[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

Look what this idiot writes!!!!!!



------=_NextPart_000_0005_01C3506D.5D1943A0
Content-Type: text/plain;
	charset="iso-8859-1"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable

Various Artists=20
Frequencies [Hz]=20
Raster-Noton=20
2003=20
{4.0}=20
Reviewed by: Michael Heumann=20

Apparently, this album emerged from the Frequencies [Hz] Audio-Visual =
Spaces exhibit in Frankfurt from February to April, 2002. According to =
the Raster-Noton web site, this collection of 28 two-minute tracks =
"documents the exhibited artists work with sound in space as a =
performative enunciation of their practice." Now, I was a graduate =
student for about seven years (amazingly, I survived with my sense of =
humor intact), and I know bullshit buzzwords when I read them. There's =
no greater bullshit academic word than "performative." It's a word =
that's supposed to explain the concept whereby the person performing an =
action is aware of his/her performance as performance. In other words, =
the artists on Frenquencies [Hz] are fully aware of being musicians =
performing in an artificial environment (be it a concert stage or a CD), =
and are thus consciously acting like musicians performing in an =
artificial environment while creating the two-minute songs you, the =
performative audience, listen to. Yep, that's academia for you.=20

It's a stupid word, but I think understanding it helps to explain why =
this album sucks. Here you have 28 tracks from 28 of the finest =
electronic artists around today-including Pan Sonic, Frank =
Bretschneider, Merzbow, Monolake, snd, Coh, Alva Noto, Ryoji Ikeda, =
Random Industries, and 19 more. So far, it sounds pretty good, right? =
Then add the wrinkle about the time limit for these tracks: two minutes. =
There are a number of very good albums that have employed the time limit =
motif-Faalt's Invisible Cities and Raster-Noton's 20' to 2000 come to =
mind-so the concept of limiting artists to a certain time frame is fine =
in principle. However, those other two works add another motif to the =
time one. In the case of Invisible Cities, it was to present five =
minutes of sound from different places all over the world. In the case =
of 20' to 2000, it was to record twenty minutes of music that represent =
the state of electronic music (as defined by the individual artist) at =
the beginning of the third millennium.=20

What's the extra motif in Frequencies [Hz] ? Well, as far as I can tell, =
the motif is that bullshit word, performative. In other words, the =
artists were all asked to create two minutes of performative music, or =
music that is self-consciously "music," created by artists who are =
self-consciously being "artists." Now, I think certain concepts related =
to this idea of performative serve a useful purpose. I'm a teacher. =
Sometimes I'll tell a joke and none of my students will laugh, so I'll =
stop what I'm doing and explain to them that they are students and they =
need to act like students, and part of being a student consists of =
pretending to be nice to your teacher-like laughing at his lame jokes. =
In other words, I was openly discussing the roles of student and teacher =
while I was teaching. That's the performative concept in action. But how =
exactly does this work in music? Musicians, by definition, already know =
they are making music, and people who are listening to music already =
know they are listening to musicians who are creating music. It's not =
like musicians need to stand up on stage and proclaim, "I am a musician =
and I am creating music. You are an audience and you are listening to my =
music."=20

So what did the artists on this compilation actually come up with as a =
performative piece of music? Well, they came up with music that sounds =
like all the other stuff that these artists are already known for. Pan =
Sonic's two minutes sound like, well, Pan Sonic: a slow, propulsive beat =
and some weird noise. Merzbow's track sounds like Merzbow: noise. Snd's =
sounds like snd: clicks and smooth hooks. The whole album is a sampler =
of electronic music. That's fine in theory, but two minutes is just too =
brief for any of these artists to do anything interesting. Instead, we =
simply get a "highlights" package featuring the most stereotypical =
elements of each artist's repertoire.=20

Come to think of it, I guess that's exactly the point behind =
performative music: music that is self-consciously trying to imitate =
itself. What better way for an artist to self-consciously create music =
than to parody his or her own clich=E9s. I suppose, then, that this work =
does succeed on the performative level as far as the musicians are =
concerned. But what about the listeners? Are we supposed to also jump =
for joy and be excited by excised clich=E9s? Give me a break.=20

------=_NextPart_000_0005_01C3506D.5D1943A0--

------------------------------