Re: [microsound] politics of parasites

[jim altieri <jim@xxxxxxxxx>]

on 12/20/02 11:17 AM, Kim Cascone at kim@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:

> most glitch music somehow ends up critiquing the 'politics of digital audio'
> whether it is intended or not...just as buying and reading a newspaper could
> be construed as a political act...by drawing attention to the aura of
> digital audio via a 'misuse' or failure or accident of technology (e.g. CD
> skipping, etc) a statement is made concerning the intended economic and
> political trajectory set up by the power structures that market and
> commercialize digital audio...

  I've been thinking lately that the tendency to categorize/classify
"glitch" as a genre or a technique probably lessens its impact as a medium
for critical discourse.  Using glitch techniques can be a way to draw
attention to the politics of digital audio, but once those techniques become
the hallmark (trademark) of an established genre, those who are
self-consciously working within the genre are then working within a set mode
of production (Attali's repetition) - a political system.
  This should not be taken by some as a criticism of what "glitch musicians"
do.  I'm just once again expressing that I don't think that the politics of
most glitch music are too far from the politics of most other music.  This
is why most of us won't be too surprised when glitch starts showing up more
regularly in commercials, Hollywood movies, video games, and bumper music
during CNN's war coverage.

> this is only one reading of this and could just as easily be lost on someone
> who is not familiar with the power structures that make up the audio/music
> industry

  Yes, it's only one (privileged) reading which most of us would take away,
but although that particular message may be lost, another message may be
received.  Those who are unfamiliar with these kind of structures and their
standard critiques may get the message of "Wow, there's a bunch of
over-educated snobs who make music which doesn't sound like any good music I
know.  Our culture is a disaster." And they have taken away a similar theme
in the end. (To the argument vultures: I'm not saying that _everyone_ will
take away a similar message.  I'm just saying that any critique may be
experienced in multiple ways, and does not need to come through directly to
still function as critique.)

My own tangent:
  I think that the increasing ease of learning new software instruments may
lead to more direct political action.  Software instruments and the music
they produce may not necessarily facilitate critique, but in some ways, they
encourage autonomy.  Temporary autonomy (and I know of no incarnation of
software that is anything but temporary), is not currently controllable by
the enforcement agencies of a political economy - the police, the military,
the market, etc..

-jim

In case this is my last email before the New Year, I send wishes of peace
and love and food to all of you crazy musicians and theorists in the coming
year.

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