RE: [microsound] Ars Electronica

[Christopher Sorg <csorg@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Having sort of a weird reaction to this conversation.  My question is, why
does everything have to be "cutting edge", "groundbreaking", and new?  Are
we burning through music at the speed of light because of our
hypercommunications culture?  Is the technology behind the work so
transparent that once everyone is using it, it becomes old/used up in such
a way that we need new tools and techniques to freshen things up?  Or
is the capitalist engine grinding through ideas in such a way that it
constantly needs to present something new that you "need to have", the
disposable attitude that pervades every aspect of our consumer culture?

Just curious.  I find myself generally hunted down "the next big thing" on
Audiogalaxy every few days, filling up a CD or two full of stuff (and
that's a lot of music) and wanting to move on very
quickly.  Interestingly, very little of it is sticky, i.e. I tend to
return to perhaps a handful of the artists I've downloaded, go back, look
for more, purchase the CDs, etc.  So then I'm trying to be more conscious
about what I'm purchasing so that the CD isn't so disposable.  It just
seems to be this weird sort of cycle that has become much faster with
internet access and the MP3 format.

Alright, enough of my rambling.

_________________________
Christopher Sorg
Multimedia Artist/Teacher
http://csorg.cjb.net
csorg@xxxxxxxxxxxx