Creativity Gurus: Books & Notes

The Rick Rubens - Rick Beato Interview was the first time I really noticed what Rubens had been involved with and what he actually did.

I am a few years older than both Ricks, and was really into music, was working at Fairlight Instruments at the time designing electronics, and reading some of the music and much of the keyboard and synthesizer press back when Rubens started out. 

Rubens was a punk guitar player and played guitar and programmed the DMX drum machine on the 1986 Beastie Boys - No sleep till Brooklyn. That he understood that RAP was music at that time shows why he become the producer guru he now is.  I remember reading the USA Magazine KEYBOARD in the 1980s and the cover proclaiming something like RAP ISN'T MUSIC.  At the time I was so far away from that world, but still realized that wasn't a truth in anyway.

Rick Rubens, in his recent book, and in the Beato interview, seems to have always been a calm guru type, with a very wide perspective on music. 

An interesting read for the most part, but don't think he covers anything I hadn't thought about and considered in my own creative endeavors.  

The Fairlight CMI was a significant mile stone in instrument and music development. The sampling and composition tools made a one man band, that people like HANS ZIMMER ran with and made their career in film scoring with. Page R in particular. But it was all very expensive.

I look back now and think Rodger Linn's Akai MPC, had a much bigger cultural contribution, thru its use in RAP /HIP HOP. Not that the designer considered that at the time. It was a user sampling Drum Machine, but by sampling others music and raping over it generated a new world of music and copyright problems!  Rodger's original digital drum machine programming was also an inspiration to the PAGE R I mentioned about.  His matrix Linn Instrument is also interesting, but a real niche thing.

I wonder if Rodger is about to come out with his own book on Being Creative?...

Creativity. It isn't just paintings or songs. Designing instruments requires it was much as any creative endeavor. The form of it is just different from a book author with his characters, plot points and story.

Brian Eno has his own status as a Music and ART Producer Guru. His OBLIQUE STRATEGIES cards with ambiguous statements, is rather like Rick Rubens advice or suggestions. Very Guru Like.

There are between 100 and 128 cards depending on version with statements expected to trigger the stuck creative mind, like:

• Use an old idea.
• State the problem in words as clearly as possible.
• Only one element of each kind.
• What would your closest friend do?

I made up a version of this with a numbered 0 to 99 statements and D100 dice. An interesting exercise, but I have never really used it.  Here the dice rolled 59, which is Do the washing up

Latest version of OBLIQUE STRATEGIES cards on Eno store is 50+pp.

Brian Eno's MUSIC FOR AIRPORTS was on constant repeat in my studio around 15 years ago.  Like Tangerine Dreams Ziet, it changes the atmosphere in a room without taking it over. Both of these were firsts in Ambient Music, and bursts of creative genius.

Yesterday I was informed of  Brian's new book, ‘What Art Does’. 

The initial version is limited to 777, signed, with individual watercolor slipcase books for some ¥33,000, which seems outrageous to me. There will be a non limited version from January, but no word on that price.  It says the money is being donated to a charity, but is that one of those now, very rare,  NOT FOR PROFIT charities?  Asking the poster what the January price would be resulted in me getting blocked by the guy promoting it on Bluesky.  So is he part of that charity, do you think, and did so before I could ask if  it was non profit? 😏

"Eno and Adriaanse’s book looks at why people create art, how it helps people, and the role it plays in keeping communities together".

I am interested in seeing this new Eno book, but it is not about Creativity as such.  As I put on Bluesky, I know why I create art:   "... for people like myself, we have to regularly create something to be "Happy Campers".  Not everything is some great work of art, and it need not be, but we had to do it, at that time, in that place.  Where place is a mental state as much as anything else."

But to get back to Creativity, a video clip post I saw by the JHS PEDAL guy, repeats something I have found myself.  "You can't design a completely new original guitar pedal, by staring at a guitar. The inspiration or strategy has to come from outside, in a different field." 

The mind and where ideas come from may never be understood.  I am amazed that having time and no distractions is so significant to the process to me. Do something else, go for a walk, and you will see something out of the corner of your minds eye, that leads you to a new solution or the direction you need to go in.   Ambiguous statements and guru advice serve the same function to "look sideways".

We can be found at ArtAndTechnology

The Dark "Truth" About Bots

 Two years ago I did this love song to social media:

And yes, it isn't really a love song, but a criticism of Social Media.  I have a low profile on Social Media. Few followers, and mostly just post the music and cartoons I have just completed, which only two or three acquaintances will bother to look at, or listen too. See it mostly as something to look at when you don't have anything at all worthwhile to do instead.  

The bots on Twitter were terrible 2 years ago. Mulusk then bought it, made it X and made the bot problem a billion times worse.  All on purpose by the look of it. 

Benn says in his video here, anything about Social Media bots ends up looking like a conspiracy theory itself, confusing what is "Truth" itself.  Watch this for yourself:

It all seems consistent.  Is it "a war on truth"?  

Myself, as a non American, not living in America, it seems unbelievable that Americans could make a Stupid, Rapist, Racist, Lying Crook, their president. But if Americans, like Russia before it, cannot see "Truth" any more, then that is an explanation as to how it happened.   

This time line of X giving AI Bots access and making truth difficult to discern is particularly interesting with relation to the recent US Election date.

And that in January the prompts driving the bot accounts violated OpenAI's T&Cs, causing them to on mass apologize. Funny if not so terrifying. 

The very brief look up I did on Vladislav Surkov did not show the paper Benn shows in his video. Maybe something for some other time. I really don't care at the moment.

I haven't deleted my X account, mainly as that is the place to get news on what Urasawa Naoki is up too, and on Japanese Art Exhibitions. I am on BlueSky, finding it much nicer, but what I do isn't what the masses follow anyway, and I am not going to change that.  

We can be found at ArtAndTechnology

Old Man Shouting At Clouds - What Genre Is That?

 

Posted this on Social Media this morning after recording that 57 second music clip using 7 string drop tuned guitar. A bit on that here:

It carries on from a previous post on OUR STRANGE MUSIC.  That is an expression Mattias IA Eklhund uses about his very odd (by Western Standards, but not by 5,000 year old Southern Indian standards) time signature and his harmonic lead wiggley wiggley he does. 

But this post was brought on by this RANT - OLD MAN YELLS AT METAL video: 

I agree with him that some young guys saying what he is doing "isn't metal" is rubbish. Metal has evolved into a zillion branches, and some young guys may only be familiar with some of the most recent.

This is probably mostly wrong but an attempt at such a family tree:

HP42 goes and plays a bunch of clips of recent metal, and I must say, most don't interest me at all.  Metal has changed from memorable riffs of LIVING AFTER MIDNIGHT, PARANOID or even ENTER SANDMAN, to be more about a rhythm played on a downtuned guitar playing against the kick drum.

Recent stuff seems more extreme version of what LAMB OF GOD did. 

In my music+comic at the top of this page, I think you could describe what I am doing as simple ROCK&ROLL, with a metal, downtuned guitar tone and double pedal kick drum. But then the synth stuff probably makes it go to Industrial something something.  I guess that is one of my styles that doesn't sound like someone else, and that is fine by me!

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Social Media Lost It's Shine?

Seems that way to me, on this November 11 2024.  

For years the shine has been coming off social media, as algorithm changes meant you don't actually get to see posts of friends any more and the pushing of advertisements and disinfo increased.

Seen others on X saying they lost many 100s of followers after the US election, as the disinfo bots got turned off.   I don't have as many followers as they lost, but did loose a handful, but that makes no difference to me at all.  

I am still on Mastodon, BlueSky, X, Instagram and Facebook, but there came a point some time ago where posting anything just became a waste of effort. Seemed, may, be 2 people would see anything I posted on X or Facebook, but more often 0, as the post vanished into the timeline before anyone even noticed it.  BlueSky, Mastodon and Instagram have always been a why did I bother at all, and Mastodon doesn't have anything but the most trivial posts of others 99% of the time.  Posts I have no interest in engaging with. 

BlueSky seemed to originally be populated with old Twitter "thought leaders/head geeks" with a following of some kind.  They are now pushing starter packs with themselves as the must follow people.  Have to say though, I have yet to learn anything worthwhile uniquely on BlueSky. 

There is a lot of Over Sharing, and tend to see that as an American thing, like being loud, but most isn't interesting in the least. We all have our own "small happiness" , like a nice cup of coffee or warm raison toast with just the right amount of cinnamon, but if that is the only thing you have to post, I don't want to see it!  

Instagram  is now solely for seeing posts from our daughter or on our grandson. 

Twitter was once a more interesting place. For many of the early years I would write a post, then delete it without sending most of the time. Has been a way to connect with similar minded people. Or find out about events I am interested in. 

The paid blue tick scam has impacted X a lot, but as long as people and businesses, remain X only and post about events they are producing, it will remain useful.  

X has never a place to get any interaction with an offsite link to my art or a music post.  A post with such a link may have gotten a like, 💗, but no one ever left their time line to check something out, unless it was that one acquaintance.

Will probably still post about my art and music, but it is the making of it that remains my focus, not the promotion. 

One thing being on Social Media showed was which Americans supported the Felon Rapist, even if they didn't directly say it and just poo pooed Climate Change or some such issue over time betraying their RWNJ leaning, while even saying they don't want to discuss politics. Useful to keep in mind to avoid... 

I few years ago I thought Blogging was completely dead. but the changes to Social Media have revived it to a degree, even if I am the one that comes back and reads these posts.

Have to include the Vloggers too. There are so many 30 minute videos that should have been a half page blog post now.  YouTube is all about how long views watch, so the padding, drink cup off coffee now, to extend that makes for a poor experience a growing amount of the time. And the AI generated drivel is even worse. Many reviews are all just Astroturfing what ever the product is. 

Some want to be "real people" talking about what ever it is, but I don't find they add anything. 

UPDATE: Nov 15 2024

Musk had new T&C for X come into effect Nov 15, and that seemed to force a mass Exodus from X to BlueSky, and things have definitely picked up on BlueSky. But the whole "time line" thing speeding past is still so much worse than a forum with topics.  The whole character limit means posts are by design, just short passing comments. 

We can be found at ArtAndTechnology

Our Strange Music

 

Our Strange Music was expanded from a 58 second thing did a couple of days ago for a short animation. No Singing. No Speech either.  Starts with a synth swoop up, has a weird guitar riff in the middle and ends with a sweep down. No Bass and no guitar solo. 

Isn't a standard song structure at all.  Has a few repeating melodic phrases, and variations. Actually doesn't have any place to put words or singing. But that is okay this time.

Guitar is all 8 String, and one riff is in the bass guitar region. Did consider putting some synth bass thing in it, but didn't come up with anything worthwhile.  Playing with low 8 string riffs and coming up with something interesting is a recent endeavor. 

When I have a memorable melodic phrase, something I want to hum to myself, it needs to be repeated, BUT NOT TOO MUCH!  So instead of the same phrase have similar phrases, and use those as well.

The way this is now, there isn't any room for singing, and to make way, would replace some of the melodic lines with vocals sing the same melodies. Probably not coming back to do that here though.  

Is it interesting?  I think it is interesting enough. 

And the next day we came back and turned it into this, Looks Like It's Ganna Be a Good Day with a few lyrics:

Looks like a great day

Looks like a great day

I hope its ganna be a good day.

Looks like a great day

Looks like a great day

I hope its ganna be a good day.

  Trying to have a positive feel about it. Much better for my mental health.

So is it a song? Not really, Has some vocals, but more a spice to that part of the track. Maybe makes it more uplifting, as the words indicate that too.

But is it really just a different version of one of the previous 4 tracks we did? In a way it is, as they are all this same Lydian/ tempo project I have been working with.  They all don't sound like the same song though, but do have a very consistent style and approach.

Have put this, and two other recent tracks in an EP here: Three in Lydian @ 143BPM on Bandcamp so you can make up your own mind.  As an artist, you want to find your own style/ voice, and I think this is mine at the moment. It doesn't sound like someone else.

We can be found at ArtAndTechnology

The Wrong People

 

The Wrong People on Bandcamp, the track above, is the now the forth version, with a few changes.  The only comment I got about another track on this Album, is it ”sounded like a slow jam”.  That comment would be based on his musical taste, their frame of reference, and have no idea if that is Meshuggah or Garth Brooks. But all these tracks are derived from jammed improvisations I do. 　　

Found inspiration in the Sabine Hossenfelder video on Election Systems this morning for a new Spoken Words album track. I didn’t pronounce Machiavellian correctly, if Dictionary is correct, but is a word I have never used before, and don't remember it ever coming up in conversation, unlike Narcissist. 

 

We are in long shirt weather in this part of Kyoto now. 

I will now listen to this 1,000s of times for things I think I need to change. Do those edits and remix, possibly record new parts, and then listen to that another 1000 times. As it is now:

I repeat that a few times, then abandon it.  So I expect the track will be different tomorrow, or in a few days time. 

The Wrong Type of People become Politicians. Well, maybe 99% of them anyway. They have the same characteristics as the typical CEO. And the words in this are just about that, and not elections, impending or not. 

Sabine's video covers research that randomly selected citizens, like jurors in the legal system,  have very good outcomes under some test cases. Also that approach is hated by everyone asked.😄

The episode of  THE ORVILLE  - Majority Rule, on a democratic governing system rather like likes/ dislikes in Social Media. The society has no actual authorities or politicians, just a system of voting by the general public on everyone's behavior in real-time. As you can imagine that is also terrifying!

I expect in another 1000 years, the earth, countries and the governing system may not be recognizable to someone from our time...

We can be found at ArtAndTechnology

Coffee & Rock is Joyous

 

The track is also part of the Bandcamp Spoken Words Album. 

This maybe the first time I put my real self in a video and thumbnail, rather than a cartooned version. I probably will not do it again.

It was a really wet Saturday afternoon yesterday (2024/11/2), and I pulled up my current Reaper template project and recorded the first version of this track with my Ibanez RG 6 string. Took all of 5 minutes for the playing. Editing the much long improvised rhythm guitar and melodic takes into a track took much longer. Take 8 & 16 bar sections and copy and paste it together. Usually have to cut out lead bits to give space to even hear the rhythm guitar. But this one is all about the CHUG of rhythm guitar part, as in the opening 8 bars. Love the Guitar Pinch Harmonics too.  

Came back on this sunny Sunday morning and added the 16 bar melodic synth part to the center section to add a little more interest in something that is really quite repetitive even if has that rock aggression I love. Used it unquantized as I played it. There is a fine line between "feel" and "sloppy" but think this is "good enough". Doing this for myself anyway.

I visit a local café alone about once a week and put in my JBL ENDURANCE RUN 2 headphones, have breakfast, sip coffee and listen to music from my phone or mp3 player.   It is a joyous thing for me. Unlimited refills with a comfortable table and not too crowded.

I don't use SPOTIFY, but take my music with me. I rip all my CDs to hires mp3s using dBpoweramp, and have done for many years. SPOTIFY is a pox on the music industry and I do not use it.

I only recently discovered Devin Townsend and listened to these albums in detail recently at a café. 

But if I have just made my own new track, I could have it on continuous repeat listening for things in it "that annoy me or start to feel wrong".  Part of my track release process. After I have uploaded a track to Bandcamp, I may revise and upload it 4 or 5 times before I give up and just abandon it.  I never try and make anything Perfect though, that is a complete waste of time, and end up with it is what it is.  

it is what it is being a product of who I was at that time with that amount of enthusiasm and skill for doing whatever it was.. 

My most frequented café is GUSTO here in Kyoto Japan. Will sometimes go to a Starbucks for a new Frappuccino thing or seasonal cake, but otherwise find that place nowhere near as comfortable. Starbucks coffee is just burnt, bitter and way over priced. I just don't get why so many want to sit in a Starbucks working or reading. I assume it is to be seen, or have a personality type that to be surrounded by bad coffee and noisy people makes them comfortable.

We can be found at ArtAndTechnology