individual music development within communities

[William Hutson]

i think joe has the right idea. he's a strong enough musician that when the portland scene started to stagnate, he could pack up his things and go elsewhere. and happens to have landed in, i think, one of the most exciting groups of musicians making work right now.

gotta take issue with this assertion, and I don't think this is what Joe meant. A lot of great music happened in Portland from 2002 to 2004, just starting when Joe left in 2002. The social scene was tired, sure, but the music was just starting to become something other than a personal fascination for a small group of players. The comings and goings of people have an impact in these "scenes", for I doubt that a group such as GOD would have coalesced if I was still playing with the original Super Unity all the time (and maybe Joe can post the box set for comparisons of which is more stagnate!) I am sure Joe has had an impact on players in Seoul and they on him. If I remember correctly, he landed on Alfred Harth.

his words, not mine. actually, he said "calcify." i am certainly in no position to negatively judge the vibrancy of any music scene i am not a part of and would never assume to do so.

[negative potential]

Berlin is a special case IMO (in that there was an established free improv scene, yet an EAI scene was still able to emerge)

What about London?

[faster]

Yes, I didn't really mean the music as much as the social aspect. That said, my leaving and coming to Seoul shook up my music, and, as Bryan said, the semi-dissolution of SU led to changes in his music as well (for the best, too--see GOD). Change of venue, so to speak, allows some change of identity, if not a blank slate at least an erased corner...lines of flight.

I think my personal story can be seen both to support the value of community and also to doubt it; maybe that means something? I think the importance of a tight and supportive social/musical community may ebb and flow. That's how it's worked for me, at least.

[William Hutson]

i think joe has the right idea. he's a strong enough musician that when the portland scene started to stagnate, he could pack up his things and go elsewhere. and happens to have landed in, i think, one of the most exciting groups of musicians making work right now.

i see how this could have sounded wrong. what i meant was: he's a stronger musician than i was. when he was dissatisfied, he continued on in another city. when i became unhappy with the scene in la, i whined (and continue to do so). i've only ever been to portland twice, both times in the last three years, and that was to play "noise" shows. i would never assume to accuse another city of stagnating, only that one of its residents claimed it had, and i was taking for granted that he felt that way. (the only actual reason i wrote what was quoted above was to compliment joe's music, and the music currently coming out of korea, within the context of the conversation we were having. it was an attempt to move away from my pissing/moaning about los angeles.) sorry for any misunderstanding.

[b e]

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[b e]

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[jon abbey]

I am also pretty suspicious of a situation where a musician can travel to many parts of the world and easily make recognizable music with a common vocabulary.

these are really valid concerns, Bryan, but just to be clear, this isn't what I'm advocating at all, and in fact I totally agree with you (this is my problem with a festival like High Zero, for instance). what I'm advocating is a global community where people can find their most compatible/inspiring partners anywhere in the world, not just in the geographic community where they live. I agree that the kind of homogeneity you describe here would be a bad thing, and in fact it's directly opposed to what I'm talking about. one of the things I like about the largely successful Relay comp is that a few tracks are included which to me don't work, including the trio of Choi Joonyong, Kai Fagaschinski and Hong Chulki. I really like all three of these musicians, but I don't think their soundworlds make much sense together, and it's interesting to hear that in audio form.

maybe music should be more local?

I actually think there's some truth to this also, but again in a very specific, focused way. I've tried to make more of a point in the last few years of commissioning as many projects as I could that consisted of people living close to each other geographically, many of which should emerge this year (Ami/Toshi, Malfatti/Filip, Rainey/Lescalleet, Rowe/Guthrie) in the hopes that some of these will become long-term performance combos, which is of course much harder when you live halfway around the world from your collaborators (as you and Joe F are well aware currently).

[jon abbey]

I wish Bryan hadn't deleted all his comments at the end here, but a very good thread, worth bumping. I think this was around the time the AEU coalesced, maybe this is the thread to post the one thing we've managed to agree on thus far:

"The AEU is a loose collective consisting of the pooled charms and liabilities of David Barnes, Joe Foster, Richard Kamerman, Jon Abbey, David Kirby, Graham Stephenson, Mark Flaum, Jason Lescalleet, Michael Pisaro, and others, who may or may not yet know of their involvement."

[Charon]

and others, who may or may not yet know of their involvement."

nice

[Jesse]

that snippet sounds like pisaro.