I am Ashley Elsdon

someone who's doing some things

Tag: music

I love music. Making music, listening, talking about it and anything else too.

Thinking about listening

Posted by on in ListeningLeave a comment

A while ago I wrote a post about listening and not just consuming music, and ever since I wrote that it has been on my mind. I have wanted to do something that demonstrates what that listening to music is important, at lease to me.

To begin with I thought I would start a listening group. Something a bit like a book club or reading group, but for music instead. I think it is a good idea, but I’m not sure that I am ready for it just yet, and I think I’d want to plan out how to do it properly first.

Then I had an idea as I was thinking about January and what I wanted to do in the month. I thought that perhaps I would listen to a song each day for a month. That might sound fairly straightforward, but there would need to be some strict criteria wrapped around the listening experience. Such as:

  1. I can’t be doing anything else whilst listening to the song, like working, using any kind of computer etc
  2. I have to listen to the song all the way through. If I have to stop for some reason then I must take a break and start again
  3. If possible I should have my eyes shut whilst listening
  4. I can listen to more than 1 song by the artist on a given day, but the main purpose is to listen to 1 song critically each day

How does that sound? I’m starting to think about the songs and artists I’d like to listen to in January. At the moment I like the idea of listening to material I know already as a way of getting into the listening process, and if it works well I might consider doing something different in Feb.

Anyway, that’s one thing I have planned for January, I have a few more ideas too, but perhaps I’ll write about those tomorrow.

As you’re asking, yes, I did see the Human League last night

Posted by on in EventsLeave a comment

I wasn’t sure what to expect from this gig, but in the end it was good. I thought they’d only play newer stuff, but we got version of ‘Being Boiled’, and ‘Empire State Human’ too which was great. Nothing from Travelogue though which was a shame.

They played all the tracks you’d expect them too and a few that I didn’t expect like ‘The Lebanon’ and ‘Seconds’ which was great to hear live. It was quite a short gig though at only an hour a quarter.

I’m glad that I went to see them, it was a good show and I thought that they played well.

Danse Society, KTP and Obscurity

Posted by on in MusicLeave a comment

I was listening to the Danse Society today. Their greatest hits or something like that. I only bought the CD for 1 track which I really liked and was unable to find anywhere as a single track download.

This got me thinking about other obscure music I’ve been hunting of late. I recently got back into Kissing the Pink, who’s later albums are very hard to get hold of except on vinyl, and whilst I do like vinyl I don’t find it practical on a day to day basis.

Every time I hunt down something obscure that I’ve remembered and decide that I really must get again I think that this will be the last bit of obscurity I need to locate, but in fact it turns out that it reminds me of another 2 or 3 tracks or albums that I’d love to hear again that don’t seem to be available anywhere on this planet.

I’m sure I’m not the only one though, and I guess it keeps things interesting.

Sorry if this doesn’t make sense, it is late and I think I’m rambling. I’ll stop now.

Revisiting the past

Posted by on in Music, ThinkingLeave a comment

Having spent a lot of time listening to my old material it has made me wonder whether I should re-work some of it. The sad thing is that much of the material was recorded using a fairly beaten up old X15 four track recorder and included multiple tape bounces which never adds much but noise.

I’m sure I could do a better job now, but is it healthy to go backwards like that?

I’m not sure at the moment. It all needs a bit more thought.

So many projects

Posted by on in MusicLeave a comment

And so many of them only half completed. Going through all my old tapes uncovered so many unfinished pieces. Projects started either on my own or with friends that never got off the ground.

Listening to some of them brought back good memories. Listening to others made me wonder what the hell I was thinking when I record them, and others still I had no recollection of whatsoever.

Whilst in many ways it is interesting to hear all this stuff, I’ve dumped probably in the region of 70% of the material I’ve made over the years and I’m still not sure about some of the stuff I’ve kept.

It has made me want to take a few of these old projects forward again, and perhaps that’s a good thing. Time will tell. Hopefully in a few years when I’m going through a similar process of review I won’t have the same experience. Who knows?

Sutton Environmental Fair

Posted by on in FestivalsLeave a comment

I thought I’d posted about this before, and whilst clearing a load of magazines and paperwork I came across the programme.

I went to the Environmental fair at the end of August. I hadn’t been to it in a while, but it was just as good as I remembered. The fair is a relatively small event, but it is a local event and has a real character to it, which it hasn’t lost at all.

There were 3 stages and some really interesting acts played, from the larger traditional band type format, to solo musicians and people doing some fairly experimental stuff for a local event.

I was so glad that I went to this fair, it always feels good to support local events and the stages were all powered by solar energy too. I don’t think many events can make that claim.

I’ll have to make sure it is in my diary again for 2011.

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