notesdontmatter

Forum – Week 11 – “Construction and Deconstruction”

Simon Whitelock:

Simon approached the topic from the interesting standpoint of ‘to build or destroy’ in relation to the ‘jacking’ (Whitelock: 2007) of samples by modern artists for the purpose of creating or colouring their works. The delivery was certainly entertaining as he constantly made adjustments to EQ and volume levels on the mixing desk in true DJ fashion. This routine accompanied the continual barrage of ‘then and now’ audio examples that were referenced throughout the presentation.

I think the moral standpoint that Simon was trying to make with some of his references (especially the Daft Punk vs Breakwater example) was that he believed that the updated or ‘jacked’ version was not created in the spirit of the original. Although, when probed for a commitment as to wether or not he believed that jacking was ‘destroying’ the original, or to put it more accurately ‘how’ it was destroying the original, he back-pedalled into the neutral corner. I found it a little disappointing that when asked one carefully worded question regarding his view that he would alter his position so quickly, especially after displaying such confidence throughout his talk. That being said, it was an amusing and obviously crowd-pleasing presentation, but isn’t that what good DJ’s do best?


Nathan Shea:

I was certainly surprised by the amount of work that went into recording the black metal album played by Nathan early on. I mean, to get Lo-Fi sound, does one really have to go to so much trouble. Unless of course one is going for that pure analogue warmth, the kind that can only be sourced from the circuitry of a K-mart cassette recorder? Hmm, I smell a false sense of regressive artistic genius. I’m not an ignorant newcomer to the genre of black metal, as a certain unnamed family member has played numerous examples at me on many occasions. My impression of your average Norwegian loser, who wasn’t dealt the best of hands in life (looks, family, intelligence etc), belting out this ridiculous excuse for aggressive music from his cold, dark, one bedroom high-rise dungeon hasn’t changed. The contrast Nathan attempted to draw between Black Metal and Drum and Bass seemed a little vague, but I did appreciate some smooth beats after such a repulsive onslaught.


John Delany:

The world of Lustmord is a dark and mysterious one. I have talked about this artist to Mr Delany on many occasions and find his approach to be abstract yet accessible. The third example in particular highlighted the exceptional control that Lustmord has over his craft. Silky, deep sonic undertones provided the perfect vehicle for stabs of velvety yet brutal sub bass impact. We should all be very afraid…


Reference:

Stephen Whittington. “Construction and Deconstruction.” Workshop presented at EMU space, Level 5 Schultz building, Thursday 24th of May, 2007.

John Delany. “Construction and Deconstruction.” Student talk presented at EMU space, Level 5 Schultz building, Thursday 24th of May, 2007.

Simon Whitelock. “Construction and Deconstruction.” Student talk presented at EMU space, Level 5 Schultz building, Thursday 24th of May, 2007.

Nathan Shea. “Construction and Deconstruction.” Student talk presented at EMU space, Level 5 Schultz building, Thursday 24th of May, 2007.

posted by David J Dowling @ 4:06 PM