Noise made me do it

Recently, within the past week, I decided to dive into an album which I had little experience with. Although I’ve watched a couple Christian Scott interviews and a handful of his performances on youtube, I really hadn’t sat down to explore either of the two albums I have from him sitting on my desktop. Lingering on campus with a coffee and an open feeling, the one song that I knew him for, “Isadora,” came onto my headphones. So, starting from the beginning I jumped into Scott’s second latest album, Yesterday You Said Tomorrow. Now, usually I tend to muse on the importance of modern jazz and its turn towards fusion styling as a crucial step in the survival of it as a growing artform; especially, in relation to the traditionalist view of jazz held by many academics. However, I’ll skip that discourse and go straight into the importance of the record as its own important piece of art. While Christian Scott has displayed heavy use of fusion elements (funk, rock, distorted guitars) in previous recordings, this album is refreshingly introspective. That is not to say that it lacks accessibility, but that it is warmly personal. There is so much space on this album that it practically invites the listener into the room, and the whispering quality of Christian’s horn is a detailed contrast to the live and brooding sound of the rhythm section. What is important is that the emotion that comes from listening to it feels truly crucial to the current moment. There is no struggle or any amount of work necessary to fall into the lines of their music, but yet, you appreciate everything these guys say because it truly means something. Starting with the epic and frantic K.K.P.D. and moving to the inspiring and contemplative “The Eraser,” they let you listener know that you’re listening to something special. Moving onto “Isadora” and “Angola, LA & the 13th Amendment,” they bring the perspective even deeper, exploring something profoundly personal and moving. Nearing the end of the album, you’ll encounter one of the more outwardly driving songs “Jenacide.” In all truthfulness, the last couple of songs on the record aren’t the strongest but they do hold something special, so I hope that these tunes eventually start to bloom for me. Overall, this album has the ability to have a large impact on anyone who gives it sincere attention.The emotion is as rich and complex as the delta blues but with a sound/aesthetic that is vastly exploratory and unique. Pick this album up and take some time with it.

If you read and watched my last post “The Young Virtuosos of Modern Folk” you may have already had a burning urge to do more research on Julian Lage, the folk jazz prodigy who racked up a grammy nomination with his debut album, Sounding Point.

If not, well… you should get on that.

The modern jazz scene is something which is on fire at the moment. Unfortunately, its a highly contained fire burning a scorching blue in NYC and practically no where else; not to mention it may be hot but not very bright. Julian Lage, however, is not only bringing the music in a new direction but the aesthetic as well. He isn’t simply a case of the mega virtuoso prodigy. He has his own style, sound, and feel. While the young lions of todays jazz scene are busy tearing up NYC’s jam sessions and putting out albums of hyper modern intellectualism, Julian has brought it back home with a unique folk music aesthetic that embraces the complete acoustic sound of early jazz while making it totally personal. He incorporates sax and upright bass as well as south american percussion and cello. There are elements of classical, bluegrass, and modern jazz harmony/improvisation. The absolute refreshing nature of Julian’s music comes from his relaxed attitude about not having to sound like any one thing. You just get the feeling that you are listening to some good music; no stretching of expectations based on genre. His virtuosity is at such a high level that it doesn’t simply stop with outward shows of fast lines, but is mostly displayed in his very mature use of dynamics and other subtleties. Through his amazing musicality, compositions, and calm natured sound he attracts an audience that isn’t just made up of young college students; there is really something for everybody.

Here is a clip from a documentary about him at a very young age. It provides an interesting look at his abilities at the age of just 8 years old.

Each of the artists featured on this post most certainly deserve their own set of posts and introductions. But for now the point is to focus simply on the amazing musicianship exhibited by mandolinist Chris Thile and guitarist Julian Lage. Although their styles and backgrounds are somewhat divergent, they hold a common ground in the practice of acoustic folk music. In each of their performances one can see wide spread elements from Bach to modern jazz harmony built off of the simple structures of American standards or traditional Irish reels. The level of skill that each musician displays is at such a high level that even in the presence of other successful prodigies, they stand out as “top dog.” Sometimes its hard to watch a display of such overwhelming talent but you may just have to sit back and bare it because often its just too hard to look away.

Chris Thile

Julian Lage is the guitarist on the right who plays the melody. The other amazing guitarist is Armand Hirsch with the lighter guitar.

In the study of audio engineering/mixing and psychoacoustics, the stereo image that is created by two correctly positioned monitors is already “3D,” and most mix engineers understand how to place a sound source at various distances in relation to the listener by manipulating reverberation, timbrel detail, and amplitude level. This is no different with Surround Sound except that the listener is inside of the sound field rather than a spectator receiving sound queues from loudspeakers only in the front.

What Edgar Choueiri, the professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at Princeton University, is actually doing is trying to make the 3D phantom image more detailed (less blurred and smudged by crosstalk), and in some cases, as with the “fly” example, he replicates a surround sound environment. Unfortunately, the video does not attempt to explain much of the science behind crosstalk cancellation. This is because the science is difficult… However, the basic idea is that through analysis of how each ear receives crosstalk, audio filters are implemented to create artificial crosstalk in order to cancel out the real thing. From what I’ve read, there are various methods for creating these filters but the basic idea still holds.

The one problem with this type of recording is that it is essentially an illusion that attempts to make loudspeakers into headphones by restricting the right ear to hear only what is coming from the right speaker (same for left). What you’ll notice when listening to the examples from the video (on actual monitors instead of laptop speakers) is that it feels like there is a wall in the center of your face and this can be slightly disconcerting. It makes it slightly restrictive for creative applications, as well (especially when considering miking techniques). In reality, sound sources don’t choose to affect only one ear, so crosstalk cancellation is an unnatural illusion that actually, in my opinion, draws unnecessary attention to the loudspeakers rather than the material coming from them.

Though, it is such a new technique that it may take some time to get used to as it starts to enter the mainstream.