when process is product...
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talking about music can sometimes tip the scales to weigh more heavily on thoughts about space and less about time…to the extent that the product is valued over the process. this is not unusual in the design world, where so much of what is thoughtfully constructed is eventually let loose to the users and generally perceived in some kind of “locational, categorical, associational, reflective or evaluative[1]” mode of interpretation.

the architect, sejima, has one of the more lucid solutions to this: she will design her buildings to eighty-five percent completion and let the occupants finish the rest through their engagements (both social and physical) with the spaces. this allows them to also take partial ownership over the building, over the environment that they are inhabiting, working, or moving through...they allow the building to exist...they allow it to grow and change through the activities that happen there...

musical reception can be thought about in the same way. the audience is a critical part of how the sounds take form. context and experience has so much to do with the way in which one hears...meaning and interpretation. if i recognize a sound that i know i have heard before, i relate it either to an object or to an event that took place. it becomes associative. or if i hear something for the first time, it is either abstracted and affected by the feeling that i have at the time or i try to relate it something that is familiar…to give it form and meaning. external and internal. struggling to communicate…

in a fantastic essay sent to me by wayne marshall, steven feld tackles this very conundrum in an essay titled communication, music, and speech about music. i recommend visiting wayne’s site here and buying steven feld’s and charles keil’s book here...and then reading it...:::...

[1] steven feld – music grooves: essays and dialogues (fenestra books; 2nd ed edition, 2005)

download: 061130-modyfier

minilogue – small town beauty : nov 2006 on crosstown rebels
marcel knopf – narain (dapayk mix) : nov 2006 on rrygular
kritical audio – krupp (minilogue remix) : nov 2006 on chillosophy music
mike shannon – espirit d’escalier : nov 2006 on num records
paper – transmissions : nov 2006 on dpress industries
jorge savoretti – 150 reasons to bite you (ryan crosson remix) : nov 2006 on esperenza
agoria – baboul hair cutting (radio slave remix) : nov 2006 on different
tolga fidon – ilsa (alex smoke remix) : nov 2006 on vacant
ruocho ruotsi – tants doll (suz & layborn’s 43 seconds late mix) : jun 2006 on defchild
mlle caro & franck garcia – far away (jennifer cardini & shonky remix) : nov 2006 on crostown rebels
adam marshall – naked (heartthrob remix) : nov 2006 on new kanada
mr kemi & amox – darkstar : nov 2006 on opossum recordings
king roc – welcome to zion (sebo k remix) : nov 2006 on simple records
luke solomon – bad brains and black flags (black flags dub) : nov 2006 on icon recordings
sleazy pelvis – let the beat (dj pietro berti mix) : nov 2006 on do it yourself