"The sustain pedal was one of the greatest discoveries of my life. I still remember the first few times I ever sat at a piano, holding it down and letting the notes vibrate against each other until they faded to imperceptibility. And then doing it again. Incredibly, the sound of felt hammers on metal strings can be used to express almost any emotion you could name. In 1979, when he first recorded the piano loops used on The Garden of Brokenness, William Basinski says he was attempting capture 'mono no aware,' a Japanese concept whose closest English translation is 'the sadness of things.' 'Things' could be taken two ways, of course-- it may refer to the general state of being alive, or to literal, physical objects. Either way, these sad, slow piano loops are the kind of sounds that poke around in your guts looking for sensitive spots to nestle into. ..."
Pitchfork
YouTube: The Garden of Brokenness
2017 January: The Disintegration Loops (2002-2003), 2017 October: Watermusic II (2003)
No comments:
Post a Comment