The Clever Children play ... Stockhowzen VS The Technocrats

Students of the "Digital Sound Cultures" (Winter 2010) class responded to a dialogue between two generations of electronic and digital sound producers by making short mashups. The resulting audio work highlighted or resolved tensions evident in The Wire magazine's "Advice to/from Clever Children" (Nov. 1995), which pitted the father of electronic music, Karlheinz Stockhausen, against a younger generation of electronica represented by Aphex Twin, Plastikman, Scanner, and Dan Pemberton. The Clever Children album extends this dialogue into additional works by Grandmaster Flash, Brian Eno, Janet Cardiff, Francisco Lopez, Bjork, Christian Marclay, and many more.



Track List
1. Brad Ginsburg - "criticalmashup" (3:27)
2. Andrew Baldwin - "Technocrats" (5:05)
3. Angela Malley - "Critical Mashup" (3:15)
4. Roxi Carter - "critical maship" (3:04)
5. Leo Kacenjar - "Hunter's Down" (4:49)
6. Kanoa James - "kanoa remix" (4:42)
7. Eric Peterson - "Critical Mush" (3:38)

Download The Clever Children at the Internet Archive.

Click's and Cuts an expression of Minimalism

Kyle Gann attempts to quantify and clarify what it means to be minimalist when reviewing or discussing a piece of music through a set of twelve descriptions of minimalism's process. In looking at Thomas Brinkman's piece, 011, on the album, Clicks & Cuts Vol 2. it is easy to identify how much this work has been influenced by previous minimalist's works and the processes that those works used to create their sound. Minimalism as an art movement avoided decorative trappings or accouterments. In the same way minimalists stuck to very simple tones through the use of static harmony or keeping the harmony related to a specific scale or part of a scale. Though Brinkman's work is hard to place as specific notes on a scale, as a sonorous object there does seem to be a range of clicks, pops, and other sounds that are at different pitches on a progressive scale. In the same way minimalism uses the processes of addition and repetition 0100 also relies on the repetition of certain beat cycles of clicks creating new sounds by combining several cycles of beats on top of one another. Gann explains that this use of repetition and addition brought the idea that minimalism was more of a process than anything else, an idea I don't necessarily agree with.

Brinkman's piece certainly doesn't fall under all of the categories that Gann describes, but then neither does every minimalist piece. "This is hardly a complete list of techniques and features of minimalist music, but it does constitute a family of character traits. No minimalist piece uses all of these, but I could hardly imagine calling a piece minimalist that didn't use at least a few of them." The trouble with Brinkman's piece in describing it as minimalist is that in part it uses the techniques of minimalism while using sounds I would describe as post-minimalist. Its taking these clicks and cuts and putting them into minimalist processes. In part that may be because Brinkman's music came after minimalism and thus was influenced by these other artist's works. Another artist's work that I would posit, might have influenced Brinkmann might be Steve Reich's, Drumming Pt. 1. Many of the processes seem similar and later on in Reich's piece the phase shifting seems similar to Brinkman's, the offsetting of beats to slightly different tempos helps bring the addition and repetitive processes to a culmination. Lastly I would point towards the fact that in both pieces the audible structure is easily apparent, by revealing their structure to all those that listen closely it makes the music both easy to comprehend yet it forces the listener to focus on it.

Works cited

Brinkman, Thomas. 0100. Clicks & Cuts, Vol. 2. 2001

Gann, Kyle. "Thankless Attempts at a Definition of Minimalism." Audio Culture: Readings in Modern Music. Ed. Cristpoph Cox and Daniel Warner. New York: Continuum, 2008.

Reich, Steve. Drumming, Pt. 1.

The Studio as Composition Vis à Vis MBV

Brian Eno talks about the studio as a compositional tool, representing the shift from "composer" or "musician" to "producer." He writes,

"You're working directly with sound, and there's no transmission loss between you and the sound--you handle it. It puts the composer in the identical position of the painter... He always retains the options to chop and change, to paint a bit out, to add a piece, etc."

I can't think of a more illuminating example of this than My Bloody Valentine's Only Shallow from their 1991 release Loveless. Using the painting metaphor, if a composer's palette consists of the instruments he is arranging, MBV's palette is typical of any other rock band (guitars, a bass, and drums), but the sounds it produces are anything but. The track explodes with a shrieking, spinning, siren only remotely resembling anything a guitar would produce. That sound and most others produced on the record are a product of hundreds of hours of studio time, spent meticulously experimenting: tapes reversed and affected, guitar amplifiers faced directly at each other with a microphone between them capturing the wave phase behavior, etc. It's difficult to imagine the band producing a song as sonically adventurous and dense without the ability to work with sounds in a tangible form in the studio. And indeed, having had the opportunity to see the band perform Only Shallow at the Fillmore last April, I can attest to the fact that the live sound, though powerful in its own way, is distinct from the recording, due in large part to the fact that some of the recorded sounds are simply impossible to reproduce live.

Eno also makes light of the fact that, prior to the availability of recording technologies, people like him couldn't have dreamed of composing music because they weren't technically proficient enough or had little knowledge of its written representations. Wind on Water, a piece which Eno produced in collaboration with guitarist Robert Fripp, is a piece that is sonically, surprisingly similar to Only Shallow, if the latter were stripped of its rock influences. Though produced in a wholly different manner using tape loops, the pieces share more than tonal similarity: they are both likely impossible to recreate perfectly in a live situation, and they were both produced by self-taught musicians. Kevin Shields has gone from (at least compared to guitar virtuosos like Hendrix or Page) a fairly run-of-the-mill guitarist to 95th greatest in the world, due in large part to the sonic creativity afforded to him by the studio used as a compositional tool.

Hi-Fi transformation: Stereolab

If during the time of space age music created optimism over technology in the late 1950’s and 1960’s in France as well as created anxiety or ambivalence in America, then towards the early 1990’s the progression of space age music has taken shape. Stereolab’s, “Stars to our Destination” uses the progression of French and American influence to drive its space pop rock to the next level. Taylor states, “To understand space-age pop music-jazz influenced popular music of the late 50’s and 60’s that thematized the exotic, whether terrestrial or in space, and was intended to be played on hi-fis….” These hi-fi systems were supposed to be played in the home during the postwar era that brought about new technologies that progressed the future. Stereolab revived that influence of previously fringe music of the 60’s rock and used many methods of recording such has hi-fi’s and analog synthesizers to invoke the succession of the space age pop to the 90’s.

Although many saw the hi-fi system a masculine object of desire, women made the transition as well as to adjust to future technologies for the home. With the new technology scares in the 50’s eluding to the fact of the atom bomb many were frightened with the idea of space and the unknown as well as these new technologies given in stride. The mix between men and women and the use of technologies was quite far fetched and as in the present time the work of Stereolab combines the nature of space rock with a touch of both men and women in collaboration. Although the clash of masculinity reeks through the technologies of the 50’s the main stay have feminized relations in the 90’s. “If the federal government’s plan for massive expenditures of income tax dollars on nuclear energy and weapons and later the space race were to be justified, this technology thus had to be made acceptable to everyone, not just men.” The work of Stereolab’s album Mars Audiac Quintet provides the generational gap between the power that both men and women can make new technologies (synthesizers) as well as older technologies (hi-fis) create a sound in which can generate new age space rock with a touch of the older influences to absorbed the space age unknown.

Staying Out the Time

Steve Reich's Drumming, Pt.1 employs the technique of phasing, a kind of collaboration or transmission between two players (or a player paired with a recording) where one player preserves a static beat and the other follows along - miming, transcending and undermining the metronomic rhythm. A structure is generated from the first moment which expands, unwinding throughout the track, the two drums conversing in an exchange of time and action. Through this call and response, Reich maintains a consistent pattern for several minutes and then it breaks down, fragmenting the reply, withdrawing radically from established sound. "The underlying structure operates according to an additive process rather than either a traditional mode of representation or... abstraction" (McClary 295). One drum rolls up ahead up the beat, collapses on itself, and then returns and slows down, finally culminating in an ecstatic clamor. Reich's composition illustrates the divide between repetition and "the formalist excesses of High Modernism" (McClary 295) by providing a framework in which repetition and structural innovation can comment on each other, arriving at a kind of utopian trance in which all difference or disagreement is relieved.

To transmit - "to convey or communicate (usually something immaterial) to another or others... Also, to convey (force or movement) from one part of a body, or of mechanism, to another" (OED). Joy Division's Transmission implores us to "Dance, dance, dance, dance, dance to the radio," invoking the electromagnetic wave of wireless telephony as well as the body's desire to reach another body through physical action. Transmission reproduces through language the commentary on repetition and the new which Drumming, Pt.1 performs -

And we would go on as though nothing was wrong.
And hide from these days we remained all alone.
Staying in the same place, just staying out the time.
Touching from a distance,
Further all the time.

The song presents dancing and listening to the radio as methods through which human interaction can become possible - the repetition of the mandate to "dance" acting as a reification of the "ecstatic structure of time in our moment" (McClary 295). Yet, unlike the visionary fervor which ends Reich's Drumming, Pt.1, Transmission laments the distance and loneliness embedded in the act of dancing to the radio, a kind of isolation which leads to abjection despite the possibilities which repetition opens up. The longing to connect is what animates both of these tracks, whether they are negotiated and absolved through rapture or resisted while still aching to close the gap.

Works Cited
Joy Division. Transmission. Factory, 1979.

McClary, Susan. "Rap, Minimalism, and Structures of Time in Late Twentieth-Century Culture." Audio Culture: Readings in Modern Music. Ed. Cristpoph Cox and Daniel Warner. New York: Continuum, 2008.

Reich, Steve. Drumming, Pt. 1.

"transmit, v." The Oxford English Dictionary. 2nd ed. 1989. OED Online. Oxford University Press. 12 Feb. 2010 .

Dub, Studio, and Additive Vs. Subtractive Process

Brian Eno suggests that recording technology, the multi-track tape, seminally influenced music production by allowing sound to leave the constraints of temporality. The recording practices that emerged transformed the musician and studio into painter and palette. Dense forms of music like heavy metal, dub, and some of Eno’s own tape music assume the studio as instrument paradigm. For Eno, this technological evolution meant an additive process where tape systems would build layers like sediment. In Jamaica the arrival of recording technology was harold to the birth of dub. David Toop writes about King Tubby’s early experimentation, “[Tubby] discovered the thrill of stripping a vocal from its backing track and then manipulating the instrumental arrangement with techniques and effects…for the dubmaster they can displace time, shift the beat, heighten the mood, suspend a moment.” (Toop, 356) Toop highlights a process of pairing down recordings and adding effects that would become common throughout Dub production. The resulting aural phenomenon is rich and cavernous, bearing a nimbus of reverberation and decay. This subtractive effect driven process activates the producer and studio as Eno suggests, but differs in audio aesthetic through its initial act of disassemblage.

Lee “Scratch” Perry’s Guiding Star Dub (1996-1997) and Eno’s Lizard Point (1982) are illustrative of both the studio as instrument, and the differences in primarily subtractive and additive processes. Guiding Star Dub opens with a shattering splash of drums, heavy on reverb and characteristically stripped down rhythm of trumpets. These elements feel almost disparate in their juxtaposition, as though their harmonizing element had been removed. Then a downtrodden voice, undoubtedly sampled and reduced from pop-reggae, appears on top. The aegis of horns suddenly fragment, ring, and dissipate echoing from left to right, leaving nothing but emptiness. The voice returns, but the instrumental track continually falls out from beneath him, creating a space of despair that seems to trail on indefinitely. Perry achieves this feel through chopping up and reducing his sources. Perhaps he subtracted from a previous cut until nothing but drums, bass, and horns remained, removing all binding elements, which formerly rendered the source cohesive. As a sculptor he would then use the tools of the studio, echo and reverb to stretch and bend the shards into a landscape of fluctuation. Oppositional in approach are Eno’s use of tape systems. Lizard Point almost feels cyclic at points. There is a more apparent layering going on. The deep and swelling tones pile up on top of each other forming a tightly joined stratum. The feel of this piece is directly related to Eno’s additive process of recording in which the tape continually records over itself, compiling a new band. Both of these pieces are generated through the studio, with the control panel as the main instrument. However, their aesthetic separation is drastic, and this stems from the difference in subtractive and additive processes.

Works Cited

Toop, David. “Replicant: On Dub.” Audio Culture Readings In Modern Music. Ed. Cox, Christolph and Daniel Warner. New York: Continuum International Publishing Group, 2008.

Space Age Masculinity

Taylor discusses how during the 1950s men used their high powered and complicated Hi-Fis to play music in their home environment as an attempt to reassure their dominance. This came about after the war because of the overflow of new technologies available to women. Suddenly the home of everyman was littered with push button technologies, vacuums, blenders and microwaves. To take back some sort of dominance in the home environment, men purchased Hi-Fis. These, machines reeked of masculinity and heterosexuality, reassuring the male of the 1950s that he was still the keeper of his castle. The ideas behind these machines were, like most complicated technologies, men could only use them properly; therefore women lacked the mental capacity to operate such machines.

“The point is, though, not that women were untechnological but that complex technology was defined as the proper domain of the man."

"Moon Moods," a track from the classic album, Music of the Moon, is a perfect example of this. Right from the beginning you are introduced to a melody sung in harmony by men. The atmosphere created is relaxed but sophisticated at the same time. Harps, Xylophones and trumpets lay down jazz influenced riffs, while drums resonate somewhat of a simplified exotic beat. Electronic instruments such as an electric guitar take points in the song to play short solos redefining the melody. Finally the Theremin chimes in and out sporadically carrying the same tune proliferated throughout the piece, but when played with the Theremin it is given an otherworldly feel. This exotic theme plays directly to the male listener. In a sense he is exploring the intricacies of sound, listening to the beats of other worlds and incorporating them into his music library. Other songs in this Space-Age Music genra such as "How High the Moon" by Bobby Christian have a very different feel but still address the concept of masculinity. "Moon Moods" would be a song played by a man who wants to assert his dominance over his household, while "How High the Moon" falls under the category of mood music. A symphony of sound is heard, as whimsical melodies from violins, cellos and bells lull the listener into a relaxed state. Echoed bells give an illusion of space and create the feel of mysticism. ,“…the bachelor could seduce his date with his fancy hi-fi by playing mood music,” says Taylor. Being able to seduce a woman with an “intellectually demanding” device such as the hi-fi must have been a major ego boost to the space age bachelor.

By playing his music, the man’s presence fills the house beyond just the room he occupies. This asserts an overbearing dominance, a reminder to all who hears the exotic tunes and beats, that this house is ruled by a man, and no one has the power to play music like this but him.

Water Creatures of Astra and the Space Age

When Space Age came about in the late 1940s and 50s, it brought curiosity as well as apprehension, and some music sought to reflect the time in an exaggerated way. The song “Water Creatures of Astra” by Russ Garcia illustrates this concept with its buildups and peaks. Even though the sounds of the song are mostly recognizable like musique concrète, the way they are placed together creates mystery and prospect as well as nervousness. The song sounds like melodies tiptoeing across the tape until they approach the ending cut where they spike in surprise. During the space age people became very intrigued by what the future may hold, but fear also came with this interest. In Strange Sounds, Timothy Taylor wrote, “Even though the allure and anxiety over technology and the future were real, many of these albums coped by making fun of it, perhaps attempting to skewer some of the more hyperbolic predictions” (p. 90). The song by Garcia may use some of the ideas of the exaggerated predictions of the future because of the way the instruments vibrate in ambiguity and jump into unexpected revelations.

Like Garcia’s “Water Creatures of Astra,” Louis and Bebe Barron’s “Battle with the Invisible Monster” from the move Forbidden Planet also coincides with Taylor’s concept of the Space Age. This combination of sounds travels through a mysterious atmosphere and stumbles upon unanticipated occurrences. Taylor talks about Forbidden Planet and explains how it represented the anxiety of the time through its plot (p. 93). Even with all the advancement of technology, a civilization was not guaranteed to survive. These songs illustrate the curiosity as well as fear that the future holds.

Bloom

So I was back at the mac store recently getting some more things fixed on my computer when I happened across this Iphone/ipod touch app. Its called Bloom by Brian Eno In thinking about how those that experiment with music seem to eventually turn their creative process into one that can replicated well this is Brian Eno's version. Now you too can create ambient music with the touch of your finger.

Actually I found it pretty cool as it takes your touch and turns it into a note, it repeats your touches in the exact order you did them in or it can randomize them. It cycles as well so it plays and you can insert new touches throughout the piece. Considering this isn't being done on a computer but a peripheral, its fun rather than technical. It has a feel to it and though it isn't for those that are extremely serious about composing it is almost like a casual gaming but casual composing. The songs you create can be saved and shared. Definitely something to check out. ~~Andrew