Buddhist chants

I am relaxing, listening to an album of chants called 'Om Sai Ram' which creates a gentle state of tranquility. This is interrupted only by the occasional click of computer keypad, and the sighing of the cat. Sometimes peace is the right state of mind.

I have nearly finished reading 'The Tipping Point' by Malcolm Gladwell which is an absorbing book full of fascinating facts and theories. I'll post a review of it in a couple of days.

Sonic Youth

This is my first attempt to produce something on the blackberry.  It takes a bit of getting used to, but it's a great way to comment on the move. Just a case of getting used to the keyboard!

Well, what have I been listening to recently? I heard my first album by Sonic Youth - I think it's their first one. It's good sometimes to discover these people even if it is 20 years after everyone else. It was music of its time, but moving somewhere new. Interesting and worthy of a few more plays

Robert, Brian and Alice

Listening to ‘Music for Airports’ by Brian Eno. I must have listened to this album hundreds of times over the last 25 years. It still weaves a magic, creates a mysterious atmosphere that makes working easier.

I’m reading a book by Michael King at the moment – “Wrong Movements: a Robert Wyatt history” which is interesting, not least because I am really interested in the work of Robert Wyatt. It’s an interesting approach to biography, written mainly through the words of those interviewed, and fragments of data relating to concerts, recording dates etc. The author’s words are few – at first I found this a bit odd. But it does construct a story really well, without the usual purple prose of music biographies.

The reason I mention this is because Robert Wyatt co-wrote the first track on ‘Music of Airports’ and plays the piano phrases on which the track is built. Life is a series of connections and synchronicities.

The poetry for ‘the alice conversations’ is progressing steadily. Here is an extract from one of the poems written:

Alice in replay / relay

Disturbance
Resonance and replicate
Words tumbling along like a chaotic maze of messes

The light was barely visible, just out beyond the turn of the road
Where he could clearly see she was standing

Disturb
Resonate and replicas
Sounds fumbling inside like it's all gone wrong now

She turned to look at him, the mark on her cheek
From the cut that had scarred, clearly visible in the light from the lamp-post

Distress
Resounds and reposition
Colours crumbling around the merest guesses

Car tyres screech as the mondeo flashes around the corner
Heads towards him now, glancing the kerb near where she stands

Distort
Restate and replace
Touch the crumbs that feed the mouth

Violence is a space we find between the sense of us and them
Seconds that make every difference, when all will change

Despair
Remonstrate and replay
Wherever it will lead him

Rain falls on the daylight street, nothing left now
Of the moment when fates crossed and openings slid together.

Surfing far and wide

Spending far too much time surfing on the net (who doesn’t given the chance!)

Out there is just about anything you want to find out about. A few years ago, if I wanted to know what had happened to a particular band or musician it was near impossible to find out. If there was no recent material in the local record store, there was no other easy way to find out.

Thanks to the web, I can find out about anyone. So, I set out on a search to find out what had happened to The Residents. This was a band that a mate of mine was in to when I was a teenager – we used to listen to their albums when they came out, and were usually impressed at just how weird, imaginative, and downright strange their music was. The album I remember most vividly was ‘Eskimo’ which was presumably put together in a studio, but sounded like an on-location recording in deep dark cold eskimo country. It was odd – no songs as such, but a fascinating listen. Then there was the take-off of The Beatles with ‘Meet The Residents’. Well, a quick search with Google, and I found www.theresidents.co.uk which tells me that there is a whole heap of material out there – the band carry on working, producing mysterious material underneath the cloak of anonymity. Their work continues to display everything dadaist, avant garde and post-modern. And it has all become available again thanks to the advent of CD technology. Time for some real exploring I think!

Meanwhile, my musical indulgences continue with recent purchases of albums by Tom Waits (www.anti.com) ‘Blood Money’, Steve Hillage ‘L’, Morrissey ‘You are the Quarry (excellent new album!), and Wire’s ‘Chairs Missing’ (with the superb single ‘Outdoor Miner’ from 1979). Great music all round. I’m also listening to Miles Davis / Gil Evans ‘Complete Columbia Recordings’ borrowed from the local library. Stunning music – older than me!

Thanks to the internet I have discovered that Steve Hillage has been working for the last decade as a duo called System Seven with Miquette Giraudy (www.a-wave.com) and has produced 7 albums. Worth an exploration, I think.

Language – I’m working more on ‘the alice conversations’ poetry sequence which has now reached 11 poems. I want to get on with this and complete it soon. It’s shaping into an interesting poetry sequence. Final push…