Looper's Delight Archive Top (Search)
Date Index
Thread Index
Author Index
Looper's Delight Home
Mailing List Info

[Date Prev][Date Next]   [Thread Prev][Thread Next]   [Date Index][Thread Index][Author Index]

Re: ART Regular Output vs. Inspiration



I too, found some real truth in what Rick is saying, and was fascinated by the post and also have a similar story to relate. Firstly I would like to point out something...
Everyone, just look back at your FIRST EVER recordings (or memories) of explorations in music. Mine stems from the very late 70īs early eighties. Despite the MASSIVE influences I should have had at this time (punk, new wave, industrial electronics, all exploded around this time) my own music, as a kid was completely un-influenced by music of the time, or rather it was a MASSIVE random hotch-potch of everything from punk, tangerine dream, gong, and bleepy electronics, circa OMD, DM and krafwerk! As a kid I didnt care what I was doing or where it was leading, I just produced all the time, no barriers, just for fun, see what would happen. I sure I NEVER even considered whether I was inspired that day or not... I just DID!
AND IT WAS ALL GREAT!!!!!
Amateurish, yes, messy, yes, very badly recorded, and completely original!!!!

My story is that while I was at Art college ('84-89), my mentor was a student, one year above me called Alisdair. He produced a new and completely different installation in his space every week! We all knew about his project and looked in to marvel at what he had come up with. He never announced it, just did it. AND... (pissing off the lecturers) he never documented any of it!
Come the end of year, his show consisted of some dual screen Super8 films with soundtracks playing back around the hall on cheap cassette recorders. He was judged by his lecturers to get a 3rd (not a good grade) however,when the visiting examiners came in for the final show, they disagreed with the mark and put him up to a FIRST! (the highest grade one can get in the UK). You see, despite his installations NOT being included in his grading, that output had seeped through into his final show.

I believe that constant work, and forcing yourself to play, will always seep through.

Alisdair never became famous, for anything, however last time I spoke to him, he informed me that his band Vitamin B12 had been recording every Tuesday night for 2 hours for the last 15 years, only breaking for holidays and sickness... He said that he was now looking for a record company that would release it ALL... as ONE ALBUM!!!
He said that in total the running time, if you played it continuously would be one complete month! I asked him if it was all good, he said it wasnt for him to say, but that it WAS all music!

Mark