Monthly Archives: August 2011

Schubert's "Finished" Symphony:

Why didn’t Schubert finish his “unfinished” symphony?

In fact, he did sketch out a third movement, and some historians feel that they have identified music that Schubert intended, to complete the symphony. But I think the answer is simple: Schubert knew that in this symphony, he was striking out in a new direction. We are so familiar with this music that it’s easy to forget how atypical of Schubert it is. I’m sure the composer knew that he had to match this new direction in the last two movements, and he was unable to do that. He set the third movement aside as inadequate, and for one reason or another, never got back into this extraordinary new groove he had found, a new style with remarkable power and romance.

This morning, on WPRB (August 16, 2011), I tried an experiment that I think is rather satisfying: to finish the symphony with the last two movements of Schubert’s ninth. That great symphony is in C major, so I lowered the pitch to B, since that is the key of the “Unfinished.” The ninth symphony is not quite in the same vein as the eighth, but its power is enough to do admirably.

I apologize to Leonard Bernstein and the members of the New York Philharmonic for playing their performance in the wrong key, and therefore at the wrong tempo. I apologize as well to all listeners with perfect pitch, for whom these last two movements may have been total agony.

Concert Review: Memory Tapes (live at Johnny Brenda's)

–Jake Sanders

Seeing Memory Tapes play at Johnny Brenda’s this past Wednesday reminded me that hearing a band or musician play live can be such a unique experience from hearing them on record. As a concert goer, you expect a musician’s songs to be changed at least a bit in the live performance, or at the very least you expect to see how they’re played.  This seems especially true with electronic music. At a show you see how the musician innovates on the sound immediately with mixers and turntables rather than from studio overdubs. This could have been the method that Memory Tapes’ Dayve Hawke employed, but instead he played guitar with a bassist and drummer, which is interesting given that he records and produces all the music on his albums himself. I thought this might be just an arbitrary choice before the show, but the band was so strong and cohesive that it made the songs all the more enjoyable.

After goth-synth Philadelphia band Instamatic and a short DJ set, two screens descended from the ceiling onto which were projected kaleidoscopic images. While Hawk and the band set up, the DJ spun a prolonged note that resonated for a bit too long, inciting a curt “Yo dude. Where’s the spaceship landing?” from Hawk. I got to chuckle a bit before they broke into an impressive version of “Yes I Know” from Player Piano, which sounds downbeat on record but came across radiant and much more expressive with the three playing together live. Right off the bat, anyone could hear how strong and collected the band sounded, and how well they played off each other.  They kept the flow going with loud, big versions of “Wait in the Dark” and “Offers”.  Everything about the music was confrontational and right up front, including Hawk’s voice, which shot through the speakers as loud as anything else (a big difference from his vocals and the instruments on record). They played two I didn’t recognize, then “This is Our Life” and “Trance Sisters,” which amplified the desperation and disaster of the song, rendering it all the more cataclysmic. They closed with a slow-building version of (their now-classic?) “Bicycle,” which turned into a bombastic dance number that got the whole crowd groovin’.

In short, I liked the record a lot, but the show totally sold me on how good Memory Tapes is. Hawk is a special kind of musician because he does all the writing himself, but it really made such a difference to hear everything played together. The already excellent melodies became fire and electricity with the group’s performance, and I think that might be just the result of the cooperation (or competition) natural between musicians. It’s a credit to Hawke that he can do both—play everything together and make a show that powerful. This isn’t to say that live music is always superior to music on record, but I think it showcases a different type of musical skill. Hawk constructs and records memorable melodies demonstrating his skill as a composer. However, he can also translate that into the kind of performance that shocks, which certainly places him as a forerunner in the category of “artists to watch.”

Get To Know WPRB's DJs: DJ Emanuel Ferrietis

Every week this summer, WPRB will highlight one its DJs in “Get To Know WPRB’s DJS.”

DJ Name: DJ Emanuel Ferrietis

Show: “The Outer Space Employment Agency,” Tuesdays 11Am to 1 PM.

Blog ForYour Show?:

 http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Outerspace-Employment-Agency/126122274072342

Type of music played on show: Jazz and Jazz-related music.

Reasons why you decided to be a DJ?: “Well, I wanted to make jazz more accessible, less mysterious. Other reason, I was inspired by a few WPRB DJs such as Marvin Rosen, Will Constantine, and John Weingarten).”

Day Job: “Am I not getting paid for this?”

Where are you from originally?: Central New Jersey.

What can you not stop listening to right now?: One person is Steve Hudson, “Galactic Diamonds,” Moth Guts-3 and Bitches Brew Live at John and Peters.

Favorite summer food?: Bent Spoon’s Basil Ice Cream.

What are you reading right now?: “Two things: Jeffrey Eugenides, Middesex and the other is John Ellis, American Sphinx (about our third president).”

What is your favorite city in the world that you have visited?: Reno.

Favorite Song Lyric: “Set the gearshift for the high-gear of your soul/You’ve got run like an antelope out of control.”

Anything Else?: “Jazz should be an accessible music and art form. There’s lots of great stuff, even from the 70s and 80s… There’s lots of great music coming out and we should try and support our local artists.”

Album Review: Memory Tapes' Player Piano

Album Review by Jake Sanders

Player Piano, the second release from home-based electronic recording artist Memory Tapes, is a very welcome continuation of the gentle pop-electronica that the sole musician Dayve Hawk crafted in 2009’s Seek Magic.  Like the last album, this one is rich with clear pop-melodies that jump playfully around, constructing a sound that’s both melancholy and charming, and both old and new.  Hawk himself describes the music on the album as ‘keyboard-based psychedelic girl group songs, a sort of motown suicide note’. If that sort of description eludes you, I doubt you’re alone in that.  There is something elusive about the sound on this album, partly because it does seem like a throwback, but one that still keeps the novelty of chill-wave.  What eludes me on this album is the conflict beneath the surface, like with the pleasant synth sounds and high-pitched vocals that pull in a sunnier direction, but with lyrics that explore much more stressful that don’t seem to fit with the airiness of the music, including painful relationships and the inability to mend them.  But I think its real success lies in Hawk’s ability to organize the different moods together flawlessly on each song, to make it all seem nonchalant and easy.

“Wait in the Dark” introduces the layers of synth-noise, clean bass and real percussion present on the rest of the album.  It’s hard to deny the sadness of this one, though it still has an upbeat rhythm and a mobile instrumentation that implies cheeriness.  “Today is Our Life” and “Yes I Know” sound like the music could delve into the sadness that‘s implied, but they end up sounding as pleasant and nonchalant as the others.  Hawk has said himself about his recording style that “the music is my better nature, and the lyrics are me shouting myself down with self-loathing and cynicism. You end up somewhere between a genuine smile you’re trying to hold back, and a false smile you put on for a show.”  That’s a really good description of the double-life of this record, or on a lot of chill-wave for that matter.  The music is so well packaged and planned that it doesn’t cross the boundary that separates “chill” from anything else, but often it does imply something heavier, like in the lyrics.  In a song like “Sun Hits,” there’s not even an attempt at getting at any other mood: it’s all candy.  But with the last five tracks, Hawk does pull forward at the darker stuff in the music, with “Fell Thru Ice” and “Trance Sisters.”  I was glad to hear the cataclysm and the desperation of the synths on these tracks, partly because it seemed like that’s what he was trying to get to the whole record, and partly because it shows that he’s capable of breaking those boundaries for himself.

All in all, this is a great second album in itself and for the interesting questions about recording that it inspires.  One of the interesting things about the music is that Hawk records it all himself with live instruments, without a sequencer to help him.  However, on this summer’s tour, he has been playing with two other musicians in a guitar-bass-drum set-up.  This Wednesday, he’ll be playing at Johnny Brenda’s in Philadelphia, and I’m looking forward to seeing how it’ll translate live.  I’ll be writing a review of the show later this week, so stay tuned!

Memory Tapes will be playing in Philadelphia at Johnny Brenda’s. Doors open at 8PM.

Pitchfork: (Or…Reading About It Online) (4/4)

by Jake Sanders

Ah yes. Like a national holiday for those who aren’t quite patriotic, The Pitchfork Music Festival comes around but once a year…however, I don’t have the money to attend. No, I’m not bitter or jealous. After all, there’s a ton of music blogs to choose from that give an group-by-group account of the festival, plus all the really juicy stuff that happens off stage. That should be almost as good as being there, right?

Trying to get to a concert of this size is the same story almost every year. The ads show up around the beginning of spring for the summer shows, there’s a lot of hype, there’s a lot of bands listed, and even the price is affordable. And I think, “Yes, this will be the year I’ll get to see at least one, get out there and really jive, y’know?” Yet I wonder.. “How will I make it there? I don’t think I know anyone who lives in East Sussex, and I’m not sure if there’s even a hamlet nearby where I could rent a room.”  So I become resigned to looking around for local shows, or if the money’s really tight, watching The Last Waltz at home.

Thankfully, the blogs are there for people who couldn’t go to Pitchfork. You can skip a rock on the internet and hit a music blog covering it. If you’re quick enough, you can catch the live streaming videos during the performances, but if not, there are the  write-ups that some blogs do. It’s not exactly the same as hearing the band live, but if you know them well enough it’s kind of interesting to read what they sounded like, and to check out some pictures too. And for bands that you’ve never heard, it’s good to read about what their performances were like, and to check them out some other time. To be fair though, sometimes they can leave something to be desired. I would like to know how Neko Case and Fleet Foxes played, but reading on Pitchforks’ blog that an out-fit looked like it was from a yard-sale and how there were five beards were on stage seems a bit like reading tips from Vogue or GQ.

One thing that I do love about reading the blogs is checking out the pictures. I’d like to think that I’m a purist and couldn‘t care less about what a band looks like. But, I know that I’m really not, and that I do like to see the funny faces that musicians make and the like. Like, scrolling down a list of pictures on onethirtybpm.com and Brooklynvegan, then seeing Robert Pollard performing a high-kick without any context or without actually having been there is hilarious to me. Or, seeing Ariel Pink putting three fingers in the air and grimacing. “He looks so angry here,” I think to myself, “and yet he makes such pleasant music”.

It is a stretch to think that a combination of pictures and a short description is any substitute for seeing a band live.  But I found out about a lot of new groups looking over all this stuff, so thanks to all those who went and wrote about it.  Then again, it could be that the bloggers are just flaunting how much fun they had, just callously rubbing it in our faces. Just giving us little tidbits of information to keep us mildly interested, but really laughing themselves silly thinking about all those who couldn’t go.

But no, I’m not bitter at all, really.

Get To Know WPRB's DJs: Lance Loud


Every week this summer, WPRB will highlight one its DJs in “Get To Know WPRB’s DJS.”

DJ Name: Lance Loud

Show: “Peacock Dreams” Wednesdays from 10:00PM -12:00AM.

Type Of Music Played: “Far out stuff.”

Reasons for Being a DJ: “Seemed like a good idea at the time, and apparently it was.”

Day Job: Student (and Summer Station Manager for WPRB).

Hometown: New York.

Listening To Now: Sun Araw, Alice Coltrane, Dr. John, Incredible String Band.

Favorite Summer Food: Sushi.

Currently Reading: Myths, Dreams and Mysteries by Margaret Eliade

Favorite City Visited: Tokyo.

Anything else?: “Dreams sweet.”

Pitchfork: Day Three (3/4)

This is the third of WPRB’s four part review of the Pitchfork Music Festival held on July 15-17  in Chicago, Illinois.

Deerhunter

 Day Three

by Griffin Winton-LaVieri (WPRB Music Director)

Sunday was the hottest day of them all and I was the most worn out. We saw The Fresh and Onlys, Kurt Vile, and Ariel Pink at the Green Stage but I was too tired and hot to be able to judge them well. Kurt Vile seemed to be well liked by everyone in the crowd. Ariel Pink seemed out of it as he performed, falling down at one point, and left the stage for unexplained reasons half way into the set, thus cutting the set down significantly. Also, Ravi and I made it to the festival grounds first that day.

Sunday was also the day that OFWGKTA performed. We probably made the right decision in not joining the massive crowd but viewing the chaos from afar.  It looked like madness. Tyler, the Creator, the front man of Odd Future, despite having a cast on his foot which caused him to hobble, jumped in the crowd on multiple occasions.  One of the friendly security gaurds, Jeff, described working it as the hardest thing he’s ever done. Jeff was in Iraq 6 months ago.  The meaning of Odd Future and their controversial lyrics has been and will continue to be the theme of many think-pieces. You can make your own call about the whole thing.

 

Sunday improved as Deerhunter’s set at the Green stage approached.  Deerhunter are simply, a quality band. Hits such as “Helicopter”,  “Revival”, and “Nothing Ever Happened” were performed. “Nothing Ever Happened” was definitely the highlight as they jammed along – rhythmic and euphoric. No new songs were played but I was fine with that, having never seen them live. Bradford said that they had just returned from the UK and concluded ”It’s good to be back in the USA. Fuck anybody that tells you it isn’t the best country in the world.”

After Deerhunter we got dinner and walk around. Cut Copy was playing so we watched them from afar. It was impressive to see the huge crowd jump up and down as a mass.  Cut Copy put on a high energy show and ended with “Need You Now.” I like that song.  After Cut Copy was the final headliner, TV on The Radio.  I’m not a big fan of them so I persuaded Ravi that we should cut out early as we were going to another after-show.  The second song TV on The Radio played was “Dancing Choose” so I felt like we saw at least one important TV on The Radio song and could leave the festival knowing it was a weekend well spent.

We traveled on the “L” to Schubas. The venue struck me as almost equivalent to Maxwell’s, in New Jersey, as it was basically a bar with a room for concerts in back.  Unknown Mortal Orchestra opened the show. I haven’t really made up my mind about them but that is more a function of me not listening to them much than anything else. Yuck had played Pitchfork earlier that day but we had missed them so it was worth the trip, time and money. They are pretty heavily indebted to their nineties influences but nonetheless the music they make is enjoyable to listen to and I’m glad I got a chance to see them live.

Overall, the weekend met if not exceeded my expectations.  Ravi and I saw pretty much all the bands we wanted to and saw them up close. It was our own summer adventure. We left Chicago the next day separately–tired but happy.

Photo Credit: Ravi Prakriya