Ligeti - Etude No.10, Der Zauberlehrling

Pianist: Ching-Yun Hu

Friendly Fires - Paris

Saw this recently, it's not too bad, as far as contemporary indie-schmindie-dancey-crossover-pop goes. I'll stick my neck out and say that I enjoy it.

Colleen - The Happy Sea

Meillassoux, innit.

I do intend to write something serious about After Finitude soon, but before that I'd like to point out this rather amusing little typo, best read in a Lahndahn accent...

'...one cannot think unreason - which is the equal and indifferent possibility of every eventuality - as merely relative to thought, since only by thinking it as an absolute can me de-absolutize every dogmatic thesis.'

safe.

Ideas, Ideas, Ideas

"But before bringing these introductory remarks to a close, I beg those who really have philosophy at heart - and their number is but small - if they shall find themselves convinced by the considerations following as well by those above, to exert themselves to preserve the expression idea its original signification, and to take care that it be not lost among those other expressions by which all sorts of representations are loosely designated - that the interests of science may not thereby suffer. We are in no want of words to denominate adequately every mode of representation,, without the necessity of encroaching upon terms which are proper to others. The following is a graduated list of them. The genus is representation in general (representatio). Under it stands representation with consciousness (perceptio). A perception which relates solely to the subject as a modification of its state, is a sensation (sensatio), an objective perception is a cognition (cognitio). A cognition is either a an intuition or a conception (intuitus vel conceptus). The former has an immediate relation to the object and is singular and individual; the latter has but a mediate relation, by means of a characteristic mark which may be common to several things. A conception is either empirical or pure. A pure conception, in so far as it has its origin in the understanding alone, and is not the conception of a pure sensuous image, is called notio. A conception formed from notions, which transcends the possibility of experience, is called an idea, or a conception of reason. To one who has accustomed himself to these distinctions, it must be quite intolerable to hear the representation of the colour red called an idea. It ought not even to be called a notion or conception of understanding."

-Kant, Immanuel Critique of Pure Reason, New York, Prometheus Books, p.197

"Finally, the most shameful moment came when computer science, marketing, design, and advertising, all the disciplines of communication, seized hold of the word concept itself and said: "This is our concern, we are the creative ones, we are the ideas men! We are the friends of the concept, we put it in our computers."

-Deleuze & Guattari, What is philosophy?, New York, Columbia University Press, p.10

ideology

What the hell is this?

If these were actually existing buildings, one could argue that they represented a certain kind of philanthropic gesture towards the indentured workers of dubai, considering the conditions that currently exist for them. If these projects had been through the admittedly swift, but capricious and ruthless process of having a building completed in Dubai then we could congratulate the designers for achieving, perhaps, the best-of-all-possible-projects.

But this is not a 'real' proposal. This is an academic, conceptual piece of design by students. This represents a sickening internalisation of ideology; if academic architecture has any value whatsoever, surely it is in its ability to suspend the normal functioning of the world in order to consider what-else-might-be, what else is possible, architecturally. In this case, the proposal gives itself with a logic of plausibility. There may be humour evident in the assumption of a fictionalised corporation, but the project is still presented as something that could exist in the real world. But of course, this projection of possible-reality always hides a suspension and in this case, what is suspended is the fact that there is no political will whatsoever to improve conditions for low paid workers in Dubai, despite the centralisation of power. So, bearing in mind that this proposal is thus entirely fantastical, the cynicism is mind-boggling.

"While this development is clearly not intended as social housing or a worker's paradise, it is committed to serving the worker's actual needs and aspires to ennoble their humble station. It could even be said, that the proposal dramatises the worker's true position at the centre of this emerging nomadic society. The development promises affordable and humane living conditions for the guest worker. At the same time, it is responsive to its surroundings and sustains property values. The strategy of an integrated separation is therefore a policy of invisible alliance."

redemption

not sorry at all.

ps- it's rob hood, 'Minimal Nation'

I can't help it

Sorry, sorry, sorry sorry sorry....

we are experiencing technical difficulties...

entschwindetundvergeht.com is in the process of becoming a real website, so is no longer this blog.

youyouidiot.blogspot.com will remain as the blog from now on.

Forgetfulness

The new Caretaker record, 'Persistent Repetition of Phrases' is excellent, and certainly the best one yet. The fact that it has been released by another label (INSTALL) shows that the Caretaker project has brought V/Vm a level of respect and critical acclaim that he hasn't achieved before.

One of my biggest problems with the Caretaker has always been a lack of professionalism - the theory and intentions are of course excellent, but there has always been an excess of transparency in the technique and execution, meaning that often the music evokes less a condition of dyschronia and amnesia and more a condition of 'bitcrushia' and 'timestretchia'. This is obviously part of the V/Vm world - he is what we could describe as a 'punk' technologist, so the complaint of amateurishness is a obviously a little bit superfluous.

The new record certainly avoids many of the problems of previous Caretaker efforts. The 9 tracks are more considered, and really succeed in the effort to evoke the frustrations of faulty memory. Whereas previously tracks were often entire songs played back slowly and through some reverb filters, this record deals more maturely with sampling, building succinct tracks out of very small pieces of the source material, which then allows them to access that quality of repetition, both addictive and frustrating, that all good sampled music achieves. Concerning the title track, I am thoroughly convinced that I own the record from which the piano phrase comes from, but its identity has thus far remained, of course, tantalisingly out of my recollective reach.

Although the Caretaker has moved with this record more towards the logic of sampling, his work is actually best described as 'transcription', the re-writing of an existing piece, placing it into an alien context that necessarily doubles the act of listening, the original and its excessive (or occasionally reductive) new existence. The Caretaker has always utilised this effect - the occluded subject and the bodiless variation, always presented in a new arrangement or proportion. In 'Theoretically Pure...', there are certain pieces that have lost their body completely, consisting only of the accreted sonic amnesiac material.

Despite the Caretaker's excellence and uniqueness, the theme of memory-music is not exhausted by his work. The methodology of transfiguring music to create effects of memoricity has a long history, and the trope is amply represented by classical composers. For example, the parallels between the Caretaker and this piece, "Immortal Bach" by Knut Nystedt, which is a transcription of Bach's "Komm süßer Tod" ('Come, sweet Death'), are obvious, both sonically and conceptually. The Nysted piece simply repeats Bach's at altered tempos, but the richness of the effect is fantastic, the tonalities overlapping to give a suspended and complex harmonic pallette, and the phrases slowly drifting out of intelligibility, the language undoing itself.



p.s- upon further listening, I find 'Persistent...' to be rather reminiscent of certain Susumu Yokota works, make of that what you will.