Desert Island dilemma

[Calibrator]

As fate would have it, in the very near future you find yourself on a deserted tropical island. It's a friendly habitable island though, with no polar bears roaming around, nor black whispy smoke that terrorizes passers-by. No evidence of underground scientific bunkers either !

What it does have though, is an outdoor auditorium, which strangely enough, has an equipment room adjacent that contains every musical instrument, be it acoustic or electronic, devised by mankind.

Taking a moment to reflect on your good fortune to be in such a wonderous place, it suddenly dawns on you that  your own playing abilities are limited to squeaky woodwind recorder sessions in your primary school days! All these magnificent instruments ... strads, steinways, moogs, fenders etc ... are all there sitting idle.

Further exploring at the rear of the auditorium sees you entering a well proportioned room in green decor, with abundant comfortable lounges. In the corner is a refrigerator stocked with your favourite beverages and food, which, for some reason always stays full 

Sitting upon one of the lounges is a strange looking guy dressed in what looks like old flowing arabian clothes, and he is staring forlornly at a beaten up old brass object on a nearby table, that looks like one of those old spirit lamps that was used before the advent of electricity.

Asking him the reason for his long face, he explains to you that he wants to return home to his house in the lamp, but in order to do that he has to grant one more wish to a stranger. He also explains that the wish has a time element attached, and will stay in effect for 6 months.

You ponder his plight for a moment, and being a lover of fine music, you decide to make full use of your new surroundings and ask for your favourite musician to be summoned to play for you. You have a dilemma though. So many great artists to chose from over time. Classical music from the likes of Wagner, Beethoven etc, through all the fine jazz of the early 50's and 60's, the rock bands of those former years, heavy metal, punk, reggae .. the list of genres is mindboggling. But you realise that whoever you chose will define your main musical interests, and the opportunity to spend 6 months with your favourite artist is simply too great to pass up.

"Well my friend" you say to the guy, who you notice has a 'G' embroided on his tunic, "I can help get you home. I have a favourite musician I would like to get to know, and to understand how and why they create the music the way they do. Would you bring me ................"



Who or whom would you chose? Remember, you will be listening to that individual or group to the exclusion of all others for 6 months. If you chose a famous Philharmonic Orchestra be aware they only know how to play the works of one composer .. haha.

I'm hoping this thread will bring the opportunity to explore new artists we as individuals have not paid much attention to. There is a good chance whoever you chose will be at the forefront of their genre, and it's always fun to explore new pastures.

For myself, I have chosen an artist who I grew up listening to as a late teenager and had a huge influence on my listening for many years to come, before I branched out to other genres. I still follow this artists work with great delight. While the music from this artist has changed and developed over the years, the genre's definition can be traced right back to this artists beginnings. Often referred to as the Godfather of electronic music, he most usually is simply known as KS

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klaus_Schulze

Cheers,

Russ

[AUDIODIDAKT]

Hey Russ,

Hope more people will express them selves about their choice of music
and make a nice section on the forum about it. (Together we know all)

Also like to add: (electronic artist and from Holland ofcourse)

http://ronboots.groove.nl/

Ron Boots in studio with KS:

[Calibrator]

Thanks for the link Roy. I hadn't heard of his work prior to you mentioning it here.

Seems like he's been into the electronic scene since the very late 80's, and quite prolific of late. I've been listening to some of his samples from his site. Very nice.

Robert Schroeder is another of KS's contemporaries who I followed in the eighties and have quite a number of works of. His "Paradise" album is one that comes to mind as being very typical of his craft, and I play that every couple of years.

There were many fine German musicians starting up in the electronic scene all following in Schulze's footsteps.

Cheers,

Russ

[PeterSt]

Thanks for the link Roy. I hadn't heard of his work prior to you mentioning it here.

Aha ... so you never heard Klaus' big Moog singing from the dutch territories, right ?

Well, I never heard of him either, until recently.
But then Roy has underground sources unknown to civilisation. He may not be human either.


I too grew up with the Schulzes, the Tangerine Dreams, the Fripps and the Froeges. But I recently found that this is a type of music (stilll going strong) is really from that past. It got stuck to my belief. But yes, yesterday I listened to the Dark side of The Moog (KS, and yes, that Moog Boot bought) and it is still special. But it is also not enough interesting anymore to what our equipment from today can exhibit. For that we seem to need more Yellos or Shpongles, maybe Abakus, Schulman, Ott.

If I had to be there for 6 months with the artist of my choise ... I don't know. I have heard too much of Pink Floyd by now, so, no, not them.
Actually the question is tough, because I seem to be stepping away from much I liked before, just because there's so much else. Jimmy Smith may be nice entertainment, as would Ray Brown. But now I'm sounding old. Keb' Mo' maybe ?

I guess I stick to Yello. In 6 months time we'd be producing 2 new great albums of which I know they'd excel on my system. The first one will be named "Land Ho !" and the second "Moisture".
Tell them.

[Eric]

As probably many of you have, my musical interest is rather broad.  How to make a selection to survive for 6 months?? It seems to be an impossible task. For sure, all the artists/composers mentioned before deserve that honour.
My choice would be J.S.Bach. In this case, it is both the quality as well as the quantity of his works that influence my decision. I don't think this needs further explanation.
Cheers,
Eric 

[AUDIODIDAKT]

If I had to be there for 6 months with the artist of my choise ... I don't know. I have heard too much of Pink Floyd by now, so, no, not them.

If you have seen the movie The Wall, you won't last six months on that "deserted" island.

But it is also not enough interesting anymore to what our equipment from today can exhibit

This is what its all about, Shulman is such an artist who mades his own equipment just to do what he wants - SOUNDSCAPING !
This will be the next generation of electronic music, great (out of this world) sounds and dynamics.
There is much music like this, my radar is always out looking for those artists. (Entheogenic, Bluetech, Tripswitch, Younger Brother, Omnimotion, Sounds From The Ground)

But if I have to chooce, it will be a genre with all the electronic artists Peter and Russ and I already mentioned before.
Very curious if other people have heard of these strange electronic artists or willing to give it a try.

You want soundscaping check these labels:
http://www.cosmicleaf.com/index.php?file=releases&cat=ureleases
http://www.liquidsounddesign.com/index2.htm
http://www.waveformhq.com/catalog.html
http://www.ultimae.com/
http://www.aleph-zero.info/home.html

[AUDIODIDAKT]

As probably many of you have, my musical interest is rather broad.  How to make a selection to survive for 6 months?? It seems to be an impossible task. For sure, all the artists/composers mentioned before deserve that honour.
My choice would be J.S.Bach. In this case, it is both the quality as well as the quantity of his works that influence my decision. I don't think this needs further explanation.
Cheers,
Eric 

Hey Eric,

Classical is not really my thing but, will give this a new try with better equipment and setup like the NOS1.
What would you recommend, what are albums I should listen too IYO or anyone's ?
I really have to push myself doing this, but with some good advise, who knows............


Roy

[AUDIODIDAKT]

Russ,

There is a new album of: Robert Schroeder - Taste It (2009) hehe

Check this site also:
http://www.groove.nl/

Would also like to thank Massive Attack for there great and innovative music, for me it all started there.
(New and long expected album will be released in feb 2010, pre EP release is out now!)

[PeterSt]

I too grew up with the Schulzes, the Tangerine Dreams, the Fripps and the Froeges. But I recently found that this is a type of music (stilll going strong) is really from that past. It got stuck to my belief. But yes, yesterday I listened to the Dark side of The Moog (KS, and yes, that Moog Boot bought) and it is still special. But it is also not enough interesting anymore to what our equipment from today can exhibit. For that we seem to need more Yellos or Shpongles, maybe Abakus, Schulman, Ott.

I'll have to come back on this stupid kind of technical approach of mine.
Yesterday, because of one track came by by accident by means of randomizing, I now played Dark Side of The Moog VIII. Well, besides it contains sufficiently enough "technical outbursts" to not complain about the lacking of it, it is just great stuff all over. I guess I'm just not "informed" enough about his later work ... on my current system. But, it *needs* subwoofers ! And, the subtility the sub low is played with (like roaring) is just great.
What I also noticed is that this is to be played LOUD ... which maybe only can be done when the delicacy of the synths are not turned into unintended harmonic distortion.

All 'n all I guess I should have been trying this type of music on my current gear, before implying it is stuff from the past.

On quite another matter, this Schulze must be crazy of course. I mean, if you only look at these Dark Side of The Moog series (11 albums) while each album represents ONE Pink Floyd track (like the VIII is all about "Careful with that AKS, Peter", devided over 6 tracks or so), it is all a very intelligent composition, with main lines of - as in this case - screaming Eugine.

And still ... at 3 quarters of the album my wife asked whether it wasn't about time to play something different, meaning exactly what I was nagging about in my before post : the possibe lack of overwhelming technicalities. But then I realized that I was listening to music at last, instead of judgeing systems (sorry for those who are convinced about synths not being able to produce "music"). I explained about the purpose of the album, and actually preread this post to her. Her response : better take Tomita, he does this longer.

I don't know. Maybe what Tomita does is even more "difficult", and for me it can be about just that. I mean, at listening to either, try to imagine what it takes to compose music out of sounds to be born yet from a synthesizer. Imagine what it takes to create those sounds (and I really don't mean "synthesizers greatest"), put them all together (into a "sequencer") and next have it all worked out as intended. I only want to say : Mike Oldfield may have had an easier job for his Tubular Bells, as it only requires the ability to play "some" instruments and the whole dimension of creating the sounds is just not there.

Oh, talking about hints, more from the past and a special kind of symphonish music not everybody may know, is Camel. Or Caravan.

[Calibrator]

How to make a selection to survive for 6 months?? It seems to be an impossible task.

I deliberately chose 6 months because I wanted you all to really think hard about who you would pick. I would think that most here would have a reasonably varied exposure to most genres, and could tolerate listening to each for a day or two at a stretch. It's when you have to extend that listening period that you begin to narrow down your choice of music and arrive at the type that you keep going back to regularly.

Bach is a fine choice, and his works are quite prolific I understand, so that 6 months wouldn't see a repeat of much of his work, if any. In all likelihood a few new compositions would be forthcoming.

My exposure to the "classics" has been a little limited. Primarily to the likes of 'The Grand Canyon Suite', '1812 Overture', etc. You know the ones .... the "popular" variants. I also now enjoy organ music, and probably came about as a result of buying Jean Guillou's rendition of Pictures At An Exhibition on the great organ in Tonwelle (I thing the town is called). "Pictures" was perhaps brought to the masses by Emerson Lake & Palmer in the early 70's , and it's quite likely if I hadn't heard that interpretation I would never have picked up Jean Guillou's recording. It may also have been the fact that there was a warning on the liner notes about very low notes from that Tonwelle organ 

A natural progression to the enjoyment of organs, are the prolific works of Jimmy Smith on the Hammond B3, who Peter mentioned. The fact that Jimmy Smith's work is predominantly jazz based ties in nicely to my second favourite genre .. jazz. It was a hard chose to decide which I enjoy more, and although I play more jazz nowadays, there isn't one artist that stands out amongst their peers, although it could be argued that Miles Davis would have front running if a poll was conducted. But listening to Miles for 6 months would be a task in itself given his reported mood swings!

Peter, Isao Tomita's interpretation's of classical pieces using synth's are really very clever and add a pleasant twist, but unlike Schulze's craft, they can be enjoyed as "background" music. Not to be construed as "elevator music" mind you. What I mean is, is that Schulze's works need to be enjoyed fully and understood by sitting still, closing your eyes, and allow him to take you on a music journey. Most of his work I feel is analogous to taking a walk down a broad path, with occassional pauses to look at something of interest, or move off the path briefly to explore something, but always returning to the path and continuing. There is usually an underlaying repeatative rhythm or beat in his music, and it lulls the subconscious into tranquility. I find it perfect music to relax to ... almost hypnotic sometimes. Listening to this type of music while preparing meals, housework or typing on forums  , negates, I feel, the way Schulze meant for his audience to listen to his work, and in those scenarios may be perceived as monotonous and boring. When listening to his work without distractions you readily pick up on all the subtle diversions he incorporates in his pieces.

Quite a number of Schulze's albums make good use of bass frequencies, and if you are able to resolve those, it helps reinforce the "hypnotic" effect I alluded to. I use twin subs in my setup and can produce meaningful amounts of clean musical output down to 14 to 15 Hz. The subs start rolling off at about 20Hz ( with the mains a few hertz higher at approx 23 to 24Hz ). Electronic music more than most other genres warrants good bass response, and it also results in better articulation of acoustic bass from the likes of Ray Brown.

Roy, thanks for the link to Schroeder's new release. It has been a number of years since i bought any of his music .. time to change that.

Russ

[AUDIODIDAKT]

Came across some good Jazz albums:

Ahmad Jamal - 1986 - Rossiter Road (Jazz)

George Benson - 1978 - Weekend in LA (Jazz)

[PeterSt]

Although I am not on a real deserted island (Jamaica) the people living here felt quite deserted in the past. One man changed that : Bob Marley. The man, who died in 1981 (born in 1945) is worshipped as I have never seen before anywhere else, and the people on this island continue on living in a happy fashion, just because he lived for them (as a protest singer, because that is was he was).

I now know that not any single artist can outperform him on the matter of lyrics and the reggae melodies + beat, although strangely enough I hear the people here say themselves that they like UB40 (which to me is flawed and faked reggae, but each his own).
By now I have seen quite some live performances, and no matter who it is, they florish by singing Marley's songs with great applause from the public - Jamaican or other. And I think it is true, that once you see those coming from the country Marley came from himself - performing his acts, and no matter it is about deep sadness in the end, everything starts living, laughing, singing and moving.

On a side note, talking to Jamaican people - of whom many don't even have shoes - is a joy by itself. If you are of the jovial kind, here you can let go.

Last Friday we enjoyed the performance of a Jamaican of which I forgot the name soon after it, but it was so good I thought I could get it from the internet anyway, when needed. He too brough Marley songs, but also has his own repertoire. The 70 minutes he was performing was one big fest of such a special kind that, well, maybe I could be on that deserted island with him for a couple of days.


A few days back I made the arrangement with one of the regular singers in the resort here to go for deep see fishing. Yep, that was about the marlin I briefly mentioned in the other topic. Not that I ever expected to catch a marlin, but since this would be about being in a deserted boat with one or two Jamaican people, my day would be good for that alone. The singer - offering himself as a guide this day (which any random Jamaican does, with or without wheels) was to come along as well.

At 6:30am we left for a 10 minute walk to the fishers area down the beach, and in the darkish morning I found people cosily sitting on their boats, brushing their teeth, saying good morning. Getting hold of our captain appeared a matter of shouting something towards the sheds at the back side of the beach, from which the real rasta captain appeared. Before that we already met someone who called himself the co-captain.

We all got on board, and with the boat 30 meters into the sea a third man jumped into the water and climbed the boat. I could only think he was there from my money, but didn't care much. The more the better in fact.

The co-captain anounced himself as Kharuso, and soon told me he was a singer;
When he needs inspiration, he jumps into a boat and gets it from the sea, so he told.
So there I was with two singers in a deserted boat ...

You can well say I enjoyed a great great day in this boat with a couple of complete crazies, where soon my cigars where used for quite something else than meant for originally.
Kharuso told me he was going to sing the next day in the resort I stay, because of a special tribute to the personnell. Ah, so his songs must have gone further than a boat, or were about to. Nice.

Yesterday before the happening started, I met him at the back stage and we talked for some 30 minutes. I told him to do well, so he may be invited for more performances. His response : but I already do ! last week I have been singing here ?!
My jaws dropped when he appeared the great performer I have been talking about in the beginning of this story and of whom I forgot the name ...
Kharuso.

Ya man ! I won't forget your name anymore, nor will I forget you ...

[Calibrator]

A wonderful story Peter .. thanks for sharing.

The West Indies cricket team are touring downunder at the moment and they always come across as a fun loving group. I can imagine a nation filled with such individuals would be a great place to live.

Time to dig out a few Bob M albums I haven't listened to for quite some time, and enjoy the aussie equivalent of a Red Stripe or two.

Cheers,

Russ

[AUDIODIDAKT]

Nice Post Peter,

Hope you enjoying your holiday, but I see you do alright.
Its better to stay there as long as possible:

Don't you dare to laugh.............

[Gerard]

So Marlin like fish it is.... Nice post and sure a nice holiday....

Have fun for the day's you have left!