(idm) theory blahblah

From Sean Cooper
Sent Fri, Apr 10th 1998, 00:57

> i'm really thinking in terms of ways to theorize the "trickle-down"
> effect of dub technology & techniques into contemporary musical
> production in general.  it seems--and this is pure speculation--that,
> given its influence in genres as diverse as techno, hip hop, and (even)
> rock, dub (and again, i'm trying to think in terms of the technologies
> it pioneered, and not just the stylistics) might be
> <italic>the</italic> most significant musical form of the late
> twentieth century.

since the above is a statement of value, the question presents itself:
significant to whom? and for what reasons? by the terms set forth in
the claim itself, such an estimation of dub's influence seems to me
exaggerated, and anyway beside the point. scholars of jamaican
sociocultural history would be the first to tell you that reggae was an
overt attempt on the part of jamaica's developing socio-musical culture
(itself a bizarre fusion of african and european influences) to embrace
western pop music styles, particularly american rhythm and blues. and
dub's "pioneering" of production techniques (and certainly not
*technologies*) stretch no further than a refocus of production on the
process itself--the "space" of the track--a phenomenon i would attribute
to the post-war development of studio technologies such as multitracking
and overdubbing as a whole, regardless of stylistic or geographical
context. but again, this is all rather beside the point, and tends to the
same error that compromises most academically rooted music theory:
theorizing difference on the basis of identity. on both a historical
and experiential level, dub has certainly been of remarkable importance to
many of the musics that mean the most to *me* (and probably to many people
on this list)--from ambient to techstep--but what seems to me most
significant in the case of *all* of these musics (or perhaps i should say,
of these musics *taken as a whole*) is the degree to which they
participate in something like the deterritorialization of forms, the sense
in which no single component in the musical assemblage can be shown to be
privileged. i think this is the "lesson" of late 20th century musical
hybridity for theoretical approaches to music: form is less important to
music than its capacity to produce new movements of thought. that is, in
considering the "importance" of dub, one is perhaps better served by
mapping the relations immanent to its appearance, not tracing the
characteristics constitutive of its form.

my two cents, anyway, on a topic i'd like to see discussed here more.
thanks to phil for bringing it up!

> Can anyone out there recommend a good book on the history of dub?  I'm
> thinking especially of something that concentrates on the
> technical/technological/formal aspects of it (eg not so much just a
> history of key figures, but more along the lines of cultural studies &
> the sociology of forms). academic/theoretical bent a plus.  

undoubtedly someone's already mentioned david toop's "rap attack"
and "ocean of sound" (both serpent's tail), but probably you've read these...

sc

onnow: ryuichi sakamoto : b-2 unit (spalax)