[NewMusic] Bay tape loop improv shows

[Daryl Shawn]

I hear what you're saying, though my opinion is that it's a matter of 
perspective. If you ask the average music listener what looping is, I'd 
venture that they still wouldn't know what you're talking about, 
regardless of the numbers of Roland pedals once can now buy to have 
loops all to oneself. There are a few more touchstones as of the few 
past years, like Imogen Heap, or Battles, or KT Tunstall. But though 
names like Terry Riley or Robert Fripp are of household familiarity to 
many of us, the general populace has no idea who these folks are or how 
they achieved what they did/do, even though their example is now 30-40 
years old.

As a sometimes-looping artiste, I'd venture to say that looping isn't 
necessarily a technique so much as it is an approach and performance 
algorithm. To wit, almost all of the performers at this particular 
festival are solo, improvising, instrumental artists. It's a niche, as 
much as "noise" is, as I experienced at a festival in Sacramento this 
past weekend. Music oriented toward harsh sounds and unnatural tones has 
been around for quite a long time, but the Noisefest - in its twelfth 
year, no less - was vibrant, supportive and exciting. From what I saw 
last year, the loop festival also achieved that.

Maybe it's as tired as the "Girls Rock" nights that clubs feel compelled 
to host every once in a while, but still it seems to call out a 
particular community to participate. If the participating artists were 
indistinguishable from the average corner pub act, I'd say it's time to 
give up the ghost - picture an electric guitar festival, or sure, a 
double bass pedal festival. It's not there yet, I don't think.

C. Everett Koop, Betty Boop, & raisins, two scoops,

Daryl Shawn
www.swanwelder.com


> Okay, I'll say a thing or two about it, as well. It strikes me as a weird,
> almost silly concept for a festival ... Maybe back in the 70s/80s when it
> was more novel, and the technology was relatively novel, I wouldn't be
> stifling giggles of embarrassment at the name. I'd be dishonest to say the
> giggles are totally unrelated to words that rhyme with "loop."