Light On Dark Water

Los Angeles Guitar Quartet: Pachelbel Canon in D (the “Loose”)

Weekend Music

I saw these guys in concert Tuesday night. Most enjoyable. This was their encore.

 

The most striking thing they did–not the best, but the most unusual and attention-getting–was a piece in which they did things to their guitars that made them sound like a gamelan orchestra. Yes, really. Mostly it seemed to involve affixing objects to their strings.

What does a gamelan sound like? Like this:

 

Of course the guitars didn't produce anywhere near that range of sound, but really, there was enough of a resemblance as to seem almost uncanny.

Maclin Horton

24 responses to “Los Angeles Guitar Quartet: Pachelbel Canon in D (the “Loose”)”

  1. janet

    The comments in The Thin Red Line post are closed, so I’m just going to post my comment here.
    Sublime and profound for sure.
    All my thumbs are up.
    AMDG

    Reply
  2. Mac

    I had to go find the post to remember what I’d said about it (here). Apparently the effect wasn’t real long-lasting for me, or maybe it’s just another effect of my declining memory, because I had to make an effort to recall much of the movie. But now that I have, yeah, I still think I would say sublime and profound.
    I have the blog set up to automatically close comments after 30 days, btw, as an anti-spam measure. It wasn’t anything to do with that post.

    Reply
  3. Janet

    Sublime and profound was what you said in the post. We had a choice between that and something like icky and gross. 😉
    And yes, I know. It’s hasn’t been THAT long since I was around here.
    AMDG

    Reply
  4. Mac

    Right, I had refreshed my memory. And for the benefit of those who didn’t read the original post, my other choice was “pompous and pretentious.” I guess there is an “icky and gross” party, too.:-)
    I didn’t know whether I’d ever mentioned why comments are closed on the older posts.

    Reply
  5. Janet

    I never go to icky and gros parties. 😉

    Reply
  6. Janet

    or gross either

    Reply
  7. Mac

    Maybe “gros” in French? (=”big”, I think?)

    Reply
  8. Janet

    Yes. In my French class we had to memorize phrases to go along with pictures. One phrase was, “Regarde cette grosse (gros is masculine)dame la y su petite chien. Elle est drole.”
    “Look at that fat lady there, and her little dog. She’s funny.”
    That’s on reason why I’ve never had a little dog.
    AMDG

    Reply
  9. Mac

    They were not laughing with her.

    Reply
  10. Janet

    The French never laugh with anybody.
    AMDG

    Reply
  11. Mac

    That makes me think of this:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mwUZrfvXsBM

    Reply
  12. Janet

    That’s what I like about you, Maclin–always some cogent literary reference at hand.
    I never knew that frogs ate grapefruit.
    AMDG

    Reply
  13. Mac

    Yeah, the popular stereotype is that they hardly eat anything except cheese.

    Reply
  14. Marianne

    Don’t forget horsemeat. Although they don’t eat it as much as they used to, some chefs are pushing a “gastro-trend” in its direction:
    A handful of chefs have started putting horse on their menus. Go to Les Tontons, for example, opposite the former Paris horse abattoir in the 15th arrondissement, and you can be served a succulent horse tartare (raw horse with egg and seasoning).
    Shudder.
    Of course, I shudder at the thought of marmite, too, while others…
    😉

    Reply
  15. Paul

    they hardly eat anything except cheese
    Isn’t that the Dutch?
    The French eat horses, snails, and frogs’ legs. And garlic and onions.

    Reply
  16. Mac

    Oh yes, snails. That’s also part of the popular stereotype. Cheese and snails. The other things are no doubt true but I was thinking only of the stereotype, and I think the American public is probably mostly in the dark about them. Frogs’ legs are by no means unknown in this country. Right here where I live, in fact. I think I may have sampled them once many years ago and thought they were pretty good, but not as good as the fish and chicken and barbecue which were on the menu at the same place, so I never tried them again.
    Horses?…that’s a new one to me. I ask myself why that should be so bothersome, and I don’t have a good answer, except that it just is.
    And horse tartare…yes, shudder. Spare me “gastro-trends.” There is a funny Mr. Bean sketch where he orders steak tartare.

    Reply
  17. janet

    Ahhh, now I see what you mean. I think the frogs eating grapefruit in the Simpson sketch were really frogs, but maybe I’m just naive.
    AMDG

    Reply
  18. janet

    They were saying, “La grenouille mange le pamplemousse.” The frog eats the grapefruit.
    Pamplemousse, by the way is one of two most excellent French words; the other is parapluie.
    AMDG

    Reply
  19. Robert Gotcher

    It is also a quirky singing duo.

    Reply
  20. Mac

    test

    Reply
  21. Mac

    The comment software was apparently malfunctioning last night. I couldn’t post comments. This is what I was going to say:
    Yes, I was engaging in deplorable ethnic humor.
    I got the word “grapefruit” in the Simpsons clip but that was all.
    The girl in Pomplamoose is really way too cute.

    Reply
  22. Janet

    I felt so stupid when I finally figure it out.
    She is really cute and I wouldn’t call them a duo, really, since she is a quintet all by herself. I have all their music, but it’s really not the same just listening to it.
    AMDG

    Reply
  23. Robert Gotcher

    I stand corrected. Properly speaking they are a “musical ‘duo’.”

    Reply
  24. Mac

    Funny, it never would have occurred to me to qualify or expand on the “duo” term, and I guess that’s because I’m so used to music that depends on studio technology. It goes back to Emitt Rhodes, at least–one guy in the studio playing all the instruments.

    Reply

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