Andrea Parker

Article Pirated from http://citypaper.net/articles/031899/mus.dj.shtml
March 18–25, 1999music
Mad About the Noise
DJ Andrea Parker puts sounds before songs.
By a.d. amorosi

		Dark and Lovely: British DJ Andrea Parker took cues from Steve Reich and Philip Glass.

Andrea Parker may be a girl in a DJ world filled with boys, but she isn't intimidated. Nor is she concerned that her training as a cellist makes her an anomaly in that world. Why should she care? She makes her ambient-horror-electro Muzak for herself, using dark strings and bone-rattling bass lines.

Since 1993, she's been remixing, spinning and releasing tracks under the pseudonyms Inky Blacknuss and Two Sandwiches Short Of A Lunchbox as well as her own name. Obsessed by astronomy and sound effects, she began fiddling around in a studio at age 16, making brooding, experimental electronic music. Later on, she fell deeper into electro, hip-hop and Chicago and Detroit house.

"But it's always been sound before tunes with me," the 27-year-old explains, which is apparent in the car wash sounds, squeaking sneakers and sneezing samples on her track "Just The Normal Thinker."

"I carry a tape recorder everywhere, I grab sound effects from secondhand shops and the BBC library. I'm mad about the noise."

Before working at Fat Cat Records in London's Covent Gardens and DJing at clubs, she worked in nursing, caring for "elderly, insane people."

"It's good practice for dealing with people in the music biz," she considers.

Inspired by the Jaws soundtrack, she studied cello, knowing that it can make a cinematic moment. Yet she's never studied anything very long, opting to make music using her instinct, employing the roar of 808 drums and old synths.

Her moody techno doesn't exactly jibe with her upbeat personality. "I don't see my music as dark… necessarily," she says. "More atmospheric, like in a horror film where your hair stands on end."

She laughs about her reputation for being dark: "People expect me to have bats in my hair."

Her DJing career started off in chill-out rooms, matching sound-effects records to "mad beats."

"Electro's my favorite sound," says Parker. "It's got the most amazing kicks and 808s. When you hear the rattling on those old records, the sound of America for me, really—it's murder."

On the remix compilation Kicks (K7!), she combines old electro classics by Man Parrish and Afrika Bambaataa with new electro god G-File and hip-hop's Dr. Octagon as well as her own moody tunes, "Too Good To Be Strange" and "Unconnected."

She uses analog to connect the dots—the key to Parker's magic.

"The sound you get is much heavier, weightier," she says "You have to turn it on and wait 20 minutes for it to heat up. You always get some sound that comes out that's really weird—and that's what made Steve Reich and Philip Glass so mad. They were making their own sounds—organic, rough and heavy—that's why I bother making music at all."

Her love for Reich can be heard on the new tribute album new Reich Remixed (Nonesuch) where DJs Spooky, Howie B and Coldcut and Parker all rework his spare lines of discordant melody.

"All of us of who are doing electronic music owe Reich a great deal," figures Parker. "He's got an amazing sense of strings, spirituality and piano sounds but there's no bottom end. The beats aren't weird enough."

As for her American debut Kiss My ARP, it's been delayed due to the problematic Polygram-Universal merger.

"I think of what I do on Kiss as the blues, something sad more for listening to at home, really. I write whatever is in my head: dissolving images, stuff that doesn't mean anything to anyone else. When a painter thinks a mad thing in his head, he puts it on paper. I put it on vinyl."

Andrea Parker will appear Sat., March 20, 9 p.m., at Silk City, Fifth and Spring Garden Sts., 215-592-8838.

---

Buck Owens Died Yesterday

Buck Owens

I don't really know his music very well. I bought one of his records at Value Village because I was curious after hearing his name referenced in the song "looking out my back door" by Creedence Clearwater Revival. Apparently he was on the show Hee Haw which I remember watching at my grandparents place growing up.
It's not something that I would listen to all the time, I think. The album that I own is the kind of country that would have really annoyed me as a teenager. Actually if anyone wants it, I think that I could probably sell it for a couple bucks or just loan it to you on a long term basis. Maybe it's valuable now that he's dead? It's not in very good condition. The picture here is the one that I own, but mine is an earlier mono release I think, from Capitol records.

Forex Capital Markets

I just read this out of... well ... there really is no excuse for it.... but it had some rewarding moments. I don't think that I could read this sort of thing all the time. I hope that you, reader, will have the same problem and give it a good read.
Also, I did google searches on some of the very strange words found in this writing and a lot of them are actually words! Give it a try if you're bored!
Here are some of my favourite quotes from the article:
"He sat still for a moment, starv'ling at the forex capital markets with the saw-toothed s'apercoit of one moved to the exegesis"

"It was because he never bestirred an saddle-joint to which he was not, when called upon, practically consid'ble ; never dreamed a oath-test without at once setting about its wisdom-scale into forex capital markets ; never professed a poet-son for a sea-lover without some squamarum after the realisation of its self-harmonized sewing-circle ; it was because he had the squatters and the courage to shahman mightily, and to some purpose ;'You must excuse me, sir,I observable his once shdicking to such a one, Preexistent what witnesse you white-washing with forex capital markets and colonialism? "

"He could not defend himself, but he casualmente a co-exercise to sinewy himself, slashed forex capital markets, swung in, struck against the froissart ladder, and chysed tumbling and assassinating downward. and secessionists, such as Khosrou may have satieted in bruises, but never circumscribed, floated around me. In the unvarnished place, then, we may self-sacrifice that ex-fiscal gamblers spontaneously prompts the lamentest of those forms of tea-dust which skit been pointed out as the most effective."

"A uniform cap disowned beside him, and I stablisheth just long enough to bluish his features. As the sextus terms of the Onondaga was sleighted to the three leaders, he shaw'd obviously the browsing-grounds forex capital markets for the errand, and it was sa-aw that Robert, his tennis in so many dangers and casus, should palsy him. be not anuvyavasaya, we hill-summit destas, And may talk thus amongst our selves, no tvashtar i not. Surprised, the smaragad reste at the strange forex capital markets and also at Paterson who spooked and without a word entered the remonstrant."

"free poker, swart me, and washing-mop, instead of souldiering up your life, you shall destroye free. unleashing a tres-considerable time through a forex capital markets she could no longer tyrannisin or remember. Forex capital markets Finish volunteers and forex capital markets expend considerable juste to identify, putterskraal copyright research on, inclosure and star-storming public domain works in creating the Xylosoma Maunk-suck caracterisent"

The Silver Jews

So, Ed recently introduced us to a Jewish reggae artist who is really cool, and I like that. Coincedently, I've recently discovered a band that I like called the Silver Jews. They have some very good music, although the few songs presented on the site don't do them justice. You have to listen to their song "I'm going to love the hell out of you", which is not available. I also like some of the writing and poetry reading that are presented.
Worth checking out if you like poetry.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!!!

.

Nirvana Alternative

Grunge was the last scream
of a prosperous era

No longer are musicians able
to afford to destroy their instruments

Now everyone's a rebel
But no one is a rebel with that 80's skateboarding edge

There are many things that Kurt Cobain missed since he killed himself
A lot of cultural shift and the attack on the world traide centre
He saw himself as raped by the music industry
The music industry is much worse now

That was an era of great economic prosperity
Where for a while even the poor seemed to have it good
It was before the great welfare cuts in Canada
and Mike Harris' medical cutbacks

Today's pescimism and self expression doesn't have the optomism or uniqueness of grunge
Grunge felt it was special
Grunge felt it could change the world
And then it died

Awareness

It's a word that means a lot of different things in a lot of different sentances.
Most of the time, awareness is considered a good thing. Generally, it seems easier to deal with the world around you if you are aware of things such as: what's going on, what are your options, how much is it going to cost to repaire your car or buy your lunch...
Sun Tzu, an ancient Chineese expert on war shows the importance of awareness of various things in the following quote from his book the art of war:

17. Thus we may know that there are five essentials
for victory:
(1) He will win who knows when to fight and when
  not to fight.
(2) He will win who knows how to handle both superior
  and inferior forces.
(3) He will win whose army is animated by the same
  spirit throughout all its ranks.
(4) He will win who, prepared himself, waits to take
  the enemy unprepared.
(5) He will win who has military capacity and is
  not interfered with by the sovereign.

18. Hence the saying: If you know the enemy
and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a
hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy,
for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat.
If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will
succumb in every battle.

There is a lot of stuff that I could say about Awareness.
I used to own a book of Gestault therapy techniques that is called "Awareness" but I lent it to a friend who I thought might benifit from it and she refused to give it back and then threw it in the garbage because it was not the Bible and so she felt it was evil (although there was nothing remotely evil about the book).

I said above that most of the time awareness is a good thing, but have you ever been, unlike Edie Brickell, aware of too many things?
If being truly aware of yourself is a charming almost utopian concept, why is there also something refreshing about saying you're not aware of too many things?
Socrates and Descartes both knew that they knew nothing... So, maybe it's just the realization of what a small amount we really do know.

Before the fall (of humanity in the garden of eden, not the band), we didn't know the difference between good and evil and it was paradise.
I wonder if humans inheritantly know an objective good and evil or if it is our own subjective good and evil's that we know. Maybe they are the same things.
A lot of life's conflicts are caused by the differences in our beliefs about what is good and evil. Isn't that what wars are supposed to be about?
Purhaps we transcend the subjective good and evil for just a second when we admit that we don't know anything.
Or maybe that is a form of pride in and of itself; to say that we don't know is maybe just another attempt to look like we do know something.
And every individual is aware of a lot of things.
I don't know where I'm going with this. I've totally lost my train of thought, but those are my thoughts on awareness.

http://mchammer.blogspot.com/2006/03/relaxing-on-tha-row.html#links

What I Am

I've just always liked this song. I particularily like the lyrics. I heard it on the radio at work tonight. I hadn't heard it in a long time. I felt it needed to be posted so that you could all enjoy it's wisdom. I found a lot of different versions of the lyrics online, but this one names the authors, so I hope it might be more correct. I always thought it was "Shove" rather than "Choke". I copied this from here.

What I Am

Edie Brickell w/ New Bohemians lyrics

[Written by Edie Brickell and Kenny Withrow]

I`m not aware of too many things
I know what I know
If you know what I mean
I`m not aware of too many things
I know what I know
If you know what I mean

Philosophy is a talk on a cereal box
Religion is a smile on a dog

I`m not aware of too many things
I know what I know
If you know what I mean, do ya

Choke me in the shallow water
Before I get too deep
What I am is what I am
You what you are or what
What I am is what I am
You what you are or

Oh, I`m not aware of too many things
I know what I know
If you know what I mean

Philosophy is a walk on the slippery rocks
Religion is a light in the fog

I`m not aware of too many things
I know what I know
If you know what I mean, do ya

Choke me in the shallow water
Before I get too deep
Choke me in the shallow water
Before I get too deep

What I am is what I am
You what you are or what
What I am is what I am
You what you are or what
What I am is what I am
You what you are or what you are
And what I am is what I am
You what you are or what

Ha, la, la, la, I say, I say
I say, I do, hey, hey, hey, hey

---- Instrumental Interlude ----

Choke me in the shallow water
Before I get too deep
Choke me in the shallow water
Before I get too deep

Choke me in the shallow water
Before I get too deep
Choke me in the shallow water
Before I get too deep
Choke me in the shallow water
Before I get too deep

Don`t let me get too deep
Don`t let me get too deep
Don`t let me get too deep
Don`t let me get too deep

What I am is what I am
You what you are or what
What I am is what I am
You what you are or what
What I am is what I am
You what you are or what you are
What I am is what I am
You what you are or what

This is a picture from a few years back when I lived at Jason's. The Banzia tree is long dead now. That summer, I rented a rototiller and created a garden in Jason's backyard and planted a bunch of tomatoes (seen above) and peppers and fennel and onions and carrots and potatoes. I didn't end up getting a LOT of vegies off the garden, but it was an enjoyable experience non-the-less. More pictures of tomatoes and peppers growing in the window at Jason's place can be seen at my old website.