Lee Barry Composition (And Photo) Diary

  An example of a re-use of other writing, in this case a response to a Quora post about sailing around the globe, then used as a metaphor for being "On the Road".  Frontiers by Lee Barry The Road by meta4s *** The AI versions. Horrible. This is an example where AI music just doesn't deliver. It's produced, as opposed to my bedroom version, but the music itself sucks. It doesn't understand 12/8 feel. The prompt: A 12/8 blues shuffle with a distinct Americana vibe, building intensity up until the outro vamp, trading solos on guitar and sax , R&B, Male Vocals, Choir, Harmonized Vocals, Bass, Drums, Electric Guitar, Piano, Organ, Saxophone, Keyboard, Steel Guitar  

  A "scoring" of Michael Heizer's "City" complex in Nevada. (Music For Places II) From a lecture by the art historian Kirk Varnedoe: "Part of my art is based on an awareness that we live in a nuclear era," Heizer says in an interview in 1984. "We're probably living at the end of civilization." His project in the Nevada desert, a great monumental series of abstract forms, equates the erosive force of centuries— the blunting of ruins and grand residues of past societies—with the explosive force of the present. He makes clear that Complex One is situated close to a nuclear blast site, and that its angled front wall is designed to serve as a blast shield, deflecting the power of a nuclear bomb." Heizer's elemental forms collapse time into a view colored by a millennial, almost apocalyptic sense of the present.  Lap Steel Mix:

   A jazz head composed mostly of add-2 chords.   Noondreams (9-22-1995) by meta4s   9/22/1995  For the Fall Equinox:

  I hate tpyos--especially when they're burned in, and it's the "single" on this album of music for miniature dioramas. ( More on this room )    

What I find particularly interesting about the second version is the vocal is just dummy lyrics--similar to what we do at the beginning of a song when we don't have words yet. The rhythm (or wordrum) is a repeating phrase or vamp that can have words filled in. The first version has a Talking Heads vibe, the second something Mark Hollis would do. Both paintings by Ed Paschke:  First (Title Unknown), Second "Caliente" *** This originally started as song-as-word-game, using pronouns, verbs, and words ending in -ated, and in this case alphabetical, set against a blues shuffle rhythm. There is no vocal (at least at this point), but the words create the rhythm of the piece. He got celebrated He got dedicated He got elevated He got fabulated He got infiltrated He got liberated He got militated He got negotiated He got occupated He got perpetrated He got repatriated He got substantiated    It's the final track on the Frontiers album. In the repeating phrase in t...

   The usual way that I work is to sit down with my songwriting diary, which is essentially an unorganized collection of song titles, lyric lines, and couplets, and I attempt to match them with what I'm noodling around on, or riffs I've already recorded to some extent. In this case it was a line of poem by A. Pushkin, quoted in Alexander Luria's book, The Mind of a Mnemonist , "Small Wonder, is it? Kharita". I notated the natural rhythms of the words as follows. The tune was extrapolated from that one seed. This is more of a placeholder lyric and different lyrics can be swapped out later.   

  One of my Composition Strategies is "Accretion", and that's what happened here. As I was reading Rebecca Solnit's A Field Guide to Getting Lost, specifically paragraph in the "Blue of Distance" chapter, jumped out as particularly musical. I already had some angular guitar music that I was noodling on and I married the two. Anything with the word blue in it compels me right into cool-school jazz. Edges Of Blue by meta4s

  I know this might seem maudlin, but it's fitting for our time. The first verse was actually inspired by magnet poetry, which I used in the studio to generate lyric ideas. The genesis was random, but a deeper meaning was revealed. I found the Melville quote much later, which fit perfectly.    We cannot live for ourselves alone. Our lives are connected by a thousand invisible threads, and along these sympathetic fibers, our actions run as causes and return to us as results. - Herman Melville    Threads by meta4s I fish for answers to questions Floating in the salty seas Soon to be devoured By the hungry ocean waves Exploring the dark cloud of yesterday That hangs above my head No silver lining or gold lame Only frayed and hanging threads Threads will take me places Where every soul is strange Looking puzzled at the faces Not connected with any name Always looking through the veil Obscuring what is real What I seek I find again Such a bargain, such a stea...

  A song based on an errant phrase that I used as a lyric, which I think is Rumi, but I can't find the source. It is essentially a jazz piece and is mostly instrumental. (A song about uncertainty)  Mystery Rumi by meta4s A prior interation:    

  GALLERY