RE: [microsound] Ars Electronica

[Mark Khemma <mkhemma@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Thu, 4 Apr 2002, Christopher Sorg wrote:

> 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?

not to sound anti-climatic, but. . yes, those are the driving forces
as to what makes things new and disposable. Though not everything has to
be cutting edge. water boiling in a pot is still a good way to make tea.
"groundbreaking" and all those other terms are just terms that
people like to use to catch peoples eye. i mean if you don't want to deal
with the 'new' and cutting edge, just go to a crafts show, or better yet,
tha antique roads show, hahahahahahahahahah. there you'll find tons of
people who don't want anything new at all.
but seriously, aw fuck forget serious, it just doesn't matter. make music
with your toe nails if you can think of a way. but components of
technology + the increasing number of people, simply results in . . .
-more music
-more good music
-more bad music
-more music that doesn't want to be music
-more music that you can touch
-more music that WANT's to be touched
-more music that we can see
-more music that was discovered, lost, then to be rediscovered
 >
> 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.


maybe we should all sell our cds like art pieces. only one off's to the
highest bidder. make a cd, buy a cd player and then melt it shut. that
would be the best encryption/copyhardright system ever. heh!

-never to be taken seriously
mark .k