Being Leon Pascal

Just some stuff

It'll probably be mostly music.

Two weeks ago I was on a mini tour to Duisburg and Amsterdam. I went with the amazing songwriter Karel van de Marel and we forgot to take pictures.

There is this rule in songwriting theory: 'show don't tell'. As I've been teaching at University, I have been listening to some Renaissance music again, including Josquin. The texts that he uses are the opposite of that - they tell, and don't really show. I thought it was funny. First I noticed it with Parfons Regretz (links below). But also with other lyrics that include regret: Mille Regretz and Tout a par moy by Walter Frye that Josquin made into a parody mass.


It also reminded me of my own songs, that I thought, I'd discarded, even though I liked the music and some of the lyrics. It is called "The Famous Kyrie by GP da P" and I might quote some of the lyrics Josquin uses, so that the breaking of 'show don't tell' is justified somehow.

I gotta start posting on my secret microblog more. I've been listening to a lot of Cameron Winter in the last few weeks.

I wrote a poem that I still like after memorizing parts of From Blossoms by Li-Young Lee. I don't know if it's inspired by that poem. But it's definitely inspired by me playing chess a lot in the last few days.

setting up once again
the pieces of the knightly game
I'm learning these days
to fill my waking hours;

In endless ways they move
as on the tree
predictably
branching out their ways.

Outside the shapes are losing shape,
and I feel rooked no more
though I am shaken
that the words don't mean what they used to.

I am setting up once again
the knight, rook, bishop, king, queen
and en passant
I am taken to disappear.


A while back I read a biography on Camus (in German language) by Iris Radisch earlier this year (or last year?). She made me look at his work through a different lense, after I didn't really enjoy his ideas and style anymore. Now after reading two books by German climate activist Luisa Neubauer (one with her grandmother), I was reminded of how Iris Radisch talked about his later work. I read a few pages in L'homme révolté (also in German) - and even though I didn't agree with everything, I really enjoyed his ideas on aesthetics! I really recommend reading into them, if you're an artist with typical artist's doubts!

He says that artists are making a stand by choosing what to leave out and what to ascribe aesthetic value to (as far as I understood when I first read it). He also makes this interesting comparison between Formalism and Realism that resonated with me, because it adressed problems that I had, when writing lyrics.

I am currently reading and enjoying Haruki Murakami's 'Kafka on the Shore'. A friend gave it to me. I had already read 'Norwegian Wood'. Today I was at someone's place, whom I didn't know before. The first thing I saw in their room was '1Q84'.

I find music these days through more obscure places. Algorhithms just don't do it for me anymore. But the upside that is finding more obscure artists. Theo R posted a link to his album in a subreddit of an artist I listen to (Nick Drake?).

Sam Andersen's music and website (link on their bandcamp) I found through a Discord of r/WeAreTheMusicMakers.

I had some nice moments, sitting in silence with a friend for a song of Theo R and just listening. Sam Andersen has been on throughout my last two days. 'Matchbox Letter' from his album 'brush' has been stuck in my head since I first heard it.

Today, while cleaning my room and doing some sports, I listened to Magic Ship by Mountain Man and then the new Tarta Relena album, whom I discovered by their Tiny Desk concert.
Usually I listen to CRAWLER by IDLES while doing sports.

This artful video made me go to this website. There I clicked on 'visit random site' and the first page I stumbled upon was one of the sites of a guy called Lou Plummer. I read two articles and liked them. I do like the IndieWeb.

Mmmh, Trip Hop Revival

Such a romantic one!

I also liked 'I'm The President' from the same album 'KNOWER FOREVER'. But I only found this song through the new (?) video.