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RE: [microsound] digital sound / digital aesthetics.




ph!L:
A digital aesthetic could probably be best described as an aesthetic
which can only exist in light of digital technology. <

i like this definition.

ph!L:
..."analog aesthetic" is so meaningless. (What would that
be? Tape hiss?). <

good point- i meant to ask what specific characteristics would define a digital aesthetic as opposed to a general technological one.

ph!L (me):
But a digital aesthetic could also be critical of digital technology. I can't think of examples offhand, but it would be possible to create a
work digitally that was critical of the digital medium and/or the ways
in which it transforms our experience of the world. <

i think this is what is usually meant by a "digital aesthetic", microsound works, glitch, etc. i think this is a bit too specific, as digital technology offers other possibilities that aren't related to deconstruction (e.g extremely precise control over musical parameters, and other possibilities we have yet to discover).

ph!L:
I would prefer to believe that AE changed the label to be more inclusive. <

AE changed the category name as part of a massive redefinition of the sonics category- i think they felt there was too heavy an emphasis on "electroacoustic" music (if i recall correctly, i think they published a polemic about "academic music" at the time they changed the name, but i don't have the details), and they wanted more street-level music, glitchy beats, experimental electronics, music more distant from classical theory, more blectum, matmos and gunter than parmegiani, smalley and wishart. compare the awards lists pre and post name change and you'll see it signals a change in aesthetics; the electroacoustic/acousmatic/computer music composers who used to dominate the list now are lucky to get a mention. so AE isn't more or less inclusive than before, they're just "including" an entirely different set of music. and that's fine with me, electroacoustic composers (and i am one) have other prizes to fight over if they care about such things (bourges, noroit, musica nova, etc).


best,
ian





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