Saturday, May 20, 2006

great music question survey results!

well now, i had a great response to the music question. this was the question: "if you had to choose the musical works of just one artist/band/composer and forego all others, who would it be?"

and now for the results...

1st=: Bach, the Beatles, and U2.
2nd: Miles Davis

the really interesting part is that other than those four artists/bands/composers no other nomination received more than one vote. the other nominations (in no particular order) were:

pink floyd
massive attack
linkin park
mike post
steven curtis chapman
the vineyard worship team
king david
crowded house
sarah mcloughlin
tom waits
bob marley
third eye blind
tangerine dream
radiohead
colm
vivaldi
bob dylan
don mcglashan
bic runga

it has to be pointed out that some people cheated a little bit and said more than one (i've included those as well). but in general, answers were pretty clear.

what i plan to do now is a weekly article on each of the nominated artists - so stay posted. feel free to leave comments below.

on the headphones: 'let's talk' by coldplay, from the album 'x & y'. www.coldplay.com

Saturday, May 06, 2006

artisan

i read a couple of the print editions of the artisan journal this week. very cool. artisan is christian arts/media organisation in the uk with networking into ny and la.

having been impressed with how cool their journal is (read the copies cover to cover) i visited their website which turns out to be a great resource.

anyway, as an offshoot of that, i found this quote in an article on their website by makoto fujimura, artist and founder of IAM:

"In art we create and imagine our belongingness. We are, in this sense, creating a home for our imaginations to inhabit. What kind of a home is it? Is it inviting? Is it haunted? Is it a loft in a city or a farmhouse? Or is it a home far away, a home that we can only long for?"

i love this quote, and think it is spot-on for me and my 'safe little world' concept, which celebrates the safety of an imaginery/real world, (sub)urban homes (or homes set up against the wilderness) but also questions the safety of it. so there we are.

on the headphones: 'j connais mon role' by mc solaar, from the album 'mach 6'. www.solaarsystem.net

Tuesday, May 02, 2006

noise


i went to the noise conference last weekend. 1500 christian musos got together for two days of teaching, music and electives. while i'm not primarily a muso, i get a creative buzz out of going to the conference (this was my second time) and my official excuse is that i play hand percussion and do some bv's for church music.

noise featured a few quite big names in christian music. nz's own brooke fraser (pictured - not a photo i took, by the way), phil joel of the newsboys, hillsong united from australia, and speaker phil baker amongst a lot of others. in the event, all these people i've just listed were highlights - brooke fraser for her sheer talent combined with genuine commitment to God, phil joel for being a down-to-earth and onto it talented new zealander, hillsong united for delivering the most full-on praise and worship music ever, and phil baker for being an incredibly good speaker, with clear insights and brilliant humour.

once again the noise conference delivered, and i'll almost certainly be there next year. i had a little run-in with the gravel carpark outside the venue (sprinting + gravel = sore knee + torn jeans) but nevermind - maybe i got a little over excited.

you can see parachute music's official photos of the event (including the one above) here.

on the headphones: 'no roots' by faithless, from the album 'no roots'. www.faithless.co.uk