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John Oswald – Plexure

 

Melanie Diehl (6887890)

Prof. Dr. Bernd Herzogenrath

Winter Semester 2022/2023

The Future of American Music

Listening Reports - 22.02.2023

John Oswald – Plexure

Sounds like straight out of a Sci-fi movie until, that Avantgarde style drop hits, it suddenly shifts and feels like a mashup of Hip-Hop music, but also like when in a movie someone is being hacked and the computer is crashing. Like it’s an upbeat music, or like when you’re driving and changing the radio channels to find a song you want to listen to while driving. Suddenly, it’s like Whitney Houston is singing, when suddenly you are still undecisive to what you want to listen to, and I reckon this goes on for 19 minutes. However, suddenly changes again, and I’m sort of loving it, and hoping for a more rock or metal shift, and suddenly you hear a cry out loud.

            This! Ladies, and gentlemen, is what I consider Avantgarde music in my head. I feel like this album is not going the direction it is, and that my mind is making me think it is what I am listening to. That is the effect. Now this song might give the one or the other -Noooothing comp- okay, we are back. So, where was I? Sure, this music can give the one or the other a headache, but it kind of has me going. It is crazy, or maybe my ADHD, but this song truly has the rhythm that is currently helping me to write this piece. We are 5 minutes into the song, and it feels like it is slow again, I may lose concentration, but no- it’s groovy again! This is the effect Oswald got on me.

            I may sound crazy, but I could actually dance on this. I would use this song for the game ‘dancing chairs’, could be fun! I think what John Oswald was trying to achieve, back in 1993, was to create this mashup of all kinds of genres, and make it groovy. I think he succeeded. It feels like they were mixing up different cultural tones in the song too. Fantastic! My husband is asking me to turn it off, but I think this is something. I’m a fan. We have such different tastes as human beings, it’s great. Seeing his reaction and mine, I think this is an example of how Oswald succeeded. Finally towards a rocky end, and god that is exactly how I imagined it to come to an end. I absolutely loved it! It was a pleasure! (Opens Spotify.)

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