holy smokeroos!

[david]

Who says we're in a bad economy?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/JOY-ELECTRIC-Tick-Tock-Companion-CD-/221053194883?_trksid=p5197.m7&_trkparms=algo%3DLVI%26itu%3DUCI%26otn%3D2%26po%3DLVI%26ps%3D63%26clkid%3D163966308045194522&_qi=RTM742989

[shawn]

I saw this yesterday...makes me want to sell my copy. I think I've only played it once.

[WhiteSongBoy]

AUGH! This makes me so depressed! I will never own a hard copy of this CD!

[xoxos]

hands up how many je listeners are unabashed potheads...

"run to the leaf covered home.."

[benjamin]

Is there anyway I could borrow mp3s of this album? Please message me. It would be very appreciated!

[xoxos]

i do think it's a significant part of the je collection and "thought", along with the story. transduction of mood through 'wibbles' isn't trivial, and it exemplifies the one true clock :p

[seedsower]

Really makes ya wonder if there is this much of a demand for this ep, why doesn't Ronnie press more?
Maybe that's what makes it special. I know I'd love a Starcadia cd.
However, even though I am a fan of the avant garde side of JE, it seems a little shallow in concept. I hate to say it, but it just sounds like some guys making noise art. Which is cool in itself (I like to do the same), but how is this the "companion"? Wouldn't a thought out composed instrumental be more fitting with the title "companion"? Maybe I'm just being over-analytical as usual, but seriously.

[Dr. M]

Really makes ya wonder if there is this much of a demand for this ep, why doesn't Ronnie press more?
Maybe that's what makes it special. I know I'd love a Starcadia cd.
However, even though I am a fan of the avant garde side of JE, it seems a little shallow in concept. I hate to say it, but it just sounds like some guys making noise art. Which is cool in itself (I like to do the same), but how is this the "companion"? Wouldn't a thought out composed instrumental be more fitting with the title "companion"? Maybe I'm just being over-analytical as usual, but seriously.

No, you're completely right, it's just some guys fiddling around on some synths who happened to press the "record" button. It's a missed opportunity, much like 80% of JE instrumentals. Ronnie can't seem to take his magical, literally infallible ear for melody and song structure and apply it to his instrumentals. He'll write one phrase with one sequence of noises, press repeat and call it a day, or do something random and improvisational like this. All he'd need to do is write several melodies, interchange them, spice it up with some slight variation, and BAM a decent instrumental. But that has yet to happen.

[Jono]

How dare you overlook the stunning beauty of "Cluster of Bare Trees"! "Headley Grange" was good too.

[jjmini]

Always loved tick tock companion and ill never understand Dr. M's hatred for it (and many other of Ronnies instrumentals)

TTC reminds me of like 3 or 4 guys wandering around an empty cave or something like that. Those 4 songs are really awesome if you actually listen to them as an experience rather than something that pleases your ears. Roolundria 3 is so good and has almost a sense of nobility to it (maybe im being dramatic) but these instrumentals (and all of ronnies instrumentals) always send me to a special place so to each his own i suppose

[Jono]

I like the Companion too, but I seriously only listen to it maybe once a year, and that's not an exaggeration. I do understand seedsower's point about there not seeming to be any kind of real connection to The Tick Tock Treasury. I wonder whether there would be as much demand for the thing if it had been just titled something completely separate, not implying any kind of connection to the Treasury.

[mortalrift]

and another surfaces....


http://www.ebay.com/itm/Tick-Tock-Compa ... 6rk%3D1%26

[d3adliner]

Wish I could get that much for my first run copy of Starcadia.

[IantheBlueMan]

All he'd need to do is write several melodies, interchange them, spice it up with some slight variation, and BAM a decent instrumental. But that has yet to happen.

Starcadia!

And yes, Cluster of Bare Trees.

[xoxos]

Ronnie can't seem to take his magical, literally infallible ear for melody and song structure and apply it to his instrumentals.

or you can't seem to take your ear and apply it to these recordings. the artists sense of timing and spectral composition are still present. they have a sense of space and motion not otherwise achievable.

it seems like missing out on the beauty of bird song because they stray from a cultivated appreciation for classical music.

[Nikmis]

I almost agree, xoxos. There could be good music in this style, but this isn't it. This is bad music in this style.

[xoxos]

philistine

[Dr. M]

All he'd need to do is write several melodies, interchange them, spice it up with some slight variation, and BAM a decent instrumental. But that has yet to happen.

Starcadia!

And yes, Cluster of Bare Trees.

Starcadia is a great song, absolutely. A favorite of mine (I did say 80% of JE instrumentals). But only because of the mood it evokes. It doesn't do what I say, it doesn't interchange several melodies, or add any variation, it's the same thing over and over except for a new layer added each time. The thing it has that most other JE instrumentals lack is a sense of form, the feeling of a beginning, a middle, and an end. It goes somewhere. Most of the others start, hang there for awhile, and then end when he presses the "stop" button on the sequencer.

Also, I'm a terrible JE fan by my own admission, because I don't believe I've ever heard Cluster of Bare Trees. It's not in my itunes and I don't remember what EP/etc it's from.

EDIT: Never mind, I remembered, I found it on Bandcamp. What the heck, this a prime example of exactly what I was talking about! One melody, repeat, repeat, done. It's got an ok atmosphere to it, sure, and sounds like it was played in live instead of sequenced, which is nice, but would it have killed him to write another eight bars of music and make it go just a little bit beyond where it started?

I think "Headley Grange" comes fairly close to my description of a decent instrumental, but it's still awfully repetitive.

[xoxos]

non sequitur:

just happy to find that this is available to the non-antique owning vinyl crowd...

a very heuretic recording from tom ellard
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kECegRdvH80

actually, imo this is probably very fitting if i follow the tale of roolundria and the golden clock..

[IantheBlueMan]

Maybe Ronnie's a Boards of Canada fan, cuz they came to mind immediately when I heard "Cluster of Bare Trees".