Pop Thoughts and Telephone Ideas

Dear Future Folk Fucks,
today I was surfing the radio looking for soothing sounds. I caught a couple goodies, then some sappy stuff, then I realized Michael Jackson owes his life to QUINCY JONES. Then I was listening to REM "Losing my Religion", and I remember liking it less than I used to, because I paid more attention to the lyrics, and really they are very whiny. Don't get me wrong- whining has its place, because after all life is very fucked. But that place is in your therapist's office, or on the phone with a friend or for being overly direct with a flakey stranger. I do not see it as necessary when I am pumping my jams crusin down the highway. Once again don't get me wrong- I like dark music, I like very dark music, but if its good it usually has a twist that either is so fucked up its psychotic or ironic. Case in point- next station next song I found "Daughter" by Pearl Jam, which I was totally digging- because even though the subject of the song isn't fit to be called "daughter" to some genetic father, it is all addressed with a very subtle tongue in cheek irony- not to mention Eddie Vedder is pretending to be a girl. But more important is that subtle irony that stabs the firmament of the eternal in tragic art.


On another note: I had an idea for Rod's proposed telephone game which is if someone is down to produce a beat I would try to "spit some raps". We could just agree on a bpm and I could email my acapella vocal to a willing mixmaster...if i can dooo it. In fact I could try the same thing with a improvisational guitar track(?) hit me up peeps

Disembodied Llama says.....

Ray Four - To come slowly into manifestation after 2025 A.D.

4. The Lord of Harmony, Beauty and Art. The main function of this Being is the creation of Beauty (as an expression of truth) through the free interplay of life and form, basing the design of beauty upon the initial plan as it exists in the mind of the solar Logos. The body of manifestation of this life is not revealed, but the activity emanating from it produces that combination of sounds, colors and word music that expresses - through the form of the ideal - that which is the originating idea. This fourth Lord of creative expression will resume activity upon the Earth about six hundred years hence, though already the first faint impress of His influence is being felt and this century will see a reawakening of creative art in all its branches.

Adam The Moat

So, FFR just put out this album called Humans Want Wrong, by this dude called Adam LaMotte. It's really fantastic; and while it's his first real album, it's far from the first thing he's recorded. He's been posting his songs on a podcast called "Live from Juneau, Alaska" for quite some time now, and those songs are all available for download from his blog. Czech 'em out, suckas!!!

Telephone

Future Folks,

Some of us Future Folks have been talking behind the scenes about a Future Folk collaboration in the style of a telephone game. Aliza and I were talking about it and it reminded me of a similar collaboration I had with Joe (3SPDS) where we passed material back and forth, in a call and response style. The internet makes this type of collaboration much easier, as we all can be in different locations while working on it. Woody Leslie & Aliza Simons' new release "10 Pieces for Ukulele and Electronic Collage" is an excellent example of this type of long distance collaboration. (and is awesome on its own, you should check it out here!)

So what i'd like to propose is this: The Future Folk
community is full of awesome artists and musicians, and a collaboration in this style would doubtless yield sweet results. so lets plan it out. There are 2 basic models
of how this can work.
1. In a linear (traditional telephone game) fashion, one artist can make a piece, then send it to the next artist in the chain for processing/editing/recontextualization, which will then be passed to the next person in the chain. this continues in this way until all interested parties have had a go at the material, and then the results are presented as a sequence. there can be rules as to length of pieces, or more abstract rules, such as source material and the type of manipulations performed, but these will have to be hashed out in detail.

2. The second model is one where the message passing works more like a decentralized network. Artists
will create a short piece, and release it to the rest of the group for manipulation. The subsequent manipulations can be added and the new version is incorporated into the pool and becomes a source.


Obviously these schemes lend themselves to studio manipulation and editing more so than instrumentalism, at least at the later stages, but i'd like to encourage the Future Folk family to
respond to this post with any further ideas about this project. Its you all that make this thing work, so your input is essential!!! Lets talk about it!
Love,
Rod

We don't always wear this much plaid...

Sewing Machines recently finished our northeast tour with a barn burner of a show in Kilpatrick House at Bennington College. Got some great pics from former FFR intern Zack Franklin uploaded to Flickr. Polaroids by Charlie Horwich and posters by Zack and Charlie to be scanned and uploaded soon!








See 'em all on Zack's Flickr.

The sweetest band ever.