#065 - Tonto+Brain, Bruce Springsteen - Letter to You, Keith & Köln

Greg leads off with a story about Angie C, a musician/scientist in Calgary that has wired up a brainwave monitor to TONTO, an early synthesizer made in 1971. To clarify, she’s tracked parts of her new album using a brainwave monitor that converts her thoughts into synthesized sounds via a one-of-a-kind 40 year old dinosaur of an instrument (that’s TONTO). You don’t have to be a nerd to think this is ridiculously cool, right? Either way, this one had legs! We spent a good bit of time speculating how this actually works, whether it needs tuned per person, whether training is required to improve performance and what that would be like... We even workshopped how we might be able to try this thing out ourselves, not a remote possibility, but this story really stimulated some creative thinking, so that was fun.
Song: Tonto’s Head Expanding Band - Cybernaut

Next up, Jay knew he would be presenting Letter To You, the latest album from Bruce Springsteen this week. Having only been out a few days, at the time we recorded this, he just wasn’t sure how he’d be presenting it. Having read the overwhelming positive reviews, he couldn’t trust that the critics had it in them to say what they really thought. Having listened for himself, he 100% concurs & a celebration ensues!!!
Song: Bruce Springsteen - Janey Needs A Shooter Now

Nick is unable to keep the positive flow moving, bringing us the NY Times profile on Keith Jarrett, who has suffered two strokes in the past two years and has lost the use of his left hand. It’s a hard story and we wanted to discuss his impact as well, so we delve into an album that our guest Harry Waters was influenced by, The Köln Concert (1975). We discuss the entirely improvised solo piano performance, the crazy back story that preceded it & the impact it’s had on keyboardists and music in general. We’re truly grateful for his music and hope for the best regarding his recovery.
Song: Keith Jarrett - Part II B (The Köln Concert)