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John Oswald - Plexure

 

John Oswald’s compositions from his album “Plexure“ is a new interpretation of music. John Oswald is well-known for his sonic daring experiments in music. Oswald aimed to explore and analyze the depths of the future in his compositions, which he realized in the form of “Plunderphonics“.

“Plunderphonics is a music genre in which tracks are constructed by sampling recognizable musical work. Plunderphonics can be considered a form of sound challenge. Oswald has described it as a referential and self-conscious practice that interrogates notions of originality and identity.“[1] Overall, Oswald  pursued the aim of making entirely new music, which is all about making it new and unheard. Still, the music should be recognized by the listener. The idea is how short a sample can be so that still everybody recognizes it. This idea is illustrated by Oswald’s compositions in which he takes e.g. quote samples, takes them apart, and shatters them, so the whole function of the quote is not recognizable.

What were my impressions when listening to Oswald’s “Plexure“? It was like my brain received 1000 tons of signals and impulses, which I had to process and  classify in the first place. It seems like your brain is constantly trying to recognize the samples, cut in half, quarter, third, and so on. I was constantly sifting my musical knowledge and the music library of my brain, trying to assign the samples to its’ original songs and composers. The experience of Plunderphonics is immense and way beyond comprehension. Additionally, Oswald’s "Plexure“ sounds appropriate and well-wrought, although one might think that the used samples would not fit together at all. When listening to “Plexure“, it felt like passing every further second, the chaos and the question marks in your mind get bigger and bigger since further samples get added to the composition and the listener starts to recognize them. However, it is important to mention that the chaos is not a negative and unpleasant chaos, but a certain kind of chaos that challenges the listener’s mind and musical knowledge. Furthermore, I enjoyed the transitions between the different numerous samples.

Overall, the experience of “Plunderphonics“ was very uncommon and intense. I enjoyed the overload of perception, the messy but neatly at the same time chaos caused by the numerous samples. I have had experiences with mixed of different compositions, but “Plunderphonics“ is a whole new level and not comparable to common remixes at all.

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