I read the new and quotable Momus essay Chicks With Dicks over a late coffee this morning. Through the essay, I learned of the Lappetites, (a group I should have already known about). Their approach to sound, making recipes for digital signal processing, sauteing samples, baking bit-rates, (and so on) is lovely. The cooking metaphor is a great template for making interesting music, I think. It implies quick changes in state, an element of improvisation, a plan, constant tending, fast movement, sizzle, care, commitment, and a little bit of danger (don't burn the food!). Two musicians who I also see as 'cooking their sounds' (I'm sure they would never describe it as such! but, well, this is just a weblog) are Yuji Takahashi and Joel Ryan
(drawing by YAGYU, Gen-ichiro)
The last time I saw Yuji Takahashi perform in Tokyo several years ago (in the former Deluxe space), it was with a group of performers all seated on the floor, some playing koto, others playing metal percussion instruments, some playing found junk from the street. It was a beautiful piece of seemingly total unpredictability but with evident organicism. The communication between the performers seemed to be by telepathy, sudden voice outbursts were met by clashes of tin cans, while a subtle koto line would weave between it all, creating a focus point. This was spicy and delicate gourmet music fit for a connoisseur.
Joel Ryan makes music with computers, creating extremely complex systems of chaotic information, and putting them into play with one another. He often talks about building an intricate system, and then just nudging it off the edge of a cliff to see how it breaks. His music is loud and expressionistic, but always with the sense that there is a deep form of communication present. From his background in the sciences, he seems to be unburdened from the excess baggage that 'music' carries with it.
These are two composers from completely different schools of thought, their ingredients are different but their recipes seem similar. I wish they would collaborate on a project sometime.
A few other musicians to whom the cooking metaphor might apply:
-Philip Jeck
-John Bischoff
-Christian Fennesz
...and of course Digiki who used the cooking concept from the beginning with his Kitchen remix project.
Posted by Roddy Schrock at April 4, 2004 6:14 PM | TrackBack