From Echophoria Sent Sun, Aug 15th 1999, 13:00
From Echophoria Sent Sun, Aug 15th 1999, 13:00
In a message dated 8/15/99 6:28:41 AM Eastern Daylight Time,=20 xxxxxxx@xxxxxxx.xxx writes: > Steve Roden's stuff is excellent, specially the 3"cd series on Interior > Sounds..also recently released a cd on JennyJoyGallery, recontextualized > Gallery recordings..i think The Wire reviewed it last month...seen this > tagged as 'lowercase-sound' ("some examples include > the music of Morton Feldman, Panasonic, AMM, John Cage, Artists on the > Trente Oiseaux label (eg Bernhard Gunter, Francisco Lopez, Steve Roden), > Field recordings of Chris Watson & visual work by Agnes Martin, Robert Rym= an > , Stan Brakhage") lowercase sound is a very specific sort of minimalism. Roden coined the term=20 and has described it as music with "a certain sense of quiet and humility; i= t=20 doesn't demand attention. it must be discovered ... it's the opposite of=20 capital letters - loud things which draw attention to themselves." =20 the accepted model for lowercase-sound is Feldman (Roden again: "[Feldman] i= s=20 the perfect lowercase music; it seems serene, but there's much going on=20 beneath the quiet exterior.") Cage as well. but Cage worked within such an=20 incredible range that you have to be careful when pigeonholing his music as=20 lowercase-sound. i'd venture that the lowercase-sound aesthetic is even=20 closer to the instrumental impressionism of Marion Brown's unique "Afternoon=20 of a Georgia Faun." =20 the literary equivalent of the lowercase-sound would be Samuel Beckett, whos= e=20 essence-in-the-details style is much beloved of everyone from Evan Parker to=20 Bernhard G=FCnter.=20 lowercase-sound would not include Pan Sonic (maybe you're thinking of=20 microwave-sound?); defining AMM as such also makes me uneasy. Pr=E9vost and = Co.=20 are coming from a very separate school of thought.=20 many of the Trente Oiseaux artists fit the lowercase mold, but you can't=20 really generalize. that wouldn't account for the anything-but-lowercase soun= d=20 of John Duncan/Max Springer's "The Crackling" and Daniel Menche's "Legions I= n=20 The Walls." on the other hand, nearly all of the titles on the meme label - especially=20 Richard Young's essential "House Music" and Roden/Labelle's "The House Was=20 Quiet..." - are perfect examples of lowercase-sound. as are: Roden's splendi= d=20 In Be Tween noise CDs, "So Delicate & Strangely Made" and "Humming Endlessly=20 In The Hush" and the works of guitarist Taku Sugimoto (try "Fragments of=20 Paradise" or the duets with John Drumm on Boxmedia and meme), Francisco L=F3= pez=20 - maybe even Organum, Jliat, and Thomas K=F6ner.=20 falling between lowercase-sound and microwave-sound: Anthony Burr/Skuli=20 Sverrisson's powerful "Desist" (on Fire, Inc; label of occasional lowercaser= s=20 Stilluppsteypa) and Carl Michael Von Hausswolff; Tamaru's "Karmaless" and=20 "Fuyu Ni Katarito;" certain Ikeda titles (like "Time/Space"), Hecker, the=20 interesting Nzetwork Down ... - any of which would be the best=20 lowercase-sound point of entry for IDMers more attuned to the quietude of a=20 Mika Vainio or #/Tau. it's all worth discovering. fascinating stuff. =20 mr. e. now on: cabbageboy: genetically modified (ntone)