Deep Listening

February 6, 2007 4:35 PM

Pauline Oliveros, pioneer of electronic and new music, and Deep Listening. Inspired by Valerie Solanas, utilizes just intonation, plays accordion. Hear her . Watch her .
posted by serazin (11 comments total)

yes and yes.
posted by gcbv at 4:55 PM on February 6, 2007

We've been having lots of great electronic and electroacoustic type posts lately and I want to say, this is fantastic, oh, this is lovely.

I downloaded Oliveros' Alien Bog a while ago from Emusic and enjoyed it but this gives it more context.
posted by fleetmouse at 5:07 PM on February 6, 2007

Awesome post. I've been listening to Outline for about 12 minutes now, and I feel like I've been listening to a musical conversation more than composed music. Her music appeals to me in much the same way that Takemitsu's does--they both have uniquely different approaches to organizing sound, with such different intent from the mainstreams of their art forms.
posted by LooseFilter at 5:09 PM on February 6, 2007

On the one hand, this sounds pretty cool. On the other hand, Valerie Solanas? What's up with that? I'm curious about the connection, because the music by itself wasn't tripping my instinctual fear of being cut up.
posted by grobstein at 5:10 PM on February 6, 2007

I read it, and listened, but I'm left wondering how she was inspired by Valerie Solanas.
posted by kuujjuarapik at 5:10 PM on February 6, 2007

She has a composition called To Valerie Solanas and Marilyn Monroe in Recognition of their Desperation. She says the SCUM manifisto inspired her. This interview briefly mentions why.
posted by serazin at 5:37 PM on February 6, 2007

I love Oliveros' music but the Solanas connection really puts me off.
posted by dobbs at 6:18 PM on February 6, 2007

I was not really familiar with her work until early December, when she and I both ended up at the first International Society of Improvised Music conference at the University of Michigan. (She was a featured performer; I was there with a bunch of misfit musicians from rural Maine.)

After her opening night performance, I took this portrait of her on stage. That whole weekend she always seemed to be in the audience somewhere, taking it all in, and she led us in a Deep Listening exercise at the closing ceremony on Sunday. Definitely one of the coolest people around — also very warm and friendly, so much so that when I found myself with her in an elevator on Saturday evening, I just had to snap a quick photo.
posted by LeLiLo at 6:58 PM on February 6, 2007

Thanks for this. I've had the great fortune of hearing her live a couple of times (once with Fred Frith, no less). Both times it was a deeply participatory, absorbing, and rewarding experience.
posted by treepour at 11:04 PM on February 6, 2007

A great musician and person.
posted by Joseph Gurl at 3:49 AM on February 7, 2007

My favorite noise is my own alter ego's, DJ Unimportant from Montreal. This one and this one are forces of nature.
posted by mongonikol at 8:21 AM on February 7, 2007