fastrnb (December 31, 1969 at 6:59 pm)

I'd say it's closer to the British "free improvisation" scene a-la Steve Beresford or Derek Bailey. It's still not nearly as good, but Gamelan is highly structured, this is noodling.

DeemunCow (December 31, 1969 at 6:59 pm)

u r just uh jurk

satanjams (December 31, 1969 at 6:59 pm)

hilarious. like the 'dictionary'/'picture next to it' gag i did in 2nd gradejust as funny!

mikedarrow11 (December 31, 1969 at 6:59 pm)

First off, it isn't "experimental" music from Bali. It's called Gamelan, check it out. While Xiu Xiu is quite good in some respects, they can in no way emulate the profound artistry associated with Gamelan musicians. (It's pronounced Gom-ah-lawn, something like that) I don't mean to sound like a jerk, but I just wanted to sort out some facts.

cigaboo (December 31, 1969 at 6:59 pm)

Trust me, this sounds nothing like Xiu Xiu's actual music. This is just them experimenting with different sounds that they will later use in a production.

cigaboo (December 31, 1969 at 6:59 pm)

Interesting. I thought Xiu Xiu made most of their sounds with synthesizers, but this shows their experimental process with real objects. This is them just fiddling around with sounds. Search Youtube if you want to hear their actual music, the results of all this experimentation.

vplane (December 31, 1969 at 6:59 pm)

I really love the way this works, not just as music, but as video...there is an attention to musical space that is related to the use of the physical space by whoever was shooting this. Doors and windows.Walls.People in rooms.Closeness, distance.Objects and intstruments.Thoughtfully and genuinely done! More please.

fdaltrey (December 31, 1969 at 6:59 pm)

For jazz artists, serious improvisation constitute about 9/10th of their music, where said action is played as if performed for an audience/recording session. I believe that this is analogous to a 'jam session' for rock groups. In my opinion, this video has garnered many negative opinions (including mine) because it is shot as if the entire 'jamming' is intended to be very close to its final musical product. If edichka83 is right, I have been unfairly critical. If not, then, oh well.

edichka83 (December 31, 1969 at 6:59 pm)

It's funny to read all the negative comments on here and realize that none of you have any experience writing music. See, what people do is improv and then go over it, and isolate the good ideas. 9/10ths of improv is MEANT to be thrown away. This is an improv that would never make it onto an album, but maybe they realized that say, the ashtray sounds nice so maybe THAT will make it into a song. THAT is the purpose of improv.

fdaltrey (December 31, 1969 at 6:59 pm)

I still stand with the opinion that I expressed in the past. However, I do apologize for my general attitude. Sorry.