What the March of Time Told Me

Actually, Oswald's plunderphonics pieces don't sound at all rough to me. I don't know what your student might have meant by that comment. Well, I don't have the original version, so perhaps my recordings are all remastered. Notwithstanding Oswald's choice to sometimes not "crossfade" between samples, the audio production is pretty top-notch. It seems that Oswald is meticulous about the structure and shape of each track, and every single sound seems carefully considered. Is your student perhaps confusing roughness with complexity?



Anyone who works with current audio technology knows that in five or ten years, we'll have to remix and remaster everything anyway. Metaphorically speaking, technology cannot paint a portrait, but it can provide a frame.

The Perfect Lives video probably contains too much information to take in at one sitting because it was made by my husband, John Sanborn, who is capable of watching a baseball game, listening to the Pet Shop Boys, working on a video, and checking e-mail all at one time. It is really interesting though that our world has changed so rapidly. And it's always gratifying to see younger sampling musicians giving credit to artists like Carl Stone, John Oswald, and many others who cleared the path for them.

"I asked if anyone had ever tried to read Finnegans Wake." -- and the answer was?...

KG replies: One had read the first page.

What is the worth of the pioneer? For example, many people have produced more virtuosic musique concrete than pierre schaeffer, yet scheaffer's early work is still extremely important. I will say, though, that I find Oswald's early stuff to be the most amazingly effective "mashing" I've heard.

Kyle,

a friend and I had the same reaction to the video of "Perfect Lives." We each had our interest piqued by your writing, but it seemed almost disappointingly dated in its appearance. I hate to say it, but I still find the CD and book forms more involving. Of course, the "Finnegan's Wake" analogy is an apt one; I've been finding that PL makes great grist for the term paper mill.

I wouldn't let the march of time take over just yet, though. Postclassic music still needs some impassioned advocacy before it can be left to fend for itself.

Yes, it's that old debate of "where does the art lie?" Is it in the archetype, ie the score, or is it in the realization? Listening back to the 1960s recordings of early Reich and Glass, they really sound pretty crappy compared to later studio versions. Yet I can only imagine the aural wonder upon first listening. I guess it all depends on whether you're happy to allow your work to be 're-worked' later as technology changes.