Lee Barry's Blog, page 38

March 8, 2020

What Else Is There To Do?

A big part of getting the answers you want is asking the good questions. Why do we need AI for this?

When ideas strike at the moment I’m improvising I have to attempt to capture them. That’s when things slow way down--because you’re in writing and or production mode, and you tend to want to follow down that path. The initial questions (at least for me) are: what is the best tempo, and what is
 •  0 comments  •  flag
Share on Twitter
Published on March 08, 2020 12:58

March 1, 2020

Good Faith, Bad Faith (You Know We've Had Our Share)

Always consider the effect the future will have on your work--or how you understand others' work.

Cold War Steve recently appropriated Hopper's People in the Sun (1963) with a streaking Trump, alluding to what I assume is "the emperor's new clothes."

Parody, of course, is fair use under the copyright law, but is it fair to artists to not fully understand the artists' intentions? But
 •  0 comments  •  flag
Share on Twitter
Published on March 01, 2020 12:55

Good Faith, Bad Faith (You Know we've Had Our Share)

Always consider the effect the future will have on your work--or how you understand others' work. Cold War Steve recently appropriated Hopper's People in the Sun (1963) with a streaking Trump, alluding to what I assume is "the emperor's new clothes." Parody, of course, is fair use under the copyright law, but is it fair to artists to not fully understand the artists' intentions? But then
 •  0 comments  •  flag
Share on Twitter
Published on March 01, 2020 12:55

February 23, 2020

Computering

Lots of my in-person conversations of late have usually involved some ranting about the incursion of computing in everything and everyone. The more I think out loud about AI the more I become more blasé or cynical about it. I had thought perhaps I might use it as a way to generate rhythm tracks when I get an idea while playing around on a guitar. What you want ultimately is to use the
 •  0 comments  •  flag
Share on Twitter
Published on February 23, 2020 12:58

February 16, 2020

Creativity Testing

Eero Saarinen’s Architectural Aptitude Test


In my album of 12 solo piano pieces ("Rifts"), the only rule was that each piece would be in the Lydian mode--one for each key. It's "home" chord (Key of C):







Here is an example of a similar set of simple rules applied to visual art, combining the rectilinear and curvilinear, and using a set of 12 colors. (Similar to the creativity tests they
 •  0 comments  •  flag
Share on Twitter
Published on February 16, 2020 12:12

February 8, 2020

Riffs

Bare Trees is the title track from the Fleetwood Mac album released in 1972. 

What’s remarkable is that it’s composed almost entirely of riffs (6!) in E Mixolydian/Blues with a few random lyrics mapped over them.

The lyric is beautifully denuded.

The fact that "dummy" lyrics were used indicates that lyrics in pop songs aren't really essential when music can take the spotlight. Lyrics are
 •  0 comments  •  flag
Share on Twitter
Published on February 08, 2020 07:03

February 6, 2020

On Photography

The earliest surviving camera photograph, 1826 or 1827, known as View from the Window at Le Gras


Entries from Dynaxiom pertaining to photography:

1791. Photography is an easy way to "tag" beauty.

1779. In some ways, the digital realm has made us blind to minute details, while exaggerating others. High-resolution imagery that is backlit is a different perceptual phenomenon than looking at
 •  0 comments  •  flag
Share on Twitter
Published on February 06, 2020 18:35

February 2, 2020

On Music

My version of the "Fripporisms" (Barryisms)--essentially all the Dynaxioms that have "music" in them.

1884. An album of music created with AI is no more interesting than an album that uses a wah-wah pedal on every track.

1866. Playing music can be interpreted as a hedonistic interpretation of Now, and is both a kind of temporary "inebriation" and a sobering pursuit of aesthetic
 •  0 comments  •  flag
Share on Twitter
Published on February 02, 2020 13:50

The Music of Language (Cont.)

On Twitter, someone posted a clip of Anthony Hopkins reciting the last stanza of the Dylan Thomas poem Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night, in a post related to Brexit. I was moved by the natural prosody and the natural rhythms in the words in its recitation.


It is written in the form of a villanelle, a ballad-like song with no fixed form. Both Thomas and Hopkins seem to evoke a march
 •  0 comments  •  flag
Share on Twitter
Published on February 02, 2020 08:02

January 26, 2020

Realpolitik (On Marianne Williamson)

Rose Cross of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn







Marianne Williamson intrigues me in many ways, but I'm not sure why. On one hand, I think she has a huge ego (self--small 's'), but on the other hand, I think there's a real sense of integrity that might override the ego. She's mindful of it, which is another way of saying that she has the various random "wills" figured out. To be
 •  0 comments  •  flag
Share on Twitter
Published on January 26, 2020 13:10