Strokin'
by Ab Manning
A musician I know recently cracked that the phenomenon of not liking a pop song after one listen, but loving it after ten, is really just a trick the mind plays to adapt to its environment (like if you can't escape it on the radio), and does not necessarily indicate real quality in the song. I'm hoping that's not true, since my revelation of the past year is that repeated, obsessive listening to music has helped me discover many things I shrugged off in years past. Like Brahms 1, whose name I like to drop. And how about loving a song after one shot and hating it after ten?
As for current music, my hat's off to all the people who keep it going, and I'm always surprised to find out how much is out there. The Breeders are back with a new record - that's Kim and Kelley Deal and whoever they're playing with now. I'll recommend that without hearing it yet because I like everything they do.
Also got an email from my alma mater, the University of Iowa, with all the "who's been published where" and for what stuff. I followed the piece about David Lang winning the Pulitzer for 'The Little Match Girl Passion'. Googling on I found that he's involved with 'Bang on a Can' which I gather is a group or festival promoting new music in NYC. From there one can find Thurston Moore (Sonic Youth) on You Tube playing with the 'Bang on a Can' all-stars in 'Stroking Piece #1', composed by Moore I think. It's a 13 minute piece with guitars, drums, cello, keyboard, stand-up bass and about a 4-foot long clarinet. I enjoyed 'Stroking' well enough - very Velvety Underground.
Kim's good and Time Out NY interviewed her a couple weeks ago:
http://www.timeout.com/newyork/articles/hot-seat/28186/kim-deal
Posted by: Bryant | Tuesday, April 29, 2008 at 12:49 AM