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13 silent French Movies

by The Tom & Marty Band

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1. Intro 01:12
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A Descriptive Chronology of composer Martin McCavitt's "15 Movie Beds for Live Improvisation". The music was written to be used as backing tracks during a live performance in which 13 silent French Movies from the 1890s were shown at the Firehouse Theater on Broad St. in December 2002. An extremely accurate, though somewhat laughable and primitive 'just push the play button at the right time' type of "timed synchronization" was used during the many rehearsals and the performance. Along with the continuous play of the films and the music beds Tom Campagnoli & Marty McCavitt of "The Tom & Marty Band" improvised special effects and spontaneous music cues that went with scenes or situations in the films. Tom and Marty rehearsed for several months with the films using a VHS recorder for the films and a MiniDisk recorder for the music beds. No synchronizing or 'lock to picture' hardware or software was used. Everything was 'hand synced', and the sometimes present and intentional visual countdowns, as well as unintentional film artifacts and imperfections that occurred between each film became the pre-roll 'cues' that were used to indicate when to press the 'play' button on the MiniDisk player. Even the slight delay time between when the play button for the audio was pushed and when the music was actually audible was taken into account. ===================================== Tom & Marty Movie Album: 15 Movie Beds for Live Improvisation Grouping: 15 Silent French Movies from the 1890s 16 songs, 1.2 hours, 653.6 MB CD Film cut #: Film # name time 1. 1. Intro 1.12 2. 2. jupiter thunderblts 3.33 3. 3. mermaids 3.34 4. 4. magic lantern 4.51 5. 5. extraordinary illusions 3.34 6. 6. mysterious box 0.46 7. 7. untamable whiskers 2:25 8. 8. intro 1:56 9. 9. witches revenge 3:31 There must have been a 10th film in which the music was provided exclusively by the live improvisations of Tom & Marty. Cut #10 on the CD goes with film #11, astronomer's dream. the film being one digit higher than the corresponding CD cut # continues for the rest of the CD. CD Film cut #: Film # name time 10. 11. astronomer's dream 7:56 11. 12. transformation 3:38 12. 13. Intro (to Dr.'s secret) 1:02 13. 14. Dr.'s secret mermaid 9:28 14. 15. invisible thief 4:56 15. 16. red spectre 9:54 16. Clock-time Structure 1999 / Music for Dance 13.21 Just to be sure there is as much confusion as possible, I believe there were 2 music beds that Tom and I improvised with, but which were not really old French films. All the films were spliced together on 2 reels. Therefore there was a natural intermission. The films on each reel were: Reel 1: Films 1 - 7 CD cuts 1 - 7 Reel 2: Films 8 - 16 CD cuts 8 - 15 The music written and recorded for CD cuts and films # 1 and #8 were also in timed synchronization to the projected images on the screen, but these 2 films were introductory and descriptive in nature. They appeared as text descriptions on film which gave brief information about the filmmakers, the equipment and techniques that would follow. A descriptive chronology of the music on cuts 11- 16 on the CD 11. astronomer's dream 7:56 0.00 Symphonic 2.04 electronic pulse/crossfade out of symphonic sections 2:12 electronic pads and melodies 2:49 Calliope 3:58 S&H Modulates Pad #2 4:14 symphonic texture begins an entrance with cellos 4:20 Symphonic texture is equal wit electronic texture / Cross fade electronics out and symphonic in 4:30 Symphonic only 5:08 Modulated pad added to symphonic texture 5:13 Symphonic out. Modulated electric piano enters 5:30 Low cellos enter under electronics 5:45 Symphonic only 6:27 Calliope and electronics enter 7:27 Electronic pulse (pitched) & modulated Calliope 7:32 High strings. Symphonic and electronic end together 12. transformation 3:38 1:20 Real-time Network enters 1:35 dance beat stops. Real-time Network becomes prominent 1:53 dance beat returns. Real-time Network continues 2:17 electronics 2.31 no dance beat 2:41 dance beat reenters 2:58 no dance beat. modulated Acoustic Upright Bass. Real-time Network continues 3:23 dance beat to end 13. Intro (to Dr.'s secret) 1:02 metallic, horn-honking whirlwind, low-rent rendezvous 0:00 metallic, horn-honking whirlwind, and disguised keyboard glissandos 0:29 an imbedded Middle-Eastern melody 14. Dr.'s secret mermaid 9:28 The overall effect of the music is dark, hypnotic, trance inducing and unsettling with the effect of being inside a one-man 19th century submersible barrel. 0:00 pretty, but slightly sinister metallic post-Gamelan bowls. 0:25 3 pitch synth ostinato. The metric placement is varied, which allows this part to serve as a "trick melody" 0:45 Subtle drum beat Pitched pulse is heard in the background. 1:23 3 pitch obstinate in the bass register is now revealed 1:38 electronic static and sucking effect. 2:09 electronic static and sucking effect. 2:18 a new real-time network 4:18 cross fade into music for an electronic circus of insects. 4:42 solid bass enters 4:54 drums. a dance beat. 5:11 electronic static and sucking effect instead of dance beat. 5:16 rhythmic sequence with pitched material from the dance beat enters (takes the role of a rhythm guitar) 5:24 bass enters in double time 5:28 bass back to normal time and locks with drum dance beat. 6:07 drums and bass stop. 6:22 electronic static and sucking become the foreground 6.33 pitched pulse. realtime network. 7:00 pitched pulse. electronic static and sucking effect 7:26 double time dance music 7:30 normal tempo dance music 7:49 rhythmically gated pad. 8:00 crossfade to the beginning texture: pretty, but sinister metallic bowls. 3 pitch synth ostinato. the metric placement is varied, a "trick melody". Subtle drum beat. Pitched pulse is heard in the background. 8:47 Low bowls. ======================================================== 15. invisible thief 4:56 0:00 There is no mistaking that sound!!!! A Tom & Marty Band Dr. Synth-style beat right a the beginning, with a neutral-sounding, but highly syncopated 2-pitch bass synth ostinato 1:20 metallic, horn-honking whirlwind, and disguised keyboard glissandos --->>> <<"Third Rate Romance, Low-Rent Rendezvous" has nothing to do with this texture,but this lyrical phrase has popped into my mind here and when the same material was used during cut #13. Intro (to Dr.'s secret). Only the words - not the music. >> <<<---- 1:48 cool semi-gated pad 2:07 another drum beat enters 2:19 I don't have a good reason for this, but I gotta call 'em as I see 'em. So here it is again, folks: the material that makes me think of the words to the song dubiously entitled "Third Rate Romance, Low-Rent Rendezvous". Perhaps it is because I am just 'messing around' on the keyboard with a bell/horn sound. No deep thought or intention is behind these sounds, but I liked them and used them . . . here and there . . . before and behind . . . anon and agog . . . - 'tis the Irish in me, don't ya' know? Don't let it find you pre-turn or perturbed - and Happy St. Paddy's day to all gathered and asunder. We are all born poets who interchange the sounds and play with the meanings of all the words n' all the worries that might come across our desk. If it rhymes, we're likely to speak it out loud. 3:08 piano in the background 3.43 metallic, horn-honking whirlwind; low-rent rendezvous 3:48 stronger snare in the beat ======================================================== 16. red spectre 9:54 0:00 dark and intense. 0.08 delay and echo environment., but with a clear underpinning of 8th notes. 0:13 dark and ominous low sound, with a strong inner rhythmic pulse. 0:37 vox + megaphone 0:47 a harbinger of sounds to come . . . 0:51 the sound that was just harbingered, now revealed to be a rhythmic sequencer - maybe just a bit like Morton Subotnik 0:58 a fermata - in electronic music? Unheard of !!! - but here it is, that is, until . . . 1:02 A rough dark low pitched sequence rhythm, with a slight but disturbing 'out-of-meter' skip every time it loops. 1:59 a sequence in the same tempo, but with a new electronic sound. 3:06 man - this line has been going on a long time. I'm going back to 1:59 so I can count the times. (no pejorative reflection on the poetic outpouring of Elizabeth Barrett Browning's husband and lover, Mr. Show-biz . . . Robert "Big-Fig HobNob AppleBobbin' Browning, NOR on Bob "Bobo" Dylan's lyrical allusion to Burgundy as a 'gateway drink' and his ensuing journey to lower depths, then back to sanity. Welcome back, Bob! We know it was all just some poetry in a song in fact, indeed, you were never really gone. Sometimes everybody has to go back to someplace or sometime to find out if there is a better choice. Don’t worry. Go or don’t go. Either way, nothing bad will happen). So, from 1:59: I get 8 repetitions of a 4 or 5 measure loop. This loop is a little tricky, too. It seems to consist of an anacrusis occurring within the last 2 8th notes of a measure, then into 4 4/4 measures of active rhythmic material. It 'runs out of steam' on the downbeat of the 5th measure, and the anacrusis occurs on the 4th beat of the 5th measure. So we have a 5 measure loop - 17 beats of rhythmic activity, and 3 beats of repose. This loop is repeated 8 times. 3:09 Music change. Now we are presented with a 6 measure loop. Beginning on the downbeat of measure 1, there are 5 4/4 measures of active rhythmic material, which also seem to 'run out of steam', but this time at the 6th measure. The 6th measure seems to be in 5/4 or darn close to it. So, 20 beats of rhythmic activity followed by 5 beats of repose. A 6 bar, 25 beat repeating loop. Except for the added measure and the extra beat in measure 6, there is a clear similarity to the previous loop which began at 1:59. Somebody was having a “mathy” day! at 4:35 & 5:02 there is a sequenced beat which seems somewhat reminiscent of Autechre or Aphex Twin when he put his drum machine through a fuzz box. Except here, one measure is all we get, then the material is cut up and 'randomized'. Really not that useful for raves or other trance events, like discos or Meat Packing District weekend nights - which probably by now is soo 10 years ago!. I guess I'm willing to do just about anything to make sure there is no commercial potential and no way to really make very much money with the old "musica originalis". Oh, well - I kinda liked the early Prodigy Experience better anyway. On the other hand, listening to head bopping material that is cut up and 'randomized' feels like a language that has simply not been decoded yet. Hey - all I need is a Rosetta Stone that can translate the stuff I have intellectual rights to into the equivalent of a famous Mersey Beat band, like Gerry and the Pacemakers or Jay and the Americans. Then I'll be well on my way to realizing "The Dream" – Ahhhh - the dream . . . the dream of someday joining my contemporaries and becoming another in a short list of big-time American thousandaires!!!!! Hmmmmm, let's see --- "life goes on day after day" - yeah, okay. I should be able to write something like that . . . Well, let me finish this CD and I'll get started on my Mersey Beat phase. 8:09 finally - a semi-new loop, and this one only slightly trips and falls over itself for about 1/2 a beat every in the middle of every 4th bar. Anyone could dance to that, right? And don't forget - you're not supposed to be dancing. You're supposed to be sitting down watching a film with a strange red tint that's over a century old. So, for a history lesson, I think this music is pretty darn bopable. 9:27 some echo-ish delay stuff in the background. Just than
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3. Mermaids 03:33
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8. Intro 01:56
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released March 15, 2014

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