From The Top by Nathan Thatcher published on 2020-05-06T18:21:37Z From the Top Freedom from the Anxiety of Influence If I were asked to list my influences, I would produce a list that would likely be more performative than it is true. This piece is an honest look at my musical influences and personal musical landscape. It is filled with strange juxtapositions and heavy repetitions—truly great favorites and tracks I downloaded for free when I was a teenager and don't really remember—Bach, Mozart, Xenakis, John Zorn, The Beatles, Wilco, Radiohead, Enya, film scores. I am interested in the extent to which we choose our influences. Surely what we choose to repeatedly listen to influences us most, but it seems to me a nature vs. nurture question. The playlist I used for this piece, chosen genuinely at random, takes something like an objective view. Of course, this isn’t science. This is art. In fairness, the contents of my iTunes library is a bit of a time-capsule given that I stream much of the music I listen to now and don't "own" it. That said, the influence of what I chose to spend money on at one point or another can't be minimized. One of the most satisfying things for me about this piece is that the specific interactions of the different musical samples that I used were unplanned and yet come together in wonderful ways. The piece is structured systematically and any samples could have been used. Just after minute 8 in my piece there is this moment that is always a little sublime to me in which over this looping progression by Doveman [ I - V6 - iv - iii - IV - I - ii - V ] we begin to hear the opening of this John Zorn violin solo which, though atonal itself, hangs on a high E-flat and G (scale degrees 1 and 3 in the Doveman song). I remember listening through the whole piece the first time and being struck by the beauty of this serendipity and the beauty of overlaying John Zorn and “singer-songwriter” material with a mild cacophony in the background. How it was made: https://docs.google.com/document/d/15ER0G7r7kdpKhZ3P3M39h1ktVaMi1FB3YNc-5uLd8vM/edit?usp=sharing Samples used: Two Studies for Organ, II. Coulée (1969) by György Ligeti Golden Sand by The Republic Tigers (live radio session) Nocturne from String Quartet #2 in D by Alexander Borodin “Porgi, Amor” from Le Nozze di Figaro by Wolfgang Mozart All You Need is Love by The Beatles 1.36 by Coldplay If I Needed Someone by The Beatles Less Than You Think by Wilco “Drive to the Cottage” from the film Finding Neverland by Jan A. P. Kaczmarek If You Wait a Little Longer by Nico Muhly and Teitur Sonatina, I. Andante by Jerome Moross La Dousa Votz by Bernart de Ventadorn Apophthegms ix by John Zorn Grow Till Tall by Jónsi Angel’s Share by Doveman Please Be Patient With Me by Wilco Allemande from Suite #4 in A Major BWV 1010 (ed. Lippel for guitar) by J.S. Bach Miss Clare Remembers by Enya Rebonds, Part A by Iannis Xenakis Exile by Enya Date of Execution February 11, 2004 by Cory Dargel Either Way by Guster One Million Miles by J. Ralph Pyramid Song by Radiohead “Caras Galadhon” from the film The Fellowship of the Ring by Howard Shore Puspanjali - by Nyoman Windha People Keep Coming Around by Tindersticks Albion Voice by Bishi Genre Experimental
