John O. Lennon Posted March 7, 2005 Share Posted March 7, 2005 Mostly we think of minimalism in music as Phillip Glass or Ravel's Bolero, etc.; a minimalism of development. Here I'm talking about brevity. There are a few artists who've released deliberately brief works. The Residents, an almost popular outfit from San Francisco, did a "Commercial" record of tunes limited to one minute in length. Blues-rocker Johnny Winter did an LP [second Winter] released with just 3 sides of tracks (4th side blank) , as did Rahsaan Roland Kirk [the Case of the 3 Sided Dream in Audio Color] , although whether those were short products or long is a debatable point. Les Paul, however, may've trumped everyone. In 1955, he & Mary Ford released a single, "Magic Melody". Radio DJs complained that the record was too short. Les actually got Capitol Rec.s to release a follow-up single that consisted of the 2 notes "missing" from the original release! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kylen Posted March 8, 2005 Share Posted March 8, 2005 I have no idea why this thread is making "Boobs-a-lot" play in my head...sorry more than you needed to know Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Philip OKeefe Posted March 8, 2005 Share Posted March 8, 2005 You want minimal? How about John Cage - 4'33"? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bunny Knutson Posted March 8, 2005 Share Posted March 8, 2005 Here's my minimalist submission: The Happy Song. https://bunny.bandcamp.com/ https://theystolemycrayon.bandcamp.com/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FoxTick Posted March 9, 2005 Share Posted March 9, 2005 Damn Bunny, that song was happy. I feel better now, thanks 0096 2251 2110 8105 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John O. Lennon Posted March 9, 2005 Author Share Posted March 9, 2005 Phil, "4'33"" is conceptual minimalism...but it still takes 4 & 1/2 minutes to perform/experience. I think Les maybe made the briefest record ever. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theblue1 Posted March 9, 2005 Share Posted March 9, 2005 I recently sat through a very good performance of Ravel's Bolero. My mom (who's my symphony partner) and our guest of the evening, one of her neighbors, loved it. I think Ravel was a very skilled arranger/orchestrator... but that piece makes me want to rip my ears off the sides of my head and shove them in the hip pockets of my trousers for the duration of the work. The only piece I've seen in the last few years that bugs me more was Phillip Glass's Concerto for Timpani. Or, as I like to call it, "Mission Impossible -- the 17 minute version." It barely moves from the ever-repeating Mission Impossible Theme rhythmic tattoo. What an utter piece of relentlessly irritating garbage that piece is... [PS... I love to listen to Les Paul's playing. His music can be a mixed bag for me, but his playing is so amazingly facile. A heckuva player.] bookmark these: news.google.com | m-w dictionary | wikipedia encyclopedia | Columbia Encyclopedia TK Major / one blue nine | myspace.com/onebluenine Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
I I mjrn Posted March 11, 2005 Share Posted March 11, 2005 Lots of minimalism is boring (Bolero); some is not (Jmaes Brown). The cliche among "soulful" players is that the best can express a lot in few notes. Kudos to Les Paul for demonstrating it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doc taz Posted March 12, 2005 Share Posted March 12, 2005 Napalm Death , early in their career, made more than a few songs that lasted from one to five seconds! Of course, being amongst the pioneers of a music genre known as "grindcore", it ought to work. It really wasn't until about 1990 when the band finally wrote more cohesive material, relatively speaking. sevenstring.org profile my flickr page Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whitefang Posted March 13, 2005 Share Posted March 13, 2005 OK... 1. I'm glad to see that I'm not the ONLY one who thinks "Bolero" should be spelled "B-o-r-e-l-e-r-o". 2. "Second Winter" came about the way it was released as explained in the liner notes...most artists recorded more than they intended to put on the LP. Then they went through the playbacks and did the elimination proccess. Winter couldn't bring himself to eliminate any of the tunes, suggested they release a three sided LP, and was surprised that Columbia records went for it! 3. I'm not familiar with the Les Paul song in question. But Les did pioneer many recording techniques and effects, such as recording solos at slower speeds and playing them back normally, sort of like how the chipmunks were done. To the untrained ear, it sounded like he was super fast! Les Paul made use of any gimmick he or anyone else could dream up, and I mean that in a good way. By the mid 50's, most studios took much of it for granted, and equipment was designed to replace the carloads of stuff Les needed originally. Whitefang I started out with NOTHING...and I still have most of it left! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tedly Nightshade Posted March 13, 2005 Share Posted March 13, 2005 Her Majesty is pretty dang short! And was released by mistake. How cool! Bolero is fantastic- but, it's easy to get a stiff/boring performance of it. A WOP BOP A LU BOP, A LOP BAM BOOM! "There is nothing I regret so much as my good behavior. What demon possessed me that I behaved so well?" -Henry David Thoreau Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ren. Posted March 13, 2005 Share Posted March 13, 2005 Anyone here into Richie Hawtin/Plastikman? I dig minimal stuff. Who Put The ' M ' In MySpace? don\'t_click | day_job Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angelo Clematide Posted March 13, 2005 Share Posted March 13, 2005 Bolero is fine, you are just the wrong listener. The Bolero is the march of the bourgeois bedroom! as we say in Europe. -Peace, Love, and Potahhhhto Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theblue1 Posted March 13, 2005 Share Posted March 13, 2005 Originally posted by Angelo Clematide: Bolero is fine, you are just the wrong listener. The Bolero is the march of the bourgeois bedroom! as we say in Europe. And that's supposed to be a good thing? ________________________ When I was like, 13, I thought Bolero was pretty compelling, and I listened to it like later kids probably listened to Stairway to Heaven. When I have to sit through it these days, I use it as an intellectual excercise, taking abart the orchestration (to the best of my stunted and musically illiterate abilities). And Ravel accomplished something: it's utterly amazing, given the givens, that it's not completely, utterly insufferable. But, really, at this point I'd almost rather hear Stairway to Heaven, again. (And I've managed to only hear that once all the way through in the last 20 years, so, you know... but I liked it a lot, once, too. [Er, and not to suggest, of course, that there's anything minimalistic about StH!]) _________________________________ PS... How could we possibly get this far without mentioning the "minimalist's minimalist" (with all the deadweight that signifies, as far as I'm concerned): Terry Riley. bookmark these: news.google.com | m-w dictionary | wikipedia encyclopedia | Columbia Encyclopedia TK Major / one blue nine | myspace.com/onebluenine Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angelo Clematide Posted March 13, 2005 Share Posted March 13, 2005 well, for each class it's forni march left 2 3 4... correction: march 2 3 4 left 2 3 4... -Peace, Love, and Potahhhhto Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whitefang Posted March 14, 2005 Share Posted March 14, 2005 Here's an interesting factoid... Even Ravel thought "Bolero" was a piece of shit! Pretty much how Tchaichovsky felt about his "Nutcracker". It would surprise many people that many of the world's "beloved" musical "masterpieces" were dismissed or just dissed by their composers. Chopin's "Minute Waltz" composed as a joke due to it's inspiration being him watching his dog chase it's tail. Beethoven's "Moonlight Sonata" only called that because some rich baroness claimed it made her think of a moonlit night, and it caught on. Beethoven mindlessly cranked it out because the rent was due. You'd be shocked! Whitefang I started out with NOTHING...and I still have most of it left! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.