Re: [microsound] music in the digital age

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> sounds a bit contradictory...standardized functions ? do you want randomized
> filetypes ?
> 
> also sounds like the concern is with the interface rather than the music. I
> don't want to 'communicate' with iTunes...i want the interface to be
> transparent. works fine for me.
> 
> and as far as exploiting processing power, that's why i use
> reaktor/soundhack/logic, etc.
> 
> err...isn't it ? not sure that i get your argument (but i want to)...what is
> it that you want, exactly ? do you have any examples ?
I'm sorry if I'm not being clear - I'll try again.  When you buy a cd
(putting aside vinyl and other formats) you also get a digipak or a jewel
case of some sort. On or in this container come graphics and text/s. On the
disc itself, besides the music, may come something like a quicktime movie of
a video accompaniment. Examples include:

Nobukazu Takemura's Sign ep with video
David Toop's texts and Max Eastley's images for their oop Buried Dreams
Glenn O'Brien's texts for Jon Hassell's City: Works of Fiction
The brownstone apartment windows of Led Zeppelin's Physical Graffiti
Peter Saville's mountain range/waveform for Joy Division's Closer
etc ad infinitum

These are all imo interfaces to the music they contain, they create a
deliberate and particular context which in the better examples actively
enrich the experience of the music. This is what I'm calling an
emotional/conceptual interface for music. iTunes and mp3s have impoverished
that experience by imposing a standardised interface which lacks any ability
to experience a sleeve in any meaningful way (please don't get me going on
those mini album cover scans...) One may receive a digital image or
animation with an mp3 but there is no active tie between the files. One does
not negotiate the image file to access the music.

Brad wrote:
> Also, exposing this type of an interface is
> diversifying the types of problems and experiences the user can/will have
> with the product.  Equally, selling a huge piece of software with every bell
> and whistle imaginable (musicmatch) is just one of many many ways in which a
> company pushes their own agenda to the detriment of the consumer.
I'm not disagreeing with this, but that doesn't improve the situation with
mp3s versus cds, vinyl, etc.

For an excellent exploration of the importance and richness of this musical
'metadata' otherwise known as visual and textual information accompanying
music I would recommend reading Kodwo Eshun's More Brilliant Than The Sun.

Hope this makes my point a little clearer.

Cheers, Colin.


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