Re: [microsound] re:music presentation

[david turgeon <david.t@xxxxxxxx>]

> > 'wait, sir, you mean i can't write about two people who have recently
> > won, & one of them juried the ars electronica awards?'
> I will admit a degree of ignorance regarding the history of this award, but isn't it ultimately just a redefinition of the establishment.....back to 20'--2000.

i was mentioning ars electronica because (correct me if i'm wrong)
historically it has awarded more 'classic/academic' electroacoustic
works than the more 'populist' approach that mego & raster-noton are
taking (mego won the golden nica last year).  then again, it is probably
one of the most progressive awards in the field, as this year's results
(which had me very surprised, but not unpleased with) demonstrate.

then again, it may seem odd to call the 20' to 2000 series 'populist'
when we just had a debate where many of us (myself included, to a point)
saw its limitedness as a 'bourgeois' thing.  but then, perhaps this says
a lot about the nature of this work (or at least the way it was
marketed): in record stores, a raster-noton album would sit equally well
between electronica records as it would in the new improv clan (though
that may apply to mego more) or in the academic composers section.  it
is a genre-breaker, & this is probably where its value lies, & (as a
sidenote) this may be why academics aren't so prone to call it their own.

& to tackle a recent thread...  in cases like this, i tend to see cover
art & music as two facets of one art-object.  sometimes the idea of a
record (its image) makes you feel good & so you'll buy it, even though
the music may not please you totally as-is; i will admit that this has
happened to me a few times.  & there are times when sloppy, or
inaccurate cover design distracts you from appreciating the music, or
make you see it from a perspective which doesn't help it.

in many cases, noise is noise & the cover is a pretty good hint as to
how to interpret it.  i'm not sure mego would be such a hit on this list
if their covers looked like a françois bayle record (or maybe they would
have a totally different fanbase...)

bottom line being that everything is language to begin with: the box,
the grotesk typeface for the title, the plastic tray, the
computer-generated 3d cellular model illustration, the label, the $25+
price tag...  they all tell you something, & you haven't heard the music
yet.  i personally would have never bought a supersilent cd were it not
for the minimal cover design, more reminescent of a 12k record than a
free noise jazz band...  dare i say, it pushed my buttons all right (&
so does the music, incidentally...)

david