I met David Bowie twice, and on one of those occasions we were talking (or perhaps mostly I was talking at him) for a few minutes about something not dissimilar - about groundedness somewhat, and the mysterious well from which springs all inspiration. He was of the view that you should just be authentic to your vision. Vision is everything I distinctly remember he said, content then follows. How I wish I could have talked more and asked more questions.
I mean, it’s worth mentioning that this Howard D comp is essentially leftovers and unreleased material from the Buzzkunst era.. Addressing it as a new Howard record is a little hyperbolic.. As a fan I know you are prone, and this is a quality I do like however! Firmly agree his best work post magazine is luxuria! Criminally underrated, you did a magnificent job tackling Pound and Howard of course. Ticket (one of the greatest lyrics of all time) is amongst my favourite songs ever written. Your affection for his dystopian and Freudian qualities shines through in your early songwriting. To this day I consider him the greatest English lyricist of all time. Thank you as always. Benji
Nick, this is what I have been trying to do also. I find i am combining ai with my voicenote on my phone as vox and then overlapping with keyboard sounding, its lofi mixing with the hifi of ai tracks and loops. I feel the rush too and like you i am compiling a wee library of tracks, loops and samples. Also, have you seen Being Bowie documentary?
I tracked the documentary down and gave it a watch... It's always interesting to see fellow Bowie casualties, though, to the extent that to be Bowie-like was not simply to be like Bowie, we do seem like limited shards of the Bowie essence, which is better expressed in "I contain multitudes" than "I contain Bowie". For instance, when I interviewed my brother-in-law Irvine Welsh a couple of years ago about our Bowie fandom it turned out that not only did we pronounce Bowie differently, but we'd taken very different things from Bowieness: for Irv it was about having the confidence to use vernacular Scots in his writing. The less visible traces are the strongest ones, I think, and I see this prof fellow concentrating on the visual and the geographical.
The note about Songs in Soft Pencil is really interesting, searching up on it an interview with you circa 2003 or so said Creation was planning to put out a demo collection album with that title. Never materialized it seems and it's unfortunate as I like your vodka jellies and frisky whiskies.
Magazine I saw live in 1980 when I was 17 in Melbourne (Play) and were then an extraordinary band fronted as you say by a Poet. I’ve mucked around with AI generated imagery and was seduced and thrilled like a fairground ride that is over quickly and forgotten just as fast. There isn’t any meat on the bone with these “tools” and in the end they all end up with a dreary sameness. A broken charcoal, a blunt chisel, a stuck key or a broken heart have more dynamic oomph than any piece of programming .
I agree that, in and of themselves, they drag users towards sameness. But they can also be a tool to break habits, break contexts, and create "samples" of works which exist only in a weird mirror world. And it's worth saying that the early, glitchy days of software (which we're in right now with AI, the period in which it can still mess up and freak out) are the most interesting, with potentially eccentric results. AI is on the way to "dreary", perhaps, but it's currently more eerie.
Professor, please help... on one of your erstwhile Devoto covers, I faintly recall a monologue where you say "it's always drizzling on my mivvi"... it's a phrase that occurs to me once a week or so, but I've never been able to find it again. Does it appear on a legitimate recording?
the concept of taking ai generated songs and then recording them with real instruments sounds fun. the human element gives the music more character. i'm not against ai but i just haven't heard any that was worth a second listen.
M, I love you, but... Within minutes of casually stating that you believe a terrorist attack (by whom, you do not say) on Paris during the Olympics is inevitable (as though this were always the case), you state your concern about... the Far Right. If and when an attack occurs, and if it is not caused by the Far Right, will that cause any cognitive dissonance for you? Will it cause you to consider recalibrating your Threat-o-meter? There is a lot to love about Europe, and it pains me to watch it die, right under the noses of smart people who I know know better. I don't want to see the enshitification of the most progressive cultures our planet has ever known. Apart from that, I am looking forward to hearing what you do with that AI stockpile. Sincerely, A fan since 1989 when I first heard Bishonen on CBC Radio 2's ""Brave New Waves." [EDIT: Deleted a blank line. Why, I do not know. Maybe it's so my grandchildren decades hence will know I cared THAT MUCH!]
I’m not really saying anything more than that I’m a person who dislikes both the far right and the disruption and danger presented by large events like the Olympics. There doesn’t seem to be any cognitive dissonance there. I like pop, but not populism.
I met David Bowie twice, and on one of those occasions we were talking (or perhaps mostly I was talking at him) for a few minutes about something not dissimilar - about groundedness somewhat, and the mysterious well from which springs all inspiration. He was of the view that you should just be authentic to your vision. Vision is everything I distinctly remember he said, content then follows. How I wish I could have talked more and asked more questions.
Impressed! I guess "waiting for the gift of vision, then sound" wouldn't have scanned right.
Have fun in Berlin, Professor. ⭐︎
I will be anticipating this new album!
I mean, it’s worth mentioning that this Howard D comp is essentially leftovers and unreleased material from the Buzzkunst era..
Addressing it as a new Howard record is a little hyperbolic..
As a fan I know you are prone, and this is a quality I do like however!
Firmly agree his best work post magazine is luxuria! Criminally underrated, you did a magnificent job tackling Pound and Howard of course.
Ticket (one of the greatest lyrics of all time) is amongst my favourite songs ever written.
Your affection for his dystopian and Freudian qualities shines through in your early songwriting. To this day I consider him the greatest English lyricist of all time.
Thank you as always.
Benji
Nick, this is what I have been trying to do also. I find i am combining ai with my voicenote on my phone as vox and then overlapping with keyboard sounding, its lofi mixing with the hifi of ai tracks and loops. I feel the rush too and like you i am compiling a wee library of tracks, loops and samples. Also, have you seen Being Bowie documentary?
I tracked the documentary down and gave it a watch... It's always interesting to see fellow Bowie casualties, though, to the extent that to be Bowie-like was not simply to be like Bowie, we do seem like limited shards of the Bowie essence, which is better expressed in "I contain multitudes" than "I contain Bowie". For instance, when I interviewed my brother-in-law Irvine Welsh a couple of years ago about our Bowie fandom it turned out that not only did we pronounce Bowie differently, but we'd taken very different things from Bowieness: for Irv it was about having the confidence to use vernacular Scots in his writing. The less visible traces are the strongest ones, I think, and I see this prof fellow concentrating on the visual and the geographical.
The note about Songs in Soft Pencil is really interesting, searching up on it an interview with you circa 2003 or so said Creation was planning to put out a demo collection album with that title. Never materialized it seems and it's unfortunate as I like your vodka jellies and frisky whiskies.
Fabulous top
Right. Color scheme similar to my favorite gemstone.
thank you!
Magazine I saw live in 1980 when I was 17 in Melbourne (Play) and were then an extraordinary band fronted as you say by a Poet. I’ve mucked around with AI generated imagery and was seduced and thrilled like a fairground ride that is over quickly and forgotten just as fast. There isn’t any meat on the bone with these “tools” and in the end they all end up with a dreary sameness.
A broken charcoal, a blunt chisel, a stuck key or a broken heart have more dynamic oomph than any piece of programming .
I agree that, in and of themselves, they drag users towards sameness. But they can also be a tool to break habits, break contexts, and create "samples" of works which exist only in a weird mirror world. And it's worth saying that the early, glitchy days of software (which we're in right now with AI, the period in which it can still mess up and freak out) are the most interesting, with potentially eccentric results. AI is on the way to "dreary", perhaps, but it's currently more eerie.
@@momasu well said and I remember scratching RWCDs of images and getting some surprising glitches.
This sounds incredibly exciting - I shall follow the next album's progress with much interest - All hail the anti-shitification society - Maf x
Professor, please help... on one of your erstwhile Devoto covers, I faintly recall a monologue where you say "it's always drizzling on my mivvi"... it's a phrase that occurs to me once a week or so, but I've never been able to find it again. Does it appear on a legitimate recording?
He says it during Parade in the 2009 tour: at 3:25 here: czcams.com/video/Kbei9MlQOeI/video.htmlsi=klJBdTvgFVxKvUGu
@@momasu ahhh thank you. The flavour is very, very, good.
the concept of taking ai generated songs and then recording them with real instruments sounds fun. the human element gives the music more character. i'm not against ai but i just haven't heard any that was worth a second listen.
i quite like Yikes!
M, I love you, but...
Within minutes of casually stating that you believe a terrorist attack (by whom, you do not say) on Paris during the Olympics is inevitable (as though this were always the case), you state your concern about... the Far Right.
If and when an attack occurs, and if it is not caused by the Far Right, will that cause any cognitive dissonance for you? Will it cause you to consider recalibrating your Threat-o-meter?
There is a lot to love about Europe, and it pains me to watch it die, right under the noses of smart people who I know know better. I don't want to see the enshitification of the most progressive cultures our planet has ever known.
Apart from that, I am looking forward to hearing what you do with that AI stockpile.
Sincerely,
A fan since 1989 when I first heard Bishonen on CBC Radio 2's ""Brave New Waves."
[EDIT: Deleted a blank line. Why, I do not know. Maybe it's so my grandchildren decades hence will know I cared THAT MUCH!]
I’m not really saying anything more than that I’m a person who dislikes both the far right and the disruption and danger presented by large events like the Olympics. There doesn’t seem to be any cognitive dissonance there. I like pop, but not populism.
@@momasu Thanks for your quick reply. I look forward to many, many more years of your wildly creative output.