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Basinski

 8.       William Basinski

“The Disintegration Loops“

 

            Wow… how beautiful old tapes can sound again. This piece was beautiful. It felt calm and majestic at the same time. It felt impressive, mediative, and sad in a way. I have so many words for it and I felt so many different emotions while listening to the “Disintegration Loops“.

            I don’t know why but the image of a city being destroyed and buildings collapsing appeared before my eye while listening to this piece of music and hearing the murmur and the crackle in the background. It felt like a dramatic movie scene in which a person is watching their city fall form far far away. I found it interesting that as I am listening to old tapes falling apart I get the feeling of deconstruction. What I listened to felt huge while I felt very small, it felt sublime in a way.  What I also had to think about was the “Nichts“ in Die Unendliche Geschichte by Michael Ende. I imagined that that is what it must sound and feel like… I don’t know why. Or it could also describe a black hole in space. Something scary but at the same time immensely beautiful. As the murmur gets louder and louder it feels like the deconstruction and the danger is moving closer to you.

            The piece also made me very sleepy and calm. As it includes no disturbing sounds it felt like this piece of music would play quietly in a spa while getting a massage or meditating or something. A voice whispering: “let your problems behind you“ would’ve fitted perfectly.

            Although the piece was 40 minutes ling and it basically is the same melody throughout those 40 minutes it still never got boring. It felt magical and I did not want it to end. By the end I heard less and less of the actual melody but more of the murmuring and the crackling. This prepared me for actual ending of the piece and the final deconstruction if you want to say so. 

            This was by far my favorite piece and I would absolutely listen to it again while studying or while falling asleep.

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