On Fri, 18 Jul 1997, Peter Becker wrote:
quoted 2 lines I find it interesting why many folks ( on this list & in general ) are so> I find it interesting why many folks ( on this list & in general ) are so
> concerned with an artist *moving forward* and *paving new ground".
I tend to agree. Apart from the general Western obsession with the "new
and improved," sometimes I wonder if it isn't as simple as the fact that
"new ground" is easier to talk about than--for lack of a better
word--depth. (Speaking as a "classically" trained composer, we have the
same @#$$@@#! problem in that world too--irritates me no end.) A concrete
example: it's been pointed out that many of the sounds and techniques on
Ae's Chiastic are quite similar to those on Tri Rep. (the same is true of
formal procedures), from which some draw the conclusion that Chiastic is
just a rehashing of old territory. So why does the later album feel so
much richer emotionally? I can't answer that question in words, but if you
have a similar sense of these albums, then you know what I mean. I feel
similarly about the two full-length SQPr albums, which is why I'd take
Hard Normal Daddy over Feed Me... if the gun were at *my* head.
Of course I'm grateful for the avant-gardists--it means it's something
*I* don't have to do myself! ;) J
________
\ / | Bee women: "What kind of corn soldiers are you?"
H. James Harkins | Arthur: "Umm, oh, er, we're, uh, we're colonels."
jharkins@acpub.duke.edu |
\/ | - from "The Tick," now on Comedy Central, 6PM M-F
"If we keep our attention focused on the present, we can be sure of one
thing, namely that whatever we are attending to in this moment will change..."
-- Jon Kabat-Zinn