Coldcut, Ars poetica or just arsing around ? (1/2)

...a world on-line. Sex, drugs and Rock n' Roll haven't disappeared, but general acceptance of these elements into modern western social behaviour may have diluted the force of such concepts as social statements and commercial catalysts, particularly in relation to the adolescent urge to rebel and to create an identity. They no longer truelly represent that eternal struggle between individuals, belief systems and generations. Today, the most revealing difference between father and son is perhaps the level of initiation into the social rules and behaviours slowly crystallising out of the experiences of a world on-line. Competence in Information technology is becoming an essential tool and a criteria for entering into society's structures.

"innovative exploration of a new sonic repertoire"
The corresponding technological evolution of the music Industry and in the way music is created, presented and performed cannot be ignored. Although it may only be the trained ear that picks out natural sounds from those generated or altered by electronic means, many listeners easily detect the differences between the human touch of a drummer and the rhythmic perfection and artificial resonance of an electronic beat. But this phenomenon of newly discovered sonal contrasts is not limited to modern high-technology - Jimi Hendrix was one of many whose success was in part due to his innovative exploration of a new sonic repertoire, fruit of the evolution of his particular instrument. Indeed, the sound generated by the first instrument made by man found its force through the contrast with the human voice.

The Ninja Tune objective of innovation and exploration is the recurrent theme which underpins most of the label's productions : "...primarily strive to expand the boundaries of music & how we perceive it. Music is multi-dimensional & and verticality is the goal we run for."
We must break, at all cost, the restrictive circle of pure sound & and conquer the infinite variety of noise sounds " Luiji Russolo, 1913. " (extract from the cover of U.S.S.R. Repertoire (the theory of verticality), DJ Vadim). Coldcut et al. clearly perceive the intellectual challenge of musical experimentation which does not simply involve generating new sound/noise and contrasting the new with the old. Every musician is aware that producing sounds is relatively easy. As the previous quotation suggests, it is the arrangement of these sounds which makes music, the musician's role being his skill in appling his knowledge of the dynamics of musical sounds and his ability to manipulate them into structures.

Information systems lend themselves to such manipulation : word processing spills over into sound processing. That anything, regardless of its aesthetic beauty, can be systematically reduced down to binary code is not the most astonishing. It is that, once in digital form, this information can be reproduced ad infinitum. Therein lies the revolution which throws up the crucial questions about the position of the musician and of the DJ, of acoustically produced sound, of creative originality and the composer's rights, and, wider still, about the presentation and purpose of music as an aesthetic and social phenomenon.

The drum machine and sampler have replaced the electric guitar and the cassette player under the christmas tree. The extravert rock-star lifestyle and performance has given way to the unassuming DJ who prefers to refer to his music through a name/trademark and not through an image.

If Electronic music has displaced King Rock, his stadium extravaganzas, set lists and the nostalgia of the cover version, it is because it institutes an approach which favours references and samples, intelligent quotations and links to other worlds, where merging tracks into music-scapes emphasises progression over the autonomy of the musical idea and the three and a half minute song.