"Whiskey Tango Fubar" [mp3 removed]
Expect there will be more variations of this, with different instruments, added harmonies, etc. I wrote the "main theme" while waiting for an out of town guest to come over for a studio visit. Originally it was all synth (the part that comes in in the middle) but I liked the relentlessness of it on the piano. The drum machine parts combine live and sampled hits (live as in live electronics). I wanted them kind of loose and desultory to contrast with the piano--all of this can be tightened and made more "classical."
This music, plus the scary toy dog above it, brings back the synclavier music album 'jazz from hell' (zappa).
:)
I like Jazz from Hell--I remember Zappa saying he was getting repetitive stress injuries from clicking notes all day.
Yeah, he eventually hired assistants to input the notes into the synclavier for him! That album was shat upon by both the critics and his fans (even the hardcore ones). I myself disliked it for years, but I sure do love it today. Sorry, I'm off topic... like your song alot.
Thanks. I saw JFH in a lineage from Uncle Meat where he explained on the liner notes all the really nerdy things he was doing with multitracking, etc. That guy was waiting for the computer to come along--then he wouldn't need musicians but could just input samples of their sounds into his own arrangements. Not that he ever lost touch with live playing but we're talking about a man who auditioned a new band with every LP.
The musicians (entire orchestras) were/are very expensive to hire considering all the rehearsal and touring time needed. The synclavier was much cheaper (even though it was about $100K in the early 80s). He claims that all he ever really cared about from the beginning was HEARING his paper notated music. (though he claimed lots of things) So the computer gave him that and he pretty much stopped touring, stopped the bands, didn't even pick up the guitar after the computer ate his brain.
Ah, thanks for the correction--I thought he kept performing/touring.
Well, about a year after jazz from hell, he did try to do a large tour, but it ended early for various reasons (mostly bad). That was it. But lots of writing and synclavier work thereafter. No, I'm not one of those hardcore Zappa trivia freaks, but I am quite interested in this later synclavier phase...
Me, too. I consider him a pioneer of home computer music. (Since a PC now will do everything the Synclavier did then.) I also like Stewart Copeland's "all Fairlight" music.
Hmmm, not heard the 'fairlight' stuff, will look it up. Any other hints about finding early 'home computer music'? (which I guess also implies an early-mid 80s timeframe)
Copeland's The Equalizer and Other Cliff Hangers is all Fairlight CMI and drums. There is also Doris Norton.
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"Whiskey Tango Fubar" [mp3 removed]
Expect there will be more variations of this, with different instruments, added harmonies, etc. I wrote the "main theme" while waiting for an out of town guest to come over for a studio visit. Originally it was all synth (the part that comes in in the middle) but I liked the relentlessness of it on the piano. The drum machine parts combine live and sampled hits (live as in live electronics). I wanted them kind of loose and desultory to contrast with the piano--all of this can be tightened and made more "classical."
- tom moody 6-20-2007 9:00 pm
This music, plus the scary toy dog above it, brings back the synclavier music album 'jazz from hell' (zappa).
:)
- ssr (guest) 6-21-2007 7:48 pm
I like Jazz from Hell--I remember Zappa saying he was getting repetitive stress injuries from clicking notes all day.
- tom moody 6-21-2007 8:23 pm
Yeah, he eventually hired assistants to input the notes into the synclavier for him! That album was shat upon by both the critics and his fans (even the hardcore ones). I myself disliked it for years, but I sure do love it today. Sorry, I'm off topic... like your song alot.
- ssr (guest) 6-21-2007 10:08 pm
Thanks. I saw JFH in a lineage from Uncle Meat where he explained on the liner notes all the really nerdy things he was doing with multitracking, etc. That guy was waiting for the computer to come along--then he wouldn't need musicians but could just input samples of their sounds into his own arrangements. Not that he ever lost touch with live playing but we're talking about a man who auditioned a new band with every LP.
- tom moody 6-21-2007 11:42 pm
The musicians (entire orchestras) were/are very expensive to hire considering all the rehearsal and touring time needed. The synclavier was much cheaper (even though it was about $100K in the early 80s). He claims that all he ever really cared about from the beginning was HEARING his paper notated music. (though he claimed lots of things) So the computer gave him that and he pretty much stopped touring, stopped the bands, didn't even pick up the guitar after the computer ate his brain.
- ssr (guest) 6-22-2007 12:39 am
Ah, thanks for the correction--I thought he kept performing/touring.
- tom moody 6-22-2007 12:44 am
Well, about a year after jazz from hell, he did try to do a large tour, but it ended early for various reasons (mostly bad). That was it. But lots of writing and synclavier work thereafter. No, I'm not one of those hardcore Zappa trivia freaks, but I am quite interested in this later synclavier phase...
- ssr (guest) 6-22-2007 3:44 am
Me, too. I consider him a pioneer of home computer music. (Since a PC now will do everything the Synclavier did then.) I also like Stewart Copeland's "all Fairlight" music.
- tom moody 6-22-2007 3:57 am
Hmmm, not heard the 'fairlight' stuff, will look it up. Any other hints about finding early 'home computer music'? (which I guess also implies an early-mid 80s timeframe)
- ssr (guest) 6-25-2007 8:07 pm
Copeland's The Equalizer and Other Cliff Hangers is all Fairlight CMI and drums. There is also Doris Norton.
- tom moody 6-25-2007 10:20 pm