Before Lou Reed was in the Velvet Underground he was a hack songwriter at Pickwick Records. John Cale & Tony Conrad were shocked to discover that Reed got his guitar sound by tuning all the strings to the same note, a technique they felt created a drone sound similar to what they were doing with La Monte Young. Pretty crazy stuff for a throwaway pop song.
Most of this month, as well as early January, I’m going to be traveling. As a result, blogging will be even lighter during the holiday season, and definitely do not expect any podcasts anytime soon. So please enjoy keeping it minimal.
I’ve always come down on the Tony Conrad side of the split between him and La Monte Young, but it’s all pretty amazing and worth delving into.