If Rhythm Science was about the flow of things, Sound Unbound is about the remix–how music, art, and literature have blurred the lines between what an artist can do and what a composer can create. In Sound Unbound, Rhythm Science author Paul Miller aka DJ Spooky that Subliminal Kid asks artists to describe their work and compositional strategies in their own words. These are reports from the front lines on the role of sound and digital media in an information-based society. The topics are as diverse as the contributors: composer Steve Reich offers a memoir of his life with technology, from tape loops to video opera; Miller himself considers sampling and civilization; novelist Jonathan Lethem writes about appropriation and plagiarism; science fiction writer Bruce Sterling looks at dead media; Ron Eglash examines racial signifiers in electrical engineering; media activist Naeem Mohaiemen explores the influence of Islam on hip hop; rapper Chuck D contributes “Three Pieces”; musician Brian Eno explores the sound and history of bells; Hans Ulrich Obrist and Philippe Parreno interview composer-conductor Pierre Boulez; and much more. “Press ‘play,’” Miller writes, “and this anthology says ‘here goes.’” The groundbreaking mix CD that accompanies the book features Nam Jun Paik, the Dada Movement, John Cage, Sonic Youth, and many other examples of avant-garde music. Most of the CD’s content comes from the archives of Sub Rosa, a legendary record label that has been the benchmark for archival sounds since the beginnings of electronic music.

Contributors: David Allenby, Pierre Boulez, Catherine Corman, Chuck D, Erik Davis, Scott De Lahunta, Manuel DeLanda, Cory Doctorow, Eveline Domnitch, Frances Dyson, Ron Eglash, Brian Eno, Dmitry Gelfand, Dick Hebdige, Lee Hirsch, Vijay Iyer, Ken Jordan, Douglas Kahn, Daphne Keller, Beryl Korot, Jaron Lanier, Joseph Lanza, Jonathan Lethem, Carlo McCormick, Paul D. Miller aka DJ Spooky that Subliminal Kid, Moby, Naeem Mohaiemen, Alondra Nelson, Keith and Mendi Obadike, Hans Ulrich Obrist, Pauline Oliveros, Philippe Parreno, Ibrahim Quraishi, Steve Reich, Simon Reynolds, Scanner aka Robin Rimbaud, Nadine Robinson, Daniel Bernard Roumain (DBR), Alex Steinweiss, Bruce Sterling, Lucy Walker, Saul Williams, Jeff E. Winner.

Special thanks for Editorial Assistance to Roy Christopher.

About the Editor

Paul D. Miller aka DJ Spooky that Subliminal Kid is a conceptual artist, writer, and musician living and working in New York City. His artwork has appeared in the Whitney Biennial, the Venice Biennale for Architecture, the Andy Warhol Museum, and many other venues. His written work has appeared in such publications as the Village Voice and Artforum. He is an editor of the magazine 21c (www.21cmagazine.com) and the author of Rhythm Science (MIT Press, 2004).

Sound has played a significant role in the development of modern and contemporary art, from the visual references of Wassily Kandinsky and Piet Mondrian in the early 20th-century to the aural experimentations of Nam June Paik and John Cage in the 1960s. Soundwaves: The Art of Sampling looks at a specifically late 20th-century manifestation of the conjunction of art and sound, and features artists in MCASD’s collection, such as Tim Bavington, Celeste Boursier-Mougenot, Sean Duffy, Julio Cesar Morales, Dario Robleto, and Steve Roden, who appropriate the musical process of sampling in their work, either through the incorporation of found sound or through visual and material references.

Download and listen to the Soundwaves audio tour on your MP3 player.

Image: Céleste Boursier-Mougenot, Untitled (series #3), 2001, set of 3 inflatable plastic pools, 3 pumps, water, 93 assorted bowls, water, 21 stem glasses, 3 immersion heaters, Clorox. Museum purchase, International and Contemporary Collectors Funds.

Thanks to Rhizome and William Hanley.

A few years ago while perusing soulseek, I stumbled across a collection of recorded DJ mixes that had been aired on WJLB in Detroit in the late 1980s. These tapes documented a few choice moments in the mix from the storied career of The Wizard (aka Jeff Mills). Nestled amongst the flurry of tracks were the expected station IDs as well as a recorded message that repeatedly reminded me that “THIS IS NOT MEMOREX,” that is, the performance was not pre-taped. As I sat there post-listening, I found it very odd that the audience would need to be reassured that the editing and reconfiguring of largely sample based music was not itself sampled (read: studio constructed). More >>

FAMOUS ACTORS is a performance / installation that applies the logic of experimental music to everyday human behavior. The actor is re-defined in a clinical context as someone who: 1) alters another’s state of consciousness through scientific means; 2) monitors something or someone closely; and 3) maintains calm in a complex situation. What results is an intricate arrangement of very familiar things. Featuring rhythmically notated gestures and conversations, field recordings and live vocal sampling / processing.

written and directed by Kara Feely
music and sound by Travis Just
production design by Hannah Dougherty
lighting design by Miranda Hardy
with: Ross Beschler, Avi Glickstein, Annie Kunjappy, Daniel Allen Nelson, Jessica Grace Pagan, Zuzanna Szadkowski
assistant director: Kyra Settle
assistant designers: Amelia Freeman-Lynde, Peiyi Wong

SYS*011. Mie>AbE/SoS\ SYS*010, aka the Spiral is a sculptural sound installation and performance space created by the French artist Mathieu Briand (b1972). It comprises five turntables, one etching machine to burn new vinyl records, a matrix of four vinyl records on which sounds from machines and other samples have been etched into locked groove loops by the artist, two mixing desks and the possibility of plugging in up to seven additional instruments, laptops and other hardware. Mathieu Briand’s Spiral intends to create an alternative space within the museum structure. He envisions this installation as a “Temporary Autonomous Zone” (Hakim Bey) that would disrupt the traditional structure of the museum by deconstructing its hierarchies and altering its rules for a certain period of time.

On Saturday, Briand and experimental DJs, MCs and sound artists from the UK: Sarah Washington and Xentos ‘Fray’ Bentos, SI-CUT.DB, Charlie Dark, The Bug in collaboration with Spaceape and Radio Active Man will perform live within the Spiral, exploring its potential for sampling sounds and re-mixing them on open decks. It will be turned into an eclectic performative platform as well as a massive, experimental sound recording studio.

Programme

12.00 Mathieu Briand
13.00 Sarah Washington and Xentos ‘Fray’ Bentos
14.00 SI-CUT.DB
15.00 Charlie Dark
16.00 The Bug in collaboration with Spaceape
17.00 Radio Active Man

Biographies

Charlie Dark first popped onto the musical radar back in the nineties as a DJ and founding father of Hip-Hop-inspired trio Attica Blues, releasing records on James Lavelle’s Mo Wax Records and Sony Records respectively. As a remixer and producer his distinctive drum driven sound has found favor with a multitude of artists from around the world gracing the turntables of DJs in the know from many different scenes. When not buried deep in the studio Charlie can be found in classrooms across the county sharing his love of poetry and creative writing and helping young people discover their inner voices. In the remaining midnight hours Charlie heads a loose collective of artists known as Blacktronica, holds a monthly gathering at the BFI and spins records in clubs across the globe. On this occasion he’ll be debuting brand new work under his new Bass Poet moniker, a fusion of Dub, Hip Hop and spoken word.

Xentos ‘Fray’ Bentos is an unwilling hero of the London sound art underworld. Over 30 years he has continued to amaze, confound and wrong-foot his peers, ultimately creating a world-wide fanatical following for his prolific and unclassifiable work. From his un-humble beginnings as the fresh-faced firebrand bass player of a cult punk band, his personas soon became unlimited, including the ever-popular Harmon E. Phraisyar of the eponymous Resonance 104.4FM radio serial. The latter serves as a cunning vehicle for him to kill off characters from the world of improvised music. He did not write this biography.

Sarah Washington is an artist and an cultural coordinator working with sound and radio. Formerly a Director of the London Musicians’ Collective, she helped set-up the radio station Resonance 104.4FM. For her performances she creates hand-made electronic instruments by circuit bending toys, and utilizes ultrasonic devices and radio technology. Sarah creates innovative radio works, writes articles on radio and sound art, and teaches workshops for cultural institutions across Europe. She helped instigate the international network of independent radio stations called Radia and has been on the road since 2005 with the travelling European radio and sound art project Mobile Radio.

Kevin Martin has recorded as God, Experimental Audio Research, Techno Animal, The Sidewinder, Ice and The Bug. At present, Kevin Martin works solo as The Bug. He recorded for Rephlex, Wordsound, Tigerbeat 6 and Klein in the past, and
is now recording an album for Ninja Tune. He has received public praise from the likes of Aphex Twin, Massive Attack, Radiohead’s Thom Yorke, The Special’s Jerry Dammers and Adrian Sherwood. For the upcoming Tate Modern performance he will
collaborate with spoken word artist, Spaceape. Spaceape has recorded a critically acclaimed album for the Hyperdub label (Home to Burial), with long term collaborator Kode 9. For their collaboration debut, the Bug will soundtrack Spaceape’s afro-futurist poetry with heavyweight rhythms and electronic abrasion, fusing the deepest dub with intense ragga and experimental soundscapes.

Keith Tenniswood aka Radio Active Man started playing guitar aged nine and then proceeded
through his teenage years to join various local bands until he discovered the joys of Acid House and rave in the early 90’s, which culminated in the rave that took place at Castlemorton. After this scene died down a bit he started to frequent legendary clubs like the Drum Club, Sabresonic, and Full Circle where he met Jagz Kooner and Andrew Weatherall of Sabres of Paradise. Using
the minimal knowledge of studios and a keen ear, he did the front of house sound for the Sabres on their support tour with Primal Scream in 1995. Through his now ten years partnership with Andrew Weatherall as Two Lone Swordsmen, Keith released 4 albums as well as countless EP’s and 12’s. As Radio Active Man, Keith recorded 2 albums, ‘Radioactive Man’ and ‘Booby Trap’ on Rotters Golf Club, and various EP’s, inc. ‘The Uranium EP’ and ‘Dive and Lie Wrecked’. The third album entitled ‘Growl’ will be out in autumn 2006 also on Rotters Golf Club while a 12″ will be out on his own label, Control Tower, in Sept 06. Control Tower has started in 99 with fellow cohort Simon Srown, a.k.a The Dexorcist. Keith’s DJing has taken him all over the planet including Tokyo, New York, San Francisco, Istanbul, Budapest, Barcelona, Rome or Paris. His DJ style is underground dancing music taking in Electro, Breaks, Techno and Drum n’ Bass.

Based in west London, Douglas Benford has been releasing his digital music under the alias SI-CUT.DB (and other guises) since 1991, with seven albums released under this moniker. His soundscapes range from microsound and electronica to dub. Benford has released music on labels F?llt, Bip Hop, BackGround, Highpoint Lowlife and 12K, as well as works on Mutek Rec, Warp and Wire magazine compilations, performing at internationally at MUTEK & New Forms (Canada), Ars Electronica, Nokialab (Moscow), Transmediale, Lovebytes, Synch (Athens), Sintesi (Naples), Dis-patch (Belgrade) Sightsonic (York, as part as the Touch label 25 performances), Transit (Switzerland) festivals amongst other events. In the last two years Benford has been nominated and short-listed in both the QWARTZ (twice) awards in France, and the Arts Foundation (London). His Collaborators include Scanner, Rechenzentrum, Janek Schaefer, Iris Garrelfs, and currently Stephan Mathieu, Granny’Ark and Benge [as Tennis]. Benford’s current approach to his work tends to be generative, employing morphing source techniques, from improvised acoustic, analogue & field recordings. Benford and has also been a co-curator of Sprawl music events and label for over eleven years, as well as founding the Suburbs Of Hell and Pantunes labels.