Curtis Roads Part 2: Getting Granular

[menonandnelson]

do you think people would better experience it on drugs ? Uhmm, i duno..(awkward silence) (Y)

[theinck]

Those speakers are sooo expensive.

[iamafractal]

could you set up all the parts as a playlist? also put links to the previous/next episodes near the beginning/end of each part?

[xmfdibujito]

They can´t accept that they are very "close minded", so, if this people dont understand something, they say "its music to hear on acid"

[kharnvelzyghur]

those speakers/monitors in the background - the round bumblebee like one costs a good 25000, for just one. :) just thought everybody should know. the sound quality is second to none.

[Neucore]

I am Very open minded in music, I also produce music myself, but watching this.... I JUST DON'T UNDERSTAND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!­!!!!!!!

[kellyssa3]

@Neucore

Hello. Granular synthesis is just a different way in electronic music to obtain an infinity of wave form. Granular synthesis is a beautiful sound toy if you know playing with it.

[aeczem]

Lol drugs.

[AUDIOTEMPLE]

Like watching a Cockroach interview Einstein!

[iamonetheone1]

The question wasn't stupid or inappropriate or anything, I think it was just "awkward," because a common person with yet no real insight into the type of material that this man is working with would ask something like that. But hey, the interviewer first asked if it could be asked saying it was silly, the professor said yes. So let's just get over it.

[teatime90]

0:23 - 0:50 I can listen to that sound again and again and always find something new, amazing !

[retsofnalanosaj]

Renowned Academic...Serious Composer.....blah blah blah....it was a stupid question on it's own merit, not because of the "standing"/"stature" of the person it was directed at.

[JeroenUyttendaele]

looks like a great teacher

[simonzambo]

That last question was incredible. How many names are there at the end of this video? How could they leave that in??? It was disrespectful to the fullest.

[herma57]

ThX Curtis, I like your music and thinking;you can still write for orcehstra with this, I'm doing it;

[slytown]

If you like Granular check out Fennesz's "Hotel Parallel" album. Really good stuff.

That answer to the drug question was awesome. Haha.

[DAVANDAL12345678]

Worst interview question evahhhhhhhhh. It's always hilarious to hear people people with basically no understanding of the more cerebral creative branches of music trying to frame challenging pieces with drug references. So ignorant.

[possiblefuture]

Talking about drugs and experimental electronic music is not as dumb as you might think. Just look at Morton Subotnick and his 60's san fran sit-ins with accompanying trippy projections.

Drugs make music sound better. Of course they do. The link between drugs and music is ancient and found in every culture. You can huff and try to ignore it or you can engage. He choose to huff. I think it showed him up rather than the interviewer.

[RappoldXJay]

as was previously said, as a lecturer for a respectable university he's not in a good position to publicly advocate drug use.

also, you can perfectly enjoy mozart when you're on drugs, but no one ever seems to make that connection.

[teatime90]

@RappoldXJay Mozart is probably incredible on "drugs" :D

[RappoldXJay]

i hate this notion that electronic music is intrinsically linked to drugs or more specifically halluncinogens. stockhausen didn't do drugs, neither did xenakis or pierre schaeffer, or most other electronic pioneers. it wasn't until the whole "rave" scene started. i also hate that people automatically assume "weird" music can only be made on drugs. i guess the thought that there are people like curtis roads who have such a radically different perception of reality frightens them.

[possiblefuture]

Not electronic music ALL MUSIC is intrinsically linked to drugs. To say otherwise is to ignore the reality of the situation. Drugs are not just intrinsically linked to music they are intrinsically linked to the human condition. Prescription, legal, illicit, picked from a field - it's a part of life.

How many people do you think enjoyed György Ligeti's Atmosphères in 2001 whilst on any number of drugs. Music belongs to the listener not to the creator.

[digimaton]

all music is certainly not linked to drugs, in actuality, music would once have been (and in certain contexts still is) used as a mind altering tool, drugs are not required. In fact, there are many cultures that use music alone, without drugs of any kind, to achieve altered states of consciousness. Contemporary society is over stimulated, and has lost it's sensitivity to the mind altering power of sound - hence the need some have to use drugs in order to enjoy certain music.

[deadlover73]

@RappoldXJay well said.

[liverawkstar]

@RappoldXJay

theres an ovious difference in approaches to electronic music:

scholarly and artistic (or emotional)...your comment about the associations of electronic music and drugs starting with the rave scene is dead wrong..

associations with drugs and electronic mus started with its original rock exposure, which was the Germans: Klaus Schulze, Tangerine Dream, Ash Ra Tempel, Cluster, all those guys were on major LSD as often as they could get it. and drugs were a major source of inspiration

[myleftnutts]

@RappoldXJay come on aren't they saying that about All music that didn't originate from Europe???. what were they saying about Rock,Pop or now Hip Hop???.they were they calling Jazz in the beginning Jungle Music,and after it became "Profitable" they now call it america's classical music.

[electro257]

what a STUPID DUMP ASS question.. why bring drugs into this ????????? lets face it he really aint gonna say yes to it is he! can just see it now headlines read 'accademic advocates the use of narcotics' STUPID DUMB ASSES.. how come they get to interview this guy and we can only watch it on youtube?

[c1b2666]

what a fucked up question to ask this genius! wtf =/

[KLsHadou]

How fucking disrespectful of her to ask him that at the end. He's trying to explain his music, his life, and she asks that.

FUCK VICE and theyre American Apparel Alumni they hire.

Thanks Curtis!! Getting your Book.

[realtrance]

Curtis is such a dedicated researcher, with YEARS nay decades of creativity behind him. To have all that intelligence responded to with a question like that at the end must've made him wonder whether there's any kind of world left out there to respond to all that effort.

There are a few of us with brains left, Mr. Roads, fear not. Sigh.

[aeko]

So awesome, Curtis is amazing. Could've done without the foolish question at the end.

[digimaton]

last question was very badly judged and undermined an otherwise credible production. Should have been editied out, this guy is a reknowned academic, his teaching job depends on maintaining a professional and composed demeanor. Asking him to comment on whether or not his work (visualizations of) might be better experienced on drugs was basically an insult - and to add insult to injury, we get a long pause with Roads looking incredulous - perhaps he was double thinking talking to these idiots.

[officervanhalen]

I couldn't agree more with digimaton's comment. What a ridiculous question to ask. I'd have walked out.

[ivionday]

you said it all

[GreedySloth]

@digimaton haha nicely said

[titusDT]

woaw, points put together actually form a LINE ?!?! all my preconceptions about geometry are being radically revisited

[ozzlanda]

great man

[endsequence]

Wow he is madness. I love his work so much.

[diegobocanegra]

lol the silly question was indeed silly... and a little inappropriate