completely different concept of what a record should be, for him a snapshot, for us a painting; for him a magazine article, for us a novel...Perhaps this requires partitioning the record.”

[7/12/2025: Whenever we engage with creativity it comes with a personal view, in this case metaphors: snapshot, painting, novel. How about a department store? Marcel Duchamp talked about “departments” in his various activities requiring a different mindset].   

7/12/1998

My definition of improvisation: taking set structures and using developed skills in rhythm, harmony and melody to create organized sounds that comport with the set structures in a listener’s brain.

7/12/2022

Ever since the Meddle album, much of Pink Floyd was a possible soundtrack for documentaries about environmental degradation and the collapse of civilizations. That’s interesting because the unease we feel is somehow vitiated by the media by letting us contemplate these topics from places of comfort.    

What I find most compelling about Waters as a songwriter is his “sincere profanity” mixed with a big-hearted “spirituality”. He really does care about people, minus the political rants. In some ways, stadium rock spectacles made political rally spectacles possible with all the visual bling. Roger Waters can have “constituents” just as much as politicians can have fans, and it’s all saying the same thing: “the world sucks and this is how I think we can make it better, so sit back and get comfortable and enjoy the show. You’re in good hands”

Waters is a bit like Slavoj Zizek: the philosopher who annoys all the right people. Or John Mearsheimer, who almost famously blames the West for all the geopolitical flashpoints; If Waters was native Chinese or if somehow the UK was an authoritarian regime would he have ever had the freedom to do what he does and says what he says and tell people to “f*ck off to the bar?”   

7/12/2024

Songday: Alert Fatigue, based on last year’s entry. This year it’s the collapse of democracy and collapse of civilization alerts, which I hope people are actually paying attention to.  

Alert Fatigue (7/12/2024) by meta4s