VC - An Album I could listen to again For The First Time? A short La Monte Young primer

[@seekingathread]

Wonderful, truly one of the best videos here I've seen in the VC. The fact that you're waiting to play that last side of Well Tuned Piano is something else. Will be a special day when you play that one. I missed out on the reissue in 2016 of Dream House but that is the last time I heard his music. Looking forward to digging in and pulling out my copy of Dreamweapon too. Love the background info of that record. (playing to disinterested guests for a film premiere). Not to mention there are no sitars in there! I will have to think about this question as well. The first thing that comes to mind is Mogwai's "Young Team" from '97. I can remember just where I was and how I felt about it. Great topic!

[@christopherkibler511]

Christian, this was another great video and quite the contest response. I have never seen anyone show La Monte Young LPs. I have seen two people refer to their Well-tuned Piano box sets, but not show them. You did not mention The Second Dream Of The High-Tension Line Stepdown Transformer From The Four Dreams Of China, or Just Stompin', but they are not available on vinyl. Thanks, Chris

[@christopherkibler511]

I have been looking at that Danielle Lombardi album, but it seems too expensive.

[@baileyh0303]

Never had more than a passing interest in Spacemen 3 but this video really helped me get into them. Listened to Dreamweapon and everything about the band fell into place and clicked for me. Thanks!

[@johncoltrane68]

My introduction to la monte came from tony conrad and john cale many years ago..that is when I became familiar with his work and fascinating and unique musical concepts.. Funny me and carm last week were discussing the well tuned piano box which carm scored on cd years ago. The cd box itself is a very rare item. As all of his work is unfortunately even back then I have only been able to listen in digital form as the vinyl has eluded me all these years and still does unfortunately. Like you stated his influence though mostly in the shadows has been enormous on certain forms of music. When I speak to people of the idea of the holy drone i am referring to la monte..as his music is really the sound of universe itself and it does have a continuous dialogue with the listener. Theatre of eternal music in that sense is an aptly named experience. You talk about dedication as many of there performance as you know where continuous all night affairs. Long before rave culture and the like. His music remains some of the purest I have experienced and heard. No surprise is interest in Pandit Pran Nath work as the most devotional indian music has precedents in his own work..so he for him to go back to the source and find some new renewal there makes sense..i believe in his later years he has been completely devoted to indian music and the mystery of the raga. I do have earth groove in this batch and of course love it very much. So when people call la monte the godfather of minimalism(though he truly is in some way) is an oversimplification imo.. I think what you have revealed here is just how much deeper this kinda of aural exploration goes. I hope more people like you said at least experience the music for themselves as that is imo the really only true arbitrator of the creators intent or meaning or even the listener themselves.. Enlightening video as always brother...much love chris

[@StuntrockConfusion]

He is the father, grand father and godfather at the same time. He also is the trickster, as there is an aspect of bluffing I believe, behind some of his spiel. But It's easy to bypass this. I've met quite a few people who learned played and lived with him, and most of them told me that at one point, they had to leave, as it could become quite unhealthy to live under the shadow of such a giant, a shadow that could cloud itself with manipulative tones... Yet, the new ways he introduced to music perseption are so radical that I truly believe his work is as core to the human experience as Einstein or Sartre, exploration and self exploration at the same time.

[@Ed-Topo-108]

I love his Composition 1960 #4 where the lights turn off for 1 minute of silence.

[@StuntrockConfusion]

!960 is a paradignm shift game changer of a tune!

[@Ed-Topo-108]

@@StuntrockConfusion inspired me to watch a performance of piano piece #1. So good. Love the concept of the piece ending when the performer is exhausted!

[@bipbopboom]

I almost made the same journey as you but took a different turn. At one point in time we were walking together. Dream Weapon was an amazing record. I didn’t know why. But I bought a guitar amplifier with tremolo and would overdub long droning guitar tracks on a cheap four track recorder. I didn’t know where I was going or why that sound was important. Dream Weapon made a giant impact on me. But of course the calling of rock n roll was too loud to ignore. As corny as this sounds, it all clicked for me when you made a video a couple of weeks ago. Finally I understood where you are and how you arrived. Enjoyed these videos! Cheers!

[@StuntrockConfusion]

Hey Jon, best comment of the day at the very least! The rock still exists and matter to me, obviously, but probably for the punk philosophy, the other side to the coin being the academy. Dream weapon is one of the rare portals that goes both ways, and I really enjoyed reading your take on it. It’s not just about how it makes you feel, but what path it sits you upon. I’m constantly baffled that I haven’t yet settled for my comfort zones and still thrive for the challenge, even when they feel uncomfortable at times, and I’m sure that record has something to do with it😅

[@bipbopboom]

@@StuntrockConfusion i don’t seek out records that will challenge me. I’ve spent many an hour trying to get into a new music that was recommended or I’m supposed to appreciate and it never works. I need to come to it naturally and usually on my own. I do stay in my comfort zone, but my comfort zone is always slowly expanding. I search for music the way a DJ searches for breaks or beats on old lps. I like discovering the magical track that appears every once in a while on an old blues comp, a neglected single from the 80s, a forgotten metal album or an underground classic that I somehow missed. The killer track. I have more to say, but will end it here. It’s a pleasure knowing you! Cheers!

[@StuntrockConfusion]

@@bipbopboom yes, sometimes, the most exciting record will be a terrible 6XLP compilation, with one sole insanely good track. Doomed to be forgotten

[@LowNoiseJasonSkilz]

Nice entry for Tuco's contest! What do you use for audio in your vids btw. The music audio sounds great in the background. La Monte young is awesome.

[@diamond_marimba]

like your last side of well tuned, I was waiting to watch this with some anticipation. I just started reading a book called monolithic undertow about the history of drone music, will be interested to see how young is discussed. in some ways I admire that he's been able to have control of what he releases, I don't think we have a 'right' to art. I would assume he's not going to allow his work to be released posthumously either, but time will tell...he does have that mysterious Korean protégé, perhaps she will be the next tortoise...

[@StuntrockConfusion]

Who’s that book from?

[@diamond_marimba]

@@StuntrockConfusion author is harry sword

[@augustemaquet1295]

Very interesting. I will have to look deeper into this artist. Also a good question to start it all.

[@StuntrockConfusion]

Thank the eternal tortoise for KZbin then! I hope you’ll be as surprised by Young as I was, and that you’ll be able to give him the time this craves 😄

[@TONEScott]

I haven't done my response to Tuco's thread yet. Interesting choice. Of course I am unaware of this particular artist but will be checking him out. Do you have any of the Deutsche Grammaphon Avant Garde series LP's in your library? Cheers - TONE

[@StuntrockConfusion]

Het Scott, white, yellow, red and purple indeed on my shelves 😅 and yes, I understand this could feel like an unexpected choice, but it was the most spontaneous entry I could do, and pure drone is as extreme as it gets, so I dare hope I’m not too much on the left field side of things here.

[@TONEScott]

@@StuntrockConfusion Ahhh the left field side is always good!

[@Zeitdehner]

Music is in Sound, Sound is in Music, Music is in Everything, and Everything is in Music...Eternal Love is in La Monte Young, la Monte Young is in Eternal Love Om, Shanti, Shanti, Shanti Cheers !

[@StuntrockConfusion]

Hehe, what to add after this, you summed it up quite good

[@SlambosCarofIdiots]

That is neat. It reminds me of all the sounds at the fine art exhibits that I've been to over the years. I don't think it's anything that I would add to my collection, but I am very happy to have heard it. I don't think I would have the self control to not listen to a new (to me) record until just the right time, more in fear that the right and most perfect time would be when I am not near my turntable.

[@StuntrockConfusion]

Believe me, I didn't think either, but this music is IMHO so special, that if you make the councious decision to confront yourself with it, that means that you already are open to accepting new ideas and ways, even for yourself. In my own case, I think it simply unlocked a mode I didn't realize existed.

[@miketomlin6040]

I saw La Monte perform in the 90's. It's not exactly performance or visual music. He just sat in one spot for 2-3 hrs if I recall correctly. The most interesting aspect was seeing who was in the Audience. It was central London, Barbican. Sold out, but yes still a relatively unknown figure outside of tighter or more serious musical circles. Good video Stunter, Monte's sounds need more attention. And show some respect for the Postal, great service, at least in rural areas. Postmen there will walk into your house, get you out of bed and make sure you sign it!!

[@StuntrockConfusion]

Well, privatized package delivery in Paris meant war, so glad I moved to A forest on an island 😅 I missed Young on the piano in Paris, au théâtre du châtelet, some 15 years ago, too expensive for me then. But it’s true that these gigs can be annoying, turning into a handshaking event, spiting all the other usual suspects, congenital scene 😅

[@miketomlin6040]

@@StuntrockConfusion It was worth going just to get a more proximal sense of his modus operandi. LaMonte did have a cult guru quality to him. To be fair though not the ideal setting , these large venues have a corporate quality and dodgy acoustics more often than not. I saw Steve Reich a few times in large venues and his 'sound' was undermined in a large room. You live on an island?, sounds lovely! Paris I loved, my favourite city in Europe probably, although Lisbon is gorgeous. I liked the smell of Paris around 7am after the street cleaning and cafes opening, coffee arriving in the air. (I lived in the UK as a child where the coffee is undrinkable and only a fool ate the food). I used to find some lovely vinyls back in the Latin Quarter in the 80's/90's, although last time I was there , 2010?, the prices were getting a little cher.

[@StuntrockConfusion]

@@miketomlin6040 I know that smell exactly, and the best time of the year for that is August, right when the tourist left and the parisian still are away, empty.Before I left, there still were good deals to be made there, record wise. I suspect that nowadays, you have to live there full time to be aware of the remaining ones, or be heavily connected. I hope to be going soon, I confess, but mostly for the food, and to buy second hand books.

[@miketomlin6040]

@@StuntrockConfusion Books are usually a better use of money than vinyls. If I had time or was not just passing through for a few hours, I'd go to the flea markets in the North of the city, found a few 'bargains' there. The gorgeous smell arose after they cleaned the streets with those heavy duty water machines. I came from London where little is cleaned. Some irony in the idea Parisians don't wash yet live in a clean city!! True though, the metro was full of dubious body smells!! I much prefer French pressings to UK or USA, more exotic, artistic, sexy - the language, so for me buying there was always euphoric! There were a few dealers in France who put their collections in storage when the vinyl lost favour around 1990-92. I wish I'd plundered them more as I imagine now if they did not throw them away they are selling them for big money. This was in rural areas like the Dordogne, Limousin, Languedoc.

[@GlenKellawayfromthebasement]

I just subbed your channel after seeing your comment on a video..Look forward to checking out your videos..glen kellaway

[@victorsthought]

Have you ever heard the music without the digital changes you make to it?

[@StuntrockConfusion]

Hey hey, what do you mean by that?

[@unclassifiablemess]

Big bunch of cheap heat! lol. I wish any of these where affordable, as I also love La Monte Youngs music. I heard he's sitting on quite a lot of recorded material he made with his friend in the Eternal Music that the other guys would want to release but La Monte Young refuses... I wonder what will happen to it when he dies. Btw, I didn't know Jon Hassel was involved with these people, interesting. I don't know how much you paid for the Well-Tuned Piano box, but it is still a very long album so there's alot of music for the money, although people could argue that it all sounds the same, but as you describe in the video that's not the point of this mans music. I'd say it was worth the money as long as you didn't starve in the meantime :) I sure would like to own it too but I'm still swimming with the smallest of collector fishes, lol. I will make a step soon and spend more then the 50-something Euros I've spent on a record so far. Not sure what it'll be though as there are so many I would want, haha. A mailman left a record parcel at the doorstep here too (which they usually never do) and it was all wet bottom 10 cms when I came home from work and found it. Luckily the seller had it well packed so the records were fine. Anyways, thanks for another great video about a great man. Cheers, Johan

[@StuntrockConfusion]

Cheers Johan, thanks for the in depth comment, that’s why I do these. I hope your hair grows back fast, so that you dare do your videos again 😅 och Kansas ses vi i Stockholm snart?

[@unclassifiablemess]

@@StuntrockConfusion Hahahaha, yeah the hair is growing. Stupid thing to cut it off, I dont think I'll do that again. Will get to Sthlm at some point, how soon it'll be I dont know :)

[@unclassifiablemess]

@@StuntrockConfusion Also, if I were to choose an album I would want to hear for the first time it would probably be the related album The Harp Of New Albion by Terry Riley. I always preferred it over Well-Tuned Piano. Maybe because it isn't quite as over whelming and a bit more melodic.

[@Localbandography]

Fudge Tunnel! The Complicated Futility of Ignorance I might have listened to more than any other album in the mid nineties.

[@StuntrockConfusion]

Ha! I love the first two ones, especially Creep Diets, almost made my 90ies list. The third one, I might need to give it another chance, as it then felt more straight up metal than the previous ones.

[@Localbandography]

@@StuntrockConfusion The heavy as hell bass carries the day on it. But yeah Creep Diets and Hate Songs are great too imo.

[@StuntrockConfusion]

@@Localbandography ok, you win, I will give it another go 😅 how about La Monte Young?

[@Localbandography]

@@StuntrockConfusion love the last track there you played.

[@Localbandography]

That was Spacemen 3 though I think.

[@manuelgodchaux]

ETERNAL -another great episode of ‘Stunty shows the rarest classics’ ..awesome to behold...only disappointment was no mention of Tony Conrad ;)

[@manuelgodchaux]

i feel like Tony Conrad is the happy ground between Young’s pretention and Charlemagne Palestine’s goofball-ism

[@manuelgodchaux]

Elaine Radigue in the next room laughing at the utter maleness of it all

[@StuntrockConfusion]

@@manuelgodchaux not untrue : I spent many hours discussing with her the male chauvinism that surrounded her career, even from some of the sweetest people. But Zazeela was mentioned, and for the lack of Conrad mentioning, you could have led the way with Hennix instead 😉

[@StuntrockConfusion]

@@manuelgodchaux I once had Palestine at a dinner learning it was my birthday, climbing the table in a full attended restaurant, proceeding to sing me a happy birthday chorus, as if it was the most normal thing ever 🤣

[@manuelgodchaux]

amazing-you’ve had some great conversations-i’m jealous! and yeah..I’d guess Zazeela deserves as much notoriety as Young receives. I know less about Hennix’s life and legacy, though I love the Deontic Miracle release from a few years back-deep drone mastery.

[@michaelvalentini4869]

Stunty, interesting story, involving your postal service. I think La Monte Young loves sound, but not fellow human beings. He probably has a small circle of true friends, the rest of humanity does not interest him. He sends his music out the door, and does not care if anyone listens. I have the cd of ''The second dream of the high tension line stepdown transformer from the four dreams of china'', I paid less than a dollar, for a sealed copy. I enjoy all 77 minutes of it. La Monte Young doesn't care if I like it, but you do.

[@StuntrockConfusion]

I also have that CD, and I care that you enjoy it 😅 I share your feelings about his latent misanthropy, but maybe that’s what was needed to achieve that journey and oeuvre.

[@michaelvalentini4869]

@@StuntrockConfusion Magenta is the perfect ''color'' for his music, and I love that he dresses up like the leader of a motorcycle gang. He thinks humans are still evolving, and we are all trying to ''catch up'' with Him and his higher state of being.

[@larrymann803]

My dude looks like if Beatle Juice had a son that was raised on grunge music

[@StuntrockConfusion]

Well, that wasn’t very nice of you. Then again, it depends what you mean with grunge music! 😄 how about La Monte Young, then, any thoughts about the content rather than the looks?

[@larrymann803]

@@StuntrockConfusion I appreciate you taking the time to put forward your opinions.