Music Works: Deconstructing the Record

One thing I've noticed about contemporary music, whether it be popular or more of the academic idiom, is that people have been searching for new ways to not only compose the music, but search for original ways to use instruments (or any other medium that is able to produce a sound).

In this article it speaks of how three particular musicians achieve this by using old record players and phonograph's to communicate their art. Vinyl has always been used to produce music, or play music that has already been produced. Than at some point in the latter half of this century people reinvented the way in which it was used. People began to use vinyl to scratch, in particular in the hip hop and club genres. It was a new sound that became very popular, and it kind of died out again.

The group "vinyl interventions" has taken this a whole step further. They not only scratch, they used broken records, they use different ways of producing sound from the records (i.e. using a sewing needle attached to a microphone inside of a paper cone).

After reading this article I went online to hear some of their music, and it was very surreal. The timbres they use, a hitting, scratching noise. I was impressed with this amount of creativity.

It also reminds me of some of the more popular music I already listen to, some bands that are more oriented in the genre of "noise rock", Artists like Chad Vangaalen and the band Holy F***.

Chad Vangaalen incorporates a lot of electronic noise, created by pitch bending, and using unuaual instruments in a new context. What I like so much about him using pitch bending is the unpredictability in that form of music production. He often takes childrens toys, and rewires some of the cicuits to create a short circuited loop or noise that he will construct a musical idea around.

The group Holy F*** are similar, although they have more control over the music they create. They use toy keyboards and other various things and run them through various effect pedals to base drumbeats around. The effect again is somewhat surreal and the timbres generated are totally unique and new.

There seems to be a movement towards more aleotoric processes of composition amongst a number of musicians and composers these days. Also, there is a lot of experimentation with new ways of generating sound with older mediums. In today's age, it's no surprise that people are resorting to these older things to find new uses for them, it's the recycling era after all.

Fin

Finally, the end of the semester is here. This semester went by so fast, but at the same time I am more than thankful that the end is here. I am taking the advanced composition class next semester, and I'm excited to start, however I am in no rush for that time to come.

I am happy with the work I've done in this class. Listening back to my compositions I feel very satisfied and fufilled through what I've done, which I think is a first for me. I've always recorded little instrumental things on my computer, just to pass some time and stuff, but I never really would be overly satisfied with what I've done.

I'm always very self concious to let anyone here anything that I create because I beleive it's a reflection of who I am. And it's not about quality, or whether they like it or not. The thing I'm self concious about is if I want those sounds to be assosciated with me or not. And this is the first time I really feel totally confident in people hearing my ideas, the overall sound that I've created in my two pieces. It just seems to make sense to me for that to be written by me. I don't know if this will make sense to anyone else...reading this back makes me feel a little bit crazy. but whatever.

I was able to find a sound that was very much my own I think. A shimmery dreamlike sound that would just surround me when I'd play it by myself in the practice room. That's where both of them started out, just me screwing around on the piano and im pleased with it. However, I do think the two pieces are similar and think I need to move away from that sort of sound. Only to learn how to develop and present new ideas. I never want to get stuck relying on a certain way of thinking or writing, that stunts growth.