Noise made me do it

This is one artist that I will often come back to. It seems like every time I check back on Pelt’s website, he has a new album coming out and his studio videos are a goldmine for any aspiring artist, whether jazz or any other genre for that matter. Usually, listening to musicians speak or try to voice their art is a cringing experience but watching their process and sometimes listening to their take on an experience can be a very enlightening window. Not to mention, its clear that Pelt’s recordings are the result of introspection and planning. Lastly, I’m very excited to see him reunite with drummer Dana Hawkins who brings such a youthful confidence and virtuosity to the table.

“One might say that where Religion becomes artificial, it is reserved for Art to save the
spirit of religion by recognizing the figurative value of the mythic symbols which the former
would have us believe in their literal sense, and revealing their deep and hidden truth through
an ideal presentation. Whilst the priest stakes everything on the religious allegories being
accepted as matters of fact, the artist has no concern at all with such a thing, since he freely
and openly gives out his work as his own invention. But Religion has sunk into an artificial
life, when she finds herself compelled to keep on adding to the edifice of her dogmatic
symbols, and thus conceals the one divinely True in her beneath an ever growing heap of
incredibilities commended to belief. Feeling this, she has always sought the aid of Art; who
on her side has remained incapable of higher evolution so long as she must present that
alleged reality of the symbol to the senses of the worshipper in form of fetishes and idols,—
whereas she could only fulfill her true vocation when, by an ideal presentment of the allegoric
figure, she led to apprehension of its inner kernel, the truth ineffably divine.
To see our way clear in this, we should have most carefully to test the origin of religions.
These we must certainly deem the more divine, the simpler proves to be their inmost kernel.
Now, the deepest basis of every true religion we find in recognition of the frailty of this
world, and the consequent charge to free ourselves therefrom.”

• Richard Wagner (From the essay: “Religion and Art”)

The true tragedy of popular religion comes in the betrayal of that which truly serves us spiritually for the worship of the superficial. Richard Wagner argues that art can never achieve its fullest potential while working towards the aim of religious ambition, for it’s very place is at a distance from the divine (to support the material rituals of popular demand). While the “inmost kernel” is the essential teachings of the philosophy, art is wrongly used to prop up all that which men place between themselves and this inner truth. Instead, the use of artistic expression must be used as an aid in achieving spiritual truth. While the notion of religion can not accurately be spoken about on the whole, the term, for this purpose, refers to man’s tendency to turn towards superficiality as a way of escaping the responsibility of true inward reflection. In the last sentence of this paragraph Wagner proposes that while the “deepest basis of every true religion” is meant for the understanding of the worlds illusory nature, the popular beliefs often contradict these original philosophical inquiries by placing importance on rituals and material miracles. The move towards spiritual sincerity is in the ripening of the self for the joining of the whole. Our art is our beginning to this.

While personal identity is often held as an elevated concept to be strived after, it can sometimes be misconstrued and used towards the development of selfishness and bigotry. We as individuals must continuously define our unique nature but we sometimes need help finding commonality between ourselves. This constructed identity can sometimes be a hinderance to that.

Nick Cave’s most notable contribution to the arts community, the Sound Suit, is a construction that bridges the genres of aural art, performance art (dance), sculpture, and fashion. About a month ago, I found myself driving to a Cave museum performance. My experience resembled a scene from Where the Wild Things Are, with

large monster like beings all dancing to club music as members of the audience started to join in. Children, teenagers and even seniors danced among the costumed performers. As I looked on it became clear that this wasn’t a performance, it was an interaction. There was no doubt or awkwardness but simply a passing of joy and freedom. The dancers in the Sound Suits ceased to be seen as people and became the character that they moved through. Nick Cave had succeeded in creating an atmosphere that legitimately brought imagination to reality.

Through Cave’s performances, we can explore community in a setting which encourages it with

out the superfluous awkward circumstances that come through societal conventions. Ultimately, it cuts the shit out. For the individual within the suit, they themselves must enter a unique experience of aural and movement based expression.

The Sound Suit interaction resembles the traditional dances of Native American tribes, which focus on community and spirituality. The unique sounds of the suits coupled with the enactment of spirits and heavy pulses creates an experience meant to remove the participants from every day reality in the attempt of more visceral communication.

Meet Paramount’s brand new post production facility/team. As an audio engineer, this is the place to be (or a huge NYC studio like Avatar or MSR). The fact of the matter is that when you think of Hollywood, the romantic images of movie sets and backlots come to mind but there are more layers of beautiful scenery when you consider the huge and luxurious facilities that these places offer. Before technicolor, Paramount had post production services but studios like Universal, WB, Sony, and Todd AO really carried the torch in terms of world class Post facilities. However, Paramount just boosted themselves to the forefront of the major motion picture studios with this muscular display of creative capability. What an awesome place to grab an internship at…

If you haven’t heard of Blakroc you’ve probably atleast heard of The Black Keys. We’ve seen rock bands attempt to meld their sound with hip hop in the past: Anthrax and Public Enemy, Linkin Park and Jay z, Limp Bizkit, etc. On the whole, the “rap-metal” genre sounded contrived and created an unattractive aesthetic with these two very divergent forms of aggressive expression simply not mixing well. In fact, I’d argue that the only band to ever succeed at this fusion was Rage Against the Machine; their sound was so unique and well synthesized that it would be unfair to label them under a genre with such a stigma as “rap-metal.” Since Rage, there hasn’t been many attempts to combine hip hop with rock and thankfully so. However, if there were going to be some guys to do it, it would be the Black Keys, given their hard blues grooves and “low down” aesthetic; and that’s what they did. Being the only other band, in my opinion, to successfully combine hard rock with hip hop may be one of the reasons why guitarist, Dan Auerbach, won the grammy for best producer. The end result is a product that doesn’t even sound like a synthesis but rather the way hip hop is supposed to sound. It’s said that hip hop was born from the attitude and flavor of jazz and Blues, and with this album, they’re bringing it back home.

When Latin jazz first burst onto the American music scene from Cuba and Brazil in the 1940’s and 50’s it gave life to a popular culture that had started fading away from the complicated virtuosic leaps of the bebop movement. While Dizzy Gillespie attempted to show his audiences how danceable bebop was, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Joao Gilberto, Chano Pozo, Mongo Santamaria and others in the Latin invasion blended the smooth lines and rich harmonies of American Jazz with the complicated yet danceable rhythms of Cuban and Brazilian music. With such a foundation, the advanced musical ambitions that were being chased by bebop-ers were now available in a popular context. Polyrhythms, polymeter, extreme dynamics, open harmonic stylings for more free improvisation, and an aggressive fast paced aesthetic could all be pursued while the underlying pulse of the clave rhythm kept the audiences moving. Moreover, the soft ballads sung by Luis Bonfa and caressed by the remarkably soft wave of Stan Getz’s lines laid down the new bar for what romantic truly meant.

In the modern context the Latin sound still provides a refreshing departure from the hurried, anxious and competitive NYC onslaught. It has however taken on its own sort of aggression and “difficult-ness” as the rhythms become more complex and the melody parts become more disjunct, a stark contrast to Getz’s warm legato.

David Sanchez knows how to play a ballad but some of his most exciting work comes in the form of tunes like Ay bendito which embraces a very modern sound incorporating odd meters interspersed in more common meters, phrasing with changing syncopated accents, dense harmonic structures, and an ambiguous straight eighths feel.

A question must be asked: What is the motivation that gives form to true art. Is it tragedy, happiness, intellectualism, competition, love? It is our path to overcome the alienation that so often bitters our taste and lengthens the night. It is the abstract emotion that can not be spoken lest it be completely devalued, so fragile that even thought can destroy it but what holds such a bed of inspiration as to stem from an infinite source. Knowledge/preparation/practice are only the first step while the true moment of “necessity” (Wagner) comes through patience as if we were displaying our worthiness to a conscious wellspring. In the fading away of our isolation, tragedy, alienation, violence, jealousy become minuscule while the gap between every person is recognized as erroneous; love is understood. The passing “hello” to every person in the day becomes more meaningful while the true relationships are recognized as sublime miracles of a chaos, an ever blooming singularity.

Slowly becoming aware of the world’s crises has made me appreciate this idea.

Often, there arises an illusory dichotomy when looking at the fine arts versus technology of the modern day. The aesthetics of electronic dance music and the total control or seeming perfection that the recording studio offers to pop music is seen as a paradigm which is wholly separate from the great Romantic composers or the flowing lines of Charlie Parker’s bebop. Digital sampling and processors such as autotune has made the legitimacy of every pop vocal suspect. However, there are those who understand the use of technology in its most utilitarian form. Their perspective places thought and philosophy as the underlying inspiration for their work while they pursue advanced skills in both the technological arena and the tangible creations that only their hands can mould. Peter Neubacker, the creator of the popular pitch/time/amplitude editing software Melodyne, is a uniquely skilled individual who not only commands a mastery of computer coding but speaks eloquently about the over arching and spiritual ideologies that inspire his work. His multidisciplinary lifestyle includes the study of music, mathematics, coding, and instrument construction in the classic renaissance-man fashion. For Neubacker, his laptop fits right in among the many classic writings on musical ratios and the inherent spiritual nature of art. His personality is reminiscent of a monk and his home gives the impression of a being a synthesis of studio, workshop, and monastery. In this video Neubacker logicizes the notion that music results from the relationship between nothingness and infinity after explaining the ancient concept that music is also something which exists regardless of sound. Such musings are a refreshing perspective in an industry which focuses almost exclusively on material image and an ambitious ladder climbing industry.