RE: [microsound] re:music presentation

[Wayne Jackson <waynej@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

My one and only release so far, "Fornica" on mp3.com, features a 
picture of some little brown mushrooms on the cover.  To me, this 
allowed me to mix two hobbies:  my computer music, and my great 
love of photographing all sorts of mushrooms in the Santa Cruz 
mountains after the first winter rains.  I love everything about 
the natural form of mushrooms, and the transitory nature of their
existence intensifies this appreciation.  Not to mention that 
walking quietly through the woods trying to find the next 
photogenic fungus can be a source of incredible micro-musical 
inspiration...

Everyone who sees this album assumes that the mushrooms are 
pscilocybes (sp?) and the music is heavily drug-related.  You can
probably imagine what pre-judgemental frame of reference is 
adopted by most of my listeners.

-Wayne
LaterDays
wayne@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
http://www.mp3.com/LaterDays

-----Original Message-----
From: Assaf Gidron [mailto:agidron@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]
Sent: Monday, May 15, 2000 12:29 PM
To: microsound
Subject: Re: [microsound] re:music presentation


a late reply...

david turgeon wrote:
> bottom line being that everything is language to begin with: the box,
> the grotesk typeface for the title, the plastic tray, the
> computer-generated 3d cellular model illustration, the label, the $25+
> price tag...  they all tell you something, & you haven't heard the music
> yet.  i personally would have never bought a supersilent cd were it not
> for the minimal cover design, more reminescent of a 12k record than a
> free noise jazz band...  dare i say, it pushed my buttons all right (&
> so does the music, incidentally...)
> 
> david

yes... once i was inlove with a certain CD for a year, couldnt stop hearing
it, until i saw a small picture of the guy who made it in the newspaper, and
he had such a silly expression on his face that the next time i listned to
the CD i couldnt get his image out of my mind, and it changed entirley the
way i listned to it, and i hate that CD ever since. and the guy too.

so if any of you music-makers on the list have a photoshoot schedualed...
try not to make very silly faces. oh, wash your hair too. this might
influence your whole career.

Øivind Idsø wrote:
> Personally I think it becomes way too purist to shy away from a certain
label
or a certain artist because their/his/her covers are not to your liking, or
the concept (marketing) becomes too restrained or monotonous or whatever.
I´ve never been much of a "cover fetishist" and have never allowed a
bad/ugly cover or whatever affect my opinions about the content that
actually matters, which is the music (good covers might heighten the
experience, though, but that´s just because it´s seen as an extension of the
good music on the CD). This might seem trivial, and I guess it *is* trivial,
but it feels like you are making an ugly frame decide what the
Dali/Picasso/Miro/whatever should be about. Granted, the frame is relevant,
but one shouldn´t overestimate it´s importance. The old LP covers looked
better (beause, obviously, they were bigger) but I wouldn´t want to keep an
inferior sound format because the packaging looks better (I´m overdoing it
here, but still). <

i know i dont have that much control of my listening habits: i'm always
affected by the cover art, the artist's alias, the label and whatever,
whether i like it or not (i do :) when i think of an album, one of the
things that comes to mind first is the visual represantation. while i'm
writing this my mind is attacked by the RED from the cover art of Pita's
"get out" CD - every time i am reminded of this CD my mind becaumes swamped
with RED, what is a bit ironic in this case because it could have been BLUE
just as well :) if that was the case i would have listned to it as a totaly
different album...

Assa f