With an exception or two, this album is ambient in the sense of being background music, i.e. meant to be heard, but not actively listened to — much like Erik Satie’s “furniture music”. Perfect for getting into a bubble bath with a good book, the music playing in the background, perhaps even from another room.
None of them are things you can hum along to, or even remember long afterward. Maybe Ganesh, maybe not.
I used to do a lot of music like that. A musician friend compared it to elevator music, which I did not find insulting at all. It’s just background for when you’re doing something else and, if you’re like me, you can’t stand the silence. Hey, if Brian can do Music for Airports, I can do music for other places or activities. Right?
And there’s one track on the album which I’ve since deleted, after finally deciding that as much as I liked the piano opening, it was really kinda bad. I’ve got others like that…they start out great, or maybe just interesting, but then just fall apart. It can be very frustrating.
This album was originally released on my birthday in 2021, and was remastered in November 2023, as I indicated I was doing in my last Substack post.
All of these were done from photos swiped from the Internet, except for Fe, which was created by hand using an electronic version of a Frippertronics/tape-loop kind of thing. Look up Frippertronics, if you want to know more.
I really don’t have much to say about the tracks, individually, except for my favorites.
I came across a photo of a woman with backplate tattoo of Ganesh, and I was like “Wow!” I’m not a big fan of tattoos, but I do appreciate well done tats, and this was a wonderfully executed one. I can’t even begin to imagine how long it took to do.
From Wikipedia: Ganesha, also spelled Ganesh, and also known as Ganapati, Vinayaka, and Pillaiyar, is one of the best-known and most worshipped deities in the Hindu pantheon and is the Supreme God in the Ganapatya sect. His depictions are found throughout India. Hindu denominations worship him regardless of affiliations. Devotion to Ganesha is widely diffused and extends to Jains and Buddhists and beyond India.
Although Ganesha has many attributes, he is readily identified by his elephant head and four arms. He is widely revered, more specifically, as the remover of obstacles and thought to bring good luck; the patron of arts and sciences; and the deva of intellect and wisdom. As the god of beginnings, he is honoured at the start of rites and ceremonies. Ganesha is also invoked as a patron of letters and learning during writing sessions.
Hey, look at that! It’s even appropriate for writing here. 😊
Fe is three lines, 270 measures, and 88 notes, but the notes were fed into three separate “tape-loop” processes to repeat and blend and wind their way around each other to create a soundscape which goes nowhere and takes you along for the ride. Honestly, I could put this one on infinite repeat have it play in the background while I sleep.
I used to do that with some other music. I wore out the vinyl on Brian Eno’s “Discreet Music” doing that: The album is a minimalist work, with the titular A-side consisting of one 30-minute piece featuring synthesizer and tape delay.
That’s pretty much why I got into ambient music and such.
As an aside, if you check Wikipedia for info on Discreet Music, it will mention Judy Nylon, whom I adore. (Hey, I said it was an “aside”, with not much relevance to anything here, but maybe you’ll look her up. Expand your horizons.)
Two more albums to go to complete this look at my existing catalog. After that…I’m not sure. Works-in-progress, probably, explaining what I’m doing as I do it. Unless, of course, I go way back to when I first started out. Well, maybe a mix of both. We’ll see.
On Thursdays, anyway. Sundays will be miscellaneous…stuff…like my last digression.