Lingua Musica with Balsam Range

Balsam Range has been together for only five years, but has made the most of that time together and is one of the top acts in bluegrass music. Late in January 2012, I had the pleasure of meeting the band at a rare midwinter performance, at the Altamont Theatre in Asheville, NC. They were warm and gracious, and just plain good people. We had a great conversation about their upcoming album, the tradition and current state of Appalachian music, their efforts to end child abuse, building guitars, and much more.

The interview was filmed and edited by Artists International and I look forward to the opportunity to work with Andrew Reed and his top-notch staff on future Lingua Musica projects soon.

What's Good In Music? part six

Ryan Barrington Cox plays in Asheville's If You Wannas and has a great new self-titled solo album which showcases the acoustic side of his music. He has a few things to say about his home town job and music scene in the video of "Hard Times In Asheville" above, and adds to that with the sixth installment in our series of articles below. I hope you enjoy Ryan's music and his thoughts on technology as a double-edged sword for music, and may comment here or drop us an email to linguamusicashow@gmail.com if you would like to be featured in the series. Thanks for visiting Lingua Musica, where music is the universal language! - Joe Kendrick

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Lately I've been blown away by the vast amount of information on the web.  There are hundreds of thousands of people making instructional YouTube videos on different playing styles and countless other tools you can use to immerse yourself in all the styles of music, past and present, from around the world.  For example, I've been dabbling in rag-time guitar lately.  I could spend an entire week (if I had the time) watching other guitarists' hands, reading up on the life of Blind Blake, checking out tab, etc.  And all for free!  It's nuts.

I remember ordering a CD from Australia in the '90s because another band covered one of their tunes.  You had to send off your $$ - like 30 bucks - and wait 6-12 weeks just to find out if you liked the band or not.  Or trying to find people in your community whose hands you could watch to steal their licks.  It's amazing how quickly that's all changed.

I don't think web communities are a substitute for real physical communities or scenes, but there's certainly a lot out there to absorb.  It kind of makes me jealous of kids learning to play today.

On the flip-side, there's something to be said for going deeply into a small amount of information (vs skimming a million articles).  When I did finally get that CD from Australia, I would listen to it over and over again, even if it didn't grab me on the first listen.  Nowadays, I might skip out on a YouTube video halfway through just because there are a million other things to see. There are always trade-offs, I suppose. - Ryan

What's Good In Music? part five

Mary Hughes is a music host at public radio station WNCW where she has burned the midnight oil on ARC Overnight for many years. Mary's knowledge of music is as broad as it is deep, and is augmented by her spot-on taste that mixes the likes of John Maus and John Coltrane or Loretta Lynn and PJ Harvey in consistently captivating fashion.
 
Mary answers the question "what's good in music" in both physical and philosophical terms. I hope you enjoy her article and may like to respond in the comments here, or drop us an email should you have interest in being featured in the series.
 
Thanks for visiting Lingua Musica, where music is the universal language!
-Joe Kendrick
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“Music is an actual bodily need.” -David Dubal

As human beings, we learn pretty quickly what it takes to physically survive. We need air to breathe, water to drink, food to eat and shelter from the elements. Everything else, we are told, is a luxury; tiny pleasures sought out so that a day won't seem so long or a night won't seem so dull.

I've never heard either of my parents say that music was a necessity in this life. I've never heard a teacher say that, without music, I would somehow wither away to nothing.

And, in a way, they are right.

But, in a much bigger way, they are completely wrong.

So, when I read the above quote, I recalled the question posed by Joe Kendrick - “what's good in music?”

And I found the answer to be quite simple: what's good in music is what has always been good in music and that is the way music continues to affect our lives.

Of course, the rules keep changing because our world keeps evolving. Instead of word-of-mouth from a good friend, we've got hundreds of blogs telling us what new song we just have to hear; instead of mixes on cassette tape, we've got sites like The Mixtape Club. We are now a global community of music lovers, music snobs, one-hit wonders and lasting impressions - and all of this is just a click away.

It could feel terribly anonymous, this post-it-note way of sharing information. And if that were truly all we had, then I think we would feel disconnected from each other. But we are human beings who want to do more than just survive - we want to feel, we want to express, and we want to share all of it with anyone who will listen to us.

No amount of technology will ever prevent this “actual bodily need”.

Artists will still be in studios or in their own bedrooms, creating and crafting the next big hit - or, at least, the next big hit for 15 minutes. Fans will still spend money on songs, whether it's the whole album from an independent store or just a single song on iTunes. Writers will still build up or tear apart someone's creation, on the pages of Rolling Stone or on a site like Stereogum.

And people like me will still use music as a soundtrack to their life - the highs, the lows, the loves, the losses, and every day in-between.

What's good in music?

Everything.

What's Good In Music? part four

Dave Davis is a Grammy-nominated mastering engineer who heads recording, licensing and services company All Night Party in Cincinnati, Ohio.

I first met Dave in 2006, when I travelled to his old studio, Sound Images, to assist WNCW engineer Dennis Jones in the mastering of our station's live CD series, Crowd Around the Mic.

Dave takes a broad view of our topic and I hope you enjoy reading his article. Please feel free to comment here or email us at linguamusicashow@gmail.com to weigh in. We will continue the series as long as there are comments and articles from people like you!

Thanks for visiting Lingua Music, where music is the universal language. - Joe Kendrick

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I think there is something very good happening in culture broadly, not just music: we're moving away from an emphasis on "things" and towards "uses" and experiences. It is most familiar in free apps, sites like Facebook, or Google search. Like TV, no one pays for these, but no one owns anything they "use" either.

This is a generational shift in values, the first giant leap beyond Baby Boom economics since consumer culture went into overdrive in the 80s. Our grandparents, who came of age in the Depression, are more like our children than our parents or ourselves (I'm a tail-Boomer, just ahead of Gen X). They are more comfortable with "software-as-service" models than the churn-and-burn upgrade cycles of the old models, like Microsoft and Intuit. They'll pay if and when it proves useful, and some feature seems worth the asking price. The same notions are applied to music! Spotify and Pandora "rent" music via subscription (like cable) or ads (like TV and radio), and in many ways out-perform owned-music. For instance, iTunes purchases won't play nearly as fast as Spotify can return a playable link, or Pandora can generate a whole "playlist" based on your tastes. This is significant because Apple is currently and historically the worlds largest music retailer. If Spotify or Pandora slow down their growth with "borrowed" music, paid for via ads at below market rates, then everything changes.                             
                                                                                                                                                              
This isn't to say these changes are inherently good. Rather, they're simply not automatically bad. The devil's in the details, and to date this approach has not created as many jobs as it has destroyed. But that is how things go: it takes longer to build than it takes to destroy. We have a long way to go, and the first step is for fans to adopt and feed the networks they most prefer. If Spotify works for you, but you hate Pandora, paying for a subscription there can't hurt. If any of these new channels work for you, it makes sense to avoid file sharing sites, and cut the cord entirely. Most important, fans need to recognize that in the 20th Century the true peak experiences in music happen on records, not in concert halls. Albums create a new kind of space, existing outside of time entirely. The Beatles made Sgt.Peppers (and ultimately broke up) because the stages and sound systems of their day could not support their creative vision. 
         
Albums are more like painting, while performance is more like dancing; always a time-delimited event, never as good or as fun on tape as it was in reality. I have attended and worked literally thousands of shows, but only 3 stand out as peaks. At the same time, out of hundreds of albums I own, I have dozens of favorites. More importantly, most performers do not improve with age, and the ability to play well is limited by physical health and environment. Artists cannot build careers in a performance-only economy, where every check requires a gig. Albums, licenses and recorded music has no such limitation, and must be part of our ultimate solution.
-Dave Davis

 

 

 

What's Good In Music? feedback

Joe Hill took the time to reply in our comments section but I wanted to highlight his thoughts as well as my reply. I also could not resist putting up the photo of another, very famous Joe Hill to go along with it.

In response to Jonathan Scales' essay in part three of our series, Joe writes:

Great thought as it sounds and i respect a musicians thoughts over any qualifications i have but there is just so much ability to absorb music outside your comfort zone. I was called a music snob, a title i relished as i felt it was my duty to expose as much musical diversity as possible to my community.

On the downside it was always difficult for the mainstreamer who just wanted to come by for a beer and relax while i demo'd Iggy Pop or the Gourds. I can't tell you how many times someone would complain loudly..."what is this crap?" and i would try to tactfully explain Disraeli Gears or Phish. I never could understand how if it had a banjo in it, it was so intolerable to so many! I couldn't grasp why SCOTS filled the room their first time through but the Uptown Rhythm Kings, a 9 piece jump blues band only drew 7.

It's your comfort zone...i have mine and Jonathan Scales has his, we all have one. I got excited when someone insisted i hire this band because i knew they understood what the musically hip looked for in music and cringed when someone insisted i put Bob Seeger on the stereo when i wanted to put on REK. Music is about we agree to disagree that is why some bands i've never heard of fill rooms and some i think are wonderful struggle to make till the next weeks show...i like to think that the musical elements are like a Ph test kit....


thank you for allowing me to talk circles!

Joe Hill

I wrote Joe back: I know where you're coming from. "What are we listening to?" is a phrase that I've heard countless times in my life (the inflection reveals all). And as far as your point about original bands goes, goes squared or cubed for cover bands. There are large swaths of music scenery blighted by the kudzu of party anthems. Sometimes the scene manages to grow something native, sometimes it might even make it outside of its home soil, but all too often it just gets choked out by noxious vines.

Thanks for writing and I hope to continue this conversation!
-joe

Our next article in the series, from recording engineer Dave Davis, will be posted on Monday.

 

What's Good In Music? part three

 We continue our series exploring the positive aspects of music, whether they are concrete, philosophical, personal, technological, or have to do with the business itself. It's an open-ended conversation starting with artists who have been featured in our video series, and now we turn to Jonathan Scales of the Jonathan Scales Fourchestra (pictured here). Their mission statement is "melting faces and touching lives though complex melodic intricacies over metrically juxtaposed rhythmic foundations", and their latest album, Character Farm, accomplishes that in grand fashion.

I have always enjoyed a good debate about the merits of music, about what is good and what is bad. From the sound of his essay, Jonathan seems to have these conversations fairly often. I hope you enjoy his entry in our series and may take time to comment here or write to us at linguamusicashow@gmail.com (especially if you would like to be featured). Let the music guide you!   -Joe Kendrick

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In the past few years, I've found myself in the middle of countless arguments about musical tastes. On the majority of these occasions, I'm in the position of having to personally defend music that I genuinely enjoy.  I'll spare you from my rattling off of artists that I place in my 'guilty pleasures' category, but instead share my views on sound that have led me to what some would call a "too open-minded" approach to listening.

Before going any further, I want to stress that this essay is merely a glimpse into my own thoughts about sound. It's not intended to sway anyone's preexisting approaches to music.
Oftentimes, when a person becomes more educated in the way of an art form, their focus becomes very unidirectional and limited.  Examples of this are the jazzer who avoids everything that doesn't vibe with Coltrane and the principle violinist who shrugs off anything written post-Brahms.  Of course everyone has the right to take in art in their own way, but in my experience, there have been such great things that I've been exposed to that i wouldn't have even known existed if i had set such limitations.  
I've found that my personal taste in art expands bidirectionally : the more i learn about progressive techniques in neo-classical and modern jazz, the more i understand and appreciate folk and pop.
           
As emotionally detached as it may seem upon first thought, my approach to listening is based on first breaking music down to it's absolute, simplest form. To me, that musical molecule is simply SOUND over TIME. On this basic level, human ego is completely eliminated and you're faced with the raw material, which is a collection of sounds existing together across a finite amount of time.  All of a sudden you have Mozart sharing the same building blocks as Britney Spears and you have the London Philharmonic connecting with the clattering of machines in a factory.                                                                                 
The next step, of course, is where the ego finally emerges.  At this stage, those previously mentioned bundles of collected sounds are either liked or disliked based on a complicated combination of peoples' life experiences, social surrounding, education, current mood, season, peer & media pressure, etc. Approaching art this way has helped me to keep an open mind with regards to other artist's work and other people's tastes.     
                                                                                                                              
As if this article wasn't wacky enough.....I like to think about musical elements like an infinite mixing board, where each fader represents a different attribute in the music. I envision faders on this imaginary mixing console determining factors such as:
 
- what instruments are in the song?
- how profane is the song?
- how much is improvised?
- how dynamically varied is the piece?
- how much effect does pop culture have on the outcome?                                                                          
 
For example, on this "magical mixing board", a jazz tune would show the "improv" fader riding high and the "profane" fader low.  A pop tune on the radio would show the "pop culture influnce" fader riding high, but low marks on the "dynamic variation" fader. 
 
I know that's a lot to try to imagine for one session...but the moral of the story is that I won't judge someone's taste in music because their "fader settings on the imaginary mixing board of possibilities" are set at different levels than mine. -Jonathan Scales

What's Good In Music? part two

We continue our series on highlighting what is good in music with this article from Brevard, NC's Dave Desmelik.  Dave is a wonderful talent and a person with great warmth and integrity, and we wish him great success with his new record, Deep Down The Definition.

Your thoughts about the topic are welcome, and please drop us a line if you'd like to be featured in this series! Whether you would like to talk about something as straightforward as a great piece of music, live show, or something broader like the music community or good ways to make a living with music, we invite you to join the conversation.

Here is a video of Dave playing at The Grey Eagle to get you primed for his article below. - Joe Kendrick

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I was recently asked the question “What is good in music now?”, and took a couple days to chew on this. I think there are a number of answers, but keep coming back to one thought. The same things have always been good in music: the feelings and emotions that music invokes in someone’s soul. The sensations and impressions made not only by music, but with music, are as important and as impactful now as they ever were. And they will continue to be just as powerful in the future. There is no substitute for music and music is good.

I may be turning the question around a bit and giving an answer that is not what the person asking intended for a reply, but I think there are no real boundaries for an inquiry such as this. I could have possibly responded with some angle on social media and how it is helping the “small potatoes” artist or how the opportunities for recording a great quality album in the comfort of one's own living room seem to grow everyday with new equipment and technology. Perhaps I could point to the fact that many musicians aren’t having to rely on major labels to attain a level of financial stability and are having more creative freedom than ever. But I kept coming back to the question “What is good in music now?” To me, what is good in music now is the good in music now, before, and later. What I mean is the feeling someone gets when they turn on the radio and hear a song that they haven’t heard in years, and for an instant they revisit an exact and touching moment in their life, or when a lyric fills the corners of the eyes with tears and the heart literally drops just a bit in the chest. I believe music is not just for listening along, dancing with, singing to, or blasting in the car. It is a friend in the truest sense, a therapist who accurately knows you, and a distant stranger waiting to meet you.

-Dave Desmelik

What's Good In Music?

  Lingua Musica begins a series of articles on artists examining what is good in music today with Black Mountain, NC's Kellin Watson, pictured here with yours truly.

In a fast evolving music world full of pitfalls, I thought it would be helpful to spotlight some of the positive things that we have done and are fortunate to have in our lives.  After Kellin we will post fellow western NC singer-songwriter Dave Desmelik's article so stay tuned and feel free to join in! Your observations and comments are always welcome. -Joe Kendrick

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I feel like music moves with overall feelings and rhythms of the world in general. Asking the question "what makes good music now", however, can be slippery when you dissect music today. I feel like there are so many different factors and opinions that dictate what "good music" really is, that it's next to impossible to give just one end-all answer. However, I would say that technology has made a huge impact on the music industry and has enabled more of an individualized view of what's "good".

Personally, one of the many music trends that has caught my attention in the past few years has been the trend of the throwback style in music. Since technology is making time seem to move so much faster, I think that as artists we might subconsciously or consciously (depending on the artist) decide to do the opposite of what the rest of the world is doing.  It is almost as if our need for comfort might be creating a longing to bring back an old, familiar feeling. Though technology has vastly changed the state of the music industry (and who dictates what's "good" music), the final word is ultimately decided by us all as individuals and consumers.

Technology has simply removed the smoke screens in a lot of ways, in turn making success more attainable to the artists and the product more tangible to the consumers. The technology boom that occurred in the past 10 years, overwhelming as it may be, is both a blessing and a curse for the music industry. It seems like every time you turn around, there is be a newer, sleeker, and better functioning version of some piece of technology you just spent $2000 or more on. For me, this started to create a small sense of anxiety, which is a feeling I'm sure is shared by many.  This could contribute to the need for getting back to something familiar in the world.

On the plus side, I feel like a lot of this technology boom helps musicians realize that they can take their careers into their own hands and run with it. It encourages more experimentation, faith, and confidence in what they do artistically, and allows artists to become more proactive. For instance, while I was recording my most recent album, Halo Of Blue, the fact that I had a program that came already installed on my MacBook Pro called Garageband made the entire pre-production and production process much faster and more efficient.  On top of that, for the tunes that I was collaborating on with my out of town producer, Skype allowed us to musically work through those in depth while he sat comfortably in his NY apartment, and I in my NC apartment. When you think about how difficult that task might have been 20 years ago, it becomes crystal clear what an advantage the power of technology can do.


While this technology boom comes with plenty of negative aspects, it also finds a balance by helping to make the process of creating music a much easier process.  Some might argue that the tech movement has also appeared to devalue records and CDs by making them available with one click for $5 for a digital copy instead of $15 for a hard copy. Again, the trade off is that an artist who might normally never be heard around the world now has the potential to "go viral" and become a pop sensation, all thanks to sites like YouTube and Myspace. Justin Bieber, Kate Voegele, Bo Burnham, The Gregory Brothers (the 'auto tune the news' guys), Pampelmoose and Arnel Pineda (the new lead singer for Journey) are just a few examples of artists who successfully achieved stardom through "going viral" on the internet. By creating functions such as the "like", "share" and "embed" buttons, technology gives us the social networking tools that have become very important for entertainers of all levels. Suddenly, we the public become the record label and entertainment executives, deciding who we want to invest in artistically!  Shows like American Idol, the X-factor and Americas Got Talent have capitalized on this theory.

Does that mean Justin Beiber is "what good music now" is? Of course not, that just means that the power of social networking is great. It all depends on the individual when it comes down to what's "good" and what's not, and who has the ability to tap into a universal feeling. Keeping with the idea of "staying one step ahead of the next big thing" though, I think a lot of people feel that "good music" is what's "underground" or "grassroots" at the moment. It seems like a lot of folks find what's "hip" to be what's good, while other folks find what's "traditional & classic" to be what's good, while others find what they're told is good to be good.

In my personal opinion, what makes "good music now" is the ability to connect with people on a human level, no matter what genre or style the music might be. Technology makes the creative transformation process easier and more fun at times, but in the end, regardless of technology, good music requires a personal touch. Technology has helped to put the control back into the hands of everyday people to decide what they like, and what's "good" to them. So, when asked what's good music now, the best answer I can really think to give is this: anything with feeling. When I hear a song that moves me or inspires me, I feel like it's good music. Music is good when I can pick up on a vibration that one artists picks up on and passes it on to me, which I can pass on to someone else. Any music that encourages give-and-take to the universe is good. Isn't passing on something good what it's all about anyway?

 -Kellin Watson

Lingua Musica with Songs of Water

Joe Kendrick interviews Songs Of Water at Sherwood's Music in Asheville on October 20, 2011. Luke Skaggs, Elisa Rose, Stephen Roach and Michael Pritchard talk about how the band often switches instruments, how their seven members manage to be creative and still get along, Stephen's new children's book Satchell Willoughby and the Realm of Lost Things, their new song available for free download and more. Jackson Stahl filmed and edited this video which is copyright Luminescence 2011 and can be used as long as proper credit is given.


Lingua Musica with The Keels

Erin Scholze interviews Larry and Jenny Keel at Pisgah Brewing in Black Mountain, NC on October 6, 2011. The Keels talk about their music workshops which combine songwriting with trout and bass fishing, their upcoming album, playing with Steve McMurry, Gove Scrivenor, Jeff Mosier, Caroline Pond, Keller Williams and more. This video as filmed and edited by Tony Preston and is copyright Luminescence 2011 but can be used as long as proper credit is given.


Lingua Musica with Stephanisid

Kelly Denson talks with Stephanie Morgan, Chuck Lichtenberger and Tim Haney of Stephaniesid at Tony Preston's studio in Asheville in November 2011. The band talks about their "pop noir" sound and new record, Starfruit, their upcoming trip to Europe, being influenced by Holly Palmer when she played at Be Here Now, the dynamics of their music and more. Tony Preston filmed and edited this video which is copyright Luminescence 2011 but may be used as long as proper credit is given.


Lingua Musica Profiles: Erin Scholze

Erin Scholze is featured in our next interview when she talks with Larry and Jenny Keel and Danny Barnes. In addition to the Keel/Barnes interview, she has interviewed Kellin Watson and Jonathan Scales for Lingua Musica. Here is some background on our colleague and friend:

Erin Scholze, owner of Dreamspider Publicity, has long been one of the greatest supporters of the National Festival and Asheville music scenes.  Her love of celebration has manifested itself through the work she has done for the community at large for musical clients and events. Based in Asheville, NC, her company raises international awareness of the diverse local, regional and national talent that she represents. Services offered to musicians include album promotion, national publicity for touring bands, regional coverage for local and outside acts, social networking and consultations about the basics of self-promotion.  Musicians Dreamspider represents include Donna the Buffalo, Larry Keel & Natural Bridge, Tara Nevins, Dehlia Low, stephaniesid, Jonathan Scales Fourchestra, Galen Kipar Project amongst others.  Other fun organizations that Dreamspider has worked with include Music Video Asheville, the Lexington Ave Arts and Fun Festival (LAAFF), The All Go West Festival, RALAK and more.

Also, here is a well written piece on Erin by Dave Shiflet: http://alivewithoutpermission.wordpress.com/2011/08/18/erin-scholze/

Find out more about Erin's business at her website: http://dreamspider.net

 

Lingua Musica with Nicky Sanders

Nicky Sanders of Steep Canyon Rangers sat down with Barbie Angell at Tony Preston's studio in Asheville, NC in early September 2011 to talk about their new album with Steve Martin, the difference between a violin and a fiddle, orchestration in bluegrass music, their next recording session at Echo Mountain this fall and much more. This video is copyright Luminescence LLC 2011 but can be used as long as proper credit is given.
http://www.steepcanyon.com/
http://www.barbieangell.com/
http://amrmediaproductions.com/
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http://www.echomountain.net/