A series for Saturdays in 2026 inspired by Brian Eno and Peter Schmidt's set of cards, Oblique Strategies (Over One Hundred Worthwhile Dilemmas). Eno and Schmidt created them to be used to unblock creative impasses and approach problems from unexpected angles. Each week I'll turn over an Oblique Strategy card and post a song or songs inspired by the suggestion.
Last Saturday's card said this- Cluster Analysis. And in response to the card I posted a track by West German group Cluster, 1976's Zum Wohl. What else could I do? Walter agreed- the band Cluster was is first response too but then said this-
My second thought reminded me that cluster analysis was a significant part of my profession. In terms of music, every mixtape and every playlist is a cluster of this kind—depending on the underlying intention. I opened a playlist in Spotify. The cluster was the release date of the songs. Coincidentally, 'Ndrangheta Allotment by Meatraffle was at the top of the list.
When I turned over today's card I got this...
[blank white card]
To which I spluttered a sort of half laugh. The process of writing a blog is often to start with a blank white page and to see where it goes. Often I have a clear idea of what a post is going to be about. There's a notebook next to the computer in which I keep a list of songs/ artists/ topics to write about. It gets added to endlessly and items are crossed out as they get covered. When the pages become a mess of crossings out and scribbles I turn over and start a new page, transferring anything from the old page not yet covered onto the new one.
Often a post comes together which isn't on the list so the list is a memory jogger and bank of intentions and ideas. And sometimes, I click on New Post on the dashboard and see what happens. But [blank white card] is more or less the starting point so on this occasion I'm not sure Eno and Schmidt's Oblique Strategy did very much in terms of firing the creative process.
I put the three words into the downloads folder search box and went for the first return in each case.
Blank
Pye Corner Audio from 2024- noise and fear, a synth drone underneath just about audible, hammer on metal- then at two minutes a synth chord emerges sounding like the most distorted guitar in the world, changing slightly and just when you're about to give up, the noise almost too much a little musical refrain appears and gradually- very gradually- comes to the fore. The sound of the last song being when the universe collapses.
White
A total change of sound- White Shirt is from Some Friendly, The Charlatans debut album, released in October 1990. Rob Collins' Hammond organ is the key instrument, that wheezy sound swirling and leading. Tim Burgess said the song was mainly inspired by Felt and also an attempt to shift Collins away from Deep Purple and The Beatles. 'When my white shirt lets me down', Tim sings, 'Like one we race against the wind'.
Card
From Mogwai's 2014 album Rave Tapes, an album that has been overshadowed by ones they've made since- I'd always go to 2025's The Bad Fire, 2021's As The Love Continues, 2017's Every Country's Sun or 2016's soundtrack Atomic before putting Rave Tapes on. Guitars raging, a staccato riff, keys, pounding drums- Master Card is a sound hewn from granite.
Each of these three artists has been on these pages multiple times- maybe that was what Eno's card was hinting at, doing something completely different.
Feel free to play along and suggest your own Oblique Saturday responses in the comments box.
As a Godless soul, I often ponder 'the nothingness' and Eliane Radigue's sonic investigation into life, death, and the afterlife, "Trilogie de la Mort" does much the same. "Koume" - https://xirecords.bandcamp.com/track/koum - makes up the last part of the trilogy and emphasises the transcendence of death. It is the descent to the deepest realms, where the spark of life is. There, Death is born. Death becomes birth. Activity re-beginning. Eternity, a perpetual 'becoming'. One of the 20th century's great fanatics, Radigue spent eight years handcrafting this elegy to her sadly departed son, and if you're not a deep listener, all you'll hear is a hum. Overtones of gently pulsing drones are Radigue's themes, but her sweep is symphonic. Booming bass tones test the limits of your loudspeakers, and within them string orchestras and bagpipes seem to play dirges. When the music goes from sweet to sad, or from roaring climax to pure quiet in the final half-hour, the change is so imperceptibly gradual that it sweeps you along all the more. You have to slow your day way down just to begin appreciating this and that's not a bad idea. For me, on several occasions while immersed in listening to Koume, the hypnotic hum caused my dog to look up at me with longing puzzlement.
ReplyDeleteGoing Blank Again by Ride, surely?
ReplyDeleteHi Liz Udz- Kouma is new to me and I like it very much, the drone and sounds are deeply affecting. Like Radigue I've lost a son and drone/ hum as a way to cope is very much part of my experience.
ReplyDeleteJase- there's a different version of this post that occurred to me after I'd written this one which is just Going Blank Again. Maybe I should have gone with it.
The first thing I thought of was those A6 sized index cards you get at the stationers that I used to write my crib notes on back in the days when my job involved regular public speaking.
ReplyDeleteThen I got stuck because I couldn't think of a record to go with them. So I went to Bandcamp and typed in "index card". This is the track that came up first:
https://khate.bandcamp.com/track/index-card
PS I see from your Instagram you made it to Rue Haute
DeleteSpent Thursday afternoon up and down Rue Haute Ernie, a bit of record shopping, lunch and a beer in a bar. Thanks for the tip.
ReplyDeleteAs its easier this week, I'll play along!!!
ReplyDeleteBlank Slate - The National
White Car In Germany - Associates
The Card Cheat - The Clash
Three staples of the sort of rubbish posted over at my place!!
Three top choices there JC.
ReplyDelete