This is why I make and compose music

Sound Explorers Corner Free speech
#1

Hello everyone.

I suspect that this new topic may seem corny to you, even naive.

Well I will not dive into the memory of my childhood because many Singers and Musicians will not be recognized here because not only French but from the old generation because too little multitude in choice in the years 50 to 60.

So I pass this period Aznavour, Bécaud, Polnareff, Brassens, Jacques Brel and many others.
Apart from the number of guitarists whether they are Heavy Metal, Hard Rock, Progressive Rock, Fusion, Jazz or Classical the list is really phenomenal.

Ah that’s right One passes above many, I have already put it forward for my part it is Mr. Frank Zappa.

In short today I will be much more versatile because it is the composers of film music who haunt my mind and stimulate my musical vision.

Apart from the big names like Ennio Morricone, John Williams, John Carpenter, Danny Efman, Hanz Zimmer, Jerry Goldsmith, James Horner, Vangelis, Ramin Djawadi, today Max Richter (music for the series The Leftovers) and many others because the list is really long.

I could have thought that this was not the place here to launch this subject on the cinematographic style but it is not simply that it is restricted to a symphony orchestra.

And you outside of this presentation who are the musicians who have inspired you, or who have motivated you to make music.

Thank you for taking the time to read me.

Musical Friendship.
Ph.

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#2

HI @PascalH_59

Interesting thread!

As this is, more or less, a synth enthusiasts forum, i suspect there will be a few commonalities between whoever contributes to it. :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

ALWAYS been a big fan of Lalo Schifrin, even from a very early age, loved his tonality and many of the idioms he used in things like Mission Impossible, Bullitt, Enter The Dragon etc, they STILL have an influence over me today.
Also John Barry to some extent, loved the way they both used things like The Cimbalom to great effect.

A HUGE Gary Numan fan when i was a kid and through my teens, Moroder with I feel love, James Brown as he was The Father of The Funk, Parliament/Funkadelic… some of those Bernie Worrell Mini Moog basslines are just so PHATTTT!
Chic/Bernard Edwards… no need to ask why!

Lol i could spend the rest of the day just waffling on about this one… :grin:

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#3

Ah - the musical journey…

Most of my influences were in my late teens in the late 70’s. I was lucky enough to see the release of Bohemian Rhapsody, 10cc Im not in love, Gary Numans Cars and Kate Bush Wuthering Heights. But my biggest influences were Tangerine Dream, Kraftwerk, Brian Eno, Human League, Japan and their kind. I was also and still am heavily into Cabaret Voltaire. More recently I have enjoyed Johann Johannssonn (so sad) and Max Richter - the modern electronic classical music. I am also a fan of Nils Frahm - who is amazing live.

During my adolescence, music was a lifeline to sanity and normality in an otherwise disturbing family environment.

Long live music!

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#4

Vangelis, Jean-Michel Jarre, Alan Parsons Project, Zimmer, Kraftwerk, to name but a few.

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#5

Hi all,

My first inspiration and main reason was realizing how music could affect me, when i was a small child.

I for example remember i saw The Magic Flute by Mozart. I was around 8 years old. I’m not from a opera home and saw it alone. I was totally into the adventure and the music - into the world and the emotions.

Many songs and in any genre had and have an effect on me. I don’t care about the genre as long as it work so to speak.
In the Progressive Rock or Fusion genre i was lucky to learn to know SBB from Poland. Especially the albums Follow My Dream and Welcome but also others. (SBB: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzbwGqyYddke8zOJg-MFDjQ)

Tangerine Dream from the period between 1970-1985 was one of my major electronic music experiences. Tangerine Dream have btw also made some synthesis based film soundtracks.

There have been a lot of music then and since like what’s mentioned in this topic.

Music is about emotions and pictures in sound for me. I don’t care from which country it come from.
The inspiration is’nt in how it’s composed in ntes, but in how the music affect and speaks to me. The art is to make it our own way - if we are so lucky to be able to do so. I mostly use the music for my health and joy today, but that can change again.

Music does’nt have to be complicated to give an effect.
I like a lot of music that was made before i was born. A light pop song with Swedish Anita Lindblom - Sån’t Är Livet (Can be translated to That’s How Life Is) made me thrill when i first heard it, when i was a small child and it for some reason still thrill me. It’s just a well done light pop song that’s song by a singer with a voice. It’s here if you are interested. It’s a clip from a 1961 movie:
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8wqHr1yFrw)

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#6

Lindblom has a wide vocal range, from low like Marlene Dietrich or Cassandra Wilson to average high.

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#7

Hello @LBH
‘SBB’ apart from the improvisation side in progressive rock mode tell me if I’m wrong we are close to the Zappaïen style, Great in any case.

I like it a lot and it takes me back to my Yes period “Relayer”, Gong, Grateful Dead, King Crimson “In The Court Of The Crimson King”, Ange ‘le cimetière des arlequins’, Monas Lisa (French progr group), Ummagumma, Genesis "Foxtrot, Nursery Crime, The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway …

I’m listening to it right now on the share link.

Thanks.

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#8

Yeah - really nice voice.

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#9

You are not the first thinking of Zappa when it comes to SBB. For me SBB is SBB and Zappa is Zappa. It’s ok to compare them.

Can you recommend a specific Mona Lisa and Ange piece?

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#10

This is what motivated me to make music.

Ange: French progressive rock group.

Ange - Le cimetière des arlequins (1973 - Full Album) - YouTube

#11

Ange Groupe Français Progressif Rock .

Godevin Le Vilain

#12

Mona lisa groupe Français Progressif rock .

Avant qu’il ne soit trop tard

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#13

Hubert Felix Thiefaine.

Any living body connected to the mains …

L’ascenseur de 22h43, Pt. 1 (Remastered 2018)

#14

It’s always a question of definition.
Prog rock (wikipedia) “Initially termed “progressive pop”, the style was an emergence of psychedelic bands who abandoned standard pop traditions in favour of instrumentation and compositional techniques more frequently associated with jazz, folk, or classical music.”
More planned, with many different instruments electronic or classical. Gentle Giant for instance.

As for Zappa, it depends on which album. “Freak out” is different from “Uncle Meat” or “200 motels”. It’s partly written and partly improvised. “Uncle Meat” reminds me of Pop Art’s Collages where different universes collide.
https://maryryangallery.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Signs-Robert-Rauschenberg.jpg

In Uncle Meat, Doo wop alternates with (free) jazz, contemporary (eg. Varèse like), electronic, etc.
For Zappa, any organized or unorganized sound can be music. Prog rock is more circumscribed, but I may obviously be wrong on this genre.

“Peaches en regalia” is different and described on wikipedia as jazz fusion, instrumental rock, progressive rock.

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#15

Thanks for the recommendations @PascalH_59,

Both Ange and Mona Lisa does sound quite theatrical to me. It could be some kind of plays or dance performances on stage.
Nice to listen to some french Prog.
Magma i know something about from my past. Also Gong that was formed in Paris france.

Is Hubert-Félix Thiéfaine some kind of political singer? It could sound like that.

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#16

I find the term Progressive Rock to be a umbrella term for many kinds of music.

Something relative new in progrock music or alternative rock in the current century is the Danish band Mew. Mew have called their music pop and not progressive rock.
For example the Album “And The Glass Handed Kites”.
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ob_CLXEmRFw&list=OLAK5uy_lgvHZmFBmEhU5vN0dMx-zpoSyaMQIEQSU)

#17

Mew’s “Special” is appreciated here (right now in my home). “Circuitry” video was unavailable.
I would have pigeoned hole them as Indie, another umbrella. term

“Special” has a melody typical of pop. It reminds me of the Psychedelic Furs “Mirror moves” album. Are they pop? I rather like that kind of pop.

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#18

Calling Mew Indie is fine with me too. That’s what i mean yes. Much music is not easy to categories. It’s all music.
Some artists make music in different genres.

I think Psychedelic Furs can be called Pop Rock. Some kind of Rock. Something from the album “Made Of Rain” sound more Alternative to me. I guess some simply would call their music Rock or Pop, and that’s also fine with me. It is music.

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#19

Hello @LBH

Well for the group Ange it is a mixture (at least in the very first Albums) between the melody and the richness of the lyrics.

They are like musical books, phantasmagorical stories, or like in “Emile Jocotay” based on legends in the east of France. Fairies, life told by an Old Blacksmith all in a total delirium but with a depth due to “Christian Décamps”.

If you have the opportunity it is to read the biography of this exceptional character accompanied at this time by exceptional musicians including Jean-Michel Brézovar on guitar, Francis Décamps on keyboards.

I put the link if you are interested.

Ange (groupe) — Wikipédia

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#20

For Mona Lise it’s a little different in listening at this time. It’s a friend who made me discover “Avant qu’il ne soit trop tard”.

Already “Aqualung” by Jethro Tull was hanging around on my turntable like “Sweet”, Black Sabbat (I’ve always been eclectic in my musical choices, need to discover) going from a style based on heavy metal to softer like prog or Hard Rock (Deep purple).

Well these are stories also told in music not banal lyrics, both like “Ange” but closer to a real world like “Souvenirs De Naufrageurs” fishermen sunk at sea, “Tripot” on alcoholism. I only have two of their first Albums.

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