Constraints in the wild: indy rock edition
Examples of people sparking their creativity through self-imposed limitations
Welcome back to my Substack devoted to constraints and creativity. I often use comics (and my own work) as a starting point but I love seeing how other people use constraints, restrictions, limitations—whatever you want to call them—in different media and domains.
This is the first in a semi-regular series where I'll share quotes, links, or artwork that have caught my attention. This post is all about music, and specifically guitar-based rock.
Greg Saunier’s minimalist drum kit
Deerhoof is one of the most inventive bands around as well as being one of the best live shows you can find (I’ve seen them twice). Recently, I somehow (via Instagram, most likely) stumbled on a 2007 feature in the Daily Wildcat (“Since 1899, the student voice of the University of Arizona and Tuscon”) which points out something that I noticed a few years back: drummer Greg Saunier sounds like some combination of Tony Williams and Keith Moon, yet he doesn’t have walls of cymbals, toms and gongs that overwhelm some rock stages (shout out to all you Jens Hannemann fans out there). Instead, he plays a simple four-piece set consisting of a kick, a snare, a high hat, and a crash cymbal.
“It forces me to be more creative when I’m playing.”
—Greg Saunier
According to the profile, Saunier was partly inspired by Questlove of the The Roots, who also plays on a modest kit.
When you hear the richness and power in his playing, it’s hard to believe that he makes so much out of so little. Watch the band play “Tears of Music and Love” at a memorable 2013 set to hear and see what I’m talking about.
Laura Lee Ochoa’s two-finger non-technique
Khruangbin is a very popular and influential instrumental band whose hit “Maria También” you have likely heard somewhere or other. They are a trio and their grooves are grounded by the sparse, dub-inflected bass lines of Laura Lee Ochoa, who was not a trained musician before she joined the band. In a recent article in Premier Guitar penned by Philly’s1 own Nick Millevoi, she points out that she has a quirky technique that gives her her voice: she doesn’t pluck the strings with all four fingers of her right hand, instead she plays with two of her fingers together.
“I’m not technically trained. Because of that, I think I play differently, and it changes the feel of the whole thing. Like James Jamerson playing with one finger, if you lose the fourth finger thing, it creates a limitation, but for me it’s fun and bouncy.”
—Laura Lee Ochoa
[Edit: James Jamerson is one of the all-time great bass players, watch him and his one-finger technique in this clip, playing live with Marvin Gaye.]
Andrew Huang creates a song without using his right hand
Andrew Huang is a musician and producer who has been producing enlightening and entertaining music how-to videos and challenges on YouTube for years—he’s part of an old—and fading—guard but he is still going strong.
Huang has often used constraints in his songwriting projects and I will certainly circle back to him soon enough (the guy recorded a rap without the letter e for Perec’s sake!).
Recently he posted a challenge that he undertook with his partner-in-crime, Rob Scallon: they wrote and performed a song in 90 minutes using only their left hands to play their instruments.
That means, for example:
you can fret guitar chords but you can’t pick or strum them (assuming your right-handed, here)
you can drum with your feet but only with your right hand: try doing a drum roll!
you can play a limited range on a keyboard and, if it’s a synth, it’s very difficult to manipulate any knobs (though Huang manages to do it!)
you need two people to play a simple percussion instrument like a güiro
It’s really worth watching the whole video, it’s quite entertaining and well-produced. And if you enjoy it, there’s a sibling video on Rob’s channel where they do the same thing but using only their right hands.
I should also mention that Huang has a new book out called Make Your Own Rules that I got for my birthday and am eager to dig into (maybe I’ll find out if he’s a student of Oulipo or if he came about his weird ideas on his own—as many people do).
In my own work, constraints are at the center of my practice. For other artists it’s just one aspect of their creative strategies. Working with self-imposed limitations is not an end in itself, it’s one part of the toolbox of creativity, although it is one that I would argue a majority of artists employ to varying degrees.
I love it when I discover new experiments, like Huang’s latest video, or when I get hunches confirmed, like Greg Saunier’s comment on his “constrained” drum kit.
Feel free to share some cool constraints you’ve noticed in music recently in the Comments.
I might have to start keeping track of all the Philadelphia people that show up in my posts.
LOVE THIS MATT, thank you!