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Listening report: William Basinski

William Basinksi is an experimental composer based in Los Angeles. On his website his work is described as: „Employing obsolete technology and analogue tape loops, his haunting and melancholy soundscapes explore the temporal nature of life and resound with the reverberations of memory and the mystery of time.“ (Source 1). His piece The Disintegration Loops is one of the most known of his. Also, on the website its written about his work Disintegration Loops II: “The second Disintegration Loops consists of two long segments, both strikingly beautiful; the first one is a single muffled -- but radiant to my ears -- chord repeating over and over, a musical fragment that, more than evoking abandon or solitude, brings to my mind the effort of a woman giving birth to his creature: repetition and the ongoing pulverizing of sound resemble the extreme force of life desperately wanting to overcome.“

 

While listening to the volume The Disintegration Loops II I hear women’s voices echoing in the far, as well as violins in the beginning. This has a calming effect for me which transports me to another world, a dream world. I imagine people dancing happily above clouds. It gives me only positive feelings. At minute 8:50 a sound is added which reminds me of rattles. As time passes by the sounds feel hypnotic and mysterious. The sounds seem to come and go into the deep. This is where I am also reminded of the ocean. At minutes 16:26 the sound of a trumpet comes to my mind. The various sounds of The Disintegration Loops II complement each other incredibly well. The work is made out of loops as the sounds keep repeating during the full 41:53 minutes (music from google drive). I will for sure be listening more to the music of the composer Basinski due to his work touching me deeply.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Source:

1. http://www.mmlxii.com/about/

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