Sound of Failure Experimental electronic music in our post-digital era Gregory James Shapley Doctorate of Creative Arts 2012 i CERTIFICATE OF AUTHORSHIP/ORIGINALITY I certify that the work in this thesis has not previously been submitted for a degree nor has it been submitted as part of requirements for a degree except as fully acknowledged within the text. I also certify that the thesis has been written by me. Any help that I have received in my research work and the preparation of the thesis itself has been acknowledged. In addition, I certify that all information sources and literature used are indicated in the thesis. Signature of Student __________________________________ ii Acknowledgments I would like to thank my supervisor, Professor Theo van Leeuwen, and former supervisor, Professor Norie Neumark, for all of their advice and encouragement throughout my post-graduate study. I would also like to acknowledge the participation of artists who performed and exhibited at the Sound of Failure festivals and Don't Look Gallery, especially those who took part in my experimental work, Question/Answer...Interruption in 2008, being Shannon O'Neill, Jessica Tyrrell, Chris Caines, Peter Newman and Roger Mills. I would also like to thank Christina Ho for her advice and support. Finally, I should acknowledge the assistance of Nola Farnham for copyediting my thesis. iii Contents Acknowledgments.........................................................................................................................iii Contents.........................................................................................................................................iv Illustrations.....................................................................................................................................v Abstract..........................................................................................................................................vi Introduction....................................................................................................................................1 Post-digital creativity – exploring granular synthesis, glitch, databending, and generalist post- digital methods...............................................................................................................................8 The sound of noise and the noise in sound..................................................................................38 The inadequacies of post-digital form..........................................................................................67 Minimalism, indeterminacy and post-digital composition..........................................................92 My Practice.................................................................................................................................124 Appendices ................................................................................................................................176 DVD (files for computer) and DVD (for DVD player – backup)........................INSIDE BACK COVER iv Illustrations Illustration 1: Amplitude of Michael Jackson's 'Black or White' (1991, 1995 and 2007) ............10 Illustration 2: Amplitude of Curtis Roads' ‘Eleventh Vortex’ (2001)............................................74 Illustration 3: Sonata form breakdown of 'Question/Answer...Interruption' (2008)..................81 Illustration 4: Light Dependent Leaves from In Memoriam.......................................................134 Illustration 5: Leaves In Situ from In Memoriam........................................................................134 Illustration 6: Cone Work from In Memoriam............................................................................135 Illustration 7: Wheely Bin from In Memoriam...........................................................................137 Illustration 8: Guitar Work from In Memoriam (Carriage Works).............................................140 Illustration 9: Record Player Work from In Memoriam (Carriage Works).................................140 Illustration 10: In Memoriam: Downstream..............................................................................143 Illustration 11: Retro-Music-Machine........................................................................................147 Illustration 12: Retro-Music-Machine........................................................................................147 Illustration 13: Picnic of the Damned.........................................................................................152 Illustration 14: Picnic of the Damned egg and spoon race (Super-8)........................................152 Illustration 15: Picnic of the Damned sack race (Super-8).........................................................153 Illustration 16: Un/shore... video still.........................................................................................155 Illustration 17: Un/shore... video still (distant light low)...........................................................160 Illustration 18: Un/shore... video still (distant light high)..........................................................160 v Abstract This thesis began as a way to both situate my practical work, and suggest (more broadly) future paths for experimental composers and artists in general. My compositions, over the past three decades have taken two main paths that are, I think, compatible: minimalism and the post-digital, but they have also been informed by complexism, indeterminacy and other theories and practices. The post-digital offers a chance to go beyond these historical groupings and, without contradiction, employ the most interesting aspects of all of them, but it also throws up new hurdles and challenges. Lately wide-eyed post-digitalists have recognised the need to address these issues but some of their solutions are just as problematic. Most of my practical work concerns using conceptual notions of noise (in tandem with minimalistic methods of organisation) to create form through unhindered processes. It is this way of thinking and working that I want to explore as an alternative to the current post-digital discourse. In my thesis I address facets of mine, and current, practice that need teasing out, in a nutshell being: the current post-digitalism, the sound of noise versus noise as a creative generator, a critical appraisal of form (especially within the post-digital), and a rethink of minimalism as a predecessor to the post-digital. I conclude by presenting some of my own work, situating it loosely within frameworks already established within my writing. vi vii Introduction In 2007 I dreamt up a two-fold plan to explore post-digital sound. The first part involved the creation of a festival dedicated to sound derived from the failure of (mainly digital) technology. This festival was aptly titled ‘The Sound of Failure’ (SOF) and ran in 2007 and 2008. It was to provide both opportunities for artists to investigate creative possibilities and a way for me to closely survey the local scene, both in performance and installation. In 2008, SOF consisted of 17 performances on two stages at the Factory Theatre, Marrickville, 11 artworks installed at Chrissie Cotter Gallery Camperdown, five environmentally-themed installations at Reverse Garbage, Marrickville, and an experimental performance of one of my works entitled Question/Answer...Interruption involving improvisation by five other artists (as well as a couple of other smaller or solo components). The other part was a doctoral thesis that would be used to document the post-digital scene as I encountered it. Professor Norie Neumark became central to both components, as a participant in the festival, and as my initial supervisor for my thesis (and later as co-curator of the Memory Flows project), and I would just like to acknowledge her sizable contribution to both. Of all the SOF components I only refer explicitly to one, Question/Answer...Interruption. The reasons for this are two-fold: during the festival I got to know many of these artists a little too well to be explicitly critical of their work. During this thesis I do express a disappointment with the current state of the post-digital practice and this extends to many SOF performances (and indeed was an opinion substantially developed during the festival). I would prefer not to give the perception that I am passing personal 1 judgement (nor do I want to loose friends!). I think it is more productive to apply these general observations at arms' length – to composers and performers who not only do I not know, but who lead the field in post-digital and microsound theory and practice. Secondly, Question/Answer...Interruption was a performance conceived and directed by me (although it involved five improvising artists). There are astounding observations to be made about this work (which I've discussed with some of the performers). As this work was developed as an experiment, as a way to observe and glean information about current post-digital performance, I have no hesitation in interrogating its processes and outcome. This thesis began as a way to both situate my practical work, and suggest (more broadly) future paths for experimental composers and artists in general. My compositions over the past three decades have taken two main paths that are, I think, compatible: minimalism and the post-digital (in that order), but they have also been informed by complexism, indeterminacy