Wings on fire, wheeling on houses, touching lips and holding hands.

[reddragdiva]

I've been overplaying Severed Heads. (Josh's fault.) Liz has been requesting a change of playlist.

Tom Ellard on how it's done:

"I hate the idea of people calling up 'patch 61, strings 3' and writing a song round it. It's as important to think how sounds fit vertically into their respective frequency levels as it is to progress through the notes horizontally.

"You have to spend a certain amount of compositional time not assembling things, but just listening ... look out for bargain-bin records, listen to radio shows where you think there might be something ... If there's something on TV about the mating habits of slugs, reach for your Walkman!

"... From hours and hours of material, you'll end up with three seconds - but that three seconds will be exactly what you want."

(From Electronic Soundmaker & Computer Music, June 1985 - page 1, page 2.)

Does anyone use tape loops any more?

I am firmly convinced - as firmly as I am that the Sisters of Mercy fucked up goth music for everyone - that the drum machine was industrial music's greatest mistake. Twenty minutes of machine repetition is dull; twenty minutes of a human pounding out that beat is interesting.

"If you loved the first single but only on vinyl, if you thought 'they' went downhill after the first album, if your record collection is centred around the year you turned 16, congratulations - you're a Clifford. Time will change but your listening choice won't."

Comments

[reddragdiva]

Every rock band's greatest problem is finding a good drummer. They tend to be a bit hard to get hold of and in four bands at once.

It's just annoying when drum machines are used as a substitute for drummers, rather than an instrument in their own right (e.g. Big Black).

[wintrmute.livejournal.com]

It's just annoying when drum machines are used as a substitute for drummers, rather than an instrument in their own right

Exactly. A drum-machine can churn out great stuff, just so long as you're not trying to pretend it's a drummer.


Going in the other direction, there are some bands who have tried to replace their crazy-electronic-bleep-machines with a live drummer or two for live acts, with often interesting results. (cf. astral projection, winterkaelte)