[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
Re: [microsound] formulaic microsound
although i am not taking issue with anything you say
and find i mostly agree with all this, there is one
thing that i feel a need to reply to:
--- craquemattic <craque@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> So how do these 'elements of style' get into the
> picture?
elements of style come with the instrument one uses.
so there are some phyiscal limitations and also some
predictable sounds that come when you use certain
tools. i recall a few years back a british music
journalist dismissed some of my playing as "idiomatic
derek bailey". i was mystified because i was, you
know, just playing my guitar. i didnt think how am i
going to make sure my name is remembered immortally as
a guitarist. since i trained initially as a guitarist
and listened to a lot of music, i was really at a
loss to understand how my sound could be so
pigeon-holed. i think it had more to do with the
aethetic-political thinking of the reviewer and the
limitations of this reviwers listening experience.
later, i realized that the only common denominator is
that i was playing the guitar in the traditional
manners, you know, making your fingers go over the
fret-board and variously plucking, arpeggiating,
strumming, pulling-off (in any moment i am doing a
pull-off i have the adolescent memory of learning to
do this and how it made you capable of almost all the
jimmy page solos--but no one criticizes the pull-off
as idiomatic jimmy page!
so it seems like you can move this all in the
direction of microsound and say that it is the
machines that people use which also give them their
sound and that somtimes they reach great unknown
places with their music and at other times it is only
the technique that shows. i dont spend too much time
thinking about what is or is not microsound. if
microsound is something it is because a certain group
of people who consider themselves microsounders say it
is or isnt. its identity politics. to make an analogy:
is paul eluard a poet or a surrealist poet? i have
often heard it said that eluard is not memorable
except as an example of a movement. i dont actually
agree with this myself. but you can see this is a way
of thinking that is out there in the world. who says
what microcound is and why do they need to say it? are
we artists only because we are seen as such by some
society or micro-society or is there something else
going on with being an artist?
best, jeff
Do they
> appear because a composer feels the need to express
> something through
> a chosen style because of the nature of what they
> want to express? Or
> is it the raw expression that manifests itself in
> such a microsoundic
> way? Could it be simply the nature of sonic
> materials gathered?
>
> The microsound projects are a good example where
> artists in a niche
> are creating specifically with the elements of
> microsound in mind. But
> I know I personally wouldn't be creating the music I
> know how to
> create if I did anything other than what I do, but I
> still know how to
> direct that composerly vision in a microsound
> direction instead of a
> rave siren drum and bass snare rush direction. And
> maybe sometimes
> that's merely a question of appropriateness, where
> you're performing,
> or what other works stand beside yours in
> representation to help
> impart some sense of overall completeness.
>
> Many artists in many styles are the ones that stand
> out because they
> took a style and learned how to express themselves
> in rich ways. We
> are drawn to their art because of the high degree of
> technicality, or
> the vividness of color, the sheer size of the
> work... any number of
> reasons. History is rich with those who stand out in
> unique and
> lasting ways, whether they pushed the definitions of
> style or excelled
> in the idiom itself. Is it correct then to limit the
> possibilities of
> what a style can be, or can we think about stylistic
> evolution?
>
> If we can evolve in our concepts of how sound can be
> arranged, then it
> follows to allow the same latitude in idiom itself.
> Bailey certainly
> was the hugest proponent of non-idiomatic
> improvisation, but you could
> also say he grew into his OWN idiom - people say
> that about Cage too.
> Does a style mean it is limited to a single person
> if it's so unique
> that none other come close?
>
> I believe it's my job as an artist to explore, and
> in turn those works
> I enjoy most are those which impart a certain sense
> of the unknown. I
> don't think it's a matter of invigorating any style,
> per se, but to
> seek out new things and be constantly open to
> possibilities. Though I
> enjoy pushing the boundaries of style, I enjoy
> straight up style too,
> but mostly I enjoy hearing the sound.
>
> On Feb 6, 2008, at 2:39 PM, David @ Audiobulb wrote:
>
> > Music has a history of creating structures that
> reflect an acceptable
> > aesthetic framework. From classical to rock. From
> jazz to IDM.
> > Sounds are
> > placed within a composition and ultimate
> arrangements emerge.
> >
> > At what point do the originators of a style and
> the creative
> > champions of
> > style exhaust the potential expression to the
> point that what
> > follows could
> > be described as formulaic - working from a
> template.
> >
> > To what extent has this already occurred within
> microsound? Small
> > field
> > elements extrapolated and stretched across minimal
> drones of noise
> > with
> > underlying subtle textures developing and
> diffusing to the end point.
> >
> > What enables the work in this genre/style to stay
> invigorated?
> >
> >
> > David Newman
> > Audiobulb Records
> >
> > http://www.audiobulb.com
> > http://www.audiobulb.com/ab-shop.htm
> > http://www.myspace.com/audiobulb
> >
> >
> >
>
---------------------------------------------------------------------
> > To unsubscribe, e-mail:
> microsound-unsubscribe@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> > For additional commands, e-mail:
> microsound-help@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> > website: http://www.microsound.org
> >
>
>
>
---------------------------------------------------------------------
> To unsubscribe, e-mail:
> microsound-unsubscribe@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> For additional commands, e-mail:
> microsound-help@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> website: http://www.microsound.org
>
>
j.ff gbk
http://www.futurevessel.com/orphansound
http://www.idiosyncratics.net/netlabel.html
http://www.djalma.com
http://www.mattin.org/desetxea.html
____________________________________________________________________________________
Looking for last minute shopping deals?
Find them fast with Yahoo! Search. http://tools.search.yahoo.com/newsearch/category.php?category=shopping
---------------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe, e-mail: microsound-unsubscribe@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
For additional commands, e-mail: microsound-help@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
website: http://www.microsound.org