Reynard Seifert's Blog, page 4

morton feldman // eugene marten

Get it here via Megaupload

Morton Feldman's "Piano and String Quartet" is a famously haunting piece of music. Written just two years before his death in 1987, its use of repetition and pattern has (perhaps appropriately) been analyzed to death.

However, regardless of its place in modern music, it's just a nice piece to hear when you need some brooding room. The Kronos Quartet, accompanied by Aki Takahashi, unsurprisingly kick some major ass and take some minor names, here in their late-80s...

jodorowsky // joshua marie

Get the soundtrack via Rapidshare here

If you haven't seen El Topo, I dunno what the hell you're waiting for. When I first saw it all I could find was a Japanese dub (from the Spanish) translated into English, on VHS. Now you can Netflix that shit. So stop fooling around with yourself. I see you!

What I'm saying is, this soundtrack is incredible. Alejandro Jodorowsky composed all the music by himself because that's what badasses do - they make their own damn music for their own damn films (I'm...

pandit pran nath // ariana reines

Look at this man, this is a man:


Get the "Ragas of Morning & Night" via UbuWeb here

If you're familiar with La Monte Young, Pandit Pran Nath was his guru in the 70s. Nath studied for 20 years with the legendary Ustad Abdul Wahid Khan after leaving his family to pursue a life of music. Under the tutelage of Khan, he developed his highly unusual singing style.

American minimalism owes a whole lot to the music of Northern India in general and this guy in particular, as his teachings trickled down...

music for the gods // sasha fletcher

[image error]
Get it via Rapidshare here

You have got to hear this compilation of Indonesian recordings made by the Fahnestocks in 1941, when they traveled to the Indonesian archipelago as spies for President Roosevelt, who was searching for information about his great uncle's adventures out there.

I really love serialism. If you've heard the new Animal Collective album, you've heard its influence. But it's not a new thing, nor was it a new thing in the 1950s when rich people in the avant-garde coined the te...

east bay on the brain

A Businessman & Roland Goity

On Sunday I did a reading in Berkeley with a bunch of other people. All the other videos and readers can be found in this Examiner article written by Evan Karp, whom I really hope continues doing his thing, documenting literature in the Bay Area.
Evan seems like the kind of guy who would help you change your tire and then ask if he could videotape you tightening all the bolts with a tire iron as if you had done it yourself, which would be weird, and then he would g...

luciano cilio // zack sternwalker

Get it via Mediafire here

Found this album, "Dell'Universo Assente" by Luciano Cilio via BUTT GUTTS. It's an extremely badass combination of beautiful acoustic guitar, piano, & 70s avant-garde sounds (a la La Monte Young, etc). Really, really enjoy this and hope you do too.

One of my favorite writers, Zack Sternwalker, has a story/drawing called "Real Nurse Sleeves" on Radioactive Moat. I guess really the story is named that and the drawing is not, but whatever.

Zack has a strange and beautiful ...

eliane radigue // william walsh

Get it via Megaupload here

French electronic sorceress Eliane Radigue is a total drone queen. 
This album is a gem of the New York avant-garde drone scene. Excellent backdrop for reading.
She even shared a studio with the great Morton Subotnick! Nerd alert, I've got a boner!   ^___^
Since the early 70s Radigue has recorded almost exclusively on one instrument, the ARP 2500 modular system and tape. And you can probably see why below. It's a beautiful little flower. 
Look at it. Don't drool on it!


Oh...

django reinhardt // charles jensen

Get it via Megaupload here
Django Reinhardt was the man. There's even a Woody Allen movie about him. Sean Penn makes a fool of himself in it, as always. I'm just kidding, he's okay. Anyway, what was I saying? Oh, it doesn't matter, just get this music for reading to; that's the point of this here blog, you know.
Check out Charles Jensen's poem(s), "from NANOPEDIA: THE SMALLEST AMERICAN REFERENCE" in the Collagist. All of the short pieces are totally amazing. Highly recommended.
I hope you...

sleep // steven mcdermott

Get it via Megaupload here
Sleep were like the Ramones of doom metal; they did everything right. I know that doesn't sound like something you might want to hear when you're reading, but trust me on this one: chilled-out drone, tribal drums, and primal chants make the perfect sound for kicking back to crack open that new novel. Oh, and this album is just one track for over an hour. I know, right?
Matt Pike (the singer) is a living legend. Strangely enough, he's a bartender at a bar near my...

henry flynt // mary hamilton

Get it via Megaupload here
Basically, Henry Flynt is the coolest electronic hillbilly violin player there ever was. 'Nuff said.
Check out "You Wouldn't Believe Me If I Told You, But Me And Theodore Built A Time Machine" by Mary Hamilton, published in NOÖ [ten:]. It goes beautifully with the music. I recommend experiencing them simultaneously.
The Guardian's blog is attempting to brand the twenty-something online writing community Generation Zzz, which, I have to admit, I sort of like. If only...