EMP Pop Conference 2010 — Friday presentations

Rolling commentary on those presentations I attend will be posted here throughout the day!

Nate Chinen, “The Imaginarium of Doctor Pikasso” — starts with a film clip riffing on Pat Metheny as jazz fusion god, hurrah guitar geeks and their stupidities! As a Metheny clip plays, Chinen talks about early response to his new technological band setup, Metheny as guitar god for the geek squad, a discussion of his career follows from his ECM debut forward, and now the robot orchestra he uses, a steampunk ideal. Metheny born in the fifties in Missouri, grew up with plugging in the guitar, something that he has pondered more than most. Metheny quote about being around gear is like “reeds and mouthpieces for other people.” Clip is from Montreal and shows him using the Synclavier using it as a fretboard, creating almost pastoral/vibraphonic music. Wonder in solitude, tech as gateway to contemplation. Imagine the context of 1982, playing alone in this clip, and now where he plays with an acoustic guitar at first and then with the Orchestrion. Metheny quote about guitar possibilities as “one big instrument.” New clip of a 42-string acoustic guitar performance — pretty crazy! Form determining content, gives Metheny a broader palette, glissandi, cascading arpeggios. Mark Herbert commissioned to create a foot-driven instrument, things then built from there to the Orchestrion, apparently inspired by 19th century musical automation, playing the equivalent of the piano roll plus instant prompts, something that had driven him for years. LEMUR and Eric Singer was the cue to nifty gadgetry, Metheny asks and commissions more, samples shown of instruments, transcription of arrangement shown. Kim Caulkins involved, expertise in pneumatics brought in, sample setup shown with percussion, piano, more. Clip from Orchestrion played — no trace of herky jerky awkwardness, a self portrait of musical history. Example of not so much ends but means, totally in control yet not a solo gig either. Megalomania? Metheny: “You can predict the bad reviews!…But is it similar to someone playing a solo piano concert? This is my instrument, translates my ideas into sound….Really have been thinking about it since I was nine, but I have to admit a certain level of satisfaction, nice to get a direct translation of what I hear…a very clear representation.” By trading in PMG for OMG, deus in machina, chooses to do these things because he can, because they are easy, because they are hard. Live Italian TV clip played as a conclusion.

Geeta Dayal, “Brian Eno, Cybernetics and the Studio as a Musical Instrument” — she explains how it was strange that nobody had talked about cybernetics and Eno before, also that no women had written about him, also that the very difficult work Eno had worked with in the 60s and 70s had not been addressed (Cornelius Cardew etc.) Also that Eno was an legendary player — find the ex-girlfriends! (Eno prefers not to talk about the seventies now.) Graphics up, her favorite machines! 808, talks about playing with Fatboy Slim’s 808 in France (“I have a really strange life!”), TB-303, Jupiter 8. Let’s go back to the idea of the machine, Apple 1 from 1976 shown, but what happened pre-this? Flowchart of the idea of the machine shown, the concept of the machine, a cybernetics diagram, all interconnected. What is cybernetics? Widely misunderstood, confusion with cyborgs, people think it’s really hard, it’s not! It is the study of systems, Norbert Wiener definition about the science of control — but control isn’t scary! How things talk to each other. Stewart Brand (friend of Eno) thinks of it as whole systems thinking, Whole Earth Catalog connection, Cage/Rauschenberg, etc. Various systems discussed as examples, how things build on each other and are circular (thermostat as example). Post-Wiener, theory applied widely, including music. Feedback and control loops very important in this case. Wiener discussed in more detail as MIT icon, Geeta wondered about him, leading to more study. Also, UK thinkers following Wiener — Gordon Pask, Stafford Beer, W. Ross Ashby, all influences on Eno. Beer’s Project Cybersyn mockup shown, very Clockwork Orange. UK art school legacy in music discussed, Art Into Pop. Eno went to Ipswich, run by Roy Ascott, student of Pask. Ascott wanted to run his school as experiment, doing mind maps and the like, craziest school in the UK! Ascott ran it into the ground. Cardew and “The Great Learning” discussed — “Paragraph 7″ done with untrained musicians, gave them algorithms, follow these rules: sing any note, match it to someone around you — result: a gorgeous drone. Eno realizes it is self-regulating, cybernetics applied to music, small inputs leading to massive outputs each time. Also it sounds good! (Unlike a lot of Cage, however much she admires him — great riff on Cage as stickler, where Cardew was both process and product.) Steve Reich‘s “It’s Gonna Rain,” again process/product via the two tape machines played at slightly different speeds, set up machines, leaves the room, perfect for Eno, not as hard to create as musique concrete! Cybernetic Serendipity in 1968 in London at the ICA, attracts a lot of artists to science based art, Mondrian painting vs robot Mondrian painting. Peter Schmidt discussed, Oblique Strategies, etc. Eno into concepts, “Seven Deadly Finns” combines prostitute slang and systems theory, leading into Another Green World. Detailed quotes on studio and players as system, then Discreet Music discussed in contrast to Roxy Music’s Siren, hairdresser credits vs cybernetics theory diagrams! Metal Machine Music discussed — it’s a light record, can sleep to it! Released the same week as Discreet, Reed infamously lying about the record all over the place but he also created a cybernetic system, loops, guitars up to ten, music making itself. Ends presentation with “Totalled” by Eno and the Winkies, original “I’ll Come Running” from 1974, all very rocked out, then nine months later the dreamier AGW version, result of a major change, then a bit of DM played, more rapid change.

J. D. Considine, “The Devil’s Trombone: How the Hunger For Louder, Bigger and Heavier Tone Influenced Instrument Design and Function from Berlioz to Meshuggah” — instruments are tools that evolve according to meet the needs of composers. Since the start of rock and roll, guitarist have adjusted and experimented with their gear, the deep whuffy tone of heavy metal resulted from Tony Iommi’s accident and the resultant experimenting with strings and tuning, Master of Reality as the recorded shift, “making the tone a bit fatter.” “Sweet Leaf” clip played. Why did it get fatter? Length, tension and weight are the factors, equation shown illustrating the relationship, Iommi’s innovation by dropping downward readjusts the equation’s data and thus the results. Not many metal bands followed until the mid-nineties too slack therefore too difficult to play until Korn borrowed the 7-string idea from various forebears (tons of citations, including Epiphone and Fender models and prototypes, plus the Steve Vai connection and his seven string love). Munky went “Okay, tune that even lower…” — initially muddy, therefore a new amp setup to accomodate a heavy growling sound, crunchier. Clip played. Jonathan Davis wanted to scream, nu-metal born! Meshuggah went in 2002 to 8-string — “allow us to attain bass sounds on guitar, darker, slower, sinister.” Clip played. Tunings reviewed, extra chromatics added. This is what happened with the trombone in the 19th century! Started even earlier in church music, various kinds discussed. Tension of lips can result in differing notes, technical aspects discussed of various tones and a gap between low E and the pedal tones. For a long while, nobody cared! Tenor trombone rarely used in the classical tradition until Beethoven and Schubert, but Berlioz was the champion, “the true leader of wind instruments,” wide ranging in possibilities. Great extended quote given, really loved the low end, examples cited, segment played from a composition. Bass trombone changes discussed as well, new valves, etc. Rimsky Korsakov and Wagner cited, the latter comissioning the contrabass trombone, tuba plus trombone, took a while to perfect! Modern trombones discussed, shifting to guitar discussion and downtuning. Things can be reapplied — washboards, steel drums. Why the association of low tones with the devil and all? Who can say but to leave people unnerved — “loud and low is the way to go!”

Douglas Wolk, “Beyond the Celestial Jukebox” — talking about the future of listening to music, how people are able to listen to music now, William Gibson: “future is here, not evenly distributed!” First, electively receiving sound — virtual reality discussed, these days it’s more augmented reality, stuff on top of your senses, consider reading glasses. Music makes a natural sound environment more interesting. Earphones and headphones are there but ultimately inefficient, virtual but not augmented, lose the way you perceive loud sounds through your body. Can this be sent straight to your brain? Not yet, no cranial jacks, but there are cochlear implants, used by those with hearing damage, will get refined with time! Two buzzwords in sound tech, psychoacoustics and haptics. First term is too often abused, not about content! Idea that if you’re trying to document sound, you only want the stuff that humans can hear. Mp3s provide an option, most audible information with least digital information, signal not noise. Haptics — listening to speakers up close is different from a distance, so haptics allows for this sense of touch, but nobody wants a full body suit for it! So small and unobtrusive is the way to go — therefore use the skin, “skinput!” Your body as part of the playback. Second — hearing what you want to hear. Celestial Jukebox idea discussed, idea of total access anywhere anytime with minimal effort. Want playback, ownership, sharing, doing what we want with an easy interface. It is here but not evenly distributed. Billboard r’n'b chart listening project discussed, having to search for out of print stuff online, pretty easy to do. PCs are awkward jukeboxes, can work, iTunes does have more but still, something new will come along, perhaps via high speed access everywhere but it will happen. Third — hearing music you don’t know you want to hear. Pandora, sure, works with your taste, no unpleasant surprises, it’s improving its algorithm, etc. Context sensitive/location aware suggestions — “You scored some weed, how about some Acid Mothers Temple?” What will this mean? Greater overall integration, smartphones as carrying deliberate sound.

Nick Minichino, “The New Scarcity” — building off celestial jukebox, possibility of what is available, talks about finding a single that nobody seems to want to share online. Who is filesharing, what are they filesharing and why? Discussion of filesharing population and “natural familiarity” with its expectations and etiquette, typing an artist into Google and getting their songs. Bitrate quality discussed, limits of the jukebox, reactions to bad legal mp3 quality discussed. Examples of undigitized works noted (cassettes, etc.) as well as non-English releases. Who is invested in enough in the music to share it? Generally young middle class people who grew up with high speed internet, accustomed to the experience. Christgau on Rapidshare discussed. Last year looked for Michael Bolton songs written by Diane Warren, could only find a FLAC on a private service, not being shared by the celestial jukebox types. If you love stoner metal, you’re in luck, blog example shown. Something Awful discussed — grim stuff from SA brought up, so how welcoming will the filesharing offshoot be? Who is invited and who isn’t? YouTube file downloading can be wrangled but not easy, still it can be used many places. Michael Bolton examples shown, viewcounts and rarity discussed. Joubert Singers and ‘Larry Levan’ mix of “Stand on the Word” played, 100000 views, almost more heard than any actual Levan track, so is it a rarity? Now it’s down to things people just don’t care about, Built to Spill/Marine Research split discussed, scoring systems for who actually shares.

Ned Raggett, “The Listener as Electronic Librarian” — um yeah. More later! (EDIT — namely, over in this blog post.)

Tim Quirk, “The Quiet Revolution” — introduction of the Walkman and taping culture discussed — “Home taping is killing music” is funny because it’s sad! Unlike boomboxes the Walkman lacked a record button, but it gave people control. TC-D5 shown and the idea of the Walkman growing out of Sony’s cofounder wanting something to listen to on plane trips. Walkman offering stereo while taking out record was good but who would use such a thing? Turns out everyone! Stories of the orange button and double headphone jacks and more! Private listening in public seemed strange in 1979. Great ads from the time, lots of skating! Knockoffs soon appear, sociologists go nuts! So did Allan Bloom, oh god. Noise pollution and laws and UK tube arrests and plane travel and more — so why shut us up? Rey Chow quote about how the Walkman provides privacy, Vincent Jackson on the reactions to the symbolism of the Walkman. Transistor radios and boomboxes provided something but the Walkman was private, listener control has expanded exponentially with iPods etc. but ripping to tape was possible as he remembers a cross country move. Sony lost out on mp3 players via their content purchases and thus internecine warfare. Audio Home Recording Act discussed, music CDRs vs CDRs., trying to control mp3 players like Diamond, the market for mp3s went on without the majors, celestial jukeboxes discussed, etc. GAO trashes the piracy scare just the other day. Labels can learn what is desired from all the activity, if they can learn to relinquish control and hear what the listeners actually listen to, Big Champagne discussed as tracking who has what. Tables of tracks per fan shown, old/new, stylistic spread, shows how songs float and thrive out there! So if there are some lost dollars, 80% of listeners being new is a heck of a balance, new packagings for hyperfans, unexpected correlations between listener choices. “People are not radio formats!” to quote Big Champagne. Prince’s Lovesexy as one track — admire yet “fuck you fascist!”

Wendy Fonarow, “The Song May Be the Same But the Audience Isn’t” — entered in progress (sorry to be late!). Discussion of audience attendees using phone being photos, taking pictures, doing instant analysis, focus removed from show, more intermittent focus. Photos done as enumeration of your tastes, therefore you must record the events, life in real world done to gather material for life online. Instant wireless updating allows for quicker reaction, broadcasting self out of the venue, multiple spaces simultaneously. Immediacy has created escalating intolerance for boredom, less interaction with other audience members, disengagement from stage. Being with someone at a show, text a message to them. Audience members had expressed a desire for a sense of being fully present, something real, a real performance and experience. Now with phones, we become our own worst enemies. If desire to create a tasteful presentation online, very effective, but… More are holding their phones throughout shows, now an audience prop (lighters replaced by iPhones for rock ballads). Program demonstrated! Conclusion: audience in multiple perspectives, increasingly becoming cyborgs, no longer just there in the present tense.

Tina Majkowski, “Queer Gear: Percussive Technology and the Queer Sonic Body” — technology may suggest electronics in music, a vague archnemesis, but what about corporeal technologies? Rf Kaki King and her various performances. This paper is definitely gay! Pop music journalism has taken a love to people like Tegan and Sara, KD Lang, etc, but this journalism sneaks in a litany of questions on orientation as an “influence.” Too nebulous and flattening a term! Is it lyric subject matter, is it in fan followings? The answer doesn’t lie there, instead focusing on the gear that is used. King’s guitar god status via over-the-fret actions, Melissa York‘s innovations via gear. Kaki King “Playing with Pink Noise” clip shown, acoustic guitar complexity plus visual image of the performer against white background. How does the queer body use trad/DIY instruments? King is percussive and trained as a percussionist, use of fake acrylic nails rather than picks. York makes new gear altogether. The body in music: refers to her own “fights” with her lap steel guitar. Bulk of research on queering OF popular music (“Thong Song” as camp etc) focus instead here on performance as self formation. King says that it made sense to smack the guitar around a little, York wanted to jump around and dance and do vocals. Does sound form self or vice versa? Connection in training of personal training and sound, but what if this is bidirectional, to learn a different sense of self in relation to the instrument? Subjectivity discussed. All sound has musician backing it in some way. So is there a queer social body here? Produced not just because of self-identification. The title is a doppelgänger of sorts. Why is percussion worthy of attention? The idea of percussive skin discussed, downbeat compels the body where to be (refers to writer whose name I didn’t catch). What does the audience and performer actual feel in a show? Discusses feeling a performance via the stage. In watching and hearing King, York, etc, the body itself is a form of musical tech.

David Cantwell, “Log Cabin Songs in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction” –begins with a Fiddlin John Carson recording from 1923 about a lonesome old man waiting for death and dreaming of the past and “the little old log cabin in the lane.” Written in Reconstruction, wiped of usual blackface dialect, given more universality, lonesome because everyone’s moved to the city. Country was never country but continuing mourning for a supposedly lost place, the rural one not rural anymore due to urbanization, from cabin home to decent sized town. One way or another the city was going to find them, Sherwood Anderson quoted. Comparatively rural mill towns were far more urban in feeling. Still, rare case for any listeners to have actually lived in a log cabin, though the song titles sure made it seem otherwise! All kinds of primitive mountain homes from logs or the like. Various rewritings of the titular motif cited, the Carter Family’s ‘cottage industry.’ Someone is always cut off from the people of the homeplace or the home itself, not working in the songs when the reality was hard backbreaking work on the road or railroad or in the city. The loss of it being “not country anymore” is key for country music, the appeal of the obsolete, the backward glance. This is NOT nostalgic, when nostalgia is supposed to be about a past that never was, a fabrication of twangy truthiness. But the backward glance does not idealize or imply the superiority of the past. Cabin songs now replaced by high school songs, but we do look back and do so without necessarily hating the present or loving the past. “Rocky Top” may be home sweet home but they ain’t go back! Glances to find benchmarks and key times and formations of who we become. Examples cited, a dynamic conversation with the past is not nostalgia but tradition, the two being opposites. The home to be returned to is not a fantasy one but a real one. The backward glance is a variety of grief, to mark the loss of beloved but imperfect days, then to move into the present and future. Various songs studied in more detail, focusing on the house, moving to a better place from a poor one. Merle Haggard and Loretta Lynn songs discussed, memories of cabins gone, Parton with “The Good Old Days When Times Were Bad,” the mixture of emotions.

Roundtable: Freddie Mercury Deconstructed (will only be able to cover the first fifteen or so minutes) — Jason King outlines Freddie Mercury’s impact via Queen and in pop culture, notes that much of that impact is unclaimed in terms of ethnicity, sexuality, etc. Panel introduced — Barry Walters, Tavia Nyong’o, Daphne A. Brooks. Kandia Crazy Horse quote: Freddie as the first African rock star, international reach, clip from 2000 documentary shown with full participation with his family, much time spent framing his career and life starting in Zanzibar. Brief bio notes given, then clip actually shown. Argh, gotta dash, will try and duck back in later.

Andy Zax, “‘Don’t Ever Buy Nothin’ You Don’t Dig’: The Warner/Reprise Radio Spots, 1968-1972″ — this is a story of a pile of 45 rpm records! Spots promoting artists then recently deemed unfathomably weird. 100 made, 200 copies each for FM stations, few copies survive. Unfortunate as they are an accidental chronicle of pop evolution. Clip played of Neil Young promo — “Everybody knows!” “…Everybody knows what?” Deep hilarity. Young had flopped with the first solo album and he was just one of many people like Leonard Schaeffer! Proto James Taylor! Ludovico Technique with strings! Insane. Warner Reprise was sharp with the zeitgeist unlike most other labels, thus an ad for the Hook! Oh man that’s bad. The Glass Family ad in comparison is playful and ridiculous, featuring the band. 1968 was showcasing the shift to the album plus underground radio, an conundrum for record companies. Top 40 made sense, FM something else. Thus, radio ads for albums, plus Warners actually played the long game plus Stan Cornyn, the king of the liner notes. He recognized that things had to change and hated puffery. Therefore, apply soft sell techniques with wry ads for Newman, Parks — self deprecating, providing a personality. Radio ads less uniform in tone but were still straight talk, not hype talk. Neon Philharmonic ad played. Smothers Brothers on ad for Mason Williams, Gary Owens on Tiny Tim, amazing. David Ossman of the Firesign Theatre was given performing/writing gigs in 1969 — clips for the Fugs and Frank Zappa played, then Dean Martin! Amazing. Little Richard in his own spot is of course killer. 1970/1971 ZBS Media enters the picture — Captain Beefheart ad is astounding. 1972 was starting to change, freeform to AOR, all gets kinda boring. Good image builder! Finally ZBS Media on the second Faces album — non-Euclidean indeed!

(At this point I ducked back into the Freddie roundtable for a bit, then went up to try and catch Josh Chamberlain’s presentation but alas! He had finished and the panel had moved on to questions. I’m taking this as an omen and finishing conference coverage for today. Hope everyone enjoyed!)

EMP 2008 Pop Conference — Saturday panels and presentations

Oh my sleeping head. Here was the Saturday schedule. Again, here are my VERY scattershot thoughts on it all as it happened:

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Kara Attrep, “She Yoko-ed the Band” — “don’t Yoko my band!” T-shirts as emblem of the destroyer of male genius. Her voice is the key and core of the metaphor of Onoism. Become a Yoko by being marginal, creative, married to another artist who often dies. Clara Schumann is an early example — someone who brought Robert “down.” Born rich, Yoko learned from Mom and went through WWII then moved to NYC and started loft shows in the sixties, was part of Fluxus, performed at Carnegie Hall, confused the hell out of the NY Times. Work was in demand and well respected, divorced and remarried and met John in London. From there her public identity changed while John felt more like a true artist with her in NYC. In 1973 she described the feeling of how other musicians regarded her as an “other” which felt strange in the “melting pot” of the studio. Dick Cavett clip is played — WEIRD dynamic, but both John and Yoko crush and twist it. She met John as “another artist.” Post 1980 accusations continued and intensified. She did benefit from the connection but still struggles to this day. Courtney Love comparison noted — no race but class issues instead, how the estate is handled. Mary Parks, Albert Ayler‘s last girlfriend, gets a lot of “blame” for his late sixties shift in sound and focus, even though the focus was on spiritual love. Adjectives listed about their voices — screeching, wailing etc. Clips of all three played — Yoko “AOS,” Hole’s “20 Years in the Dakota,” Parks (as Mary Maria)’s “Oh! Love of Life” w/ Ayler. Hearing outside of context they don’t sound as alien as their critics say. “Yes I’m a Witch” as statement of defiance (praise a wizard, burn a witch). (Q&A covers Parks a bit more, some discussion about her rare interviews).

Mina Yang, “The ‘Tsunami Song’: Hip-hop at the Vortex of an International Disaster” — entered part way through. Talking about Asian music and cultural connections to black music in America and back again. Controversy over “The Tsunami Song” and responses (including the role of Jin and the place he is forced into, compared to Eminem but stuck with bigger hurdles). “If it was any other race, the shit would have hit the fan.” But Jin remains optimistic, “hip hop brings us all together.” Protests in New York bringing together groups but highlighted institutionalized racism via the government and big business. FCC silence in particular reflected media silence or exploitation. Some firings and suspensions but even so. Much remains the same, Ms. Jones remains in the morning role, questions of aid and government and hiphop infighting remain.

Carl Wilson, “The Singing of the Disaster: Newsreels, Protests, Charidee and Shock Absorption in Popular Music” — music in background as mood music of sorts, is a work in progress. Being sober minded in the face of disaster is impossible, no matter what Adorno thinks. It will be addressed in song. People Take Warning is mentioned — resonances of the set post 9/11 comes up but has the tradition shifted to the likes of Law and Order, or is it in music still? Event songs are discussed in the mid-20s heyday, pushed aside by Jimmie Rodgers, with disaster records emerging in the 30s via race records. Just in time journalism? Surely not with the Titanic songs, for instance. Talk about the formula of songs, broadsides, disaster stories with morals in a variety of media contexts over the centuries. On the box set the newness lies with industrial accidents, while blues left out the moral in many cases. Protest songs emerge in the thirties with the left looking at things through a new lens (also the New Deal providing a new inspiration). Moving ahead post WWII to “Desolation Row” and the apocalypse song and other protest songs (Auden on disaster noted). Folk revival kicks in and the romantics have it from there. Bee Gees with “New York Mining Disaster 1941″ as confection concoted for the Americans. 80s charity song — celebrities like it, so it must be important! Disaster actually left out of the songs in many cases. New form post-Katrina? Pop eventually off in its own realm while the market controls and encourages private control over public. Charity model in songs, more political hiphop songs, response from a radio station owner in LA — GAWD what a piece of horrific right wing shit, “The Battle of New Orleans” as rewritten by Malkin. New Orleans bounce tracks like “Get Ya Hustle On” takes an activist approach in its own way…another anti-FEMA song played, call and response, milder in language and don’t expect to make anything happen, disaster songs for a YouTube age, one of passivity. How much has happened in the switch from story to star?

Alex Rawls, “The First Rule of Hurricanes” — Katrina in a way will not stop, projects now being demolished, trailer parks being shut down, housing being priced out, businesses going, more. He has handled songs — crappy benefit songs like a cat with a dead mouse in its teeth. “I caught this for you!” What do you tell the writers? Couldn’t praise but couldn’t pan. It was therapy but still. Wish he had kept the CDRs now but then they seemed too emblematic. Bad lines quoted — singer/songwriter trying to sum up the disaster but how they reduced it as a result. Sense from people of “wanting to do something” — really bad song played, oh DEAR. Cowboy Mouth song “The Avenue” does have some modest longing that almost works but other lines, Jesus. Good Katrina should be able to happen but it’s too big an event, requiring the listener to make the connection. Songs feel too foppish given the events. Mary Gauthier complains about the bad Katrina songs but notes the difficulties. Feelings are boiling over in moments and those are remembered. Blues comparisons don’t always work — “Katrina you bitch” But others work, personal stories as microcosms. James Andrews‘ “Katrina Katrina” has a place but there’s more in the acid funk of “One Two What You Gonna Do?” (I think). Dumpster Truck’s “Meanwhile” has a place, others wish to move on. Spike Lee’s documentary When the Levees Broke provides a context for Lil Wayne‘s “Georgia Bush” but an isolated one, not widely heard. Elvis Costello does The River in Reverse with Allen Toussaint but it’s more the performance. Annie Lennox’s “Why?” as covered by John Boutte reinterprets but still is bound by contexts — but the words are not always precious. Looking forward to a day when N O folks can hear the metaphors as such, when “Get Ya Hustle On” really gets its due as a cold response to a cold response from the government — a dark comedy. Not therapeutic, examines a complex paranoia. Songs still being made, mostly crap still.

Jody Rosen, “Girl Gone Wild: Eva Tanguay’s Madcap Feminism” — Eva Tanguay born in Quebec died in Hollywood 1947, recorded one song “I Don’t Care,” preeminent vaudeville star in its heyday, “performing songs about herself” — 15000 audience members at a show in 1912. THE star of stars, outstripped Houdini and Caruso. No biography, erased from history, autobio promised but never delivered, biopic erased her story, only passing mentions in histories if at all. Ralph Bakshi put her song in American Pop and it’s more punk rock than “Pretty Vacant!” Great stage stories, noted for backstage fights, breakthrough role in 1904′s “The Sambo Girl.” Sentiments were shocking at the time, flailing and writhing was part of the show, sung with hisses and yelps. Song played — high voice; twisted smiles evident, astounding lyrics. Act gained lots of bombastic praise for brazen sexuality, her energy, her hair! “The evangelist of joy!” Aleister Crowley was a fan and wrote some amazing purple prose, going into Baudelaire quotes, “the vulture of Prometheus!” Distinctly American — one hit called “Personality,” built her legend, employed five publicists, she would have loved TMZ. Publicity stunts, clothes horse, always in the papers, dress made from pennies! Staged feuds, trashed people in poetry in ads in Variety! Song “Give an Imitation” about the biters, “Egotistical Eva” about “I and I” More of the song has self-depracting verses (“brrrrroad!”) She did sing straight though — unironic ballads — so she knew what she was doing all the life. Tanguay is the main figure of “vocal madcapism” among others “zany new women.” A stylized speak-sing patter of which she was the queen. Recordings played showing the shift in styles as a result, from 1907 and the like. Clip of a sound film showing percussion patter on a cello! Trixie Treganza original gangsta! Yay Eva and where does she fit? Couldn’t swing but Mae West was a fan and so was Ethel Waters and it goes to Billie Holliday? Lost her fortune in 1929, scraped along to death sadly.

Maurice Methot, “The Interface is the Message: Software Design as Resistance” — strategies of resistance in electronic instruments. Tech evolved quickly, symbolismof resistance in computer as folk instruments. Communities mobilized by machine design and limitations — marvelling at creations and what they meant when they were created. Theremin performance from fifties TV shown, speaking of the charm of electric power and sound, a wizard embedded in the culture who sometimes emerges. Mr Rogers and Bruce Haack! Wow! What a clip! (Can’t find the full one, but here’s a snippet.) Donald Buchla as seventies inventor, poetic and oracular systems, costly and important. From Fairlight to garage punk users of same, from Trevor Horn to Steve Lipson with Act (no conventional instruments! Huge money outlays!) Software aiming for acoustic and avoiding its own digital nature. Opposing styles of electronic systems. Reason as embracing its analog roots in its visual design and metaphor. 303 and 606 as embracing electronic folk practice via techno. Emulator II in Ferris Bueller popularizes itself and practice. Emile Tobenfeld embraces digital autonomous behaviors. Great fake news clip on Opcode Systems. Strangeness brought back into electronic music when we look at the less familiar parts of the histories. ANS photosynthesizer by Murzin clip shown — bigass crazy great machine! Scrape away emulsion and let light impact to create tones. Matmos would love this — the glissando sequence, “can’t do that with ProTools!”

David Rubinson, “Napster As Cradle of the Revolution” — witnessing and participatory panopticon is the goal. In ancient times the major labels walked the earth and demanded control of all aspects of the system. Then the geeks invented peer-to-peer and the majors tried to control it. “sell every part of the pig but the oink,” but they couldn’t monetarize it no matter how tried it. Now they disappear under their own arrogances and we can apply that to the military government media complex. The truth is not owned. Progressive blog model is old and does not work, a repackaging of past models. Control and intimidation remains in play. Peer to peer will bypass this structures, build now and monetarize later. Create more community access and local networks within the whole. Bentham mentioned, panopticon described and meant to be shared as a model. Foucault’s notes mentioned, “the unequal gaze,” uncertainity of surveillance at any given time and internalizing discipline. Suveillance, watching from below in response to control, reality TV and video cameras. Cassio: “Every citizen with a cameraphone can be a reporter.” Describes actions with Stop-loss Congress, creating video witnesses. “The whole world is watching.” Peter Gabriel‘s Witness project is good but only bidirectional but not p2p, too much control still, fantastic but still limited. Share everything in the participatory panopticon instead. Rodney King as the start, and more from there. Rumsfeld and Abu Ghraib as freakout example, Saddam’s death as another. More on the new model, a bit of rehash.

Tom Smucker, “Story and Stance in American Pop Music and Politics” — (NOTE: my notes here can’t begin to capture the freewheeling combination of images and flow of words Smucker creates in his presentations; very much another ‘you had to be here’ moment.) The Kennedy and Reagan models of presidencies loom large. Kennedy is Rat Pack plus Kingston Trio, has to promise to be secular because of antiCatholic bias. Protest voice is given some attention as a result. Inside the consensus is where it is found. Looks to new configurations, LBJ and King continue things as far as they can to complete the first phase of the civil rights movement. Collapse of consensus leads to conspiracy and paranoia in the counterculture as such. Articulating dislocation in identity politics. Southern Strategy is a step for Nixon but it feels inauthentic. Nixon reinvents but he ain’t no Neil Young or Prince. Carter and the Eagles! He loves jazz but… Reaganism leaps backwards to find a presumed media product consensus and the Rat Pack leaves Kennedy. Back to the Future! Star Wars is in the past! Right wing talk radio emerges, Bruce S is recruited by the right against his will, Jacko and Madonna self-manipulate into the future moonwalking backwards. Clintonism is the Nixonism of the left, unable to sustain itself. Bush II overrealizes Reaganism, McCain and Huckabee can thrive, Hillary is initially Stevie Nicks on a solo tour, Obama recombined Jacko and Oprah and Jay-Z! That’s it!

Steve Waksman, “This Ain’t the Summer of Love: BÖC, Green River and the Anti-Nostalgic Impulse” — Thurston Moore sez that with Green River was when prepunk music entered Amerindie, after a regular rejection after punk. Reclaiming strands could be seen as radical. Green River merged arena and punk styles, while “Swallow My Pride” was a de facto anthem that was often covered even by the band itself. Chorus progression noted for reference as well as the internal conflict musically and lyrically. Self conscious lyrics and repetition emphasized lust but the verses seem more true. Remade version has some key revisions in structure and with a female voice — this leads back to Blue Öyster Cult. Their critical reputation is discussed as well as the role of Sandy Pearlman, while Sniffin Glue considered them punk in the first issue. NME reference noted. “This Aint the Summer of Love” and its role and structure is discussed, then is played. As great as ever! It relishes the passing of an ethos, full of life, huge solo before the chorus repeats to the end. Second version of “Swallow My Pride” played, directly quotes BÖC musically and lyrically towards the end for half its length. Menace without the vocal harmonies, two-chord sequence in both songs emphasized. “LooooooooooooooVE!” as rejection of same, mocking the past and finding a new past to reclaim. A secret history pieced together.

Douglas Wolk, “Silver Wings and Stranger Things: The Special Force of ‘The Green Berets’” — biggest 1966 pop hit was “The Ballad of the Green Berets” and a TV clip with Barry Sadler is shown. Very stiff and soldierly in looks but a warm enough voice! Folk choral martial smoothness. Death porn! How could this song be so forgotten? Green Beret history discussed, Sadler was injured in Vietnam, wrote song with fifteen verses! RCA signed him and song became big hit. “National theme for the Vietnam War.” Protests emerged soon but covers also swiftly appeared. Answer song by Nancy Ames: “He Wore the Green Beret,” yeesh what a weeper but what a musical gear shift too. Practically “Leader of the Pack”! German cover versions were number one hits too — spooky clips shown with frozen faced singers, but also with antiwar lyrics! Comic book bits are amzing! “Ballad of the Yellow Beret” is also pro-war, mocking American draft-dodgers. “High heeled boots,” jeez! Raveup at the end — and the singer was Bob Seger! Military folks parodied it, Spanish version played next. John Wayne film mentioned, Hershel Gober song mentioned, Norwegian adaptation discussed, Sadler disenchanted, Rhodesian military loved it. 1978 saw Sadler arrested for murder, suspended sentences, started the Casca book series. 1988 shot, died following year, murky circumstances. Vague afterlife at best, why? Not feelgood, can’t be sentimental about dead soldiers or even talk about dead soldiers in an American context at all, only deathless super Green Berets.

Tobias Carroll, “’I’ve Got A Name’: AK Press, Radical Politics, and Music” — entered presentation in progress, talking about Chumbawamba and the Ex and their connections to AK Press and the feeling of DIY activism, with the Ex noting they were not happy with being called anarchist as such. Scritti Politti and Crass then discussed. Other small presses discussed like Arbeiter Ring in Winnipeg and other things. A bit of a quiet catalog of detail so I zoned a bit here, nice enough overview. [EDIT -- Tobias has put together a supplemental overview of links of interest related to his presentation.]

J.D. Considine, “If This Note Could Vote” — the politics of music– what is it? Lyrical, spoken texts, things done to evoke meaning. Nothing inherently political in the notes. Sometimes a cause is used as the hook. But not the music… “Born in the USA” as an example of Copland style construction that was widely misinterpreted due to the “open” sound. [EDIT: JD kindly wrote me some days later to clarify this part further: "It wasn't construction so much as harmonic and melodic vocabulary. If I'd had time, I'd have been more specific, mentioning how many of Copland's pieces (Appalachian Spring, Hoedown, A Lincoln Portrait, etc.) draw elements from American traditional music, particularly the open-fifth drone of double-stopped (that is, two strings played at once) fiddle as well as the hexatonic (i.e., six-note) scales of old-timey tunes. Instead, I merely cited "Born in the USA"'s open fifth synth harmony and hexatonic melody. I might have unpacked that a bit more..." No worries, and thanks for the update!] Wagner as partially tarred by association… “it’s just music” or is it? Polyphony as too radical for tradition but two centuries later it was standard. Liberalism and conservatism is down to change and its perception. Then in music? Sticking to a norm or not but what is the norm? Rapid turnover in the charts so what is consensus — averaging songs? Mathematical analysis? What is the data sample? What are Americans listening to? Polls vs voting is a key point. So bring on Billboard and its imperfect metric. 50 songs analyzed for musical content (number of chords, meter, instrumentation, chart weighting). All very sly, this exercise. Is country conservative? Etc. Was there a perfect bell curve? A is guitar favorite while E flat is for synth, G is “liberal” in comparison. Miley Cyrus as “soundtrack,” etc. Gets pretty involved from here but the whole thing is really entertaining and well observed. Again like Jesse Fuchs you had to be here! Shifts into chord discussion, harmony not correlated with that number, cross cutting cleavages in a poli sci sense if you like. “Cyclone” and “I Remember” played in contrast, both extremes against a middle in a conservative context. Further noncorrelations noted, political comparisons, all great!

Wendy Fonarow, “Singing About Love When All You Want to Do Is Strangle Someone: Musician Jokes and Pranking as Mechanisms to Relieve Conflict” — musician jokes are plentiful and she offers up chupacabras and matchsticks and an iPod with a fake radio station and DJ and more! It’s how they deal with road stress and boredom and the like — having a laugh. Cramped quarters, drugs and their lack, cheating, journalists and all that creates the stress and more examples are provided, an open marriage without sex. So jokes provide the retribution and a moral cover for immoral acts. Never leave a crew alone too much! Testicle-infused wine is the least of it. Fake record company calls, unplugging phone chargers…pranking is simply essential. Often spontaneous but there’s the musician joke cycles (no girlfriend = homeless, etc!), allowing for safe cover and the power of stereotyping in specifics (thus drummers as noted). Various examples given, lead singer syndrome in particular, narcissistic and produced as such, no matter how ordinary they are. Thus the jokes keep them in check. Guitarist jokes show competitiveness in action. Bassist jokes show them as superfluous, drummers as stupid as hell and not really musicians. Crew jokes abound around the division of labor (soundman versus the crew). Lots of examples, great stuff. Drummer jokes show a deeper anxiety all around with an iconography drawn out of the sick joke cycle. Cadbury ad supposed to be shown but link busted at the time (Daphne found it later, though). Gorilla plus Phil Collins and gorilla does the drumbreak! Primitivism and cruelty and imbecility at play. Anxiety — why? Percussion, the tribal and African element — a proxy for a deeper tension of racism. Therefore assert Eurosupremacy in the telling of the joke, knock rhythm in favor of harmony. Racism as tool to understand things (Cadbury chocolate…skin color?) But it’s not just about racism but a general anxiety over being an animal, a primate, so externalize and project. And music critics? They’ll always complain because they can’t do it themselves!

Daphne Carr, “Getting Closer: Extreme Loudness and the Body in Pain/Pleasure” — up goes the black hood, in an attempt to avoid metaphors in talking about noise, specifically East Coast styles. Elements and sources detailed — Providence! What noise does is the goal. Loudness is psychological, physical and temporal and more. Details provided (amplifications over drums in predominance). Amplifier proximity is very key. Noise performance takes note of the enclosed spaces and other location factors. Technical details discussed — hertz levels and more, comfort levels. Earplugs block the excitement. Exaggerated gestures showing musical and compositional change. But is there limitation in the formal approaches to noise? Complaints noted. Reacting to noise as cathartic — cannot be done at home, communal but singular. Fan reaction can include solitary pressing against amps, avoiding others, being a signifier. Elaine Scarry‘s Body in Pain quoted. Hard to measure reaction, diagnostic questions are metaphors of weapons, aggression on self. Musician as s/m enthusiast sharing with others. Those who stand near ask for pain as service weapon. Motionless or spasming amid pain loudness. Male dominance noted, is failure gendered, is success? Desire for punishment to allow for pleasure, is sexualized, beyond reproduction. Sex as negotiating power through pleasure, music as having a role. Suzanne Cusick (“Towards a Lesbian Relationship With Music”) quoted in re: new ways of listening. Noise fans choose the passive in contract. Worthy of dignity against other models. Powerpoint presentation from Scott Reber aka Work/Death combines slogans and quick pace. Performance in starkness, literally black and white, countdown to noise in darkness (kinda calm really but I had earplugs!).

Tom Kipp, “’I Never Heard a Man Speak Like This Man Before!’: Song, Horror and Tragedy in Jonestown, and a Convincing Simulation of Hell” — entered in progress, recordings from Jonestown being played. Unsettling and then some. Again, you need to be here, the presentation is key. Powerful stuff, delivered calmly — Tom’s great gift. Talking about being haunted by a singing of a hymn soon before the end, a psychodrama beyond easy description, “I Never Heard a Man” (traditional song, version here from Five Blind Boys of Mississippi) as passion play for self sacrifice. Jones tears into one who wished to leave, calling it blasphemy. Terrifying. Father cares indeed… Few willingly drank it, and the phrase is now in currency when it should be rejected. There is love, devotion, pathology. No songwriter could have conveyed it, “Never Heard A Man” is just too perfect for the whole horror, theatrical and diabolical. But all they sang was the chorus, the endless repetition. Jim Jones like Elvis cannot be solved, no matter what. But we can learn from it and what helped produce it, though nothing has receded. Tom then sings the chorus — a powerful end.

Elijah Wald, “Mexican Murder Musicals: How Youtube Has Revolutionized the Narcocorrido” — entered in progress (Robert Christgau has a more detailed overview of the full presentation which I heartily recommendation). Video as tool of unofficial tribute of cartel deaths. Valentin Elizalde killed after giving concert — because of the video? Just a rumor and yet. Videos can get very grisly and are widely viewed. Wald has had work forced on him because of his research but he notes that crime and music have far longer roots on both sides of the border. Some logic to the death connection exists but there is no definitive word. Two musician deaths in December are noted — but in the States this was given massive coverage and undue connections were made, “who is killing Mexico’s musicians?” Context — 9 out of 4000 actual drug crime deaths in that time but the stereotypes overwhelm, lyrics are twisted. There are some genuine stories here — the rise of corridos, the rise of crime, the use of YouTube — but there is massive conflation and only one possible death where drugs are a factor.

David Ritz, “Divided Byline: How a Student of Leslie Fiedler and Colleague of Charles Keil Became the Ghostwriter for Everybody from Ray Charles to Cornel West” — a fine and considered testimony as he puts it, and much as I would like to report on it, it’s better just to enjoy it. More tomorrow!