Non Metronomic Beauty
September 25, 2007 at 9:06 pm
… I’ve always liked the parts where the music stops and drifts along - you get some ridiculous string orchestra, then it just slips a bit, the pitch goes or they slow it down or something. Then the drums come back - it’s completely meaningless! I like that… What is a pain and can sometimes dilute it is the repetitive - looped or sampled - vocals…
The funny thing is, I’ve never heard a jungle record, all I’ve heard has been off the radio - the only piece of recorded jungle I’ve heard is by Ninj! It obviously operates at a different level… - Derek Bailey, interview
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“Non Metronomic. IMS no.1”
01. Harold Budd & Brian Eno - The Chill Air
Ambient 2: The Plateaux Of Mir (Astralwerks, 1980)
02. Tortoise - Reference resistance gate (web)
Remixed, 1996 (Thrill Jockey 1998)
03. Rachel’s & Matmos - The Precise Temperature Of Darkness
Full On Night (Touch and Go Rec., 2000)
04. Martin Leclerc - Sauf dans la brume (iConcert 9)
(iConcert 9 / Saison 2 (2006-07), 2005)
05. Bjork/JC Lemay - Hidden Place (web)
(Vespertine triphop remix by JC Lemay, 2001)
06. Arovane-Phonem - valid fard
AER (valid) (Vertical Form (UK), 2002)
07. Skolopender - Sondert Kokkomundur
(Teaterarasjens Kompressor compilation)
08. Harold Budd & Brian Eno - The Pearl
The Pearl (Editions Eg Records, 1984)
09. Derek Bailey - Concrete (cement-mix)
Guitar, drums ‘n’ bass (Avant, 1997)
10. Dave Brubeck Quartet - Take Five
The Last Set At Newport (1972)
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Note: A late night DnB list. Originally this was about a blog post [@pandagon], 
what is music appreciation and being a music snob in general. And I thought I should make the snottiest list possible for a chuckle. Believe me I tried to build DnB + experimental rock, but it wasn’t listenable as a list. I don’t have enough interesting one and the sound ended up a complete scatter brain. So I made this DnB list instead. This list is amusing and more listenable, if only because of all the tracks are from great albums. The basic idea: this list is beat pattern drill. After one doze of beat, a short rest, then another beat pattern followed by negative pattern (dark ambient), repeat. I end up listening to this list the whole nite. It’s fun. 
Must have in the list: Rachel’s & Matmos (I think it’s their only collaboration. excellent mix of acoustic and electronica). Tortoise (out of their compilation albums, remix by Jim O’rourke) and Derek Bailey doing DnB in his very memorable album ‘Guitar, drums ‘n’ bass‘ . There is also an experimental modern classic by Martin Leclerc , which has crazy sound landscape. 
Don’t worry, there are several “melodical tracks” that can be downloaded separately if you are not into DnB (Harold Budd, Dave Bruebeck).
But embrace the future, for it is endless permutation of hyper-active beat and twisted electronic sound.
see also: Brian Eno, Derek Bailey
image: Brice Marden. (American, born 1938). Annunciation Study I. 1978. Graphite and wax on paper, 22 1/8 x 29 5/8″ (56.8 x 75.2 cm), jbushnell, fatman, 2
Rnadom blurbs from wiki,
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyrhythm
Nigerian percussion master Babatunde Olatunji exploded on the American music scene in 1959 with his album Drums of Passion, which was a collection of traditional Nigerian music for percussion and chanting. The album stayed on the charts for two years and had a profound impact on jazz and American popular music. Trained in the Yoruba sakara style of drumming, Olatunji would go on to teach, collaborate and record with numerous jazz and rock artists, including Airto Moreira, Carlos Santana and Mickey Hart of the Grateful Dead. He reached his greatest popularity during the height of the Black Arts Movement of the 1960s and ’70s.
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drum_and_bass
The first is the US breakbeat scene which emerged in the 1980s, the most famous artist being NYC’s Frankie Bones whose infamous ‘Bones Breaks’ series from the late ’80s onwards helped push the house-tempoed breakbeat sound (especially in the UK) and can be said to be a direct precursor to the UK breakbeat/hardcore scene.[3]
The second is Kevin Saunderson, who released a series of bass-heavy, minimal techno cuts as Reese/The Reese Project in the late ’80s which were hugely influential in drum and bass terms. One of his more infamous basslines was indeed sampled on Renegade’s Terrorist and countless others since, being known simply as the ‘Reese’ bassline. He followed these up with equally influential (and bassline-heavy) tracks in the UK hardcore style as Tronik House in 1991/1992. Another Detroit artist who was important for the scene is Carl Craig. The sampled-up jazz break on Carl Craig’s Bug in the Bassbin was also influential on the newly emerging sound, DJs at the Rage club used to play it pitched up (increased speed) as far as their Technics record decks would go. [12]
The third precursor worth mentioning here is the Miami, USA Booty Bass/Miami Bass scene, first popularised by 2 Live Crew in the mid to late ’80s. There are clear sonic parallels with drum and bass here in the use of uptempo synths and drum machines in producing bass-heavy party music.
Both the New York breakbeat and the Miami Bass scenes were strongly influenced by the ‘freestyle’ sound of New York, Chicago and Miami in the 1980s which incorporated electro, disco and Latin flavours, and which was in turn a key influence on the UK’s acid house/hardcore/rave scene.
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btw, the list above is a long ass one. (1:20 total. Most songs run over 7 minutes, with Matmos going for 18 mins, and LeClerc 12 mins. so may not be a lounge soundtrack.)
Youtube
nothing but drum n bass
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this one is via pandagon. (short essay: ‘Amen’ Loop in DnB)
Nothing helpful to add here, as with Squashed, but this is a great list. And the “‘Amen’ break” is a must-see.
Non-metronomic beauty, though, makes me think Morton Feldman. Which makes me wonder if there are remixes floating around out there of performances of his percussion pieces…