Friday, June 06, 2008

i will get it out of the way first, no new news on the janes front. i know many of you are here for that. not sure what to do about that actually. it certainly wasnt why i decided to start blogging. should i start an update section at janesaddiction.org? start a separate janes update blog? stop blogging altogether? decisions for another day. anyway, that aside, i found a really cool youtube vid that some inventive person put up. it is a 'visual score' to an electronic piece by a composer named gyorgy ligeti; a current favorite of mine. it is a piece called "artikulation" written around 1958. sounds like it could be an 'autechre' song but it was written in 1958. as in FIFTY-eight. remarkable. there are a few of you here that i thought might appreciate it.

81 comments:

Anonymous said...

Whatever you do don't do it on Janesaddiction.org. That place is notorious for it's unwillingness to allow dissenting voices to be heard. It's really the antithesis of the spirit that Jane's Addiction embodied. Do a separate blog or try Xiola.org.

Anonymous said...

Perfect visual representation of the score. One interesting thing is that you can kind of predict what's about to come sonically by looking ahead in the visual field, even if you suck at reading music, as I do. I like that the visual element, despite being made in the 70s, has a palate and style similar to 40s and 50s modernist illustration/design/cartooning.

Anonymous said...

i'd be interesting in knowing more of your electronic music tastes. correct me if i'm wrong i assume you're into the kraftwerk, legendary pink dots, gary numan, skinny puppy side of things. please elaborate.

Anonymous said...

Trying to figure out the role of the peach colored regions. Quite interesting.

I'd say fire up a side-blog.

Anonymous said...

Damn, I must be ignorant. This video ain't doing a thing for me. Can you explain what is so fascinating about it?

Brian Smith McCallum said...

EA,

Just watched the Ligeti clip; hope I have the right individual here from Wikipedia entry about him. Abashed to say that I'm totally ignorant of his work, yet have unconsciously heard his contributions to film.

Watching the video - - for some reason - - made me think of Tim Berners-Lee vision of the semantic web - - mapping, nodes, translation, clustering, etc.

Speaking of the future of the web, please consider participating (and that goes for all contributors to EA's blog) to my public library's effort to educate and inform average joes and janes like me to technology. It's called Baker's Dozen. Chime in with your comments, please.

As always, thanks, EA, for the education - - a new artist, musician to investigate.

My brain will require multiprocessing to understand Legiti clip. Me not so smart.

Anonymous said...

Wow, mind blowing! 1958....crazy, and yeah, it does sound very autechre.

I have a comp of the "BBC Radiophonic workshop" from the 50s that's pretty amazing, it has among others the works of Delia Deryshire, who wrote and recorded the original Doctor who theme. I think Warp re-issued it...worth checking out.

also, I see you're a Steve Reich fan? someone I recently discovered.

Richard

Anonymous said...

Glad you are stearing the topics back. The Janes stuff is exciting and all, though the first time I saw this blog i think the topic was religion or something.

This Ligeti guy is a trip. I am not into it and at the same time I find myself peeking around the next corner. My stomache bubbling from what is in my ear. Trying to turn off my reasons for not liking and allowing to be open to the fact that all and any ways of sound sculpting are significant. And to learn from.

Thanks for sharing this.

R&K
Mike

Anonymous said...

I know what you should do Mr. Avery, call up Perry/Dave/Stephen and say let's record and tour then we won't have to ask you about it anymore. :-)

Anonymous said...

How about responding to some of the questions?

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Anonymous said...

was that R2D2 at the end of the video? the very last picture.

Anonymous said...

opps the 2 last pictures sound like R2D2.

Anonymous said...

ok the last three pics sound like R2D2 if you edit out the right sounds, maybe more than that but i'll stop here. thanks for sharing!

Anonymous said...

does that mean the R2D2 sound is public domain? for samples?

Anonymous said...

very interesting. The audio reminds of some of the Raymond Scott work from that time. The visual part is quite a trip.
And as for the music news, Janes news? no worries, but how about some news on solo shows this summer?

Anonymous said...

No offense, but if this is really you, why are you wasting your time here in front of a computer? We want a world tour! I think Dangerbird wouldn't mind if they sold a few copies of Help Wanted either.
DM

Anonymous said...

Eric, what was it like working with Kevin Haskins and Peter Murphy on the 2000 Murphy tour?

Do you still keep in touch with Peter Murphy or the Love & Rockets guys?

-joshua r.

Anonymous said...

The music is awesome. No structure whatever and it has such great randomness. I need to record a few these for personal sampling purposes.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for sharing the ligeti score. Amazing for that time period. In my travels on the web I came accross a neat Deconstruction track that appears to have been reworked. Can you shed some light on this? Was this perhaps a b-side to a DECONSTRUCTION single or something? This is the link-
http://www.zshare.net/audio/132785823d006d92/
If for any reason this is not ok to share, let me know and I'll kill the link right away.

Anonymous said...

also....

I wanted to ask you, Is it true you were asked to join Tool & Nine Inch Nails in 93/4?

Richard

Anonymous said...

Will you write a book for us please Eric so you don't have to be constantly fielding questions from your hordes of fans. I want to know about your early life growing up. Take us back to the time you rode your first wave on a surfboard at the beach in SoCal. Take us back to 4:20 and what it felt like having your mind expanded. Walk us through the turbulent times and show us your moments of enlightenment. It could be therapeutic for you, really I believe. Dave Navarro and Anthony Keidis are now both authors. If they can do it, you can too. Perry doesn't have enough brain cells left to remember much of anything of consequence so we won't get an autobiography from him. Sad to say isn't it. :(

Anonymous said...

Eric,
Don't worry about the people who are here just for Jane's Addiction news. Reasonable people should understand that this is your private blog, and not a band site. Keep doing your thing, man!

Anonymous said...

Yeah, while watching that vid I felt like I was locked in a droid factory in Star Wars. Interesting stuff though.

Jared said...

I'm curious what the deconstruction that anonymous shared. I tried the link and it appears that they song was removed. What song is it? DId anyone catch it in time?

Anonymous said...

Speaking of great music!

were there ever studio recordings of the following Polarbear tracks?

Straw
Gone
Green
Ordinary
Things to do when I'm Dead


Thanx
RB

Anonymous said...

Reasonable people were led here from direct links from myspace.com/ericaverymusic, ericavery.net and dangerbirdrecords.com. The fact that the last 3 blog topics specifically mention jane's addiction and the previous bunch had to do with his solo record and promotion. Why is the topic of his solo music, including jane's suddenly off limits?

Anonymous said...

Hi ya Eric ;)
Today I went for a swim in Avila Beach way north of you. Yes it was very very cold at first but I had my wetsuit :) I had the coolest thing happen. I was on my board paddling out through a bunch of yucky seaweed and these 2 fins popped up right in front of me. My heart skip a beat cause I was so startled and I thought they were sharks. But they were dolphins and they came up really really close. I felt so loved and almost cried.
When you go surfing do the dolphins ever come and swim around you? I just wanted to share this with you.
Love, Jen

"The dolphin has joined the ranks of creatures that have captivated us not only in our waking hours, but in our dream lives as well.
Dolphins also show up often in our subconscious minds in the forms of dreams. While traditionally, the appearance of a dolphin in your dream might be a negative omen that your will soon be coming under an new government, today the meaning of dolphins has grown along with our understanding of these gentle, intelligent creatures.

In dreams, dolphins will often communicate to us that their spirit is always with us, guiding us and helping to protect us. In other dreams, the dreamer will morph into the form of a dolphin, and be accepted as a playmate to go and frolic with a pod."

Anonymous said...

Maybe if you answered a few questions, the JA comments might subside a little.

matt volpe said...

Eric,

Thanks for sharing that youtube vid, extremely creative and really well done. As I was watching/listening, I was think how I would approach making visuals for the nuances in the music I was hearing, that must have been a very daunting task. As for the music, 1958, jeez louise, that's pretty ahead of it's time. I do hear the R2D2 like sounds some people blogged about. Anyway, with regards to your concern about a lot of folks being here for Jane's news, that's a pretty expected thing, since your recent performance at NME and given the well known fact that JA and your bass playing are legendary things in our generation. However, I see your point and understand. Personally, I quite enjoyed how this blog page used to be, more quaint and not chock full of comments and the like. It was focused mainly on you and your artistic endeavors. And that's how I think it should remain. I pride myself on being one of the very first persons to correspond with you on this blog page. But lately I don't hear much from you anymore, which is understandable of course (I'm not complaining, just stating a fact) given the said JA upheaval and the release of HW. But it's also probably because there's too many folks to respond to and all. It would be like answering 100 e-mails every couple of days and that's a full time job and a half!
Anyhow, I ask you sincerely to please continuing to write to us and share your views and thoughts and music, and to not stop. You got a great communal thing going here and I'd hate to see it end. Oh well, that's my 2 cents, sorry for the long comment. BTW, lil Avery turned 2 yesterday! He had a blast at his B-day party my wife and I threw! Take care my friend and all the best, Matt

cowboy neal said...

Eric,

Thanks for posting that Ligeti link. I was not familiar with the piece and, yes, way before its time. He really did a wide range of things over the decades of composing. I'm not hugely familiar with his work so I can't really say what my favorite piece is but I did buy "Clear and Cloudy" just after he died which I think is a very good mix of compositions with top notch performances. It's pretty impressive that he would write "String Quartet No.1" (which owes a debt to Bartok if I remember correctly) in 1954 and then compose Artikulation three years later.

Rich

Anonymous said...

A rather captivating piece of filmwork:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=bNWmg8Es5kI&feature=related

Anonymous said...

Dolphins are delicious with a smattering of tarter sauce and a side car of sea turtle soup...i almost cried it tasted sooo good

sam said...

ea,

awseome link, mind opener. i am so in thd now, i hate to think all the things i repeat that have already been done.

as volpe said, i enjoyed your blog as it was, and also understand how and why its morphing and your concern.

how bout this, TO ALL READING THIS BLOG, please keep comments pertenent to original postng.

but that kinda sucks, cause a lot fo great things are sidetracks.

well, i hope you are able to enjoy keeping your blog going. we enjoy reading it and giving feedback and occasionally receiving feedback...

Anonymous said...

Arnold wrote, "Why is the topic of his solo music, including jane's suddenly off limits?"

Good thing about Eric's blog is nothing is off limits. Part of the reason EA kick's ass.

R&K,
Mike

Anonymous said...

Hey ya Eric,

Positive thoughts. Wanted to share a sample email of the music salon we do here in Eugene. The salon is growing. Trying to get you to jam has allowed me to work out some thoughts on this; so thanks.

Wanted to share about the music salon here in case any other musicians or artists may want to organize in their area. Since starting this, I have been playing way more than before in a very adventurous manner. The response from our local A-list musicians here in Eugene has been outstanding. The main principles being LISTEN WITH CARE and TOUCH WITH GRACE.


It’s numbers game. The more on the list the more likely to get a great jam. Takes a little time to develop but totally worth it.

Side note; I really liked what Sam and Volpe had to say. Ditto goes for me.


Here is a sample e-mailer –
Hey y'all,

Positive thoughts.

Our music salon is growing. We will continue to cast a wider net of great musicians. Thanks!

This salon is a place to play with musicians from other bands in a supportive environment. Where advanced musicians can share notes. Refresh yourself with music that isn't over rehearsed, with the same players every time, or career critical. Keep your chops up. You are also encouraged to explore other instruments in these jams. Everyone contributes and adds to the mix.

Let me know if you want to come jam Mon (tonight) Tues or Wed. or all! 9pm until midnight-ish.

Please RSVP if you are coming. If possible, let me know any availability coming up. Potentially we can organize the salon for that time.

Irie Heights,
Mike

Anonymous said...

Mike,
The Jam band thing is right up my alley, I love the hippie jam stuff. Kinda like a communal drum circle that Steven Perkins does but not limited to drums. Tell me more. Do you record these salon sessions at all?
-qualone

Anonymous said...

Hi Qualone,

Yes we record every single one of them. Always can find big chunks of gold within the jams to overdub and make tunes from etc. I am very careful because some of the players have commercial concerns which are always respected.

Most people are on an email list though a couple need to be phoned because they don't check email in time. Overall, the music salon seems to bring needed relief to even the most jaded music makers.

I did not know about SP's drum circle thingy. Have you been? How is that organized? Wish I had been when I lived in L.A. They do drumming at Griffith Park on Sundays as well.

I will help any way I can. Let me know if there is any other info you need.

Thanks for the inspiration Qualone. The more music, the less noise.

respect & kindness
Mike

Anonymous said...

Hey, Steven does music therapy drum circles at various festivals & special events. He recently did one at the summermeltdown2008. I'm pretty sure its not related to what SP is doing but I might be wrong. SP seems to be glued to the nightclub/disco side of fence while Steve's d.circles are on the other side; entirely spontaneous, organic and real. I am seeing this kind of thing catching on. The current trend seems to be moving away from marketing cds and canned music towards starting a buzz by giving an incredible live performances like in the old daze. Does your jam group have a youtube or myspace page? Good luck with your efforts.
Qualone

Anonymous said...

No youtube or myspace page. Well I guess a myspace page of a jam. I will kindly refrain from linkage in respect for EA. This is his site. I already say too much.

Also the beauty of these jams are how they morph and change from jam to jam sometimes from hour to hour as people scraggle in and out. We are thinking of hooking cams to film the jams. We decorate with candles and colored lights, assorted oddities, tea, etc.

R&K,
Mike

PS Happy Birthday to Avery! Day before yesterday, our family went to a birthday party for a friend who also turned 2. Raddest little kid party I ever been to. We floated down the Willamette River in about 6 boats. We saw giant pelican like Blue Heron, and an Osprey catching a fish.

Happy Birthday Lil' Avery!

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

Another question about the electronic music/Decon stuff.

How did you get the samples for all the songs on the Decon record? Did you record from movies, music, even traffic? Also, do you remember doing these demos that didn't end up on the record? Any clue why they didn't end up on it?:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bp97n_eh6LE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yBZO9l8C9AI

matt volpe said...

Thanks a lot Mike! I'll pass on the b-day wishes to little man Avery...

Best, Matt

Jared said...

Speaking of Decon-the National Anthem at the end of 'One' is from Poltergeist. Not sure if Eric ever mentioned this. I remember watching the movie some years ago and that part came on. What you hear at the end of the song is the dog jumping off the bed and walking out of the room as the TV goes to static

Anonymous said...

this electronic piece you note does rouse my interest. especially on the method in which those sounds were generated in 1958. to modern ears these sounds are obviously outdated. but i must pose a question. will the electronic music of today seem as dated in 2025 as music from artists like thomas dolby, gary numan and soft cell does today?
will the electronic music of today date? perhaps our aesthetics will undergo a similarly profound shift as the modern/post modern shift of the last quarter century. if so, then yes. how can these limits be transcended? timelessness seems to be a qualitity in which the bulk of electronic music is inherently deficient.

Anonymous said...

With that peculair synchronicity that seems to govern life I stumbled on your blog, via something about your solo album, just when the Jane's stuff is buzzing about.

To date I've always thought you were right that Jane's was a time and place - screw nostalgia, and don't try and rehash your past.
That said, I did see the reformed Jane's at the insistence of friends at a festival. Good but....

But, what's great about having stumbled across your blog, isn't any of that, it's what it contains before that in the archives. Interesting, stimuatling, diverse stuff. An affirmation of something; that Jane's was interesting because it contained interesting, and interested, people. Though on the evidence here, it's a shame you didn't get to say more in interviews back then.

Anticipation always trumps nostalgia. So, whether you chose to do it or not, it's the other stuff that'll make this blog worth reading.

cowboy neal said...

As for the timelessness of music, I think all music is dated in some regard. For example, I love Beethoven, and I think many would consider that music timeless, but at the same time it's clearly music from the 19th century. "Tainted Love" does have a dated sound, one that will be associated with the early 80's, but its a classic song. A timeless classic?

Will todays electronic music (and whether the music is pop or classical/"serious" music I think makes no difference) sound dated? I think the answer is yes but probably less drastic. One reason the Ligeti sounds dated is because of technology. The late 50's was still at best the absolute infant stage of composing electronic music. By what crude method did he possibly have to use to create the piece? And what recording technology? It's so easy, at least relative to recording technology of the 1950s, to get good sounds and compose using a computer. From a sound quality standpoint there is always room for improvement but I think by 2025 it will not be a drastic difference. But one can only hope there's still room to stretch what one can do with 12 notes and rhythm that music in 2025 will make todays music dated.

Anonymous said...

With regards to music becoming dated, it's important to remember that all music is not created with the same intent. All music is not, for instance, created to be "timeless." A lot of music is created to be modern, current, and so on. Take rap, for instance; academics may pay great heed to the history, and what they consider to be great works, but the art itself is meant to be fresh and current, so much so that the date is often mentioned to drive home the point of how fresh, new, and vital a recording is.

Nas: "Nineteen ninety SIX, back up in this motherfucker!"

Anonymous said...

You guys bring up a good subject. I agree most music will inevitably sound dated to some extent. There are steps a musician can take to lessen the likelyhood of datedness.
I make music and put every effort into it to try make it withstand the test of time. I do this by primarily using acoustic instruments, limiting the use of samples and disregarding what is "hot" at the present time. I try to keep things simple. I don't make mention of current events in my lyrics. I do not attempt to mimic the current mixing- production techniques just to get my songs played on the radio. I avoid using standard drum beats of the current decade. Ever notice how each decade has a group of standard beats that are widely used? Drums rhythms and the choice of sounds play a big part in dating a song to a certain period. I draw on ethnic and folk drumming from world music. My goal is to be able to sit and listen to something I wrote 10-15 years later and have it still sound fresh, like it was recorded yesterday. Not always an easy task.

Anonymous said...

It is hard to get my head around the terms dated and timeless. These seem like subjective terms, tailored to the beholder. No real way to quantify more than 1 person to mutual definition. Are we all seeing the name shade of red when we look at a coke can? How do I know what shade of red you see? Is it a timeless shade of red? If anything, the technology of the day seems to be the big time stamp.

Music has been eclectic for a while now; the gloves have been off for a long time as far as beats are concerned. Hard to subscribe to the decade theory.

Maybe we should name some tunes that we consider timeless. See if we agree. Gene Wilder singing Pure Imagination in the Willie Wonka movie is a timeless classic. We in agreement?

R&K
Mike

PS Nothing is completely timeless. Entropy will touch everything sooner or later.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=ttAqyjbSujc

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

*yawns* I'm ready for a new blog entry....
Whats been on your mind lately Eric?
Samadhi

Anonymous said...

Dave Navarro loves Joy Division as much as you. Take a loook. Kewl Shit bro
http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=32049859

Anonymous said...

Lets have some fun.
So if you were stranded on a desert island, and you had everything you needed to survive, what 3 bands albums would you want to have with you if you were given these choices?
(You can only choose one album from each band.
I'm not going to list every album, you know the good ones)

Fields of the Nephilim, Clan of Xymox, Mission UK, Sisters of Mercy, Death In June, The Smiths, Fronline Assembly, Siouxsie, This Mortal Coil, Depeche Mode

Bret said...

Queen Is Dead
A Broken Frame
the Nephilim

Anonymous said...

Boring

Anonymous said...

c.uk 'strangetimes'
c.twins 'garlands'
cure 'faith'

Anonymous said...

the only album id take is janes addiction "ritual"

cowboy neal said...

"Ritual" and "Louder Than Bombs."

Anonymous said...

Exile on Main St

Anonymous said...

I'm reading your blog just to hear from you. I hope people are not here just for janes. Please keep this window open for your fans.

Anonymous said...

some people are here for erics other projects some people are here learning more about eric cuz their here for JANES!!!!
nothin wrong with that

Anonymous said...

Pink Floyd "Piper", Phillip Glass "Passages", Eric A "Help Wanted", Joy Division "Unknown Pleasures", Richard Wagner "Overtures & Preludes"

Anonymous said...

Wassup E...yo check the
Moog Modular V2 !!!
if you havent already
Fun stuff
:) oZ

Anonymous said...

can you bang out atleast one solo show on the eastcoast (boston, new york) before the summer is up? That would be beyond awesome.

Thanks Neil

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

Would Mr. Avery kindly entertain doing a live Joy Division or New Order song on Spread TV with Dave Navarro? This would be a true godsend. I'm putting this on my birthday wishlist

-ea. said...

richard - back then, the possibility of working with tool and trent were both very informally talked about briefly. i was never in a room with anyone meeting about anything.

-ea. said...

jen- amazing thing is that i am accompanied by dolphins on a pretty regular basis. they are quite often in the lineups where i surf. it doesnt ever get old.

-ea. said...

rich- clear and cloudy! i have listened to almost nothing else for the past two weeks.

-ea. said...

joshua r. - it was really cool to meet/work with peter murphy. i idolized him as a kid; bauhaus. and of course kevin too but he is a friend. in fact this reminds me that i owe him a phone call. kevin is the only l&r person i consider a friend.

-ea. said...

matt volpe- belated birthday wishes to your boy.

matt volpe said...

Thanks Eric!

Best, Matt

mtto said...

Hi Eric,

The Ligeti video is way cool. My favorite Ligeti is the piano etudes, the Pierre-Laurent Aimard recording. It's influenced by Indonesian Gamelon, Bill Evans, Monk. Even the linear notes he wrote are great! The spiderweb piece, the rainbow piece... the bomb.

If you haven't heard yet, give a listen.

-John

P.S. Your solo stuff on myspace sounds great. I'll pick it up my next trip to Amoeba.

Anonymous said...

Although I am late in commenting, thanks for sharing this nugget of brilliance with us.

I believe this has solved a childhood mystery. I remember finding some unlabeled cassettes around the house when I was a kid, and they sounded suspiciously similar to this music. No one could tell me who or what it was. After all these years of frustration wondering what I had stumbled upon, I think I now know!

Unknown said...

Eric,
well, we met (briefly) in, um, 1989 and 1990 on JA tour and as a fan of, yes, Deconstruction ~&~ Jane's, I would like to say that the band of Janes has not existed since you've left. That said, were you to return, while I'd feel absolutely redeemed (sorry, flea is wonderful but NOT Janes), I think you need to do what is RIGHT for you. Not the fans, not me, but YOU. Don't worry about us. Do what makes YOU happy.

knupser

Mark said...

http://fishpork.com/2008/08/05/eric-averys-revolution/

Christian, Beth and Isabella said...

Wow. Thanks for turning me on to Ligeti!

Unknown said...

My soul aches for a complete JA project... a gem only shines when it's been cleaned.

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