Skip to main content

Reponse to Basinskis Future of American Music

 Future of American Music

Lecturer: Mr. Prof. Dr. Herzogenrath

Student: Ahmad Deyhimi 7167063

10 Hearing Responses for the Hausarbeit

 

Response to a piece of work by William Basinski – “DP 3.”

 

My initial response to listening to William Basinski's DP 3 was tremendous. The slowly disintegrating loops create a profound and intensely moving sense of nostalgia and melancholy. Of all the experimental pieces of music we listened to throughout the course, I enjoyed William's ambient and experimental music the most due to its innovative sound and emotional resonance, which is profoundly moving, haunting, and contemplative. Furthermore, the slowly decaying loops of orchestral music create a sense of nostalgia and loss. The album's haunting and emotionally resonant soundscapes prompted my engagement as the soundscapes feel almost like a living organism, slowly transforming and mutating over time, giving the album a sense of unpredictability and spontaneity that adds to its emotional impact. In addition, I also perceived the music as a kind of meditation on the passage of time and the impermanence of all things. Its intense emotional impact makes it an overwhelming piece of art that provokes a sense of unease and sadness. Adding to its emotional intensity and cinematic quality, the orchestral loops in Basinski's work of art are beautifully layered and arranged in such a way that it creates a fierce sense of depth and texture, making it transcendent and otherworldly. The music is so effective and compelling that the audience can easily recognize the themes of loss and decay. The album's emotional depth and sonic richness make it a powerful work of art that speaks to something fundamental in the human experience. Moreover, the decaying tape loops create a sense of deterioration and decay that feels organic and authentic rather than forced or contrived. Thus, in my view, its ability to evoke a sense of nostalgia and melancholy without resorting to sentimentality or cliches makes it a remarkable and unique piece of art. 
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

William Basinski – The Disintegration Loops III

  The Disintegration Loops is a quartet of albums published in 2002 and 2003 by American avant-garde composer William Basinski. The pieces are made up of tape loop recordings that were played over time, with noise and crackles rising as the tape deteriorated. Basinski noticed this effect when attempting to convert his older recordings to digital format. The completion of the recordings coincided with the September 11, 2001 events, which Basinski witnessed and adds a deeper meaning to the composition. The composition is fascinating in many ways and makes the listener lose track of time. The tape loop recording had a very calming effect on me and put me in a trance-like state when I listened to it in its entirety. The tape loop is really soothing, so much so that I didn't even notice the loss of quality when I first listened to it. It makes you forget about time and allows you to really get into the piece capturing the calmness it exudes. You forget or don't really notice how i...
Post a Comment
Read more

Pauline Oliveros – The Goddard in the Dan Harpole Cistern

  After watching Dan Harpole's film of Goddard in the Cistern, one is struck by how creepy the location appears and feels. In the light, you can just make out a lengthy ladder leading down into a concrete-walled area. It's absolutely dark, with only the top hatch and a small lamp providing lighting. This sequence accounts for a significant portion of the plot. Three persons are seen climbing up and down the ladder, which might be regarded the music piece's official start. Additionally, while the name "Dan Harpole Cistern" suggests a vast space, it appears to be a homemade video. A hum and other vocal noises travel across the room, bouncing off the walls. The women's voices generate a hum that contributes to the room's unique feel. The beautiful singing is interrupted by metal fragments falling on the floor. One would ask how much thought went into the sounds, given that the majority of them appear to be chosen at random. The emphasis is not on making sound...
Post a Comment
Read more

John Oswald – Plexure (Full Album)

  Jon Oswald was known for his Plunderphonics music pieces, where he created new pieces from already existing music recordings of famous artists and reworked them. Artists like Michael Jackson, who was also part of the cover on Plunderphonic, The Beatles, James Brown, Bing Crosby but also classical musicians like Beethoven and Bach were part of his pieces.   The first minute and a half of his album consists of a wild mix of R&B and hip-hop songs. They are single, very short sequences, about 2-3 seconds long, which were cut together. The first song was introduced with a sound that reminded me of Michael Jackson's Thriller. From minute five to about minute seven, the use of rock & roll music was recognizable. At the end, I recognized Madonna, Nirvana and again Michael Jackson, among others. Personally, I can hardly identify with this kind of music, because listening to the album, I felt the compilation was relatively arbitrary and not balanced with each other. I recogniz...
Post a Comment
Read more