Podcast 2

Uploaded on Box.net like the previous Podcast.

http://www.box.net/shared/prb34nvy467st2gi4qjg

Peer Comment 2: Alan Marquette

I agree, the vocoder is a really awesome vocal effect. I've always really liked Peter Frampton's work with it. I didn't even know that it was originally developed as an encryption device in World War II, that's really weird to think how its evolved from that to what we use it for today. One of my personal favorite uses of the vocoder is in the guitar solo in 'Jambi' on !0,000 Days by Tool. It just adds a really cool organic feel to the sound of the guitar. Its wild.

Entry 8: Independent Research, Philip Glass

Philip Glass is a modern minimalist composer who is widely believed to be one of the most influential composers of the 20th century. He is a composer in our modern times that cannot be over looked, his impact on music, particularly his innovations in scoring music have changed a lot of what we hear today. What makes his creations so unique is his use of instrumentation. When you think of orchestral music you think of the long violins, the big horns, the thumping timpani's, the drastic changes, etc ,and all though Glass doesn't shy too far these classic ideas, his music touches on classical orchestration in a new way. Using what he describes  as "music with repetitive structures", Glass layers simplistic music in large numbers, instruments often only playing one to three notes in a bar or sequence repeating over and over again for long periods of time.  If you listen to his piece 'Rubric' off of 'Glassworks' you will notice just how simple the parts of the woodwinds and horns are but how amazingly intricate the layering of the part are. Its almost like looking at immaculately weaved rug. All the little threads are just one color each, so simple, but when you step back and see them all together they make this beautiful design. I touched on it early, but another innovation of Philip Glasses music is its long pieces and long repetitions. Throughout his pieces its strange to notice that things will play over and over for extended periods with only very slight changes in notes that completely change the feel of the piece. Compared to a lot of popular orchestral pieces that seem to thrive in their drastic and often changes in the music, Glass's pieces seem to thrive in the opposite. They sit in rhythm for long periods and draw you in almost in a trance. If you listen to 'In the Upper Room: Dance IX', the piece is actually the same basic pattern for the entire eight minute song and he just applies different instrument and rhythm variations on top of the basic pattern for the entire piece. Its these basic seeming music elements used to fashion such beautiful music that really inspires me. It seems like we're trapped in a world of skill these days. You go on youtube and all you find are 6 year old virtuoso's and long haired metal shredders. Everyone is obsessed with playing as many notes as possible as fast as possible and there isn't a focus on the music anymore. Things don't have to be complex to be beautiful, its about the composition, not the instrument skill. You're never going to inspire emotion in someone by playing five hundred notes a second, especially if you don't understand this.

Peer Comment

Zach Mauldin

I agree. Revolver is definitely a benchmark album that the industry has yet to live up to. In very rare cases have other albums met the creativity and quality of Revolver. It amazes me that even over 40 years later people still haven't learned anything from Revolver and they still just stick to the mold and don't challenge the music they create to become something new and amazing. It makes me sad to think that a lot of what they tried to change at the end of the day will just be remarked to as "a great album" rather than an icon of music accomplishment we should all strive to achieve and surpass ourselves.

Entry 7: Electronic Music Innovations

Few can deny Brian Eno's massive impact on electronic music. Particularly in the world of Electronic ambience Eno has always been seen as the father of that music world, even being credited with the creation of ambient music. Inspired by minimalist paintings, Eno released many albums that tested what we expected from music. Using the simplest touches of sound, he created something totally new, albums that aren't meant to be directly listened to, but to sit in the background and fill in space, to be ambient. His use of electronic instrumentation in these albums such as Music For Airports is what truly creates the experience. By using synthesizers Eno creates these amazing organic sounds that totally changed the way people viewed electronic music. Though inspired by Kraftwerk, his sounds feel more alive and growing, compared to Kraftwerks often rigid feel. Eno also made advancements in technology like his creation of the tape delay system he used with Robert Fripp that also had an impact on electronic music. Fripp and Eno used this system to create a whole new sound with the electric guitar by taking what the guitar was playing and reversing it back around live and playing that back out at the audience. The result is this beautifully flow of long tones weaving in and out of each other, something totally out of this world. In all of these albums the goal is more of a whole body and emotional response  through the use of these organic electronic sounds and thats what really defines Eno's impact on electronic music. There are many artists today like Minilogue and Flying Lotus who are clearly inspired by the concepts of Eno's original feel and sound. Anywhere you hear ambient music today because of Eno's work. I love the sound of Eno's work, I have the album Music For Airports and I love reading and relaxing to it, the sound just makes my body so relaxed. It just feels so soft and warm and as an artist I find this incredible. If I could make people feel this way with my art, I would feel really accomplished, It would feel like a such a success.

Entry 6: Kraftwerk

Few can question the originality of Kraftwerk, When they released their first album in 1974 nobody was doing what these guys were doing, they had done what every artist always strives to do; create something different and totally unique and new. Their music was entirely electric and had this distant robotic feel to it, it felt almost as if the band had come back in time from some future place. Despite the originality behind their sound, the success of the band was always something of question during the 70's, some of their albums hitting home more than others. Their first breakthrough album came out in 1974, it was called Autobahn. This album was a success for the band in many ways. It was the first album to establish their sound, and it also established an image for the band, by identifying with such a German engineering concept like the Autobahn, they represented Germany. The first side of the LP, Autobahn, also got great commercial success. A success that the couldn't seem to achieve with later albums. With the success of Autobahn, they put all their money back into their equipment and studio and went right away back to work and released Radio-Activity, another concept album identifying with German technology and engineering, the only problem was the band had gone back towards their experimental days and the album therefore didn't appeal to as many people. After Radio-Activity they released Trans-Europe Express. Around the time other groups were starting to catch up with Kraftwerk in style and sound. Many diehard Kraftwerk fans consider this album to be their best, It continued their downward slope in mainstream success from Autobahn. This led to The Man-Machine. This album was Kraftwerks attempt to try and reclaim mainstream success. The album dropped their previous ideas of concept album and played more like a collection of singles. They band also amped up their image for this album, choose to associate themselves with the red colors of Russia. The album was a success compared to previous works but the world had caught up to Kraftwerk, their sound was no longer incredibly unique. People like Brian Eno and David Bowie had already taken the sound of Kraftwerk into a new and more pop like sound and had found huge success. When I listen to Kraftwerk I still see them as this original and creative piece of work. Despite what might have beaten them out later in the 80's, I still think they had a different sound than those groups that were like them. I have a huge respect for the amount of work they put into their music and the huge technological advances they made during the time of their music.

Podcast Project One

Podcast on Box.net upload site

Peer Comment

Zach Mauldin

I agree. Revolver is definitely a benchmark album that the industry has yet to live up to. In very rare cases have other albums met the creativity and quality of Revolver. It amazes me that even over 40 years later people still haven't learned anything from Revolver and they still just stick to the mold and don't challenge the music they create to become something new and amazing. It makes me sad to think that a lot of what they tried to change at the end of the day will just be remarked to as "a great album" rather than an icon of music accomplishment we should all strive to achieve and surpass ourselves.

Entry 5: What's Going On

During an era of pain and anger brought on by the Vietnam War, Marvin Gaye brought in a music movement of love. Marvin Gaye had always been a clean cut pop star, releasing songs of love, romance and happiness. But with What's Going On Marvin Gaye wanted to use his style to protest what was going on in the world. When he first started into the process of Whats Going On, Gaye was often questioned about how he was changing his themes and why he wanted to make painful protest music. But this was never the idea he had. Marvin Gaye wanted to release something that protested through the idea of love, something that spoke out in a way no one else spoke out in. The problem with Whats Going On was that nobody understood it. After he finished the album the record label wouldn't even release it, despite other powerful peoples protests upon hearing how fantastic the album was. They thought it wouldn't do well because it used old musical ideas and instrumentation concepts. But what nobody released was how Gaye had taken old musical themes and twisted them into a new form of music, how he'd taken old protest concepts and morphed them into songs of a different emotional vibration. In the recording process he preferred strong performance over practiced quality by using people who really brought energy to the music like using football players he knew was back up singers or even recording musicians and using their warm up takes. He created songs that were meant to open eyes rather than make them cry. As a musician and listener, I love this album. I like the sound of it and the feel. Its so comfortable and warm, but yet it feels almost empowering in a good way. I feel like Marvin Gaye did accomplish his goal of protest in a new way.

Blog Entry 4: The Velvet Underground and Nico

During the 1960's when pop bands were writing happy rock songs, buying matching suits and choreographing pop dances, there was another group who paved the way for future rock movements by being almost the antithesis of this pop movement, The Velvet Underground. Found by Andy Warhal in 1964, The Velvet Underground became a huge part of an underground movement of art and music fueled by Warhal's crazy world of free expression and drugs. Warhal released this band to the world by funding their initial albums and by featuring them in his videos and having them play at his various shindigs.  Lou Reed and John Cale were the driving forces behind this strange music that challenged the way songs were written and recorded. Lou Reed being a self taught guitarist, learning from the radio at a young age and then moving up through various projects until right before he met John Cale, he was spending his time in his apartment writing songs for Pickwick Records. John Cale is almost the opposite of Lou Reed, being a more classically trained musician, he studied Music and learned Viola in college and participated in many orchestral performances in New York. The interesting thing is how that all came together to form the Velvet Undergrounds rough and raw music. John Cale playing chaotic harmonies under Lou Reeds almost placid, stagnant singing, created uneasy and messy sounds unheard by the world to this point, inspiring future movements in the 80's like the punk movement. When they played and recorded they had the opposite attitude of The Beatles and Beach Boys carefully planned out arrangements. They barely edited their songs, often recorded the whole band at once and sometimes even only did one or two takes of the song before calling it done. The art and expression was truly the core value to this band at the end of the day and they let nothing get in the way of that. I find this to be a fantastic ideal and I almost found myself meshing with them as I listened to them, I understood what they were trying to do and trying to say. They definitely highlight the artistic part of the music industry that is almost completely forgotten today.

Blog Entry 3 - The Beatle's Revolver

 The year is 1965 and Rubber Soul has recently come out, Beatlemania is at its height and The Beatles are starting to tire of their fans and their sound. They've grown tired of the pop melodies and bubbly love songs that garnered the huge fandom they now sit on. They want to enter the studio with a new attitude and create a new sound that will change what everybody expects of them and create something new. The Beatles are starting to get older, starting to see the world in a new way and starting to use a lot of drugs and the creative juices are starting to flow almost as if for the first time and despite what every screaming girl at Shea Stadium might say, the real music is about to begin. This is where Revolver steps in. Revolver is without a doubt one of the most innovative record of the 60's. The way George Martin and The Beatles utilized the technology and resources around them to turn their imagination into a spinning sonic masterpiece is nothing short of brilliant. The amount of audio reversing using tape machines is surprising. It makes me wonder what people thought of this at the time, just laymen listeners hearing reversed sounds on the radio being used for main stream pop music must have been such strange thing at first. It challenges what people were used to so much. Layering is also a popular method on this album that has become immensely popular today. In modern time guitarist layering their guitars on albums is almost expecting and to think that at the time John Lennon was forging this new territory but layering his voice, doubling it up with delayed tape machines in And Your Bird Can Sing, George Martin thickening guitar sounds in I Want to Tell You. The most interesting innovative aspect of the whole album to me being the use of the Lesley Cabinet in Tomorrow Never Knows. I have to agree with what was said  in the "Everything Was Right" podcast. This truly is a great Beatles record and is personally my favorite. As I listen to it I get really inspired to try new and innovative things with my music. I almost feel like I'm copying them, but they make we want to reverse sounds and explore new territory. Especially as someone who wants to go into movies and video games, it makes me think of new ways to create interesting environments. Tomorrow Never Knows feels like a trip into another dimension, with all its layering, composition and use of sound effects it feels like another world. When you have your headphones on you can just close your eyes and drift away and enter another world. I find that truly inspiring for my work and what I want to do. If they could do that back then with what little they had, I can only imagine what I can do when I set my mind to it and work as hard as they did.

Blog Entry 2 - The Beach Boy's Pet Sounds

When the Beach Boys started out they were a co creation of Brian Wilson and his brothers. They brought a new rock and roll sound and used happy sunshine images and surfing songs to ease their audiences into great moods. With Brian Wilson at the helm with his strong composition skills and influences from groups like The Four Freshman they created big and full music filled with beach melodies and advanced quartet like singing melody layers utilizing every voice in the band. It was a totally new sound at the time and was almost immediately  a success upon release. Originally on tour with them, the stress of writing all the music and being constantly on tour got to Brian Wilson and eventually Brian dropped away from touring with the band and devoted all his time to staying back at the studio and composing new material for the band. Even with this new time to write and create at his own free will, Brian Wilson still felt the pressure to keep pushing his music farther because of the growing popularity of The Beatles during that time period. Although the Beach Boys had once been the mash hit band taking America by storm, this immensely popular band was still pushed aside when The Beatles hit stateside. This caused Brian Wilson to take on his greatest task yet; the creation of Pet Sounds, an album meant to contend with the release of the extremely popular Rubber Soul by The Beatles. This album challenged what audiences expected from a rock album. Utilizing a plethora unheard of instruments and objects to create the sounds for his album and bringing in over twenty session musicians, Brian Wilson expanded the realms of studio recorded rock and roll into a new era of creation, surely inspiring The Beatles as much as contending with them. Even in the modern day the amount of and unique use of instrumentation still seems to be on the cutting edge. It almost makes you wonder what happened to the battle between The Beatles and The Beach Boys during that era because I see very little of this influence left over in the modern age in the music I hear. The bands challenged each other back and forth and yet what they were trying to do seems almost completely absent with most groups staying in comfort zones and playing it safe in the modern age. As a professional it actually makes me want to continue their work and keep pushing it forward. After listening to The Beach Boys and some of Brian Wilson's later work such as Smiles, and even what the Beatles did, it truly inspires me to pick up where they left off.

Blog Entry 1 - Welcome

Hello!

My name is Matthew Hagberg. When it comes to music I enjoy almost everything. I guess I would tend to describe myself as more of Indie and Alternative kind of person but my moods have always been the really decider in what I enjoy and listen to. I grew up listening to 70's progressive rock groups like King Crimson, Yes, Genesis etc, mostly influenced by my older brothers music choices but grew my own tastes when I got into high school and started exploring music on my own, looking more into modern music. I think the first time I really felt a grew interest in music was in 8th grade when I saw the Blue Man Group live at the Charles Playhouse in Boston. It was an amazing experience and it really drew me into the music world. I started playing instruments, writing my own music and really exploring after that. My real drive in the music industry isn't really a drive into the music industry at all anymore though. I'm not really looking at getting into the music industry of recording albums, working in music studios. I'm more interested in sound design and mixing for movies and video games. My real passion lies in conveying emotions and creating realistic mediums that make you feel like you're really there inside the story.