New classical music! With Twitter!
September 6, 2009 5:39 PM   Subscribe

 
So... you uh... you want us to buy a CD?
posted by Pope Guilty at 5:55 PM on September 6, 2009 [1 favorite]


I've seen a bunch of different artists do things like this and attach it to Twitter. Some call it a "Twitter Mixtape" or something similar. I just wonder what it has to do with Twitter. To me something should be titled or associated with Twitter only if somehow Twitter was instrumental in its creation. Not just bit.ly/pepsibluetrax. Anyway, here I am, overthinking a plate of tweets.
posted by cashman at 5:57 PM on September 6, 2009


you can download the songs free and the quality is perfectly listenable.
posted by StrikeTheViol at 5:58 PM on September 6, 2009


Are they all instrumental? And not what I usually associate when I think Icelandic. Pleasant tunes.

I'm not sure what twitter has to do with it either.

This post probably would go better if you included links to the stream in question, and noted why this is an interesting way to approach a project.
posted by cjorgensen at 6:02 PM on September 6, 2009


The songs: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7.
posted by StrikeTheViol at 6:09 PM on September 6, 2009 [1 favorite]


The rationale: Ólafur Arnalds is an emerging Icelandic composer who sounds pretty interesting stylistically. The songs were composed in a day apiece and released online as they were completed, which has some precedent, but not apparently in this genre.
posted by StrikeTheViol at 6:17 PM on September 6, 2009


No, Twitter isn't the medium here. Better to think of it as part of the marketing strategy.

But the way music is marketed is connected to the way it's made. Twitter seems really ideal for promoting occasional, short releases — as opposed to big one-off releases like In Rainbows or short but consistent ones like the aforementioned Thing A Week. So if you're a musician who likes to work that way, then I could see Twitter being a pretty big deal for you when it comes to finding an audience, even if it's not an immediate part of the music itself.
posted by nebulawindphone at 6:27 PM on September 6, 2009


Quickly-composed tunes aren't really what you expect when you see "found".
posted by kenko at 6:45 PM on September 6, 2009


Quickly-composed tunes aren't really what you expect when you see "found".

I think he means he's gone through his old notes and made the effort to work some old idea up into a song every day for seven days. So yeah, not what most people would think of when they hear "found" because they are all found in the finder's own "waste paper basket". On the other hand, English idiom probably isn't his forte.

I like the way he admonishes this idea of sharing his (freely available on the web) music via "illegal" file sharing sites and then, in the very next sentence, solicits free artwork for his commercial cd release. Maybe that's unfair, he could be paying or offering some other compensation for the work, but there's no obvious explanation of how it's supposed to work.
posted by GeckoDundee at 7:26 PM on September 6, 2009


His motivations are clear: “The classical scene is kind of closed to people who haven't been studying music all their lives. I would like to bring my classical influence to the people who don't usually listen to this kind of music…open people's minds.”
(the above lifted off his site)

I'm the person he's aiming this at, it seems -- I know almost nothing of his world, I like what little I know but it is little, for a fact.

I will never forget a guy I mentored years ago, real nice guy named David, very first thing he did upon moving out from his wife was buy a brand new baby grand piano, moved it into his bitty apartment, was totally happy there, away from his wife and with his piano. Again, I really haven't heard much of this music, I was blown out of my shoes when he played some music he'd written -- I'd give an awful lot to have a copy of what he played for me that afternoon, just a guy with his heart and his skill and a beautiful black piano.

I'm enjoying this, good post, thanx.
posted by dancestoblue at 7:53 PM on September 6, 2009


His 7 songs 7 days = musical twitter seems very thin to me. Twitter is dense. Meaningful info or narrative in a small space. I didn't really get that from his musical choices.
posted by sundri at 1:45 AM on September 7, 2009


found it interesting. the music reminded me of Arvo Pärt, in some moments. but a bit more playful. the guy is much, much younger...
posted by megob at 12:57 PM on September 7, 2009


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