Here's some early Riley,performed and recorded,live, on November 4th and 5th 1966 in Riley's New York studio. Introducing some of the standard Minimalist tools of repitition,out of phase accompanying tapes,and playing against tapes of yourself/selves.
It was inevitable that the 'Minimalists' would not only use repeating phrases in their compositions,but that they would end up repeating themselves.The way out of the blind alley, was, melody, which Steve Reich and especially Glass,found out for themselves. Riley would flirt with Pop and drift dangerously close to New Age and ambient.
Maybe it would have been a purer Minimalism to actually repeat oneself until you disappeared up one's own arse.A lot of this scene disappeared up their own arses well before the music did however,but without ego we'd have no art, would we?....Discuss,using as few words as possible,and endless reiteration without explanation.....bonus marks are available for mindless pretentiousness.
Tracklist:
A Untitled Organ 20:10
B Dorian Reeds 14:55
2 comments:
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Pretentious or self-indulgent? Personally, I think it's typically more the latter--at least with the good stuff. I don't think these guys were really trying to impress anybody other than themselves. If anything, popular "pop" music is way more pretentious--and they're the ones more concerned with how they come across to other people. Incidentally, a pretentious reviewer once described me as a "backwoods Terry Riley." I thought that was pretty cool, even if I haven't got any real 'billy cred.
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