Method Music
Encyclopedia
Method Music is a double-album of electronic music by the English composer and mathematician Lawrence Ball
created using the compositional system that would become The Lifehouse Method
, an online-based compositional project conceived by Pete Townshend
of The Who
to compose customized algorithmically-generated musical portraits. The album's music evolved from tests of the portraiture system.
The release was produced by Pete Townshend
and Bob Lord and will be available January 31, 2012 on Navona Records
.
, difficulties in implementing the project led to its temporary abandonment; a selection of constituent components extracted from Lifehouse were recorded and assembled as The Who's highly successful album Who's Next
.
The element of audience participation was a key plot point of the Lifehouse narrative, which culminates in a concert where the audience's personal attributes and characteristics are transformed into music. The idea of a musical portraiture system was first explored by Townshend in the lead-off cut on Who's Next, Baba O'Riley
- a piece echoed in Meher Baba Piece, the first track on Method Music (which was included on The Who's 2006 album Endless Wire
as the underpinning for Fragments, co-written by Ball).
In 2007, Townshend launched The Lifehouse Method website, run by his company Eel Pie
, an online music portraiture system created with Ball and programmer Dave Snowdon in which users entered data into the system and received a unique, customized piece of audio. The website generated over 10,000 musical portraits before closing in 2008.
Method Music was recorded and mixed at Townshend's Oceanic Studios in Twickenham.
Disc Two
Lawrence Ball
Lawrence Ball is an English musician and composer who currently lives in North London. He produces multi-media compositions, performs in concert, and also works as a private tutor in mathematics, music theory and physics....
created using the compositional system that would become The Lifehouse Method
The Lifehouse Method
The Lifehouse Method was an Internet site where applicants could sit for an electronic musical portrait made up from data they enter into the website. This website was the result of a collaboration between The Who's principal songwriter and composer Pete Townshend, composer Lawrence Ball and...
, an online-based compositional project conceived by Pete Townshend
Pete Townshend
Peter Dennis Blandford "Pete" Townshend is an English rock guitarist, vocalist, songwriter and author, known principally as the guitarist and songwriter for the rock group The Who, as well as for his own solo career...
of The Who
The Who
The Who are an English rock band formed in 1964 by Roger Daltrey , Pete Townshend , John Entwistle and Keith Moon . They became known for energetic live performances which often included instrument destruction...
to compose customized algorithmically-generated musical portraits. The album's music evolved from tests of the portraiture system.
The release was produced by Pete Townshend
Pete Townshend
Peter Dennis Blandford "Pete" Townshend is an English rock guitarist, vocalist, songwriter and author, known principally as the guitarist and songwriter for the rock group The Who, as well as for his own solo career...
and Bob Lord and will be available January 31, 2012 on Navona Records
Navona Records
Navona Records is an American independent record label based in the Seacoast region of New Hampshire owned by PARMA Recordings. Navona's sister companies via PARMA include the Ravello, Big Round, MMC, and Capstone Records label imprints, and the label is distributed by Naxos...
.
History
Method Music is an outgrowth of Townshend's groundbreaking 1971 futurist composition Lifehouse. Although Townshend originally intended Lifehouse as a multimedia audience-participation musical production to follow The Who's TommyTommy (rock opera)
Tommy is the fourth album by English rock band The Who, released by Track Records and Polydor Records in the United Kingdom and Decca Records/MCA in the United States. A double album telling a loose story about a "deaf, dumb and blind boy" who becomes the leader of a messianic movement, Tommy was...
, difficulties in implementing the project led to its temporary abandonment; a selection of constituent components extracted from Lifehouse were recorded and assembled as The Who's highly successful album Who's Next
Who's Next
Who's Next is the fifth studio album by English rock band The Who, released in August 1971. The album has origins in a rock opera conceived by Pete Townshend called Lifehouse. The ambitious, complex project did not come to fruition at the time and instead, many of the songs written for the project...
.
The element of audience participation was a key plot point of the Lifehouse narrative, which culminates in a concert where the audience's personal attributes and characteristics are transformed into music. The idea of a musical portraiture system was first explored by Townshend in the lead-off cut on Who's Next, Baba O'Riley
Baba O'Riley
"Baba O'Riley" is a song written by Pete Townshend for the English rock band The Who. Roger Daltrey sings most of the song, with Pete Townshend singing the middle eight: "Don't cry/don't raise your eye/it's only teenaged wasteland"...
- a piece echoed in Meher Baba Piece, the first track on Method Music (which was included on The Who's 2006 album Endless Wire
Endless Wire
Endless Wire may refer to:*Endless Wire , or the title song*Endless Wire , or the title song...
as the underpinning for Fragments, co-written by Ball).
In 2007, Townshend launched The Lifehouse Method website, run by his company Eel Pie
Eel Pie Publishing
Eel Pie Publishing is a publishing house founded by musician and author Pete Townshend in 1977, and named after Eel Pie Island. It is part of the Eelpie Group of Companies including Eel Pie Recording Production Ltd., which was set up in 1970 by Pete Townshend....
, an online music portraiture system created with Ball and programmer Dave Snowdon in which users entered data into the system and received a unique, customized piece of audio. The website generated over 10,000 musical portraits before closing in 2008.
Method Music was recorded and mixed at Townshend's Oceanic Studios in Twickenham.
Track listing
Disc One- Meher Baba Piece
- Sitter 09
- Sitter 10
- Victoria 5
- Sitter 11
- Sitter 12
- Sitter 13
- Sitter 14
- Sitter 15
- Sitter 17
- Sitter 16
Disc Two
- Galaxy 01 (for the late Syd Barrett)
- Galaxy 02 (for the late Hugh Hopper)
- Galaxy 03 (for the late György Ligeti)