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Ambient/Post-Rock/Textural bass playing thread

#19,923
C92F1201-34C9-493E-AB8F-C7BE232F6193.jpeg
 
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#19,933
Bob_Ross said:
LOL! All the pedal guys are trying to get their stompboxes up on a table, and all the modular guys are looking for floor control for their synths!
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I got myself a Line6 FBV Express for that. It's MIDI, but if I want CV I have Bitwig route it to outputs on my BoredBrain OptX. It's really handy... or I guess, footy.

The disadvantage is there are no inputs for more expression pedals, just the one built in. I may outgrow that someday.

I've used the expression pedal for the obvious slow attack volume swells, but also for feedback on the Desmodus plugin to give me infinite sustain, and fading in/out another part while playing. The switches often get used for transposing drones or gating additional modulation sources.
 
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#19,934
Bob_Ross said:
There’s a video on YouTube, I think it’s from the drumchannel, with Terry Bozzio and Steve Vai just talking about stuff. It’s pretty cool; they have some good ideas about making engaging and creative music (though if I wanted to be a dick I’d say they’re not *quite* equipped to verbally express those ideas as well as one might hope)… Anyway, Steve talks about making that video with the Hydra guitar and what a ridiculous pursuit it was to get the idea in the first place and then figure out how to execute the music. Makes that video a lot more palatable knowing the backstory.
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Bob_Ross said:
LOL! Give 'em a couple books to read, or maybe send 'em to grad school for a semester or two? They're bright guys (and exceedingly talented musicians imho) who are talking about dabbling in what often gets referred to as "contemporary classical music" -- thorny, complex chamber music that is based on pitch and rhythmic strategies that can't usefully be described in the language of jazz or rock music. They're astute enough to know they can't describe what they're talking about in the language of jazz or rock music...they just don't have the "contemporary classical" language at their fingertips, so there's a lot of handwaving and "you know, that thing" when describing those projects.

Still worth listening to, especially if you're a fan of either of their musics.

I also notice that the videos are labeled "1 of 4" and "2 of 4" but I have not been able to locate installments #3 or 4 anywhere!
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yeah. i thought it was pretty interesting, particularly when they get into the granular discussion of approaching the playing surface—though i wish vai had discussed the *string* a bit more cause it's a main concern of mine. soap box moment: seems to me that a lot string players do not really think about the *string*, it's all about chops. (end rant) the discussion about the nuance of time was pretty cool too.

in any event, i got something out of it (some of which was a bit of confirmation bias for me).

i'm not really clear about your complaint about their discussion of "contemporary music," as all i recall hearing was about stravinsky, who is pretty old hat by now (*great*, but still 100 hundred years ago for some of his greatest pieces). to me they were talking more about he (in particular) affected their process than anything. i didn't really hear much theory at all. of course, i may have spaced for a bit. maybe it was the words "composer" and "composition"? bozzio talked way more about zawinul as an influence than he did about igor, didn't he?

my main beef is that bozzio somehow thinks the firebird was something groundbreaking, whereas it sounds like it's straight out of rimsky-korsakov to me (now if you want to talk petrushka or the rite . . . ) :)

anyway. those guys are masters (i saw bozzio do some live stuff that has stayed with me some 53 years later) at what they do (like it or not) and have some really (as you said) interesting observations.
 
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#19,935
Bob_Ross said:
LOL! All the pedal guys are trying to get their stompboxes up on a table, and all the modular guys are looking for floor control for their synths!
Click to expand...

So they will all meet at the edge of the table?

Last night was my first band practice since the Covid diagnosis. It was tough but enjoyable. I blasted the new Meshuggah record going and coming to keep me perky in the driver's seat. I am a bit tired today but sometimes you've gotta do what you've gotta do.
 
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#19,937
re: Steubig's last post

Yeah, I have to keep reminding myself that "contemporary classical music" has about as much connection to the meaning of the words that make up that phrase as "progressive rock" does...it was their discussion of Stravinsky that I thought skirted dangerously close to I-Don't-Really-Know-How-To-Describe-What-I'm-Talking-About territory. They definitely didn't mention any 21st Century composers (that I can recall).

Further Thread Digression: I've been listening to a lot of post-Weather Report Joe Zawinul live concerts this past month (so Zawinul Syndicate and Weather Update) and they've only served to confirm my worst impressions of him as a musician. Did his musical innovation really decline in his last decade, and/or did he cease to be surrounded by musicians that could provoke & inspire him once he became the sole frontman and everyone else was a hired gun who was simply honored to get the gig?
 
#19,938
Bob_Ross said:
re: Steubig's last post

Yeah, I have to keep reminding myself that "contemporary classical music" has about as much connection to the meaning of the words that make up that phrase as "progressive rock" does...it was their discussion of Stravinsky that I thought skirted dangerously close to I-Don't-Really-Know-How-To-Describe-What-I'm-Talking-About territory. They definitely didn't mention any 21st Century composers (that I can recall).

Further Thread Digression: I've been listening to a lot of post-Weather Report Joe Zawinul live concerts this past month (so Zawinul Syndicate and Weather Update) and they've only served to confirm my worst impressions of him as a musician. Did his musical innovation really decline in his last decade, and/or did he cease to be surrounded by musicians that could provoke & inspire him once he became the sole frontman and everyone else was a hired gun who was simply honored to get the gig?
Click to expand...

i'll have to go back. i just remember them talking about reading interviews and books about igor's process—him searching for "that just something," which most resonant for me. guess i missed the other.

i have friend who was way into zawinul a while back . . . i tried to listen and it did nothing for me (subjective opinion).

imo, it's hard to stay fresh after being a young lion. the people who can do it are few and far between. almost every great composer/player/painter/filmmaker i can think of was on fire early on and then mellowed out as they either became established, entrenched or self-satisfied. it's hard to ride the wave of newness, especially when the younger folks coming up are reacting to *you*—just like you were reacting to the earlier young lions.

stravinksy is a good example. the rite in particular solidified him as sort of an enfant terrible, then he sort of minded some of that territory, goes to his neoclassical period (my fave in a lot of ways) and then ends up doing a lot of different things (experimenting with serialism, etc.) that were really well done, but not really as exciting and groundbreaking as the rite felt. (all imo, of course)
 
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#19,939
steubig said:
i'll have to go back. i just remember them talking about reading interviews and books about igor's process—him searching for "that just something," which most resonant for me. guess i missed the other.

i have friend who was way into zawinul a while back . . . i tried to listen and it did nothing for me (subjective opinion).

imo, it's hard to stay fresh after being a young lion. the people who can do it are few and far between. almost every great composer/player/painter/filmmaker i can think of was on fire early on and then mellowed out as they either became established, entrenched or self-satisfied. it's hard to ride the wave of newness, especially when the younger folks coming up are reacting to *you*—just like you were reacting to the earlier young lions.

stravinksy is a good example. the rite in particular solidified him as sort of an enfant terrible, then he sort of minded some of that territory, goes to his neoclassical period (my fave in a lot of ways) and then ends up doing a lot of different things (experimenting with serialism, etc.) that were really well done, but not really as exciting and groundbreaking as the rite felt. (all imo, of course)
Click to expand...
Imo Bill Evans had an incredible fire of creativity at the end of his career.
It’s like he knew his time was running out and had to get out all out before the reaper came knocking.
 
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#19,940
ugly_bassplayer said:
Imo Bill Evans had an incredible fire of creativity at the end of his career.
It’s like he knew his time was running out and had to get out all out before the reaper came knocking.
Click to expand...

interesting bit there.

i listened to that late village vanguard set.

the beginning of each set is just on fire, manic really. then the coke wears off and they relax (mostly him and marc johnson, to my ear). if you see that doc on him, he was doing a lot of blow every day. tragic really.

personally, i prefer heroin bill to coke bill. (not to be too crass)

died at 51.
 
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