Dok (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} cyberinsekt) wrote,@ 2008-02-25 11:15:00 |
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Moondog - Surf Session
There's one very simple rule that we all need to agree on. Bands and artists are only allowed one eponymous album, and ideally it should be their first release. Just because the Beatles broke the second half of that rule doesn't mean you can too. If you want to play silly buggers and do a handful of albums which are just your name and a number, then that's okay. We'll give you funny looks, but it is okay, really. Just don't break the first half. It makes things confusing.
Moondog released two albums called Moondog. Today's track is from the first and better known of the two, released in 1956.
Many people have been drawn to the music of Louis "Moondog" Hardin because of his colourful life. The guy spent over 20 years living on the streets of New York wearing a viking helmet. It's hard to ignore little biographical details like that. For me, it was a little different. When someone compared a piece of music I'd written to something by this eccentric figure, I wasn't sure if it was meant as a compliment or not. I've come to suspect it was.
Surf Session is a piece for violin, drum and field recordings, and I think it encapsulates the Moondog sound very well. It sounds as if it was written in complete musical isolation. If someone had never heard of musical conventions such as scale or style, what would they create? Of course, that isn't the case: Moondog may have been in some ways a naive musician, he may have been self-taught, but he was certainly not without influences. He was a keen student of native American sounds. I couldn't say if that comes across in this track, but it's certainly a extraordinary recording, completely out of time. Enjoy!
Moondog - Surf Session
There's one very simple rule that we all need to agree on. Bands and artists are only allowed one eponymous album, and ideally it should be their first release. Just because the Beatles broke the second half of that rule doesn't mean you can too. If you want to play silly buggers and do a handful of albums which are just your name and a number, then that's okay. We'll give you funny looks, but it is okay, really. Just don't break the first half. It makes things confusing.
Moondog released two albums called Moondog. Today's track is from the first and better known of the two, released in 1956.
Many people have been drawn to the music of Louis "Moondog" Hardin because of his colourful life. The guy spent over 20 years living on the streets of New York wearing a viking helmet. It's hard to ignore little biographical details like that. For me, it was a little different. When someone compared a piece of music I'd written to something by this eccentric figure, I wasn't sure if it was meant as a compliment or not. I've come to suspect it was.
Surf Session is a piece for violin, drum and field recordings, and I think it encapsulates the Moondog sound very well. It sounds as if it was written in complete musical isolation. If someone had never heard of musical conventions such as scale or style, what would they create? Of course, that isn't the case: Moondog may have been in some ways a naive musician, he may have been self-taught, but he was certainly not without influences. He was a keen student of native American sounds. I couldn't say if that comes across in this track, but it's certainly a extraordinary recording, completely out of time. Enjoy!
Moondog - Surf Session
