MP3 New York City Pop Band - A Soft Liquid Joy

Electro-fusion-expressionist-ambient-minimalist-poprock.

17 MP3 Songs
ELECTRONIC: Experimental, JAZZ: Weird Jazz



Details:
The New York City Pop Band was formed in 2002 by Charles Ramsey, who is its only member. The aim was to produce "imaginative" music which was ambient/minimalist/fusion in nature, and while this is still a strong tendency of the band's, recently other styles have been appropriated--namely the dissonances of the Second Viennese School (et al.) and more pop/rock sounding thangs. But, truth be told, the real goal has nothing to do with 'writing music that sounds like...(fill in the blank)' at all, or to flaunt this or that compositional technique: the real goal is to make music which is entertaining, involving, and stamped with the indelible mark of an abundance of life.

Charles Ramsey hails from Richmond, Indiana where he developed a predilection for classical music, heavy metal bands, and dropping out of college. Later he obtained a degree in classical guitar performance from the College Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati. Then, fearing that classical music offered a bit too much prospect of securing a job in the future, he took a master's degree in Greek, Latin and Hebrew languages. Finally having had a fill of the midwestern way of life he made the move to New York City to live the life of an impoverished artist--a not too very difficult endeavor to accomplish. Currently he denies being a musician, or an artist at all...he tends to characterize (non-pompously) what he does as simply 'making stuff'.

As for the album itself...

_A Soft Liquid Joy_ is 1 piece divided into 3 sections (which in antique times would have been called movements) comprised of 17 songs. The sections are:

I. The Ravishing Toy-Girl (tracks 1-7)
II. The Lonely Magnetic Balloon (tracks 8-10)
III. The Thrill of the Heavy Toilet (tracks 11-17)

though it could be argued that both tracks 1 and 17 actually fall outside of the three sections, more or less enveloping them as opposed to being contained by them. Whatever one's stance is on that particular issue, it will seem evident that the ending is more or less like the beginning--i.e. it is as if some sort of journey has been undertaken whose ending marks the trajectory as cyclical (but not circular). Or, could it be as Ikkyu said (along with a great number of other Zen masters) that there is neither coming nor going?

On a technical note: in every piece, without exception, a prevalent way of working was put to use, one which could be termed 'capitalizing on the accidental'.