Clever Children: the Sons and Daughters of Experimental Music?
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Clever Children: The Sons and Daughters of Experimental Music Author Carter, David Published 2009 Thesis Type Thesis (PhD Doctorate) School Queensland Conservatorium DOI https://doi.org/10.25904/1912/1356 Copyright Statement The author owns the copyright in this thesis, unless stated otherwise. Downloaded from http://hdl.handle.net/10072/367632 Griffith Research Online https://research-repository.griffith.edu.au Clever Children: The Sons and Daughters of Experimental Music? David Carter B.Music / Music Technology (Honours, First Class) Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University A dissertation submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the award of the degree Doctor of Philosophy 19 June 2008 Keywords Contemporary Music; Dance Music; Disco; DJ; DJ Spooky; Dub; Eight Lines; Electronica; Electronic Music; Errata Erratum; Experimental Music; Hip Hop; House; IDM; Influence; Techno; John Cage; Minimalism; Music History; Musicology; Rave; Reich Remixed; Scanner; Surface Noise. i Abstract In the late 1990s critics, journalists and music scholars began referring to a loosely associated group of artists within Electronica who, it was claimed, represented a new breed of experimentalism predicated on the work of composers such as John Cage, Karlheinz Stockhausen and Steve Reich. Though anecdotal evidence exists, such claims by, or about, these ‘Clever Children’ have not been adequately substantiated and are indicative of a loss of history in relation to electronic music forms (referred to hereafter as Electronica) in popular culture. With the emergence of the Clever Children there is a pressing need to redress this loss of history through academic scholarship that seeks to document and critically reflect on the rhizomatic developments of Electronica and its place within the history of twentieth century music. Clever Children: The Sons and Daughters of Experimental Music explores the relationship between the experimental music tradition and these Clever Children through the application of a mixed method Collective Case Study examining the work of Howard Bernstein (Howie B), Robin Rimbaud (Scanner) and Paul Miller (DJ Spooky). This research utilises an analytical framework comprising interview, document review and musical analysis to explore the artist and work under discussion in order to identify areas of congruence, confluence and difference with key musical and conceptual traits derived from an historical survey of the experimental music tradition and Electronica. The key historical developments of the experimental music tradition and Electronica outlined in this research, though necessarily selective, provide an overview and context of the broad trends and concerns that have emerged in both traditions. This research identifies significant areas of confluence between the two and this suggests that some form of influence may have taken place. When examined in more detail however, this is revealed to be the result of parallel but distinct developments owing more to external factors than any direct or indirect influence. This is borne out to varying degrees within the Collective Case Study. Case Study One examines the remix of Steve Reich’s Eight Lines by Howie B as one example of the congruence, confluence and lines of influence that have been drawn between minimalism and Electronica. This Case Study concludes that, ii while Bernstein’s work demonstrates strong similarities with the experimental music tradition, Bernstein has not engaged with Reich’s material in a manner that is outside the scope of his usual practice. Furthermore this Case Study suggests that key similarities between Bernstein’s remix and Reich’s original conform to the overlap between Electronica and the experimental music tradition. Subsequently, this Case Study does not support assertions of direct influence by the experimental music tradition on Bernstein’s artistic practice. The second Case Study examines Robin Rimbaud’s claims that he has been influenced by the work of John Cage. Rimbaud’s 1998 sound-art piece Surface Noise serves as a basis for examining the relationship between Rimbaud and Cage. The Case Study suggests that Rimbaud has been demonstrably influenced by the experimental music but that this influence has been subject to significant reinterpretation or extrapolation. This Case Study supports Rimbaud’s claims while pointing out key differences between the ways these influences have been applied and how such ideas were understood in their original context. The final Case Study discusses Paul Miller’s Errata Erratum (2002) with reference to statements by the artist linking his work, and Hip Hop more generally, with the experimental music tradition. Though Miller’s work displays congruencies with the experimental music tradition, his diverse and overlapping influences and pastiche-like approach to his music make it difficult to synthesize the genesis of his ideas. This Case Study argues that Miller has drawn, often indiscriminately and with significant creativity, from a complex web of influences that includes the experimental music tradition. Instead of representing a clear succession to the experimental music tradition, the Clever Children discussed in this research delineate a new field of music that can be best described as appropriating elements of experimental music and applying these to new contexts. In such contexts experimentalism mingles with a multiplicity of congruent and contrary musical and aesthetic ideals producing new and exciting musical forms. By examining the relationship of the Clever Children to the experimental music tradition and placing them within an historical context, this research promotes an awareness and discussion of the alternate and divergent musical practices that inform the music of our own time and may influence the music of our future. iii Table of Contents Keywords ........................................................................................................................ i Abstract .......................................................................................................................... ii Table of Contents .......................................................................................................... iv List of Figures .............................................................................................................. vii List of Tables ................................................................................................................ ix Statement of Authenticity .............................................................................................. x Acknowledgements....................................................................................................... xi PART I: THE QUESTIONS OF CLEVER CHILDREN ..................................1 Introducing the Clever Children ..........................................................................2 A question of meaning ................................................................................................... 6 Gaps in the literature .................................................................................................... 15 Research questions....................................................................................................... 23 Can the historical narratives linking the Clever Children with an experimental music tradition be substantiated with reference to their artistic practice?.................................... 24 What are the historical narratives and key musical and conceptual traits of the experimental music tradition and Electronica identified in existing literature as precursive to or having influence on the Clever Children? ................................................................... 25 What areas of congruence or confluence exist between the experimental music tradition, Electronica and specific works of the Clever Children in which experimental influence has been claimed?....................................................................................................................... 25 In what way do such confluences and congruencies support or undermine the claims of influence made by or on behalf of the Clever Children in each instance and across the multiple cases? ..................................................................................................................... 25 ‘Between’ Method Research Design...................................................................26 ‘Lost’ histories and Clever Children............................................................................ 26 Case selection............................................................................................................... 29 Musical analysis, transcription and ‘the score’............................................................ 31 Interviews..................................................................................................................... 37 Notes on participants and notational schema............................................................... 39 Document review and the use of secondary sources.................................................... 40 Summary ...................................................................................................................... 42 iv PART II: AN HISTORICAL CONTEXT .........................................................44 Meet The Parents – The Experimental Music Tradition .................................45 Introduction.................................................................................................................