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From:
Alan Lucas
To:
n3wjack
Cc:
Date:
Thu, 14 Apr 2005 09:06:51 -0400
Subject:
Re: [idm] RE: Rossz Csillag Allat Szuletett
Msg-Id:
<5e21321c05041406061ab54717@mail.gmail.com>
In-Reply-To:
<32064722050414010771b2b21b@mail.gmail.com>
Mbox:
idm.0504.gz
On 4/14/05, n3wjack <n3wjack@gmail.com> wrote:
quoted 4 lines VS just doesn't seem like the violin playing guy, but then again,> VS just doesn't seem like the violin playing guy, but then again, > Aphex knows how to play the piano as well doesn't he, so why not a > violin... >
Actually, RDJ can't play piano, or read music. From http://www.warprecords.com/artists/news.php?filter=afx&ti_id=516 Nearly sixty years later Richard James was in a BBC studio taking part in a Radio 3 programme called 'Mixing It'. His music was being played along with the usual fabulous eclectic mix that this programme offers every Sunday night. One of Cage's prepared piano pieces was played and Mr Aphex's ears were drawn to the extraordinary sounds. He enquired about the prepared piano and how it was all done. Many other techno artists would have probably prepared a piano and sampled some of the sounds, but not Richard James, he knew this simply wouldn't work and that any results of this process would be crass. He bought a grand piano that can be played by computer. It's called a 'Diskclavier' and it's made by Yamaha. It's exactly like a straightforward grand piano but the keys can be controlled by a computer via MIDI – the musical instrument digital interface. Richard James cannot read conventional musical notation and he cannot play a keyboard so, in order to make the piano and prepared piano pieces that appear on 'Drukqs' he prepared his Diskclavier according to the principles established by John Cage and programmed the playing using a computer. The results are there for all to hear. It's a real piano on Drukqs, not a sampler or a synthesizer. Richard James has brought the sound of the forties into the 21st century.