Kirk Hammett

As Metallica is heading back to the studio following the “Sick of The Studio” break, I will talk little bit about Kirk Hammett. I don`t think he would see this posting but I still can`t resist to utter my plea as a devoted fan at my own convenience. Here we go: 1-Please do solos on the next recording and for god`s sake 2-Don`t use Mesa-Boogie amps for extracting underproduced feeling guitar sounds as it is nothing but an abuse of your great equipment! This also equally applies to your Danish buddy Lars; avoid that shitty editing on the drums, there is no merit in leaving your elusive tone behind. So no more like St. Anger please…Then you will do just fine. You are severly entrapping yourself while trying to impede repetition and creative burn-out by reversing what you have done under Bob Rock like soloing(as the main theme of this post!) but that is apparently bringing out more entrapment on your side. Experimenting with 7 string guitars and alternative tuning styles might be interesting for extending your soundscape… And at last but not least; use Rob Trujillo`s creative potential to it`s full extent… Well some of the stuff here actually should be communicated with James and Lars but you are my man as much as Jason was before he had to leave. Anyway I will shut up now, but more on this later after I hear the upcoming record… And oh yeah, Do Solos! Do Solos! Do Solos!

Christo Yotov…

 

Christo Yotov is a Bulgarian artist currently residing in Turkey, yet amazingly, largely unknown both in Turkey and in his home country Bulgaria. I can`t help being utterly absorbed by his wild imagination and mind blowing painterly skills. This picture is from a former exhibition from Nurol Art Gallery, Istanbul and one of my favourites. You don`t need to be armed with art theory to appreciate the worlds he can paint/create on a two dimensional surface.  Here is his website most of which is under construction: http://www.cyotov.com

Infinity Minus One…

Anyone close to the present Istanbul cultural scene is aware of the big hype about the santralISTANBUL; Bilgi University`s new campus extension established by renovating (and modifying) one of the landmarks of Turkish industrial architectural stock. I personally haven`t seen it in its final form, yet I know the original pre-renovated Silahtaraga Powerplant. I think in the course of few decades spanning the last years of the Late Ottoman Empire to the Early Republic (and amidst of acute political and economic turmoil), Turkey has managed to establish many industrial buildings of unique architectural flair and refined taste. However, for the course of last 50 years we ceased to follow this route, instead all we have added to Istanbul was a grotesque and bulky heap of concrete which engulfed the city with eld. The very concern of architectural taste and longing for aesthetics has been abandoned with an act of oblivion. In this respect Bilgi University`s project to bring an architectural landmark to the focal point of college life is a critical contribution to Istanbul`s cultural life.
While the initial excitement about the project itself hasn`t abated, I just learned that a scaled replica of Ilhan Koman`s “to infinity…” is being built at the santralISTANBUL complex and I am totally thrilled and blown-away by that! Ilhan Koman was a genius by all means and his approach to sculpture was totally different from anything that has preceded him. This news evoked the same emotional effect on my side as my first encounter with the Chrysler Building in the New York skyline(as a devoted art-deco fan). After mixed initial feelings of how that complex would turn out(I think I found it to be somewhat ambitious when they first touted it), they apparently overdid anything I might have expected from them. Until now, the importance of Bilgi University to Istanbul in particular, and to Turkey in a broader sense, was mostly limited to its adaptation of social sciences as its focal study area; something we as a country heavily lacked after the brink of 1980s. Now the same institution is helping to transform the perception of student-campus, city-campus, and civilian-campus relations all at once. The first thing I shall do when I step on Istanbul soil next time(hopefully next month) will be to physically go there to experience it…to see it, to hear it, to touch it and to breath it. Keep up with the good work Bilgi Community!

James Joyce and The Dubliners

Now, it is widely known that James Joyce`s works are, to a some extent autobiographical in their nature. ”The Dubliners” being the first book that I have read among his works, is still different and important to me. Of the 15 stories contained in the Dubliners, “the Sisters” has striken me most. Well, “An Encounter” is my absolute favourite in the literary context, but I have fought with “the Sisters” more… well more than any of the remaining ones. I will write on this in more detail later, but there is one thing which I can`t quit thinking on. Why, in a largely autobiographical account, would he choose the immediate aftermath of the death of a priest and it`s reflections on him as the starting point? Although, his early exposure to the Jesuit sect of Catholic church would explain the choice of the central human-subject, the particular reason as to why would a child be preoccupied with the very conception of death in a deeper level is not evident to me. I clearly recall different accounts of deaths among my relatives and our close neighbourhood from my early childhood, yet all I could do is to try to withstand the impulsive shock emanating from the aura of death, and stand still in my state of sheer confusion. But I never embarked on (nor had the willingness to do so) a serious thought process to digest the very idea of mortality and it`s religious ramifications. Looking back, I would still refrain from facing the death/life issue with an inevitably juvenile mind. Now that i have re-read the Dubliners (the beautifully annotated version) I am dying to know whether it all really  did occur to Joyce with the presented complexity when he was that young, or he just concealed (in a clever and majestic way) his defeat that would be marked by inadequate answers or the total lackthereof?

How to Draw Properly via the Facebook Graffiti Tool…

 

Well, there is no way to draw properly as long as you use a conventional mouse… But you can erase anything you want quite precisely! So, if you have a composition in your mind, just sketch a very crude outline and carve it like a stone statue…But no matter what you are drawing, the beauty of the final drawing shall only be commensurate with your overall patience to go over the details… Moreover, you can zoom onto a specific region on the plotting area for more intricate figure editing. And, by the way,  don`t take it seriously, it is just a tool to have fun and share;  no one is going to give proper credit even if you drew portraits like Rubens…

(Shown above is a unicorn I have drawn some time ago…)

 

 

 

Toros Can!

It has been a month since I have discovered Toros Can and his Ligeti Etudes CD, and what a serendipitous and charming find  it turned out to be… I was looking for something different (admittedly “ different” is a broad and diffuse word yet Ligeti himself is something different with all that it implies), but still someone to make it even more avantgarde yet retaining the balls to break what I call the “cellular automata barrier”. But let me elaborate on this little weird sounding concept; I think the inherent complexity of the compositions by this Hungarian-Romanian master,  while possessing a strong puerile side is to me is like a cellular automata output;  a very complex (not complicated!) musical progression formed by simple (yet first class in this case) ingredients and indiscernible transitions. He called what he did as micro-polyphony ,and rightly so. My point is, with this micro-polyphonic route, he reinvented cellular automation within the confines of human cognition.  Therefore, whenever some competent pianist starts with the very same ingredients, the result is different, distinctive and rich, yet similar in many respects to the others in existence. With that said, it is also possible to form quick binary judgements (love it, hate it) with performances inherently very close to each other. The distinguishing mark then would come from someone who can mix this complexity with his/her human side. Right here I will utter a pet peeve of mine; If you ask any listener or performer,  they would avouch the importance of retaining such emotional context  (for any musical performance really…), yet finally fail to judge accordingly or implement this unwritten principle when it comes to commenting on their listening experiences or personal renditions. But here is a man that plays Ligeti with complete command, finesse and tasteful exploration. There is obviously no way to wipe out the prejudice of former listening experiences in it`s entirety, especially if what you have experienced was Pierre-Laurent Aimard`s playing (when we are speaking of Ligeti). This is not better or worse, just refreshingly different and of same caliber(at least). And, remember; both auditing and performing Ligeti is “ extremely personal” so if you feel like someone (that someone might as well be you…) you hear manages to come close sounding like to Aimard(except for himself) you actually has chosen the wrong CD, but this one is “right”…