Artwork by Andy Hahn

LMM 3.3 – Learning Music with the Students at KIPP LA College Prep
This edition of LMM is a collaboration between myself and a group of middle school music students, many of whom started playing music only recently, under the direction of their instructor Jason Golday (author of LMM 1.8 – Burning Music). The process was a fairly simple one: Over the last academic year, the students have been writing pieces of music together, using what pitches they know (between five and seven different ones) on the available instruments (drums, glockenspiels, and recorders). Jason recorded these pieces and sent them to me. I manipulated them in various ways, adding voice and a few other sounds, paying close attention to the environmental elements of the recordings I had been given. In some cases, the sound of the space in which these pieces were initially performed is almost as important as the actual musical notes.

It was Jason’s idea to attempt this. I have to give him a big thanks for suggesting it. He heard early on the mesmerizing compositions his students were writing, and knew they were worth doing something more with. Once I started working on it, I too realized how strong and unique their musical concepts were. Really, the album was done before I ever got to it. I’m really happy with how it all turned out.

-jw

www.learningmusicmonthly.com

a

ps. show tonight!!!

The Learning Music large band is playing this Thursday at Echo Curio!

Yes. It has been a while. and it may be a while again before you have another chance to see LM in this configuration.

Also playing are RATS and DONUT, two musical acts which don’t seem like acts at all, but rather genuine sharings of mysterious and universal psychological depths.

WARNING: Special guest DJs are guaranteed to be turning the curio linoleum into a dance floor! More info on the attached flyer (made by Max Markowitz).

Friends Who Are Fathers (Mooey Moobau) by learningmusic

(”Little Conversation” from The Ghost Transferences)

LMM 3.2 – Neapolitan Shake is a collection of three EP-length suites.

The Big Sell EP is music written to accompany imaginary television commercials. The lyrical themes are derived from the three song topics supposedly most requested by advertisers looking for songs to place in commercials: “Thinking Ahead,” “Brand New Day,” and “Things Are Getting Better.” These are happy songs, optimisticly celebrating the great corporate takeover of American hearts and minds. Like the mythical corporations they accompany, these pieces avoid risky innovation, rather glorifying popularly (a.k.a. commercially) successful ideas of the past.

The three pieces that make up The Way of A. O. K. each conceptually combine a sound found in modern life (an ATM, a turn signal, a baseball stadium) with a short quote from Lao Tzu’s Toa Te Ching. The keyboard sounds are meditations recorded at half speed, giving upon (faster) playback a broader perspective of their combined revelations. This music is unashamedly inspired by the sounds of Terry Riley’s Rainbow in Curved Air. Though I’m not sure of the technique he employed to make that piece, it must have been similar to this. When Rainbow was made, it may have been theoretically impossible to recreate in a live-music setting, as the performances were (I believe) temporally altered. Modern music technology, however, may now be able to alter such instrumental performances as they are happening. Such an approach to music performance could be the next step in the blurring of conceptual lines between “live” and recorded musics.

The Ghost Transferences are stream of consciousness pop rants sung in part by channelled spirits, addressing topics of identity crisis and the random hauntings of modern memory.

Download LMM 3.2 for FREE from www.LearningMusicMonthly.com

Videos from Learning Music, Binary, Kenneth Pattengale, The Franks, and many more!

If you can get your mouth around the name L.A. Weekly L.A. Weekend, you can enjoy an eclectic lineup of two days filled with local talent in the arts, music, food, writing and provocateuring. Not to mention: Gary Panter speaks! It’ll cost you $12.50, but the proceeds benefit the Charles Mingus Youth Arts Center in Watts. On Friday, get up close with Amy Alkon, author of I See Rude People; a panel with the “Bad Boys of Blogging” Andrew Breitbart, Mickey Kaus and John Amato; Devil’s Playground Comic Book Burlesque and Ja Prawn.

You know why I like Vosotros?  Because it’s a record label that doesn’t really feel like one. Their imprint is more of this open-ended philosophy towards music.  They release and champion what they like and one project doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with the next.  Sometimes songs lie next to each other on the same EP that are as different as night and day, the only connecting factor being the circumstances that brought a particular collection of musicians together.  That and the fact that Vosotros believes in the music they want to expose others to, and that alone makes their releases intriguing.

The Rhoda EP is a great example, consisting of five songs that were each released on a weekly basis until the EP was complete.  Spaced-out Brazilian numbers peacefully coexist with experiments in dubstep and even prog-rock/gospel fusion.  Week one resulted in a lush folk song entitled “New Farmer,” featuring the always engaging vocals of Mia Doi Todd.  The accomplished team of musicians behind her include Miguel-Atwood Ferguson on viola (who was partially responsible for the Suite For Ma Dukes in J Dilla’s honor), Rob Hardt on flutes, and Nat Mcintosh making his presence felt on the tuba.  Gabe Noel is the gentleman you can thank for writing, mixing, programming, and recording the tune.

Now that you know all of that, push play and enjoy the next three and a half minutes of aural tranquility…

(words by Jason Smith – via WFMU blog at the Free Music Archive – link)

I went to see Flying Lotus at the Echoplex last night.  I had just flown in from Miami – and was facing that kind of fatigue that only comes from airports, airplanes, wack in-flight chicken sandwiches, time zones, booze and little sleep. I thought my only saving grace would be a Red Bull.  Then Ravi Coltrane walked on stage.  It was like a shot of adrenaline. It’s not uncommon for the performers to outnumber the audience at a jazz show in LA. But here I was in a sweaty sold-out echoplex.  It felt amazing to see that many people watching jazz on a Saturday night.  And Ravi Coltrane no less. The first jazz record I ever owned was “Blue Trane“.  I was 15.  I’ve probably listened to it 500 times.  Something tells me Ravi’s listened to it more.  Some of his sax lines paralyzed me last night.  Hypnotic really.  It sounded so much like his dad.  And this wasn’t even the main event!

I had never seen Flying Lotus live until tonight.  There’s no denying the FlyLo buzz right now…  It seems like a lot of hyped bands fall short of your expectations when you come face to face.  But not here.  Not tonight.  The musicianship in FlyLo’s live band ∞ was stupid.  But in a tasteful way.  Everyone had their moment to shine.  Thundercat (woah…). Miguel Atwood-Fergsuon. Ravi.  The band played for about an hour and then Flying Lotus did a solo set followed by an encore with the band. They sent me into outerspace on more than one occasion.  Sometimes I try and imagine new genres of music.  That’s a tough one. It’s like closing your eyes and trying to picture a new color.  Surely the rainbow has accounted for every color already, right?  Flying Lotus feels like he stuck a crowbar between yellow and green and is wedging them apart to make room for a new color.  This color doesn’t have a name yet, but it’s there.  Eventually it will have a name and Skittles will add it to their lineup. But that’s still a few years off.

Daddy Kev made a point of thanking the audience afterwards. “This is an important night for Los Angeles”, he said. I thought a lot about this. The hard work these guys had put into bringing a local scene to the world’s attention.  And all the world-class musicians on stage that helped to make it possible.  Kev was right, it was an important night for music.  It made me think a lot about vosotros – and what an honor it is to work with the musicians we do (some of which were on stage last night).  I started to comb through our liner notes this morning and was floored by what I found … over 120 musicians have contributed to our label over the last few years … I think that speaks volumes to the music scene in Los Angeles.  It’s that collaborative spirit that made last night so special. And it’s the reason the best music scene in the world continues to grow in own back yard.

John

We couldn’t be more excited about the new Sargent Singles release.  The entire series is being recorded live to tape at Sargent Studios in Echo Park.  The Benji Hughes track came together in just one evening a few weeks ago.  Benji, Gus, Jake, and Mike G tracked the song in one take!  It’s a real testament to these guys that “Country Love” was finished so quickly.  Benji is a master lyricist and a bad ass singer.  And Jake Blanton, Mike Green, and Jonathan Wilson made the track sound great.  The B-side of Volume 2 is “Midnight Morning” – the first new Willoughby song in a few years.  The song came from a session with Gus, Mike G, and the great Larry Goldings on keys.  Both of these tracks feature some incredible musicians.  They are licensed under Creative Commons and available for free download (link below). And thanks to our good friend Chris Lowell for shooting the cover art.

www.sargentrecords.com