Don't Want No Paper Gangsta

HA! I'm so pleased with the title of this post that I think I'll take my bow and call it good. Thank you thank you I'll be here all week!
(In any case, it is REAL.)



(via collabpiano)

Playing That Organ Music Must Count For Something

Any musical instrument/art exhibit that's described as "the giant lovechild of a bagpipe and a pipe organ" is alright by me.

The Überorgan by Tim Hawkinson



(via weburbanist)

Stars Of Our Stars

C. Bartoli
M. Uchida
R. Muti

FOR THE WIN!!!!!



(via collabpiano)

One Day I'll Fly Away

James Coleman's Levitating Speakers. Levitating! As in: levitating speakers! Someone who knows tells me we can blame an electromagnet/superconductor combo, but I'd like to believe oh oh it's magic.

Too bad it's still a concept.
(via trendsetter)

Just Repeat History

Shorpy specializes in historical photos. This one is of a high school orchestra, Washington D.C. 1905. (Those are bowlback mandolins.)

Hooked Into Machine

Yeah, but Luigi Russolo of Futurist Movement-fame was all about the noise.

Mike Patton plays a reconstructed Intonarumori noise machine for an SFMOMA exhibit opening:



(via youtube)

Ocean Of Noise

In keeping with the theme of the day: William Hogarth's 1741 etching "The Enraged Musician." Poor violinist in the window!

It's Oh So Quiet Here

Tomorrow is the 15th annual International Noise Awareness Day!

The General Assembly of the International Music Council (UNESCO), Paris, October, 1969:

"We denounce unanimously the intolerable infringement on individual freedom and of the right of everyone to silence, because of the abusive use, in private and public places, of recorded or broadcast music. We ask the Executive Committee of the International Music Council to initiate a study from all angles—medical, scientific and juridical—without overlooking its artistic and educational aspects, and with a view to proposing to UNESCO, and to the proper authorities everywhere, measures calculated to put an end to this abuse."

Down with Muzak?
Check out Right to Quiet Society and the Center for Hearing and Communication for more information.

Interested in noise pollution and acoustic design? Read The Soundscape by R. Murray Schaefer. It's awesome.

All The Sailor Boys Have Demons

Although I haven't come to any definite conclusions, I think I feel a little better knowing there are people like this in the world.

Shosty's Jazz Suite #2. Played on beer bottles.



(via youtube)

We'll Play It Again

Have I mentioned once or twice or seventeen times that I get to take an ENTIRE COURSE on notation next fall? Madison, Madison, be still my heart.

For your daily dose of minimalism, check out the original scores for Steve Reich's "Pendulum Music," Philip Glass' "1 + 1 for One Player & Amplified Table-Top," and LaMonte Young's "Notes on Continuous Periodic Composite Sound Waveform Environment Realizations."

(courtesy of ubuweb)

Hello, Is It Me You're Looking For?

Why yes, yes it is!



(via metafilter)

Give A Little Whistle

You know how if you say the word "fork" thirty times in a row, it suddenly becomes...almost a different word? That's how I feel about whistling. If, at the end of this clip, you are not absolutely certain that whistling is the silliest of all facial contortions - I'd like to know your secret (and/or your alternative).

Also: these guys and gals are pretty amazing. World Champions, you might say.

All We Wanna Do Is Eat Your Brains / We're Not Unreasonable (I Mean No One's Gonna Eat Your Eyes)

That's Beethoven's skull and it's on the market.
It really is.

Read all about it.
Quote: "Skull collecting is a veritable subculture. One man's macabre relic is another man's Barry Bonds seventy-first home-run ball." Unquote.

(via huffingtonpost)

Imaginary Noises

Performers Nios Karma and Nicolas d'Alessandro.
"The improvised piece they play aims at contrasting two different representations of gesturally-controlled voice transformations. One is instrument-centered and intimate, the other is open and theatrical. This performance is achieved through two innovative instruments: the HandSketch and the Myhag's Puppet."

(via askmetafilter; youtube)

It's The Eye Of The Tiger / It's The Thrill Of The Fight

Death Metal isn't exactly my kind of music; William Blake isn't exactly my kind of poetry; this is exactly my kind of quiz: Death Metal Lyric or William Blake Quote?

(via metafilter)

I Don't Want To Recycle / Recyle Revenge

Axis of Awesome. No, that's the band's name.



(Also, you knew it was coming: The Original Pachelbel Rant)

(via metafilter)

Wrap My Words Around You

Ambrose Bierce. He's got wit coming out of his ears.
From The Devil's Dictionary (1911):

ACCORDION, n. An instrument in harmony with the sentiments of an assassin.

APPLAUSE, n. The echo of a platitude.

CLARIONET, n. An instrument of torture operated by a person with cotton in his ears. There are two instruments that are worse than a clarionet — two clarionets.

FIDDLE, n. An instrument to tickle human ears by friction of a horse's tail on the entrails of a cat.
To Rome said Nero: "If to smoke you turn
I shall not cease to fiddle while you burn."
To Nero Rome replied: "Pray do your worst,
'Tis my excuse that you were fiddling first."
—Orm Pludge

OPERA, n. A play representing life in another world, whose inhabitants have no speech but song, no motions but gestures and no postures but attitudes. All acting is simulation, and the word simulation is from simia, an ape; but in opera the actor takes for his model Simia audibilis (or Pithecanthropos stentor) — the ape that howls.

PHONOGRAPH, n. An irritating toy that restores life to dead noises.

PIANO, n. A parlor utensil for subduing the impenitent visitor. It is operated by depressing the keys of the machine and the spirits of the audience.

It's My Party

This is in a bar in Germany, guys.

(via TYWKIWDBI)

Take The Breath From My Throat

I've been practicing. My roommates sometimes don't hate me.



(I like this video; no distractions, you see.
A full-blown performance? Well in that case, I choose this one.)