YouTube Video

Seriously, the interface is almost exactly like iTunes’, although there are no track numbers in playlists (which is annoying even if albums are typically arranged in track order), there is, to my delight, currently no MP3 store (the store simply bloats the app; if I want to buy music I’ll go to Amazon.com, thank you), and the search features are poorly implemented. There are two search bars: one searches through the Spotify library and the other “filter” bar searches your personal library. I feel like the two could be combined, but I’m over that. What I’m not over is that searching specifically by artist, album, year, or genre is not intuitive. Yes you can throw what you want into the search bar, but that will bring up a ton of results, many of which you probably won’t want to scroll through if you use a common search term. In order to search specifically for an artist and exclude titles that contain the same search term(s), you have to type something like artist:Madonna, or artist:”Michael Jackson” (with the quotes if there is a space). The syntax is similar for other searches, but you’d never know the syntax unless you browsed the Spotify website. This could be frustrating for your everyday, not-so-computer-savvy user.

Spotify Social is also frustrating. In order to add a friend to your buddy list and share music or playlists more directly, you have to type spotify:user:username. Why do you need spotify in front? Once on the friend’s Profile page you get the option to add. You have a Profile page, but the image is pulled from Facebook (if you allow for it, otherwise you can’t have a picture) and you can’t add any additional information. This is not ideal if you don’t want any third parties accessing your Facebook information. And the social features are not that great, except to keep track of the music of some Facebook friends (assuming they have Spotify and connect it to the social network) or to share to your Facebook wall, which you could simply do with a Spotify URI anyway. To find playlists beyond those that your friends create or subscribe to, you need to use third party websites. You would think that the company would design a way to search playlists independent of (but linked to) users within the program.

Now for the Grooveshark comparison… Unlike Grooveshark, Spotify has no user uploaded content. This means that the streaming audio files are all played at the same bit rate. Great! Except files are ultra-compressed in the free version. Crap! Also in Spotify, files are consistently labeled and you can even update your local files to match the Gracenote database. While it doesn’t have a web app like Grooveshark (unless you count a Firefox add-on or two), Spotify has a more streamlined interface. Besides, I prefer desktop apps over web ones when it comes to music. (Bear in mind that I don’t have a smartphone and don’t care as much as others how music apps work in browsers or on phones.)

In Europe, where an in-app MP3 store has been released, Spotify is iTunes on crack. However, free users are limited to five plays per streamed track and cannot exceed 10-20 hours of play time per month. There are currently no explicit play limits in the U.S., but that is bound to change, and when it does is it going to be worth it to shell out at least $5 a month for access to streaming music when you can use something like Grooveshark for free? I think not, unless Spotify can put competing services out of business through music licensing deals.

P.S. – Thank you, Spotify, for introducing me to Basement Jaxx Vs. Metropole Orkest. For that I can overlook your missing Beatles catalog, but your lack of “Rasputin” by Boney M. is unforgivable.

And in case you have Spotify too and want to check out my playlists, here’s my link: http://open.spotify.com/user/blackorpheus16.

1) Her music is an explicit fusion of pop influences, and I think it’s fun to pick out the source material. For example, “Alejandro” is the love child of “Don’t Turn Around” by Ace of Base (down to the exact pitches from the line “I’m gonna be strong, I’m gonna be fine”) and “Vogue” by Madonna. More recently, “Born This Way” mates “Waterfalls” by TLC with Madonna’s “Express Yourself.” Some may say she’s just ripping off these artists, but I think it’s more like a tribute. This is more evident in Born This Way where she goes further and sucks cheesy (sorry, I mean glorious) sax solos straight out of the 80s for songs like “Hair” and “The Edge of Glory” (Clarence Clemons of the E Street Band makes a comeback in the latter track). All she needs now is a video that features Sexy Sax Man.

2) She writes edgy lyrics. I won’t lament the fact that she’s no Johnny Mercer (who is anymore?), but at least her lyrics often have a slant that other pop music doesn’t care to explore. She tackles topics like falling for your best friend and being so desperate for love that you want it even if it’s bad for you (“Bad Romance”), suppressing homosexual urges while being in a heterosexual relationship (“Poker Face”), stalking a crush (“Paparazzi”), and religion (see Born This Way). Yes, it’s infuriating that she can’t think of something more substantial than “Dum dum da di da” in an otherwise excellent track like “Bloody Mary,” the self-references are no longer cute, and I heard “marry the night” so many times in the track of the same name that I thought I was seizing. Then I’m reminded that this is dance music (“Stop callin’, stop callin’, I don’t wanna think anymore/I left my head and my heart on the dance floor”), so I forget analyses and bust out some moves that would make the guys from A Night at the Roxbury jealous.

3) The video for “Telephone” pays homage to Quentin Tarantino. What can I say? I’m easy to please. From the Pussy Wagon to sunglasses to brief ridiculous dialogue to a diner where some crazy s*** goes down, the video plays out almost like a Tarantino film. And it’s nine-and-a-half minutes long! Who does that these days? Gaga does, and I can respect that.

4) She has quite the voice. No, really. She can sing her rear window off, and she has an astounding versatility. Listen to the cutesy smooth voice on “Boys Boys Boys” then compare it to the gritty powerhouse on “Born This Way.” The difference is impressive. Add to that the “Speechless” ballad and the country/hard rock/heavy metal-inspired “Yoü and I” (umlaut for the win!) and you’ve got yourself a wide range of vocal talent. As if that weren’t enough, she can accompany herself on piano. Sure, she’s no Ben Folds, but at least she makes it look like she practices.

5) The music is so damn catchy. If the way that songs like “The Fame” and “Bad Kids” got stuck in my head is any indication, then she knows how to write some effective hooks.

So, really I’m sold on Lady Gaga as an artist. I’m sure there’s some crazy German term for “total artist,” and I think that’s what she is. She’s a musician and a witty visual artist. Her music is catchy, she’s a talented performer, her lyrics make me think (if only a little), and her videos (and outfits) are pretty stunning.

Anyone know what’s up with the cover for Born This Way (Special Edition)? Gaga looks about as eager as a blow-up doll.

On top of the orchestra performance, I just had a piece for Pierrot ensemble (flute, clarinet, violin, cello, piano) plus percussion premiered on Tuesday by Lunatics at Large. The concert was an incredible multimedia experience that featured paintings, video, and dancers, and my piece involved narrative phrases that were projected onto a screen. I don’t have the video or a high-quality recording of the performance yet, but below you can find my personal recording for the piece called This Mortal Coil.

Program Notes

In October of 2010 I attended a concert of shakuhachi music at Pennsylvania State University. Prior to the concert I met with the performers, Michael Chikuzen Gould plus Chieko and Kodi Iwazaki, for an unexpected shakuhachi lesson. After the lesson, Mrs. Iwazaki graciously presented me with a gift – a small jar in the shape of a bell – and related the following Japanese folk tale:

One day, a woman met a traveling priest in her village and fell in love with him. She confessed her love, and though the priest found her enticing, he was resolute in overcoming his passions. The priest prepared to leave the village and the woman pleaded with him to remain; he appeased her by promising to return for her. As time passed, the woman realized the priest never planned to keep his promise. Fueled by rage, she pursued him. Eventually the two met at a river crossing, where the priest convinced a boatman to help him cross the river while giving no assistance to the woman. The woman turned into a serpent and swam across the river herself. When the priest reached the shore he ran into a nearby temple and shouted for help. Fellow priests hid him within a large temple bell. However, the serpent entered the temple, smelled the priest, and attacked the bell. The serpent coiled around the bell and burst into flames, killing the priest and itself in the process.

Traditionally the woman serpent, sometimes called Kiyohime, survives. In one Noh adaptation, Kanemaki (“Enwrapped in a Bell”), the woman kills the priest then achieves enlightenment and vanishes. In its successor, Dojoji, the serpent is driven from the temple and back to the river. These didactic tales, which are based on 11^th or 12^th century Buddhist setsuwa, undermine feminine power and cast women as obstacles to man’s spiritual growth. Dojoji even goes so far as to exclude women from Buddhist salvation. My version of the Kiyohime myth, in which both priest and woman perish in flames, ends with an act of self-immolation that may be interpreted as protest against such gender politics. From here I leave the politics to you and present a musical narrative based on an extremely evocative story of love, lust, treachery, and revenge. The title of the composition comes from Hamlet’s famous suicidal soliloquy.

And speaking of haiku… I love games and mind exercises. Some people do Sudoku, but, since it’s common knowledge that words are more fun than numbers (I make no apologies to all my friends in math and engineering), I dabble in haiku. Here are some of my favorites, starting with the one I wrote when composing Haiku.

Music in autumn–
floating on the breath of time
as a falling leaf.

-

The French horns growl and
Prokofiev kills a duck;
Wolves have to eat too.

-

form is emptiness

emptiness is form

-

A gaggle of geese
is enough to make giggle
a briefcase of gnus.

-

I Dream of Jeanie
My Master the Chili King
Buddy Kaye lives on

-

Street lamps and headlights
on a moonless night in June
welcoming me home…

-

Cleverness abounds!
Your wit is sharp as a blade
of grass at first frost.

-

A lone bird perches
on a branch above and sways
gently in the wind.

Perhaps such a bird,
with feathers brushed by the breeze,
has a companion.

-

A gun, a bullet,
A hand to pull the trigger,
Blood against a wall

Painting a picture–
Crimson droplets trickle down
Like rain upon glass

But once the storm clears
Will the artist contemplate
This study in form?

-

I’ll end with one of my favorite unintentional haiku. This is a common translation of a quote by Lieh Tzu that fits the basic haiku form:

I knew not whether
the wind was riding on me
or I on the wind.

Another Christmas has come and gone with many entertaining “and now you know” moments. For example, I now know that the cousin who travels cross-country via moped will also down a live frog in one gulp or taser his own testicles for the right price. I also know that libations bring out the best in some of my family members and lead to this:

Alcohol + Strap-on Bucket + Ping Pong Ball = Faceplant

Now, about the Philharmonic… How the heck does it stay together with Alan Gilbert conducting so far ahead of the beat?

I love trying new food, especially Asian cuisine, so over the weekend I tested a Japanese tea house called Cha-An. Taking note of John Mackey’s blog, I decided to bring my camera as well as my empty stomach. Here’s what happened:

Cha-An, in typical NYC fashion, is not much bigger than what you see here.

Cha-An is a tiny tea house, but it’s classy, clean, and the food is excellent. I’m told it gets very crowded at night, but I came for an early dinner so my experience was quiet and relaxing. The ambience included a jazz soundtrack with the likes of Charlie Parker and Ella Fitzgerald, so how could I not be won over even before tasting the food? I ordered the unagi hitsumabushi don, which is eel (unagi = freshwater eel) over rice and eggs with sides of pickles and seaweed salad. It came with genmaicha, an everyman’s green tea that uses roasted brown rice in addition to tea leaves. Delicious.

Unagi, pickles, seaweed salad, and genmaicha.

For dessert I had green tea truffles, and the quality of the sweets was on par with that of David Bacco, my standard for unique chocolates.

More genmaicha, and green tea truffles.

Dinner was clearly a success, but the night wasn’t over yet. What day is complete without some live music? So I went to the Tenri Cultural Institute for a program of Beethoven violin sonatas (all I needed to see in the alert e-mail was mention of the Kreutzer Sonata and it was a done deal). The performers were Hisaya Sato on violin and Albert Lotto on piano. Both players were brilliant, but Albert Lotto’s performance really stood out, in part because he was playing a wonderfully mellow piano on indefinite loan through the generosity of Carl Demler and Beethoven Pianos.

Next I was off to a pub, which was nothing to speak of unless you love greasy bar food, but at least the company was good! Maybe next time I’ll try out bOb…

In my last post I mentioned an orchestral reading session, which has come and gone, and the results can be found below. I transcribed the second movement of Haiku for the occasion and in the recordings I’m (awkwardly; it was my first time) conducting the Queens College Orchestra under the guidance of Maurice Peress. Needless to say this was a fantastic learning experience! Now without further ado…

Floating on the Breath of Time (3:00) – 2121 2230 (or 2221) timp. 2 perc. hp. str.

I had two opportunities to run through the piece. The first recording has some missed notes, but it also has the harp. The second recording is sharper, but it has time issues and no harp. The sound quality is not great in either case (sorry about the clipping) because I recorded with my .mp3 player, although the ideas still come across. Anyway, it was awesome hearing the piece come to life and the reading session gave me thoughts on how to tweak my first composition for orchestra.

Dave’s interpretation of Tan Dun’s Water Concerto rocks my socks.

Also in the news, last week’s premiere of parts of Haiku went well (thanks, Sarah), and this week’s reading of the orchestral version of the second movement is on for Wednesday. Hopefully my first time in front of an orchestra will go smoothly. I’ll try not to pull a Lully or poke anyone in the eye, but maybe I should conduct with my hands just to be sure.