quarta-feira, dezembro 11, 2013

Art and Life (2)

May be what I should ask is:

Is art:
1) a weed (e.g., corn), anytime from the beginning to the end of its life, or
2) a pop corn, finished, ready to be consumed?


Art and Life

After my first album, TRA, the next thing closest to an album will probably be EFIL (I guess). I do not know many things about this would-or-could-be-2nd-album, but I will keep you posted.

Right now I am listening to a diskette with some improvisations I made a few years ago and my urge is to publish everything as is, with lots of mistakes, terrible quality, and so on. And why not? Technology allows it.




So why not?




We see life "as is". The simplest living being is pure art, "as is". Imperfect or perfect, adjusted or not to its environment. Does art need to survive time? Does art need to be "perfect"? Does it need to be "perfect" because it needs to be performed and leave a good impression on the public? Does art need to be "performed"? Or can it just "be"?

(Yet another improvisation, this text. It just appeared in the keyboard. Let's see if I will be ashamed of it tomorrow...)




Life (and art?) just happens.

Christmas in

Yes, Christmas in.

This blogger is the hugely-immensely-super-cali-fragili-etcetera proud winner of the "Best Ambient Techno" category of the Great Sufjan Song Xmas Xchange. Don't know what this contest was? Read about it in the Wall Street Jornal (and don't forget to watch the video - meet Alec Duffy, the winner, and be amused and amazed at the incredible tale of  Sufjan's extremely exclusive song "A lonely man in Winter"!).


"Christmas in a hurry" was the original song I submitted to the contest. Later, I introduced some drums ("Christmas in a hurry, with drums"). Then "Christmas in the blinking lights" and "Christmas in the searching space" popped in my keyboard. The creation process continues, endlessly...

If only I knew more about mixing... (mental note for 2014: learn!)

domingo, dezembro 01, 2013

New Version


Titan's Kiss (2013)
(originally appeared in TRA)

One year ago

One year ago, aweing at the passing of time, I started to publish the "TRA" album, one song per day (freely available in Soundclick and Google Play).
Time passes and things change. In this blog songs have birthdays, hence birthday parties. Sometimes I will give them a candle moment, eventually with some time-shift because time is strange, and we'll see how they get old. Or younger. Time is strange.

Yes!!! This blog has goals!!!

And probably one of them is to provide a cosy shelter for all those lonesome wanderers that serendipitously find this place. Come in, sit by the fire, not too close, and be well.

domingo, novembro 10, 2013

Making history

The owner of this blog is proud to announce that starting from today, this blog is now part of a network. It has joined efforts with the prestigious "One Year Blog" that started operating in January 3, 2013 (one post, 18 visualizations, some of them are mine).

This will introduce a new dynamic in this blog, with some hot new features, as you shall see in the near future.

sábado, novembro 09, 2013

This blog is suffering from a severe case of time shift, so Happy Halloween.

segunda-feira, outubro 28, 2013

Is everything connected?

23 days after I saw Lou Reed in concert, in my "small town" (the first song he played in that concert), I decided to lauch this band/blog.

Lou Reed

He died yesterday.
Ten years ago, I saw him at the concert in Coimbra and at the restaurant "A Taberna". 10 years, it seems like yesterday. Unforgettable, as the article says. He will survive time.

domingo, abril 07, 2013

Intervention


This is the instrumental version ("Karaoke") of the song. Everybody is invited to add vocals, make their own version of the song, make and upload videos, etc.
A suggestion for the lyrics is as follows:
A philosopher in Paris (Stay There)
by The Serendipitous Cacophonies, 2013
---------------------------------------------------------
It's a Wonderful place
So far away
I could live there
For the rest of my life
So why don't you stay
For as long as I'd like
Forever and a day
All your life
You're a wolf in sheep's clothes
A grandma in drag
And I am an innocent child
That trusted what you said
But my oh my
"What a big mouth you have!"
And what a fake you are
If only you'd stay there
Chorus:
Stay there, Stay there
Why don't you stay there, Forever
Stay there, Stay there
Stay there, Forever
Forever far away...
It's a dream I have
So why don't you dare
To "make the dream real"
And others like you
Can go there too
And stay there
Forever
Chorus:
Stay there, Stay there
Why don't you stay there, Forever
Stay there, Stay there
Stay there, Forever
(instrumental: he's coming (Oh no) he's coming (Oh no))
Chorus:
Stay there, Stay there
Why don't you stay there, Forever
Stay there, Stay there
Why don't you stay there, Forever
And others like you
Can go there too
And stay there
Forever

quinta-feira, março 28, 2013

New Song

I wonder...

... if this happens with many other musicians: being mad for not being in the mood to finish a song while wanting to share it with everyone else. Being fed up of listening occasionally to the song in the disk while thinking "one day I will finish it" and knowing it will be forgotten until the next listening.

Well, this one goes tonight, as it is. I have to sleep, so I will not even try to mix/master it, whatever that means. So, the next song will be called "Awake to Dream" and this should be described as chaotic publishing.

I'll be right back.

segunda-feira, fevereiro 25, 2013

Tensions

One of the main tensions in this blog is to decide when to "publish" a song. Common wisdom says that an artist should show its art only when it is finished. It makes sense if you want to maximize the impact of your art on the public, but is this really what I want?

Well, yes I guess, but I don't have time (or discipline) to "finish" hundreds of songs the way I would like, especially when I see infinite possibilities of developing each song. So, I will show the songs in sometimes a very crude form and let people develop their own versions.

And yet... some songs clearly deserve more thought, a better understanding of what makes them interesting and a lot more exploration. It does not feel right to show them naked, deformed, when they could be beautiful with just a bit more of polishing. Besides, each time I listen to them they crystallize in my brain and it is more difficult to change them.

Well, people die, sometimes suddenly, so I will not wait for the right time to publish a song. Internet will be full of garbage if everyone does the same, but... well, it is full of garbage anyway. The pursuit of beauty in this blog will thus be truncated, but will continue. I hope you can imagine the songs the way they should be, instead of the way they are.

quinta-feira, janeiro 10, 2013

Serendipity

Play and click, it's different each time!

(buttons: left=draw, right=erase; upper left corner draws tiles, sometimes; Reload page to restart.)

quarta-feira, janeiro 09, 2013