Re: The Listener as Artist

[neil@thump.org (Neil)]

On Wed, 03 Feb 1999 10:22:48 +0000, you wrote:

> In particular, how many f_minors have read what is, by far,
>his most significant article, "The Prospects of Recording"?

I have, several times and its a very important treatise. One example of Gould's
mercurial genius really making us sit up and think, re-evaluate accepted
conventions and think again.

Forgive me for not commenting on the rest of your post. I'm going to dive in and
change the subject a bit.

Where GG's philosophy is so interesting is in how it relates to comtemporary
music. 

Mixes, remixes, DJs and dance music. I'm not sure how many of you go "clubbing"
and listen to house, techo, garage and so on. But here's a whole genre of music
which is entirely created in the electronic laboratory. Much of dance music
relies on sampling (taking a voice/sound and digitising it). Samples can be from
old records, or recorded in a living room with a decent singer. The samples are
then weaved into an electronic tableau consisting of rhythmic elements (bass,
percussion and other stuff) and hopefully some harmony (techno is more sparser
than house or garage). 

UK Garage is perhaps the most extreme example as its such a cornucopia of voice
samples, simple undulating modulations and all sorts of percussive effects. Its
hard to describe the effects without actually playing a few tracks. House music
is simpler, less convoluted. Couple of recent mega dance hits - Stardust and
needin' you (Morales) spring to mind as music created form other musical sources
and patched together to form something totally new. The magic is in the weaving.

But it doesn't stop there. A dance hit is usually released in its original mix
coupled with other mixes, perhaps my different artists or DJs. A remix can give
an entirely new persective. Its a reinterpretation of sorts. 

Then how does all this gell together. Answer - a good DJ. who creates what in
effect is a new composition made up of these tracks. A really good DJ such as
the late Tony de Vit has the skill and musical abilities to mix say 30 tracks
into one coherent and symphonic whole. The structural glues they use are rhythm
(the beat goes on and on) and timbres (different sounds). As a DJ set evolves,
the best often gets faster and the timbres get harder edged and more funky. For
me the final resting place musically, is trance, when the beat almost dissolves
and the mind is caressed by echoey, reverberating harmonic phrases, distant
voices and cunning stereo effects. Djing is far from just playing records.

Hope this is vaguely interesting to some of you. I think there is a lot of music
making going on in our better clubs which is addictive and fascinating. Its a
great contrast to the intellectual intensity of classical music: a music which
is more organic, intuitive and pulsates with life in a very natural way.

Neil
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