[microsound] Micro-beat vs. Micro-arhythmic, Aphex vs. Cage

[David Powers <cyborgk@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi list, I recently went to the electronic music festival in Detroit 
(anybody else go???) and, though overall the stuff I heard was probably 
too "techno" to be discussed here, I did go to the Detroit Underground 
party, which had the following line up: Apparat, Richard Devine, Otto 
Von Schirach, Jimmy Edgar, Kero etc.

I'd say pretty much ALL the music I heard all night was 
post-digital/micro, and a lot of really interesting examples of fusing a 
glitch/failure aesthetic with rhythms from dance music.  Which got me 
thinking - I imagine there are a lot of people who don't find this to be 
proper "micro" music because they are into arhythmic/beatless/ambient 
abstractions (perhaps rooted in the post-classical European tradition) 
and not music that has some basis (however abstract) in dance rhythms.  
On the other hand, I see there may be some prejudice against the 
arhythmic side of things esp. as it is influenced by "academic" 
composers like Cage, Xenakis, Stockhausen et al., because Aphex Twin or 
some other IDM hero is just so much more relevant and hip and "now".    
In the end, I think it's a bit of a silly argument, as an argument that 
one or the other preference has more "truth content" sounds highly 
suspect to me.  What should matter is whether the artist tries to keep 
moving in an interesting direction from wherever it is they start, and 
succeeds within their particular frame of reference. 

Techno, bebop, sonata form, or fugue - I'd argue that all genres are 
just formal games with sets of parameters that must be adhered to, and 
the question is how well the composer creates interesting material 
within those paremeters, or breaks out while still being recognizable as 
derived from the genre.  Whereas "heroic modern" composers like Cage, 
Xanakis, Stockhausen invent there own parameters, they create unique 
games that apply to one piece or one group of pieces only.  I just don't 
think either approach is inherently superior, they have to be evaluated 
differently.  Sometimes people feel that certain genres are relevant, 
and others outdated, but that tends to change over time and I don't 
think there's an objective measure of whether a genre is relevant.  
True, my perspective is post-modern, in that "classic modernism" says 
you must rid yourself of all genres and start over heroically with every 
piece - but I don't think time has justified that aesthetic position as 
the only valid one.  But neither does it make sense to dismiss Cage and 
Xenakis out of hand.

~David aka Cyborg K

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