humor in EAI

[faster]

Dieter "Dieb13" Kovacs' "Takeshi Fumimoto" alter ego is funny--he actually introduced himself to me as a "japanese musician."

Some of the computer stuff on kurzmann/yoshida a s o is hilarious.

There's a second of a hip-hop beat in The Room somewhere that made me actually laugh the first time I noticed it.

The fact that people paid money for a quaham cdr is a sort of gallows humor.

[howsthatsound]

best examples i can think of (those where humor was most likely intended) are on love me 2x. i'm always impressed tho by how perfectly executed they are. no "hamming it up".

as for elsewhere... when keith rowe played the physick house, at an early (still very quiet) point in the set, he brought in a very loud local sports radio channel. a cascade of polite nearly soundless chuckles ensued. even jon was having a laugh.

in general, whenever chance is involved, there is definitely possibility for humor.

[jon abbey]

did you actually look at the clip I linked to? not only is it Greg Kelley, but he posted it himself, not sure why that's any less relevant than something on a CD.

Course I looked at it you daft bat! Proof if any were needed that you don't have a sense of humour, Jon

right, just because you've said numerous times in the past that EAI is humorless, this time I was supposed to understand that you were joking. sorry about that...

and for the record, my nickname in college on my fencing team was the "Funny Man", so there!

[jon abbey]

as for elsewhere... when keith rowe played the physick house, at an early (still very quiet) point in the set, he brought in a very loud local sports radio channel. a cascade of polite nearly soundless chuckles ensued. even jon was having a laugh.

heh, I forgot that, that was funny. on the Seven Guitars disc of the box set, he pulled in a discussion of the ongoing Angels/Giants World Series which wasn't as funny in its content, but was much more incongruous since we were in a concrete basement in the middle of Tokyo. when I heard the name "David Eckstein" under those conditions, it was all I could do not to laugh out loud.

[howsthatsound]

There's a second of a hip-hop beat in The Room somewhere that made me actually laugh the first time I noticed it.

i'm actually listening to this as we speak, and if you are referring to the moment at around 7:33, i'm 99.9% sure that is actually the "guide rhythm" from a boss loop-station pedal, which in context is much funnier.

[Chromosome]

There's a second of a hip-hop beat in The Room somewhere that made me actually laugh the first time I noticed it.

i'm actually listening to this as we speak, and if you are referring to the moment at around 7:33, i'm 99.9% sure that is actually the "guide rhythm" from a boss loop-station pedal, which in context is much funnier.

I had never really heard that before.

I wore a walrus-mask during my set yesterday (It was Holloween here last night). The quietness of the sounds allowed people to converse until they realized that I was actually playing. In that sense it was humorous to listen to some conversations as I played.

[skrobek]

I think we're getting humor and comedy mixed up here... I don't know...

Manga-Michi by Unami/Ezaki on Hibari is a masterpiece of playfulness. I find it very funny and it's one of my favourite records ever. The chasing at the end between the two is hilarious, a reminiscence of Tom & Jerry...

I think it's available for free from Mattin's website... It's been overlooked...

[howsthatsound]

well, the topic was humor, which can be intentional or non-intentional. but where have we mixed it up with comedy?

that recording sounds interesting. i'll have to check that out.

[William Hutson]

as for elsewhere... when keith rowe played the physick house, at an early (still very quiet) point in the set, he brought in a very loud local sports radio channel. a cascade of polite nearly soundless chuckles ensued. even jon was having a laugh.

heh, I forgot that, that was funny. on the Seven Guitars disc of the box set, he pulled in a discussion of the ongoing Angels/Giants World Series which wasn't as funny in its content, but was much more incongruous since we were in a concrete basement in the middle of Tokyo. when I heard the name "David Eckstein" under those conditions, it was all I could do not to laugh out loud.

i saw annette krebs play in berlin in 2006 during the world cup. while she was playing she brought up a radio station with live coverage of a game (i believe the german team was playing that night). i noticed several people immediately lean in closer, as if all of a sudden engaged, pleased to be getting this update during her performance. she later obscured the signal enough that the words were unintelligible, and everyone sat back in their chairs. i wondered if germany had scored a goal during that time, would people have stood up and cheered in the middle of her set.

[dave quam]

The fact that people paid money for a quaham cdr is a sort of gallows humor.

dick


when jason lescalleet played at lampo in chicago he started his set playing indian reservation by paul revere and the raiders slowed down and danced around while he set up tape loops it was really funny.

[jkudler]

Dieter "Dieb13" Kovacs' "Takeshi Fumimoto" alter ego is funny--he actually introduced himself to me as a "japanese musician."

Some of the computer stuff on kurzmann/yoshida a s o is hilarious.

There's a second of a hip-hop beat in The Room somewhere that made me actually laugh the first time I noticed it.

The fact that people paid money for a quaham cdr is a sort of gallows humor.

nerdily enough, having *also* just listened to the room. . . there is a point where it sounds like the paused-cd noise/beep that discmans (discmen?) make. .. funny in the same way as the loop pedal guide rhythm thing.

also: tv pow and scenic railroads song titles, http://kylie.klingt.org/help.html, a bunch of specific moments in concerts i can't recall right now.

-j.

[faster]

nerdily enough, having *also* just listened to the room. . . there is a point where it sounds like the paused-cd noise/beep that discmans (discmen?) make. .. funny in the same way as the loop pedal guide rhythm thing.

man, forgot that one. I've heard so many people do that that when I heard it on The Room I cringed a little.

Edit: I've heard so many people do it by accident. I don't know if Rowe did it on purpose or not, and don't care that much.

[Alastair]

Apparently AMM nearly invited Les Dawson to warm John Tilbury's piano stool during the mid-eighties.

[jpeatt]

Apparently AMM nearly invited Les Dawson to warm John Tilbury's piano stool during the mid-eighties.

I don't see what Keith Rowe's objection to the Les Dawson/ Bob Monkhouse duo calling themselves 'AMM' could possibly be....

Actually, what I wanted to say was....

That's a really English joke for someone who's just moved to Australia, innit.

[Alastair]

Having looked at the DVD shelves in the ABC Shop recently I perceive that English humour is still much-loved over here. Complete box sets of Dad's Army, anyone?

[Richard Pinnell]

Apparently AMM nearly invited Les Dawson to warm John Tilbury's piano stool during the mid-eighties.

Knowing Tilbury's taste, Tommy Cooper would have been far more fitting.

Regarding humour... out and out jokes are rare in EAI, but a sense of playfulness is very common. Outside of the music though the musicians tend often to be extremely funny people.

[Alastair]

Knowing Tilbury's taste, Tommy Cooper would have been far more fitting.

Yeah, but Tommy Cooper didn't play the piano as part of his act

[jpeatt]

Having looked at the DVD shelves in the ABC Shop recently I perceive that English humour is still much-loved over here. Complete box sets of Dad's Army, anyone?

This country has been full of England's cast offs for the last couple of hundred years... why should our DVD shelves be any different....

[jon abbey]

My interest in the subject is how humour manifests itself in the music itself - think Haydn string quartets, Alterations, Misha Mengelberg's right / wrong notes, the ping pong of Kagel's Match or the on / off switch fun and games in Stockhausen's Mantra, and for the most part what strikes me as funny is closely related to the parameter of pitch. Which, as we know, isn't all that important in EAI, at least not in its "traditional" role as related to melody and harmony. So, yes, by and large EAI doesn't have me falling off my seat and rolling down the aisles - certainly not the heavy-handed sample humour of Noetinger and erikm - but that's not a problem. I don't watch Bresson or read Bernhard for a good laugh after all.

hmm, interesting. I don't know if I'm really familiar with most of those examples (well, except Alterations, who I don't like at all), but I think that in general "humour" in music doesn't hold up so well on repeat listens.

it was pretty incredible to hear Jason Lescalleet screaming a Kiss couplet over and over during the end of his live set with Graham Lambkin (mimicking a lost tape loop which J had played for G the first time they met), but I don't think I'd want to hear it too many times (and Jason was smart enough to insist it not be recorded beforehand).

[the_semen_incident]

Maybe that's what defines "comedy"...

Of course that would lose it's "edge" if it were something done all the time as a "routine".

I mean... saying "humor" and "comedy" aren't related is just getting into semantics... or whatever... But subtle and not so subtle, unintended or purposeful moments can both be funny/comedic/humorous, but they just get "boring" when it becomes commonplace.
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Sorry if my reply sounds completely half-baked, but... I haven't had slept much and I think it's clear enough to make sense, so HMPH. I don't feel like thinking hard enough to form coherent sentences.