Re: [microsound] Re: no input mixing board

[Julian Knowles <julianknowles@xxxxxxx>]

On Sunday, February 22, 2004, at 04:34  AM, scott allison wrote:

> Julian, thanks for your email,
>
> I guess maybe new is not the best term, but for me its new, so I know 
> that is not a good enough reason to call something new, so your are 
> right there. I guess in terms of minimalism I have found the mentioned 
> work to have a stillness and intensity that I have not heard in a lot 
> of other recent music, but then again there is a ton of stuff I have 
> not heard. I would love if you could point me in the direction of some 
> other past artists that have worked with close ideas/forms.

Hi Scott

I would suggest some of the following, particularly american music from 
the 1950s through the 1970s.

John Cage - i would also suggest reading his book 'silence'
Alvin Lucier - ditto, but his book is called 'reflections' - in my view 
the undisputed giant of tone and process minimalism
La Monte Young - would suggest the book 'sound and light: la monte 
young and marian zazeela'
Phill Niblock - no books on phill -  documentation and critical 
discourse is shamefully lacking for such a significant figure.
You could also check out Morton Feldman in a more tangential exploration

Of course you could go way back to Erik Satie's 'Vexations' from the 
early 20th century.

http://www.af.lu.se/~fogwall/vexmanus.html

I would also recommend Edward Strickland's Book "Minimalism: Origins".

To a lesser extent you could delve into Keith Potter's Book "four 
musical minimalists" which deals with 60s minimalist music in what I 
would call the 'repetitionist' sense (terry riley, steve reich etc...)  
- which i see as being markedly different from tone/drone/silence based 
minimalism. The repetitionist end of 60s/70s minimalism is the 'pop' 
end and the one which is most likely to be documented in general books 
on music history. I would argue, however, that the tone/drone/silence 
end was far more influential, at least in the electronic music scene.

You might have a look at XI Records (run out of Experimental Intermedia 
in NYC)  a label which also documents significant people in and around 
the minimalist music scene.

>  But maybe its ok for a new group of musicans to revisit something for 
> a current audience?
>

i have absolutely no problem with drawing influence or re-examining 
ideas (we all do this), but I want to hear some musical engagement and 
a critical response, rather than simple revival or copying on the basis 
that something has become fashionable again. This happens too 
frequently in my view. I'm prepared to stick my neck out and say that 
and it is the subject of many private conversations with other 
musicians, so i know my views are shared.

> Anyhow hope that makes some sense, but please let me know what artists 
> you consider relate to this subject, I woud love to have a better 
> understanding historically.
>

i hope some of the above suggestions help. i am certain that they  
would provide a reasonable historical perspective from which one might 
be able to evaluate a lot or recent electronic and improvised music. 
The list is far from exhaustive, but contains some key figures.

regards

julian

_________________________
Julian Knowles
Head of School
School of Contemporary Arts
College of Arts, Education and Social Sciences
University of Western Sydney, Locked Bag 1797
Penrith South DC, NSW, 1797, Australia