Article:; "What is the point of a 6-hour song"

[ffcal]

Interesting viewpoint on a new six-hour song by the Flaming Lips.  Though the author of the article mentions Andy Warhol's long films, he doesn't mention Robert's Rich Somnium, LaMonte Young's "Well-Tuned PIano," or even Philip Glass' "Music In Twelve Parts":

http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2011/10/what-is-the-point-of-a-six-hour-song/246666/?google_editors_picks=true

I think I'd rather have six-hours of ambience than of experimental skronk.

Forrest

[mgriffin]

Even after all these years, Somnium keeps selling steadily, even more than Robert's other albums. There's something people like about the format.

[Mark Mushet]

Interesting viewpoint on a new six-hour song by the Flaming Lips.  Though the author of the article mentions Andy Warhol's long films, he doesn't mention Robert's Rich Somnium, LaMonte Young's "Well-Tuned PIano," or even Philip Glass' "Music In Twelve Parts":

http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2011/10/what-is-the-point-of-a-six-hour-song/246666/?google_editors_picks=true

I think I'd rather have six-hours of ambience than of experimental skronk.

Forrest

Exactly. There's a reason the Lips languished for so long before hitting it big: they didn't have anything interesting to offer until they started to write some great, keening pop songs a la those found on "Yoshimi".

Viva Somnium!

[sraymar]

When I was younger back in my twenties, and to an extent my thirties I was able to listen to hours of music at a time, then again I could watch tv for hours at a time, not so in my fifties. I couldn't imagine going to any kind of a music festival or even a concert in a large venue like an arena, haven't even been to a jazz club in recent years. I go for long walks now for exercise but I don't bring any portable music whereas in years past I'd constantly have some ear buds on. The void must be getting filled up with age.

[hdibrell]

When I was younger back in my twenties, and to an extent my thirties I was able to listen to hours of music at a time, then again I could watch tv for hours at a time, not so in my fifties. I couldn't imagine going to any kind of a music festival or even a concert in a large venue like an arena, haven't even been to a jazz club in recent years.

I was just talking to a friend about that recently. We both attended the Atlanta Pop Festival in 1970 when we were 19 years old. I don't know how I was able to listen to 3 days worth of music. My attention span is much less now. A 6 hour song? That would be a challenge unless it was a sleep concert.

[mgriffin]

I remember before I started Hypnos, I used to come home from work, maybe exercise and eat dinner. Then I'd listen to music for 4 or 6 or even 8 hours without really doing anything else at the same time. I might flip through copies of ND or Wire magazines, but more often I'd just lie on my bed with the lights off and play one CD after another. Eventually I'd fall asleep, without having stopped the music.

The striking thing about these memories is not how much music I listened to, but how relaxed I was. I felt no urge to multi-task. It was a pleasant "zen mind" kind of boredom. I miss it very much.

[ffcal]

When I was younger, I could listen to quite a bit of music at one time, though I tended towards my favorites, so there was a bit of repetition.  These days I find that when I am working on a particularly large project, an extended set of tracks playing in the background helps me to focus, though more textural and less vocal pieces seem to work better.

Forrest

[Julio Di Benedetto]

It was a pleasant "zen mind" kind of boredom. I miss it very much.

That says it all, dont you think......it was exactly this that drew me into the music in my youth, still does today.

I cant imagine writing a six hour song, that is one that would keep my interest, let alone anyone else's......I would listen to one though.

[Julio Di Benedetto]

In the article that forrest posted, which is actually really well written, there's a mention of john cages performance "as slow as possible" which is being performed and is supposed to last for six centuries. 
Here is the link to an NPR airing about it  http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1421511 

[Scott M2]

It is odd that the years of sitting, just listening to music (often with friends) are long gone........

For me, it seems that there's so much to do, that multi-tasking in the form reading and computer work is usually going on while listening now. Ambient music is the best for that as it doesn't demand attention and co-exists well with reading (and actually understanding).

It was a great treat/indulgence recently to spend an evening with the lights out, listening intently to the quad Alan Parsons mix of Dark Side (very solid center without the 5th speaker BTW) followed by the Guthrie 5.1 mix and some sundry music from the PF Dark Side Immersion set.

I have an 8-hour recording of the dreamSTATE "waveforms" installation which we broadcast all night after a live AtmoStreams internet concert some years back and which I plan to release as "Longshore Drift". The whole piece fits nicely as a 192Kbs mp3 on CDr. I gave all the material to Jamie many months ago for final mastering. Looks like I'll have to get on his back about it. I can understand any reluctance on his part to try to focus on huge chunks of drifting sound to do it well - I've never listened to it all in one sitting except at work. I wouldn't expect anyone to focus on the whole thing but instead to use it to create a sound environment in your space or in your head which actually is a sonicly rich musical
experience if you tune in.

If the Lips' album is affordable I'll definitely check it out. They can surprise! I'd make the case that their music took the big turn at "Soft Bulletin". Great album (and not bad in 5.1).

[ffcal]

In the article that forrest posted, which is actually really well written, there's a mention of john cages performance "as slow as possible" which is being performed and is supposed to last for six centuries. 
Here is the link to an NPR airing about it  http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1421511

I think there is something about extended pieces that gives a broader sense or perspective, as if viewing a very large object from far away.  That Cage piece reminds of a clock that is being designed to advance every 100 years and last for 10,000 years ("Clock of the Long Now").  There is a foundation designed to encourage very long-term thinking called the Long Now Foundation.  Eno created a CD that was inspired by this clock idea.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clock_of_the_Long_Now

Forrest

[judd stephens]

What's the point of a 3 minute song, especially if it sucks?   

[Wayne Higgins]

Time for an Oenyaw rant.

"A Line from a Pale Blue Dot" was 6 hours.  Reason:  It takes 6 hours for light to travel from earth to the end of our solar system.  The intention of the piece was that if this is ever played on an am radio station at night, it would theoretically be one continuous stream of music, hence the title, "A Line From A Pale Blue Dot".  I did this in 2007, BTW.

"Graveyard Shift On A Space Station" last 8 hours.  An 8 hour shift, alone on a space station.  I considered it my honest piece of "Space Music".  It took me a week to record it, mainly four all nighters, graveyard sessions to get the feel for the piece.  The most cynical, insulting and rudest disc I've ever done.

"Auguries of Innocence" is also 6 hours long.  This was actually sort of a bet.  I told my son that I could do a 6 hour piece of music within a week.  The credit on the disc cover reads "It's amazing what this guy can do with a delay and a bottle of Jameson."  The original title was something about talking to an elf that lives under a tree in my backyard, but it just never worked.  I opted for the title of a William Blake poem.  Hell, if it gets ONE PERSON to read William Blake, it was worth it.  I just did this in September when my wife and her mom were in Alaska.

My answer to "What is the point of a 6 hour song?"  I didn't know there were limits.
 

Last word.
I copied this from a site on John Cage's "As Slow As Possible"

Deutsche Welle, July 5th, 2008
One Thousand Hear Change of Note in World’s Longest Concert
The next musical change in John Cage’s slow masterpiece will happen in November
More than 1,000 music-lovers showed up on Saturday, July 5, in a German town to hear a change of note in the longest-running and slowest piece of music ever composed. Eccentric US composer John Cage (1912-1992) planned his composition to last 639 years, meaning more than a dozen generations of musicians will be needed to play it on an automatic, as-yet unfinished organ at Halberstadt, Germany.
Entitled ORGAN2/ASLSP, it began in 2001 and has so far reached its sixth note. The second part of the name means "as slow as possible."
Neighbors have got used to the monotonous tone coming out of the former Church of St. Burchard, which was used as a pig-sty in the communist years of East Germany. At first the all-day-and-night tone sounded something like an air-raid siren.
One step at a time
The audience hushed on Saturday as two more organ pipes were added alongside the four installed so far and the tone became more complex at 3:33 p.m. local time. The second of the new pipes is set to kick in this November. A machine keeps the sound coming out.
Since some notes will not be needed for decades, pipes need only be added when donations suffice.
Organizers in Halberstadt rejected questions about what it all means.
"It doesn’t mean anything," one of them said. "It’s just there."

[darkenedsoul]

Doesn't anyone remember 9th Streets 24 hr of beethovens symphony done ambient style? I have it on a DVD but can't play it in the car (damn you auto makers! lolz).