Philosophy 101 Unit 1

“It is in this trick of perspective, from the humble “it happened” to the questionable “I made it happen” to the disastrous “I can make it happen” that lies the labyrinth of paradoxes that is our “modern” world”- Tom Jenkinson

I found this article really stiking, perhaps because I’m a musician, but most of what Jenkinson has to say is excellent (when it doesn’t come off as just slightly elitist).  Anyways, as I was reading it and nodding my head furiously, I thought of a bunch of artists and just random examples that sort of related to what he had to say, so I thought I would share those with you today.  First up, Mr. Bird!

“I feel like it is a deliberate creative process to hear a sound in my head and then rummage around for the object that makes that sound. Sometimes, as I’ve noted before, the object itself gets assigned a mystical value and must be on a song, though I know most listeners could not care less whether we use a Telefunken mic or a 30-year-old calf skin drum head… perhaps that’s why I ascribe mystical/religious properties to microphones, tape machines record players”- Andrew Bird (taken from the NY Times blog Measure for Measure)

As we see, Andrew Bird follows along the lines of what Jenkinson has to say; he ascribes a lot of character to his violin, his guitar, and even to the bare basic things of recording like microphones, tape reels, etc.  These things add something that he alone obviously could not.  Just because he is the one putting the instruments and mics in place does not make him the priveleged user, however.  He is in fact, perhaps just another tool, the one that puts everything in place and orchestrates it all.  Indeed, he plays a vital part in the making of songs, but ultimately, every tool involved is just as pertinent to the song as the next (including himself).

“This is why I decided to start in Nashville with the basics - voice and guitar - because it’s easy to lose your rudder in overdub realm”- Also Andrew Bird

Again, we see that Andrew Bird acknowledges the studio (overdub realm) as almost its own entity, in that it’s easy to lose direction.  In fact, things are bound to lose some direction in the studio.  “Recording is full of counterintuitive stuff like this, so you can see how quickly the original sentiment of a song can get derailed.” - Again, Andrew Bird

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According to Wikipedia, on a radio show in 2003 to publicise the release of Hail to the Thief, Yorke remarked that he would rather make a record just with a computer than with only an acoustic guitar.

Here, I think the implication is that Yorke can pull more sounds out of a computer than he can out of an acoustic guitar.  I think that goes to say that the computer is a more versatile tool and would thus serve a greater role in the system of tools that would define Yorke’s songs.  This is a great example of the collaboration of artist and machine.

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“…we gave absolutely no thought to what we were doing, whatsoever. This music is unblemished by any expectations of a specific result, on our part. The three of us simply got together to hear what music had to say that week. We had fun together and this is the record of that fun.” - John Frusciante

This was said of Frusciante (of the Red Hot Chili Peppers) about the recording of a side project called Automatic Writing II.  Really, I think this is the best example of what Jenkinson wrote about.  No explanation needed.