150 People In The World: the Wire magazine

[Dan Warburton]

[moderator note: post deleted by original poster]

[kangaroo?]

Dan,
is that from a review of Casa?

i have no access to the mag to check

[jon abbey]

are there still 150 people in the world who take The Wire seriously? I like Nick, and I respect his opinions a lot, but he does seem to be taking some unnecessary shots lately.

that's a pretty cranky column in general, concluding sentences from three of the non-EAI capsule reviews: "The lyrics mix nonsequiturs with banalities and tepid provocations", "I'm no more capable of listening to it all the way through in one sitting than I am of winning the world chess championship", "Making this type of stupidity sound unforced is no easy task". all in all, the three EAI discs he reviews (Capece/Merce, Greg Kelley-Self-Hate Index, Lacey/Vogel) come off pretty well.

[kangaroo?]

all in all, the three EAI discs he reviews (Capece/Merce, Greg Kelley-Self-Hate Index, Lacey/Vogel) come off pretty well.

i was pretty despirited to find that my beloved Casa was pretty much burried in that page-nobody-reads. but seeing those other two recordings there too, i now feel it's in good company

will be printing "one of those 150 people" t-shirts though, anybody wants one?

[Dan Warburton]

.

[Richard Pinnell]

Dan,
is that from a review of Casa?

i have no access to the mag to check

Kostis, in case no one else has already sent it to you:

"For the 150 people worldwide that still care about electroacoustic improvisation (EAI), Argentinian saxophonist Lucio Capece is a name to watch. He's recorded duos with Toshimaru Nakamura, Axel Dorner and Mattin, plays in the SLW quartet, and has several releases on the way, in collaborations with various genre names.
Casa pairs him with compatriot Sergio Merce. 29 minutes of "Virar, Virar" is more outright drone music than EAI, electronic squiggles squirted over thick undulations which sound like organs but are in fact generated from a sruti box. Which isn't to imply that EAI is generally becoming dronier, because it is. The second, a shorter duo for bass clarinet and tenor sax, utilises predictably slow-moving, sustained sounds. In case you'd not noticed, the label's name is a pun on Improvised Music of Japan. Rimshot."

[Richard Pinnell]

will be printing "one of those 150 people" t-shirts though, anybody wants one?

Yes, put me down for one

Ha ha! Yes me too!

Were there ever many more than 150 people who cared a lot about EAI? I doubt there were many more. A good few people pick up half a dozen or so releases a year in between whatever they usually buy but if you're just counting the hardcore fans I'd say 150 has always been about right.

[kcorcoran]

For the 150 people in the world who still care about electroacoustic improvisation (EAI), Argentinean saxophonist Lucio Capece is a name to watch.

Yeah, that would be an amusing statement if it weren't for the word "still" which reads as the self appointed upper-hand journalist schtick which potentially puts down the community involved and makes the other 6,602,224,025 potential readers feel stupid if they aren't familiar.

[William Hutson]

will be printing "one of those 150 people" t-shirts though, anybody wants one?

Yes, put me down for one

Ha ha! Yes me too!

make exactly 150 t-shirts, and if they don't sell out, we'll know it was an overestimate.

[Dohol]

will be printing "one of those 150 people" t-shirts though, anybody wants one?

Yes, put me down for one

Damn! I want one!

[jcg]

A good few people pick up half a dozen or so releases a year in between whatever they usually buy but if you're just counting the hardcore fans I'd say 150 has always been about right.

Hardcore fans being what? People listening to/caring for/buying exclusively EAI? 150 people worldwide seems like a way too high number then...

[kangaroo?]

make exactly 150 t-shirts, and if they don't sell out, we'll know it was an overestimate.

good point. 151st goes to Nick Cain

[jon abbey]

well, I've sold over 400 copies of The Room as of now, am in the midst of what looks like it will be my best sales month in two years for ErstDist, and just watched Keith Rowe and Sachiko M play a combined six entirely drone-free sets last month.

so Nick might want to cut down on the overarching statements going forward.

[gohleekwang]

i want one, i will wear it for all my concerts

[Damon_Smith]

are there still 150 people in the world who take The Wire seriously?

- Are there 150 people who can read the Wire outside the bathroom? I think it needs to come with a roll of toilet paper glued to the cover instead of those lame comp. cds!
That said it is my favorite reading material IN the bathroom! As an overview I think it does fine. It has never been for anyone who is really serious about any of the genres it covers.

[faster]

What's EAI?

[Cornelis]

What's EAI?

fast
faster
EAI!!!!!!!!

Asking the question is answering it, go for it!
Cor

[will]

It's 2008. People have access to many, many sources of information about music. Trying to position oneself as an arbiter of taste like that is sort of passe. I really wish they'd move towards focusing on a few long articles and a "noted new releases" format for everything else. By the time I get a review of an album in the Wire, I've already heard about it (usually from an email from the label) and read a few reviews of it (often with commentary / response from the reviewer). I'm really not looking to a monthly print publication to act as a news source, I like it for in-depth analysis of specific musicians / events. I'd much rather hear a 150 word summary of an album from someone on IHM, but if I'm going to read a few thousand words on Robert Ashley or Ritchie Hawtin or someone, I'd like to have a paper copy.
The expunging of all improvised music besides a couple of strands of jazz and efi from the Jazz and Improv reviews column is something I've noticed with some disappointment as well. It reinforces some very silly genre distinctions that haven't been functionally operant among actual musicians for at least a quarter of a century. I really don't think that the people who read the Wire are going to have a heart attack if some sine waves 'n' silence stuff pops up next to Matthew Shipp or something.
As to the "150 people who still care" crack in particular, this is just a recursive rehearsal of the criticism aimed at people who listen to jazz, classical, or almost anything not topping charts by the overwhelming majority of music fans.

[mudd]

this would have been a good thread for the challenge skrobek deleted elsewhere.

wanna try again, julien? it wouldn't be off-topic here.

m

[bedouin]

...I'm really not looking to a monthly print publication to act as a news source, I like it for in-depth analysis of specific musicians / events. I'd much rather hear a 150 word summary of an album from someone on IHM, but if I'm going to read a few thousand words on Robert Ashley or Ritchie Hawtin or someone, I'd like to have a paper copy...

Spot on.
It's surprising they don't realize it, as they did once focus on in-depth analysis, when I was reading it back in the 80s. It feels very much like part-time writing to me these days.