I think if smell is the most provocative of the senses in terms of our memory, then surely sound must be second. I can listen to any of my recordings, dating as far back as 6 years ago (that seems longer when written), and recall the exact mindset and process surrounding that piece. What surprises me every time is how different my thinking was back then about the same music than it is now, and how vividly it captures the spirit and feeling of that period.

Listening back also reminds me how much less I literally feel the music I'm making. I used to be all about gadgetry and experimentation, up and moving mics, watching peak lights, flipping switches on a cassette four-track, and being quite prolific; now I'm stagnant, typing away at a computer, looking at waveforms, and haven't really made a composition I'm satisfied with in some time. I'd like to get away from that. I'm not sure if it'll be beneficial, but I'd like to try thinking less and feeling, hearing, and moving more. And I stress the hearing, especially, since I think the visual representations of music can be (but not always is) distracting. This is, of course, completely contrary to what I'll be doing next year ("Music Composition in the 21th Century", it's called). But let's see what happens.