Skip to main content

William Basinski report Anna Trubnikova

One thing I haven’t straight away captured in class while listening to Basinski is that the concept of his style of music is very similar to my view to the repetition of words and sound in “I am sitting in a room” of Alvin Lucier’s. Or, it is better to say, it creates the same kind of impression for the listener and facilitates the understanding of what the composer intended to put into his piece.

Addressing “Disintegration Loops” and “Watermusic” in particular in this report, I may say both cause a calming, almost meditational effect while telling different stories. Taking into account the story behind creating Disintegration Loops, it is surprising to find out that the piece is quite peaceful in sound. It revolves around reflections on the eternal, fragility of existence. It brings the listener back to the moment when Basinski was watching what was left from once mighty big beautiful glass facades of the skyscrapers. The loop of the notes communicates the disbelief, mourning, apathy and indifference of the universe in face of such events. This apathy is painful, horrible yet it manages to add significant flavour to what can be heard in this piece. The decay of the time, of this particular piece, of the mood, of the situation, of the cruelty into crusty waves of black clouds of fume over the towers in the picture. It is important to observe Basinski’s pieces along with the visual part, whether he performs or it is just a picture associated with a certain piece.

Watermusic again for some reason seems to be somehow connected with the art of Alvin Lucier. It is also similar to Disintegration Loops but the general mood of the piece is more cheerful. Right after hearing the first seconds of it you feel it welcoming you to explore world of sound and deep listening. You hear the wonderful melody of nature and feel connected to the universal common knowledge. The name suggests listening to the nature of water, but I personally hear sparkling snowflakes in the fairy-tale world of winter, cold windy mornings and crispy air among the trees. There are rivers covered with snow and that is the sound of the frozen surface of the water still full of life under the blocks of ice. I hear different shapes of water in this piece. It represents moments of life and various periods of ups and downs naturally merging together into a melody.

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