Hotlanta On My Mind - July 29, 2023

[Big Bird]

42 minutes ago, Cappybara said:

Atleast for me, it’s not really a blanket “I hate all narration”

I just simply don’t think the narration in this particular Bloo show adds to the music in an effective way and is frankly a bit distracting. I wasn’t a fan of the narration in Bloo’s show last year either, nor the singing in Session 44. Same way I’m not a fan of the way BD has added all those break up effects to the singing that originally appears in the opener as the show goes on. And same way I wasn’t a huge fan of the narration in BD’s show in 2016 or Crown’s in 2022.

On the other hand, some shows I really don’t mind the narration at all. I really liked Blue Knights 2014, Crown 2013, and BD 2012, heck, I even liked Cadets 2012 despite how cheesy it was. Crown 2007’s narration in the closer was really effective too! I don’t think there’s a rhyme or reason to what narration I like other than just gut feel. 

@Big Bird’s claim that this type of criticism is only directed at the Bluecoats is nonsense. We have been hearing complaints about narration ages before Bloo decided to throw themselves into that particular ring

It’s just different strokes for different folks, there’s no need to generalize “Bluecoats critics” (Which I am far from. Their design direction since 2018 just hasn’t been my cup of tea) 
 

You don’t hyper focus on the things you dislike so my comment wasn’t directed towards you. I happen to enjoy your commentary and agree with most of your opinions. 

[ThePlanets]

23 minutes ago, kdaddy said:

These two started it 19 years ago. I HOPE THEY'RE HAPPY!

For the record

I hate this show

[Cappybara]

13 minutes ago, Vidal28Rdg said:

Not taking shots at Bloo here, like their show, but I’d be surprised if either them(hornline+percussion) or their narration surpassed 100 db this year🙃

You could say that for multiple corps, unfortunately. BD goes overboard with the speakers fairly often

[3PoC]

Some of the critiques of the Bluecoats show have gotten pretty lazy imo and so I'll come out of lurk mode to give a response. It's fine to not care for a show for any number of reasons - I have my own issues with certain bits found in many shows but I still find enjoyment from those shows because there is still good performing of drum corps taking place even in the most cheesy, choppily arranged, retreaded concept shows. 

"Bluecoats have done too many years of 60's shows" - Unless the idea of flowers and love is enough to make something "60s", I would guess that this show probably has the most modern music on the field this summer (apart from the original poem):
 
"The Garden of Love" the poem by the Romantic poet William Blake - 1794
The Woods - Chick Corea - 1977
Garden of Love - JacobTV - 2007
Bump - Anna Meredith - 2019
Finding and Believing - Pat Metheny - 2009
____45____ - Bon Iver - 2006
So Many Layers of Color Become A Deep Purple Heart [To Steve Reich] - Edda Magnason - 2022

"Too much narration" - The Bluecoats music team have been influenced over the past decade by the musical ideas of the pioneering and influential minimalist composer Steve Reich who is known for his shifting and "phasing" layers of rhythm and sound. He also pioneered the idea of what he called "speech-melody" which integrates into the composition as an element of the musical design, not as a separate layer of narration where the music is an underscore. Here is an excerpt from Musical Persona: The Use of Human Speech in the Music of Steve Reich by Rachel E. Weiss, West Virginia University:   https://researchrepository.wvu.edu/etd/3679/

"From his earliest works to his most recent ones, Steve Reich has found ways to incorporate human speech into his music. The natural melodic qualities of the human voice, which he called "speech-melody," interested him from the beginning of his musical career. In his early tape pieces, Reich manipulated recordings of human voices in order to create varied melodic, harmonic, and rhythmic patterns. Later, he used such recordings for both their melodic content and subject matter in Different Trains (1988), The Cave (1993), City Life (1995), Three Tales (2002), and WTC 9/11 (2011).;Using human speech as a foundation, Reich composed works that are both musically complex and rich in meaning. Most of his speech-melody pieces focus on events of sociopolitical and historical relevance, such as the Holocaust, the atomic bomb tests at Bikini Atoll, or the bombing of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001."

I'm not usually a fan of narration and voice-overs myself as it often is too cheesy or literal for my tastes, but I hear the Garden of Love voice integration into the sound design as part of the music (I also think Bloo's 2015's Mr Maps was brilliant voice/music integration - which BD echoes this year with the French voice-over/battery segment which I also enjoy). Doesn't mean you have to like it, but maybe if you try listening to it as it was intended to be used, it might make it more enjoyable. After all, it's still some great drum corps being performed.

[Vuitton]

15 hours ago, Big Bird said:

BD is the standard of excellence 

I love that someone was confused by this comment. LOL

[MadScout80]

3 hours ago, ftwdrummer said:

They really are. Possible I'm dino'ing myself and that's...fine, I guess. Or that last night was a bad read for me because of distraction. But I'm probably not making it to a live show this year, so... oh well.

I'll probably have strong positive opinions on everything by Prelims.

I'm bored out of my mind watching on Flo.  But I followed the tour from Broken Arrow to McKinney and witnessed the finest live drum corps I've seen in 47 years.  These shows are truly amazing in person.  Crown is my favorite followed by Devils, Coats and Boston. 

Edited July 30, 2023 by MadScout80

[saxfreq1128]

1 hour ago, PopcornEater1963 said:

That’s one take. Another is that it sounds like someone stuttering at 115 decibels through a gazillion powered arrays. 

i’m sorry but how is that not cool. didn’t you see what congress said about aliens. this is our world now, power up your arrays or whatever, don’t you want to know what they’re saying??

Edited July 30, 2023 by saxfreq1128

[DFA1970]

13 minutes ago, MadScout80 said:

I'm bored out of my mind watching on Flo.  But I followed ther tour from Broken Arrow to McKinney and witnessed the finest drum corps I've seen in 47 years.  These shows are truly amazing in person.  Crown is my favorite followed by Devils, Coats and Boston. 

If you’re bored out of your mind best to cancel your FLO subscription. 

[saxfreq1128]

1 hour ago, Cappybara said:

Atleast for me, it’s not really a blanket “I hate all narration”

I just simply don’t think the narration in this particular Bloo show adds to the music in an effective way and is frankly a bit distracting. I wasn’t a fan of the narration in Bloo’s show last year either, nor the singing in Session 44. Same way I’m not a fan of the way BD has added all those break up effects to the singing that originally appears in the opener as the show goes on. And same way I wasn’t a huge fan of the narration in BD’s show in 2016 or Crown’s in 2022.

On the other hand, some shows I really don’t mind the narration at all. I really liked Blue Knights 2014, Crown 2013, and BD 2012, heck, I even liked Cadets 2012 despite how cheesy it was. Crown 2007’s narration in the closer was really effective too! I don’t think there’s a rhyme or reason to what narration I like other than just gut feel. 

@Big Bird’s claim that this type of criticism is only directed at the Bluecoats is nonsense. We have been hearing complaints about narration ages before Bloo decided to throw themselves into that particular ring

It’s just different strokes for different folks, there’s no need to generalize “Bluecoats critics” (Which I am far from. Their design direction since 2018 just hasn’t been my cup of tea) 
 

Yeah we’ve def been hearing complaints about narration foreverrr. 

The only time I can think of since the dawn of electronics that vocals or amplification of any kind didn’t draw complaints was back when Cavies amp’ed the whistling and snaps in their 007 show. 

[Cappybara]

24 minutes ago, 3PoC said:

Some of the critiques of the Bluecoats show have gotten pretty lazy imo and so I'll come out of lurk mode to give a response. It's fine to not care for a show for any number of reasons - I have my own issues with certain bits found in many shows but I still find enjoyment from those shows because there is still good performing of drum corps taking place even in the most cheesy, choppily arranged, retreaded concept shows. 

"Bluecoats have done too many years of 60's shows" - Unless the idea of flowers and love is enough to make something "60s", I would guess that this show probably has the most modern music on the field this summer (apart from the original poem):
 
"The Garden of Love" the poem by the Romantic poet William Blake - 1794
The Woods - Chick Corea - 1977
Garden of Love - JacobTV - 2007
Bump - Anna Meredith - 2019
Finding and Believing - Pat Metheny - 2009
____45____ - Bon Iver - 2006
So Many Layers of Color Become A Deep Purple Heart [To Steve Reich] - Edda Magnason - 2022

"Too much narration" - The Bluecoats music team have been influenced over the past decade by the musical ideas of the pioneering and influential minimalist composer Steve Reich who is known for his shifting and "phasing" layers of rhythm and sound. He also pioneered the idea of what he called "speech-melody" which integrates into the composition as an element of the musical design, not as a separate layer of narration where the music is an underscore. Here is an excerpt from Musical Persona: The Use of Human Speech in the Music of Steve Reich by Rachel E. Weiss, West Virginia University:   https://researchrepository.wvu.edu/etd/3679/

"From his earliest works to his most recent ones, Steve Reich has found ways to incorporate human speech into his music. The natural melodic qualities of the human voice, which he called "speech-melody," interested him from the beginning of his musical career. In his early tape pieces, Reich manipulated recordings of human voices in order to create varied melodic, harmonic, and rhythmic patterns. Later, he used such recordings for both their melodic content and subject matter in Different Trains (1988), The Cave (1993), City Life (1995), Three Tales (2002), and WTC 9/11 (2011).;Using human speech as a foundation, Reich composed works that are both musically complex and rich in meaning. Most of his speech-melody pieces focus on events of sociopolitical and historical relevance, such as the Holocaust, the atomic bomb tests at Bikini Atoll, or the bombing of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001."

I'm not usually a fan of narration and voice-overs myself as it often is too cheesy or literal for my tastes, but I hear the Garden of Love voice integration into the sound design as part of the music (I also think Bloo's 2015's Mr Maps was brilliant voice/music integration - which BD echoes this year with the French voice-over/battery segment which I also enjoy). Doesn't mean you have to like it, but maybe if you try listening to it as it was intended to be used, it might make it more enjoyable. After all, it's still some great drum corps being performed.

Loved all the electronic and narration additions in Bloo 2015. Not so much this year or last year. That's just how it goes sometimes 🤷🏽‍♂️ Knowing the background of a show and all the reasoning for each design decision doesn't necessarily increase enjoyment. 

I could probably explain all the design decisions in BD 2022 until my face turns blue (hah) but people will like what they like, and not like what they don't like.