Unlikely Sources...
From the original Analog Industries archive. Some links and images from that era no longer resolve.
This sort of thing has always intrigued me. I’ve spent hours coaxing single sounds out of unsuitable objects (one SMG song is sourced entirely, except for vocals and guitar, from a cage fan) but honestly it never occurred to me to edit a video rhythmically with found sound.
This methodology naturally brings to mind the work of Diego Stocco, which I find incredibly fascinating and inspirational. Every time he puts up a video, I actually set aside a block of time to dissect what he did and think about its ramifications, and as a musician, that’s about the highest complement you can give another musician, I believe. Obviously, Mr. Stocco’s main forte is sound design, but I find what he does with the sounds to be extremely refreshing, and the resulting music is fulfilling without being oppressively songish.
This all dovetails with my favoritest band of all bands, Neubauten, who are the unquestionable masters of creating music out of the detritus of modern society. And there’s a lot of detritus to go around. They’ve got much more traditional in their old age, as the video below demonstrates, but they still use essentially the same tools today that they did early on. They’re just better at bending those tools to their will.
I propose that sound design and songwriting using invented instruments requires as much practice and virtuosity to pull off as, say, being able to play Dueling Banjos. It’s doubly impressive for the fact that the instrument didn’t exist prior to the musician imagining it as such. But ultimately, it’s all pissing in the wind if the song itself isn’t interesting to a non-musician, right?
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I miss my days of youth running around with a recording walkman hitting everything in sight and then loading those sounds into a Mirage or EPS and using them as raw materials for noises/sounds that ultimately were used in a "musical" context.
Sampling always seemed like the ultimate form of synthesis to me since the waveform was always unique and of my choosing - no one else had MY whistling tea kettle or MY garage door spring.
I, too, listened to lots of early/mid-period Neubauten - they blurred the line between art and music beautifully.
Thanks for the Diego Stocco link! Gonna watch those the rest of the day.
I prefer sourced sounds in music, both when listening and creating, to be allowed to retain their innate rhythms and character, so generally I'm not enthused by things like that ball video, where the sounds have been shoehorned into conventional musical forms and rhythms.
I love Diego Stocco's inventiveness, especially that recent keyboard bass instrument he made, which I thought was dazzling. But I always find his music uninspiring, as it isn't reactive to the new sounds but an exercise in conforming those sounds to existing forms, where the only quality of those sounds that remains in the music is their novelty.
not quite the same thing but there's nothing like a chainsaw solo:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLu7p9bTJ84
Absolutely nothing wrong with songs, in my humble.
There's a very, very thin line between "freeform" and "wanking", so "conforming sounds to existing forms" suits me just dandy when the sounds are as breathtaking as the Bassoforte.
Thanks for the heads up, Mr. Randall.
To be honest I hadn't thought much about Neubauten in years, until you twatt this amazing clip a few weeks back:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQY6REitEEw&feature=related
This led me to watching clip after clip, going back to the Neubauten I dug way back when, performances and videos that I'd only heard or read about. Back when they were the gold standard for crazy intense noise you could make in musical fashion. It was great to see it has always been as genius as I imagined. And this later stuff is amazing.
So, yeah, just about fully feel the same way with bands/artists that can incorporate and find the rhythmic/musical properties of junk - Tom Waits, Skeleton Key come to mind - and create songs from them, not just soundscapes.
"Why is he digging a ditch?!" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2G3KfKbJwE&feature=related
A while back I heard a talk by Craig Schuftan where he linked the Italian Futurism movement to Gwen Stefani's Hollaback Girl, through the use of unlikely sounds for music. (His Culture Club book is a great read too, full of lots of similar comparisons.)
If you read Luigi Russolo's Art of Noise manifesto, it's really inspiring and worth a look, you can see the sense in it. He mightn't have foreseen sampling but he did see the potential. http://www.unknown.nu/futurism/noises.html
There's a lot to be gained for taking noise and using it musically, especially for musicians as it helps develop listening skills.
As for whether non-musicians understand it, who cares. Call it art and take your own enjoyment from it. The masses can't all be enlightened.
"I propose that sound design and songwriting using invented instruments requires as much practice and virtuosity to pull off as, say, being able to play Dueling Banjos."
Well, it should. Generally it doesn't, and it's a short trip off the cliff edge of wanking by using weird stuff without really exploring it as a real lifetime instrument.
Sort of like using alternate guitar tunings... Pierre Bensusan, famous for using DADGAD, says that he used to fool around with all kinds of tunings, but eventually decided that he had to just pick one and get really good at it in order to really do anything with guitar.
I love sound, and enjoy the works of Varese and Permegiani because their choice of 'noise' fits my taste. But I don't come back to their music as often as others, like Aphex Twin's for example. His music features very interesting sound design, it is _of it's time_, and yet a medieval ensemble could play his music and it would still be brilliant. IMO.
So it's all down to the essence for me. Maybe there IS stuff hidden behind the notes. Who knows. I think it's just clear that no instrument you can build or buy can help a guy make tunes that people *really* care about.
Oh and that Gravité clip is really cool! Thanks for sharing.
_aKido
That reminded me of Kev Hoppers 'Pool Song' (not on youtube...) where the rhythm is simply samples of pool balls being knocked about. Preserves some of the richochet 'rhythms' so sounds a lot more natural. Cool guy.
As to the main proposition; I agree, though I'd add that pissing in the wind ain't necessarily a bad thing from an artistic perspective. ;)
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