#Reverb12 #4 Music

Thanks again to Hope for the prompt, Did you discover a favourite song or musical artist in 2012?

James Blackshaw.  I like the solo guitar style made prominent by John Fahey, Leo Kottke, Robbie Basho and others I'm probably not familiar with, and Blackshaw's work seems like a worthy extension of that idiom. 

Here is a video of Blackshaw playing on the street.  I'm not sure of the date, it was probably filmed in the past few years, the sounds of the street complement the guitar playing.  I also like when he dryly says "Cut" at the finish.

The Broken Hourglass is another performance that resonates with me, I listen to it a lot and love the emphasis and dynamics.  It's a big sound and at the same time there's a lot happening.

There's also the Cloud of Unknowing.  Blackshaw has an album of the same name though I like this live version a little more, it has a staccato quality in some places not heard in the other.

Hard to choose since there's so much of his work that I like, but here's Boo, Forever.  I don't know what the instrument is that accompanies him in the final minutes.  

Why?  Something about his playing changes something in my being, I'm not sure what it is.  

Soundtrack

Today's #NaBloPoMo prompt: "Can you listen to music and write? What song did you hear today?"

Often I listen to music and write, or type, I suppose. I shuffle my iTunes library or hit Genius and listen to the same songs over and over again. At first Genius's response was pretty limited; I thought it more appropriately should have been named "Nimrod." Nevertheless, Apple has consistently improved the product.

But right now I'm not listening to anything except the revolving soundtrack in my head. Something's always playing there. Right now it is the last strains of John Fahey's instrumental "Orinda-Moraga." Before that it was Sonic Youth singing a chorus "you better not waste away." Most of the time there's no particular reason for the song. Other times, however, it would be good to keep silent. Why do I have such a hard time being with myself? The iPhone cranks for the duration of the car ride. Wouldn't it be good to listen to a conversation such as in a Podcast? Or nothing? What is a song, anyway, or notes, or sound? (Or silence, thinking of Cage's 4'33 or the prisoner who made a wooden piano and played the silent music on the keys.)

And at the same time, I agree with Jessica, who writes "Music is so important in all of our creative journeys as well as in our own personal soundtrack of life," and she shares a song every Lyrical Friday.