Like a Melody, No Bitterness
Like a Melody, No Bitterness is the sixth studio album by Bob Ostertag, released on October 13, 1998 by Seeland Records.[2][3]
| Like a Melody, No Bitterness | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | October 13, 1998[1] | |||
| Recorded | February 1997 | |||
| Studio | University of Technology (Sydney, Australia) | |||
| Genre | Experimental | |||
| Length | 41:14 | |||
| Label | Seeland | |||
| Bob Ostertag chronology | ||||
| ||||
Music
The album comprises a single piece of music created by a Ensoniq ASR-10 sampler that slowly builds throughout from quiet abstract atmospherics into a distortion informed counterpoints. The music represented a continuation of Ostertag expanding his art through mixing samples of human voices and chanting crowd noises with purely electronic soundscapes and collaborating with improvisational musical acts such as Fred Frith and John Zorn.[4] It was released to commemorate the Ostertag's final improvisations using a sampler, which he had used to create music for over ten years, before switching to compose on a laptop computer.[5]
Reception
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |    [6] |
François Couture of AllMusic gave the album two and a half out of five possible stars, saying "although Ostertag shows some nice invention and definite mastery of his art, the piece lacks direction."[6] A critic for Cadence gave it a positive review and called it "a long piece that grows and morphs itself from quiet clicks and rumblings into a complex web of shimmering intensity."[4]
Track listing
All tracks are written by Bob Ostertag.
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Part 1" | 4:32 |
| 2. | "Part 2" | 3:01 |
| 3. | "Part 3" | 2:21 |
| 4. | "Part 4" | 6:39 |
| 5. | "Part 5" | 1:22 |
| 6. | "Part 6" | 3:11 |
| 7. | "Part 7" | 9:32 |
| 8. | "Part 8" | 6:55 |
| 9. | "Part 9" | 3:41 |
Personnel
Adapted from the Like a Melody, No Bitterness liner notes.[7]
Musicians
Additional musicians
Production and design
References
- Barnhart, Becky (2001). "Schwann Spectrum". Schwann Spectrum. Stereophile, Incorporated. 10: 151. Retrieved August 7, 2020.
- "Bob Ostertag: Like a Melody, No Bitterness". The Wire. Tony Herrington (167–172): 71. 1998. Retrieved August 15, 2020.
- Cox, Christoph; Warner, Daniel (July 27, 2017). Audio Culture, Revised Edition: Readings in Modern Music. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 575. Retrieved August 15, 2020.
- "Bob Ostertag: Like a Melody, No Bitterness". Cadence. David Haney. 24 (8–12): 10. 1998. Retrieved August 15, 2020.
- Ostertag, Bob (July 27, 2009). Creative Life: Music, Politics, People, and Machines. McFarland & Company. p. 222. Retrieved August 15, 2020.
- Couture, François. "Bob Ostertag: Like a Melody, No Bitterness > Review". AllMusic. Retrieved August 15, 2020.
- Like a Melody, No Bitterness (booklet). Bob Ostertag. San Diego, California: Seeland Records. 1997.CS1 maint: others (link)
External links
- Like a Melody, No Bitterness at Bandcamp
- Like a Melody, No Bitterness at Discogs (list of releases)