GROUP THINK - sound thoughts by mlholton

 

 GROUP THINK - sound thoughts - by mlholton

As some of you know, music is my first love ... I like what music DOES to humans, how it enters the entire mind and body and makes us 'move' - either in thought or through body motion. It permeates nearly ever facet of our lives and gives us SOOOO VERY MUCH. 

I was fortunate to receive piano lessons as a child, guitar lessons as a teen, and some global musical history while at university. Music is 'in me' as it is 'in' all of us.

Today, I am happy to release my latest album - GROUP THINK - with an explanation. GROUP THINK represents my continued experimentation in the electronic musical sphere. And yes, I am a late entry ... 

For far too long, I was dismissive of this sub-genre of musical construction. But, over time and after continued listening, I have turned 180 degrees and now prefer it, generally, over all other kinds of music. To my ear, it is just soooooo contemporary and 'here'. It speaks to TODAY while offering inventive and, in the main, hope-filled imaginings for a unified TOMORROW.

I first became 'taken' by this kind of music after listening (for hours) to the creative mixes, tones and dips of an extremely talented Toronto-based DJ - Richard, the Medicineman. I was continuously impressed by the way he EDITED, connected and DROVE his 2.5+ hour-long radio sets. The mingling  'sounds' were often new to my ear, the beats were 'on point' and, clearly, a globally-attuned mind-set underscored the efforts. From there, I started to listen to many of his recommendations. I fell in love with this new and creative way of putting 'composed' and 'found' SOUNDS together. 

To date, I've created and produced three full-length albums. The first, SUMMER HAZE, is just me and and old classic upright from the farm. I sat down one Saturday, decades ago, and turned on the tape-recorder and proceeded to play for an hour or so. All of it was improvised. I like to think of it as my 'Keith Jarrett' moment. Anyone who's listen to his Lausanne album KNOWS what I mean! - (Only a few copies of 'Summer Haze' remain in my inventory. Contact me directly for a Collector's Copy. It is not available on-line.)

My second album, CANADADA: TAKE TWO, veered far away from traditional instrumentation as I became increasingly seduced by the the novelty and facility of Apple's Garageband app. CANADADA: TAKE TWO was done in celebration of Canada's sesquicentennial in 2017. On it, I alternated my older  spoken-word poetry to complimentary musical 'electro-pop' pieces that I had painstakingly laid down, assembled and mixed. It was a big leap for me. Tracks were inter-cut with my own recorded tracks on a variety of different instruments - piano, guitar, drums and gamelans ... People seem to like it. :)

GROUP THINK, this last album, is a accumulation of continued experimentation on Garageband. It's not ambient, per se, nor is it jazz, per se, nor is it entirely improvised. Overall, it is an exploration of where I am going, with 'suggestions' or 'sound thoughts' about where I think we, as humanity, are going ... I KNOW it will not be 100% to everyone's taste. It's not 'classical music' in any traditional kind of way, (except for periodic beat structures) . Rather, GROUP THINK is a response to WHAT and WHERE we're AT these days - for better and worse. HAVE A LISTEN!

NB: Only 50 copies of a Collector's CD have been produced through AcornPressCanada. I do intend to give away copies during my OPEN STUDIO on Saturday, Oct 16th, as a part of Canada's provincial-wide Culture Days. To listen for FREE, (x3 - with the hope that thereafter you can bring yourselves to buy or donate something), is now offered on Bandcamp.  Note, new VIP annual members also gain access to CANADADA:TAKE TWO - and - they get the satisfaction of knowing they are supporting my continued evolution in the musical sphere. 

Some years ago, I was totally knocked out by Shane Carruth's 'score' for his best known movie, Upstream Colour. I was further impressed that he had done the score himself. This is my aim too - to one day create a feature length MLH visual to an MLH audio. IMAGINE that! Ha! Yes, it is a goal ...

For now, TUNE INTO GROUP THINK - be sure to read the cover & liner notes to get a better sense of what I hope to accomplish with this latest creative effort. Thank you and I do hope you enjoy it, even parts of it. :)  mlholton 

 - p.s. All the albums have my artwork on the covers. All were done as paintings first ... :) 

MLH Discography

2014 - Album 1. SUMMER HAZE, Piano Improvisations performed on a Bell Upright

2017 - Album 2. CANADADA: TAKE TWO - spoken word & garageband antics 

2021 - Album 3. GROUP THINK - sound thoughts ...  by yours truly 

 

Canada 150 Mosaic Mural: Burlington, Ontario with 'Earth Home' Tile by M.L.Holton

... Brain child of three amigos, Lewis Lavoic, Paul Lavoie and Phil Alain,  from Sturgeon County, Alberta, the Canada 150 Mosaic is a cross-country community 'arts initiative' to stimulate 'national pride' during Canada'a 150th year since Confederation. It's certainly an ambitious project that has received significant government funding. Lots of media is and has been following and reporting on it over the past year ....

The City of Burlington is involved with this project too. As a local artist, I created a tile to amplify "sense of place" (for FREE), and sent it back to one of the local coordinating organizers, Cobalt Connects of Hamilton, (who works with the City of Burlington on their 'public art' programs ... )  The 'unveiling' is happening on Canada Day, July 1st.

Canadian Celebs get in on the act - Atom Egoyan, Jane Arden, Walk off the Earth band

Here's a peek at my wee effort - 'Earth Home'  -

'Earth Home' tile for Canada 150 Mosaic City of Burlington Mural, by M.L.Holton - 4" square

I admit, it was kind of SURPRISING to hear one of the other cities involved, Ajax, Ontario, 

has an eerily "co-incidentally similar" sound-track in the promo video for their mural, 

(so says Producer & the film-maker) to my latest spoken word & musical album:

  CANADADA: TAKE TWO.  

... It's very weird and TOO coincidental to MY EAR ... 

Anyway, after a brief discussion, they said they'd remove the music from the following clip. They haven't, (as of today, June 7th.)  That film clip - with the same soundtrack - is still on the filmmaker's YouTube channel. Last checked, it has been removed from the CANADA 150 MURAL website ... 

   

Will post UPDATE of the final mural in situ, post July 1st. 

... Curious to see where my little teepee ends up ...  
UPDATE, July 4th: Well, HERE IT IS! 

Interestingly, my teepee has not been included in the end mural ... Draw your own conclusions. 

(And NO, second row from bottom on the left side, is NOT my teepee.)
Ha! The Politics of POLITICS!

MLHolton TILE for Burington's 150th MURAL --- Disappeared, "lost". Seemingly.

 UPDATE: Closer Look at the 'over-painted' or 'copied' MLH tile now in the mural. Very UGLY & CLUMSY, Ugh..

CD Launch & 'Brunch on the Beach' with Canadian Artist & Poet - Margaret Lindsay Holton

Opps! - ERRORS all MINE. Caesar DRINKS, not SALADS, are $5!- Includes an EGG!

It's a happenin'!

CD Launch of CANADADA: TAKE TWO 

- Come for 'Brunch on the Beach' - with me :)

SUNDAY - June 11th, at 11am 

At HARRY'S PUB on the Hamilton Beach Strip

721 Beach Blvd - with easy access to Lake Ontario beach front & boardwalk... 

Full SUNDAY BRUNCH MENU Available!

BLTs, Eggs & Bacon, Home Fries & Toast, etc. Fully Licensed. - Parking on Side Streets.

Conveniently located SMACK in the MIDDLE of the Beach Strip, Harry's Pub.

CANADADA:TAKE TWO - Spoken Word & Garageband Antics CD, by MLHolton

'Bush Chord', new choral work, by Canadian composer, Tobin Stokes, based on poem by Canadian artist, M.L.Holton

Excited to announce the official premiere of the new choral work based on one of my poems, 'Bush Chord', by Canadian composer, Tobin Stokes, commissioned by Vox Humana Chamber Choir, from British Columbia, Canada.

Happening June 2nd, 2017 (Ticket info below.)

What was the inspiration behind "the national anthems?" 

From the program notes, by Vox Humana Chamber Choir's musical director, David Lang: 

"Every country has a history – how it came to be, how its wars were won or lost, how strong its people are, or how proud, or how sad. We group ourselves into nations, but it has never really been clear to me what that means, or what we get out of it. Are we grouped together because we believe something together and are proud of associating with others who believe the same way? 

 Or are we grouped together because our ancestors found themselves pushed onto a piece of land by people who didn’t want them on theirs? It seems that all nations have some bright periods and some dark periods in their past. 

Building a national myth out of our bright memories probably creates a different character than if we build one out of the dark.
 

I had the idea that if I looked carefully at every national anthem I might be able to identify something that everyone in the world could agree on. If I could take just one hopeful sentence from the national anthem of every nation in the world I might be able to make a kind of meta-anthem of the things that we all share. I started combing through the anthems, pulling out from each the sentence that seemed to me the most committed. What I found, to my shock and surprise, was that within almost every anthem is a bloody, war-like, tragic core, in which we cover up our deep fears of losing our freedoms with waves of aggression and bravado.

At first I didn’t know what to do with this text. I didn’t want to make a piece that was aggressive, or angry, or ironic. Instead, I read and re-read the meta-anthem I had made until another thought became clear to me.

Hiding in every national anthem is the recognition that we are insecure about our freedoms, that freedom is fragile, and delicate, and easy to lose. Maybe an anthem is a memory informing a kind of prayer, a heartfelt plea: 'There was a time when we were forced to live in chains. Please don’t make us live in chains again.' " - David Lang.

Am super excited to see what Tobin Stokes will create with my poem - 

BUSH CHORD

pine poplar willow and punk wood
spit and spark
while bone hard elm birch apple and oak
hum harmonious
fine hard woods - good wood to burn
these wonder instruments pressure whistle
chattering, cheering, cackling
crackling within a hesitant cyclone of light
flickering flames
of sublime delight, warming slow, they give us life

parse this minor miracle of mega bio-physics
of holy fire drawn down
from primal sun
through leaves to rugged root shoots far flung
look here now
to this instant, brilliant burn
an intense unrehearsed liquid fire
a sound symphony of sun struck lyres
complete and sacred
a rare but common gift

the honey musk smell of jumbled bush wood
burns deep into primal memory
     (remember those crisp sun-filled fall days
     of cutting, gathering, splitting, stacking,
     carrying, piling, drying, and cursing
     those back breaking loads?)

to get to this
this calm clear moment
listen

listen
to these bush chords
please

Have seen the preliminary score, but cant wait to HEAR it!

If in British Columbia in June, please do drop in for a unique choral experience! 

**Read more MLH poetry on excellent Canpoetry website**
(hosted by University of Toronto.)

p.s. NICE to be included in such august company!  

...  Margaret Atwood opera, another project by Stokes from three years ago  ... :) 

UPDATE. APRIL 4th, 2017: Just received the first draft of the score for this work ... WOW. 
Samples below ... 

UPDATE:  Complete sidebar, but of interest to some, perhaps: The National Parks Service of the United States of America used this poem, BUSH CHORD, in an educational park guide, without authorization by me. After I notified them of this 'copyright issue', they said they wouldn't use it anymore ... Kindly note, there was NO chit-chat about financial compensation for prior use  ... (ha! at least my NAME was on the poem! ) ... and it REMAINS on the internet Forever ...  For anyone who CARES, this is 100% WHY talented 'artists starve'. People STEAL/"borrow" other people's work for their own USE and GAIN.  Call it for what it is - THEFT and it's 100% WRONG -  See: 'Life in an Ecosystem' NPS/Gov, PAGE 28 .

CANADADA: TAKE TWO - CD Album, Spoken Word & Garageband Antics by Canadian Artist, M.L.Holton

Canadian Artist, MLHolton - Spoken Word & Garageband Antics

35 Tracks of Potent MLH Poetry fused with her Electropop Jive!

Yup, 65 minutes of SERIOUS FUN!

 Limited Sesqui-Centennial Release - ONLY 75 Copies! 
A SOUND CELEBRATION for CANADA's 150th. Hurry!

PLACE YOUR ORDER HERE!

LISTEN TO Additional SAMPLE TRACKS at CANADADA.BANDCAMP.COM

(You can pick up a copy over there too. And even become a VIP member!)  

RELEASED NOON, March 15th, 2017.

UPDATE: April 2nd, 2017 - "A rich musical adventure" that 'tickles' the ear"! - 
Super Review of the musical aspects of the CD,
 via Glen Brown, Founder & Editor of Greater Hamilton Musician 
UPDATE, June 29th, 2017 -and great review by Ryan McGreal, 
Editor-in-Chief of Raise the Hammer 

Greater Hamilton Music Directory LAUNCH - March 11th, 2015

Glad to be one of 97 funding-supporters behind the

Greater Hamilton Music Directory, 

brain child of music teacher & musician, Glen Brown.

I've got a little advert in the directory
for my last summer CD release, Summer Haze

( MLH plays a century-old Canadian-made Bell Upright. 

Originally recorded 30 years ago ... transferred to CD last year: Lotsa Fun!)

Glen has worked tirelessly to get this directory out in time for the JUNOS, 

hosted this year, in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. - Look for it. 

It's chock-a-block full of local talent, musical gear, editorials & jammin' activities. 

LAUNCH of 'Greater Hamilton Music Directory'
happening at HOMEGROWN HAMILTON (map link)

Wednesday night, March 11th, 5:30pm onwards .... 

27 King William Street, downtown, in the Hammer.
Get yer printed copy there! 
 

Excerpt from on-line edition - Summer Haze advert.