For a few years, I worked with a guy named Ben Porter. Ben is a musician. He plays guitars and other similarly string instruments. He always seems to be playing in a band of some kind. He is a fan of a good coffee press and a bunch of unusual music. As you know, I too like unusual music but I feel that Ben and I have very different approaches. I think he see everything through the prism of being a musician where I like things just because I like them. sometimes I like the weird stuff simply because it is weird. Go see the post about Agony which I think is an excellent example of weird.
We have been to thank for our forays into The Flaming Lips, Balkan Beat Box, Hôtel Costes and the resurgence of Irish Drinking Songs among others. It would be interesting to see his Musical Evolution. I don’t really know what he liked in the mainstream area but I can’t think him enough for getting us started with Stéphane Pompougnac and Hôtel Costes. I’ll get into Hôtel Costes in detail in the next post.
Ben introduced us to The Flaming Lips. He told us about an album that was supposed to be placed on 4 CD players simultaneously. That sounded like our Echoes Experiment. We looked it up online and soon I had Zaireeka. Zaireeka is a very interesting piece. It is a 4 Disc Set but all 4 discs are meant to be played at the same time. The concept is an extension of something they used to do with car stereos in a parking garage. They would take a musical composition then break it up into a dozen or two cassettes then everybody would show up in a parking garage and start their tapes at the same time then listen to the result. Variances in cassette deck speed, volume, equalization stings and simply pressing start on cue meant that each performance would be unique.
Our experience with Zaireeka was unique as well. We only had 3 CD players so one of the 4 would invariable be omitted. It really is an interesting concept but there is no point in trying to demonstrate it here so I’ll just post a few other items from The Porter Influence. Unfortunately, I will no doubt have to omit some because they were songs from some of the bands he was in along the way.
The Flaming Lips – The W.A.N.D.
The Flaming Lips – Are You A Hypnotist?
Unlikely Alibi – What I Want
Balkan Beat Box – Bulgarian Chicks
Balkan Beat Box – Cha Cha
The Dubliners – Whiskey In The Jar
The Clancy Brothers – Beer, Beer, Beer
The Dubliners – Tim Finnegan’s Wake