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John Oswald – Plunderphonic - Plexure

 

John Oswald's album Plunderphonic - Plexure is about 20 minutes of experimental music that starts out like the intertwined sounds of radio stations by taking similar parts from many musicians' pre-existing recordings but then uses the harmonies of these similar parts to create a sound that is only possible through the power of sampling and manipulation. Until the end of the first minute of the track, I found myself wanting to choose one station from the imaginary radio in front of me, I deeply felt the uneasiness of not being able to choose a station during that minute of constantly changing and overlapping human voices. It absolutely requires embracing the unexpected and creative experimentation with sound. At the beginning of the next part, I was able to catch the tones that made me a little more relaxed, in harmony with the melodies I recognized, with less human voices and drums overlapping. Therefore, the challenge of listening to the music relatively decreased once I found myself habituated to it.

This album is a progressive composition that questions the issue of copyright in music, pointing out that music from different eras and genres can have a lot in common.  John Oswald quoted in his presentation for the album the following from Jon Hassell's essay "Magic Realism." “…a sonic texture like a "Mona Lisa" which in close-up, reveals itself to be made up of tiny reproductions of the Taj Mahal" (Oswald 4). What I felt right after listening to the Plunderphonic was just like how it is exemplified by Hassell and used by Oswald here, looking at a whole composed with manipulated samples from different works. Moreover, being faced to the album cover, which is a collaged image of different album covers already gives us a glimpse of what we are about to experience. Overall, it was a pretty challenging listening practice that helped me question copyright and its infringement while being amazed by hearing the tracks from different genres and generations that I have been familiar with in a working harmony.

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