RE: [microsound] food for thought

[Christopher Sorg <csorg@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I'm not sure if Mr. Cascone would agree, but I think this is the kind of
conversation that Kim's comments were trying to provoke:  intelligent
discourse about music "to develop philosophical dialog about (post)
digital/glitch/microsound/etc music...".  Unfortunately for me, his other
comments rang rather glib and hypocritical for me.

I would never want to suggest that any form of art _directly_ engage in
political dialogue (most of all because it seems to typically end up
didactic and trite) but certainly the work itself is political in its
outreach and outcome.  We can look at work by Wagner and point fingers at
its political position and we can listen to Mozart's attempts to separate
himself from the church.  As Kim has pointed out many times on this list,
however, it is extremely difficult to separate the technology used for this
music from it's creation.  It is understandable that such violence so close
to heart provokes anger and knee-jerk reactions.  It is true that many of us
in the U.S. have lived sheltered and safe lives (although I debate how true
that is, unless you live in one of the dwindling small-town, low crime areas
in this corner of the universe).  I do think that the "trainspotting fan-boy
list" is part of what this system of microsound and IDM sound is all about.
What hardware, software, algorithms is this or that person using, what gear?
Most of the "trainspotting fan-boy"'s on this list are either successful
musicians or those pursuing that dream in fair success (from what I have
sampled so far).  It is not only a part of this music, but in some sense,
observing the demand for "progressive" advance in this "genre", it is
necessary for survival.

Mr. Cascone has presented his work in the great academic fashion, publishing
his thoughts in on-high academic manuals out of MIT press (in fact, the
reason why I actually joined the list).  He has observed the "glitch" scene,
documented its proponents, and I would guess, profited in some sense from
his unique academic outlook on non-academic movements of sound stemming from
largely academic sources.  It should be noted that it is of great necessity
at this time, in an academic setting, to publish work that documents and
highlights cultural phenomenon that is unique;  it is the most precipitous
way to garner praise and admiration in an academic setting (see graffiti
writing, circa 1984).  I am not suggesting that publishing articles about
digital audio is using microsound as a foil for advancement, merely that
praising (one could call Kim's articles such) and taking part in such an
aesthetic, then denouncing it for its materialism reeks of an ingenuine
attitude and hypocritical rhetoric.

The United States exists on a continent that, while we have learned is not
untouchable, is distant from the crimes that we perpetuate in order to
fulfil our own existence.  It is not difficult to recognize that large
numbers of people in this world suffer, in part, because of our cultural
practices.  We have lived in the world of the automobile and the highway for
over forty years, and we wage war to allow this to continue.  Before the
mighty CPU, before the tech stocks took over.  We rely on economies that
demand advancement and demand movement, which I would suggest push us into
rigorous academic and technological motion.  To condemn practices in which
one willingly partakes, seemingly without regret, is at the very least
disingenuous.

As several of the posters have suggested, this project (microsound, IDM,
internet, what have you) should come into question.  Its success and value
weighs on the shoulders of many Africans who survive of the mining of rare
minerals (to little gain) for the advancement of the semiconductor, to many
Middle Eastern peoples whose lives are disrupted and destroyed for want of
oil, and for the coffee you drink and the fine foods that you eat.  It is
difficult for me to reconcile my comforting lifestyle with the knowledge
that some of it rests on the suffering of others.  I will not, however, have
someone hoist the trigger in my direction alone;  it seems that it is a
choice that we all as a society make.  Some may fall farther in its
deconstruction than others.

Chris