Sometimes you can fix something by not wanting to fix it
Abandon all desire
Sometimes you can fix something by just taking a detour
Eschew normal instructions
Sometimes you can fix something by getting an opinion
It's advice, not losing power
Sometimes you can fix something with a little something extra
A little bit of magic
Sometimes you can fix something by being less linear
Have two sides, after all
Sometimes you can fix something by retracing your steps...
that first step in particular
Sometimes you can fix something by convincing the unconvinced
to work against their better judgement
Sometimes you can fix something by just asking your body
Your temperature is the decider
Sometimes you can fix something by just dropping the soap
Don't be afraid of being dirty
Sometimes you can fix something by just going all out
Extravagance may be in order
Sometimes you can fix something by just mellowing out
Less criticism, more acceptance
Sometimes you can fix something by pretending you're a bellows
Breathe deep, then push all the air out
Sometimes you can fix something by just burning a bridge
You'll wonder why you even built it
Sometimes you can fix something by... Just zooming in
Change ambiguities to specifics
Sometimes you can fix something by just not fixing it
Keep on doing what you were doing
Sometimes you can fix something by... Just zooming out
Change specifics to ambiguities
Sometimes you can fix something by checking the synapses
Answers may be in the transitions
Sometimes you can fix something by just being brave
Coooooooooouraaaaaaaaaaaaage!
Sometimes you can fix something by letting cats bite wires
Cut off an important connection
Sometimes you can fix something by just hanging some drapes...
If you hate it, decorate it
Sometimes you can fix something leaving things intact,
or destroying what's important.
Sometimes you can fix something by cutting loose the old saws
Discard those cherished axioms
Sometimes you can fix something by just saying yes...
to some controlled self-indulgence
Sometimes you can fix something by ditching your old tricks
Find your formulas, and then lose them
Sometimes you can fix something by...Singing out, Louise!
Don't be afraid to show your talent
[Display your talent]
Sometimes you can fix something by being Dr. Who
Think of time as something bendy.
Sometimes you can fix something by grabbing the the low-hanging fruit
Don't avoid what is easy
Sometimes you can fix something by just being inert
Do nothing for as long as possible
Sometimes you can fix something by... Just playing dead
Don't break the silence
Sometimes you can fix something by not picking a side
Don't stress one thing more than another
Sometimes you can fix something with utter simplicity
Boring is the new black!
Sometimes you can fix something by going off the deep end
Do something sudden, destructive, and unpredictable
Sometimes you can fix something by going right to the end
Do the last thing as the first thing
Sometimes you can fix something by forgetting about the music
Is it the words that need the fixing?
Sometimes you can fix something by turning up the contrast
Emphasize the things that differ
Sometimes you can fix something by highlighting the problems
Warts show personality!
Sometimes you can fix something by doing it like Deiter
Don't choose; do both together
Sometimes you can fix something by just tying it down
Use a safe part as an anchor
Sometimes you can fix something by just showing your hand
Go ahead...give the game away
Sometimes you can fix something by going to the dark side
Give way to your worst impulse
Sometimes you can fix something by just going outside
And let the door hit you on the way out
Sometimes you can fix something by going to extremes,
then coming halfway back to normal.
Sometimes you can fix something by just asking yourself,
how would someone else approach this?
Sometimes you can fix something by asking someone else,
how would you have done it?
Sometimes you can fix something with total darkness,
or in a large room very quietly.
Sometimes you can fix something by just stepping back
Holy shit, maybe it's finished!
Sometimes you can fix something by just looking for holes
Think about what might be missing.
Sometimes you can fix something by just being Tim Gunn
Is that style really working?
Sometimes you can fix something by just applying yourself
Elbow grease make a good frosting
Sometimes you can fix something by just carrying on
I mean keep going, not throw a tantrum
Sometimes you can fix something just mellowing out
Let your quiet voice speak loudest
Sometimes you can fix something by shaking up your sequence
Maybe you order's not in order
Sometimes you can fix something by highlighting the hell
Focus on what you don't want to
Sometimes you can fix something with soft lights and Barry White
Expose the sensuality
Sometimes you can fix something by throwing on some dirt
Humanness is next to godliness
Sometimes you can fix something setting your sights lower
Work on what seems unimportant
Sometimes you can fix something by not building a wall
Just make a brick instead
Sometimes you can fix something by just starting your search
Once you do, you will find something
Sometimes you can fix something by looking at the micro
The macro can be overwhelming
Sometimes you can fix something by just picking one element
and fixing that one thing throughout
Sometimes you can fix something by just toeing the line
Be a champion of inertia
Sometimes you can fix something by just leaving it blank
Emptiness can equal substance
Sometimes you can fix something by knocking down your idols
Question the heroic
Sometimes you can fix something by just closing your eyes
and remembering quiet evenings
Sometimes you can fix something just by opening up
Try removing that restriction
Sometimes you can fix something by doing it ad nauseum
The repetition could transform it
Sometimes you can fix something by retracing your steps
They call that walking back the kitty
Sometimes you can fix something by just turning around
Back out of your mental driveway
Sometimes you can fix something by just making it less
Simple second grade subtraction
Sometimes you can fix something by taxiing the runway
Slow preparation, fast execution
Sometimes you can fix something by just saying what's wrong
Read aloud the error message
Sometimes you can fix something by just sitting one out
You can always dance more later
Sometimes you can fix something by clearing the out the big stuff
Take away what seems important
Sometimes you can fix something by being inconsistent
Create some tension, some texture
Sometimes you can fix something by looking in the corners
What you forgot could be important
Sometimes you can fix something by staring down the problem,
then finding inspiration elsewhere
Sometimes you can fix something by just tidying up
The answer might be in the junk pile.
Sometimes you can fix something by just pretending to fix it
You might just fake it and unbreak it
Sometimes you can fix something by just looking for change
Turn it upside down and shake it
Sometimes you can fix something by recycling in your head
Pull an idea out of mothballs
Sometimes you can fix something by just being obvious
Cliches are famous for a reason
Sometimes you can fix something by getting to its essence
Filter out all the detritus
Sometimes you can fix something by just looking around
Use what's nearby as a model
Sometimes you can fix something by trusting raw talent
No qualifications needed
Sometimes you can fix something by not outsourcing
Why not use your own ideas?
Sometimes you can fix something by voicing your suspicions
Give in to paranoia
Sometimes you can fix something with a pond, a lake, an ocean
Reflect upon the water
Sometimes you can fix something by just changing the frame
A different context might improve things
Sometimes you can fix something by just dumbing it down
What's the simplest solution?
Sometimes you can fix something by just looking back
What mistakes did you make last time?
Sometimes you can fix something by tweaking the amounts
What to increase, reduce or maintain?
Sometimes you can fix something by just coming clean
Tell us what you were really thinking
Sometimes you can fix something by first figuring out
what it is you won't do
Sometimes you can fix something by just asking yourself,
what would my BFF do?
Sometimes you can fix something by just watching the clock (tick, tick!)
Nothing motivates like deadlines
Sometimes you can fix something by feeling for the edges
Keep going until you can't
Sometimes you can fix something by just making some groups
Some things may be like some others
Sometimes you can fix something by just slowing down,
or deciding to go faster...wheeeee!
Sometimes you can fix something by looking at it harshly
Would anyone even want this?
And sometimes you can fix something by using your mistakes
They may really be your intentions
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This is the "Oblique Glitch." The text is based on Brian Eno and Peter Schmidt's card-based Oblique Strategies.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oblique_Strategies
The Eno/Schmidt concepts have been reframed to scan with the lyrics of Chris Butler's collaborative song, "The Major Glitch." Both the original cards and Glitch lyrics are lists of ideas to help break creative blocks by encouraging lateral thinking.
Nobody remembers how it got started, but we know it was about 10 years ago, while Scott and Rebecca lived in the caretaker's house of the Presbyterian cemetery in Springfield, NJ. This rental house came with no responsibilities, but the silent neighbors made it a great place for their studio, the Viewing Room.
One day, as Scott was reading through Brian Eno and Peter Schmidt's Oblique Strategies, it occurred to him that these creative proposed solutions to artistic blocks could be phrased as verses for Chris Butler's "Infinite Glitch." Scott had been involved with the earlier Major Glitch from day one, recording the original hour-long acoustic foundation, and editing that first release.
Rebecca, as ever the sympathetic writer in the room, was game.
Finally, lyrics were assembled. A couple of years later they transplanted themselves to the early version of Storybook Sound in nearby Maplewood, and set up their studio in the living and dining areas. Here Scott reunited with an old musical friend, Sim Cain, for some sonic alchemy to lay foundation for the lyrics. These audio textures were then transferred to surfing-movie composer Merv Barton in Hawaii, for ambient guitar flair.
At that point, 5 years had passed, and all that existed were lyrics and some weird sounds. We needed real music, an 18 minute song, 105 verses, and someone to sing it. Lots of ideas were brought up and tossed...full choruses, counterpoint delivery, conversational tone, effects, layered angelic female voices, monks?
Or....one hypnotic voice. John Baumgartner. One late night of improv garnered almost a full take...so the writers made tweaks, and Rebecca re-recorded a few lines she had the urge to update....now almost 9 years later. Storybook Sound had at this point moved to its permanent home downstairs...yay, a real dining room!
Alan Friedman then took the entire unorganized, unmixed, unarranged mess...tore it down and rebuilt it from the smallest atom...finally putting the glaze on a sonic layer cake. 10 years and three studios later, Scott doctored up a final mix, and we're calling it the Oblique Orchestra's Oblique Glitch.
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