Coldcut
|
| The
impact therefore goes deeper than merely altering the idiom of a generation and
touches the very structures and functions of music. The
sample as demonstrated by Coldcut becomes a tool for cross-referencing and
incorporating sound bites from a world of noises traditionally considered as being without
any particular musical character. |
The
voice samples which littered Atomic moog 2000
derive their impact from the recognisable and inescapable sound of this real, un-musical
world. Pan Opticon’s political
message is underline by real-life voice samples enhanced by production techniques that
distill the angst and the conflict. Replacing the artificial silences that conventionally
divide albums into individual tracks, the sample becomes a marker for transition and
progression (the sample shift between More beats + pieces
and Rubaiyat on Let Us Play,
for instance),
a musical phrase that could easily fit into the tight structures of
a classical symphony. |
|
|
"...touching the
structures and
functions of
music." |
|
|
The starkest example of this structural evolution is
Music 4 No Musicians,
where the functions of new technology are used to
research new forms and architectures for musical composition.
Maybe I should let them explain : |
|
" Inspired by systems music. A music style where important
elements of the composition or arrangement are dictated by a system. For example, ‘Music
4 no Musicians’ by Steve Reich utilises a systems
whereby a basic figure is played until a player has to take a breath. At each breath, the
next step of the progression of the music is taken, i.e. the arrangement consists of
cycles which rather than being of fixed length are defined by a system based on the
player’s breathing pattern, which is organic and variable ". |
|
|
|
|
It may involve simple changes to the parametres of a
software, but the facility of the tool should not detract from the musical vision and
imagination of the composer. By putting his sounds at the mercy of a non-sentient machine,
the musician embraces the model of ideas transformed into data and controlled by systems, the
ultimate musical metaphor of the modern world. The result is surprisingly
coherent, despite the implied randomness in the approach and poses the question that rings
out in the last sample of Let Us Play :
" …but
how random is random ? ". |
|
|
|
|
follow ? |
|
|
|
|
|
