Jack Centro

In the book The Recording Angel by Evan Eisenberg I’m drawn to a section that reads;

‘But if a record is a time capsule and a phonograph is a time machine, they are also so in an unaccustomed sense. A record is a sculpted block of time, repeatable at the owners whim…But a record does not record historical time. It records musical time which, though it exists in historical time, is not of it. A Vioncello is already a time machine, taking its listeners to a place outside of time. The phonograph is also a time machine of this sort, but with the difference that the listener operates it himself and can take a spin as often as he pleases.’

From my continued reading of Eisenberg’s book, many of my personal thoughts about the ‘power’ of music, records and culture align with Eisenberg’s. Although I do feel the book is quite dated and Eisenberg’s glossing over of many genres in favour of classical can become tedious, he illustrates the unnatural beauty of listening to recorded music. Essentially, he argues that the record is physical musical time, a wax object containing the act of musicianship. As a listener we can travel with our ears to the time and place of the recording. However…

This is all fun and whimsical but I’m interested in destroying time.

During the feedback session with Gareth he put me onto the artists Oval and William Basinski. Both intwine the art of destruction with the art of creation, the result being utterly hypnotic and original. (I will discuss these two artists in a later post.) Inspired by both works I collected a number of old records to scratch, warp and shatter.

Initially each record sounded very similar and not very good. But thinking back to the Eisenberg quote I decided to layer the shattered records on top of each other and record the results, I began messing with musical time. This William Burroughs cut-up technique approach to records has really inspired me. Although for the purpose of my piece I will only be sampling portions of the recordings, I wish to expand on this method a lot more.

Due to circumstances very much under my control I have had to streamline my Auto-Destructive idea right down. Instead of putting emphasis on improvisation, Ron Hardy and responding to imagery, I have shifted the focus to constructing a piece almost free from thought. I know that a destructive element is my main component but I’m not going to think too hard about the actual piece, in terms of ‘concept’. For every previous sound piece I have had a concept and a plan, but in a true destructive nature I plan to scrap all this.

I will just think of two words; Destruction and Ritual.

Here is a number of visual references for me to look upon when producing my piece. My original intentions was to use this as stimuli while improvising however this has changed. I still feel the imagery important because it can add a different dynamic to my creativity, similar to the way the graphic score in my previous project helped. I will just add, although I no longer plan to improvise, I intend the construction of my piece to be free flowing and natural.

Having never heard of Wajid Yaseen and Joel Cahem’s Scrap Club, the concept is direct and powerful. Inspired by Metzger’s destruction works, it reads on the website;

‘The bottom line is that audience members are direct participants and are given sledgehammers, crowbars, bats and pipes to destroy various household objects such as TVs, washing machines, cookers, computers, musical instruments, office furniture and the occasional car in safely controlled zone. All the objects are sourced from a wide variety of locations, and everything is scrap. All of it is sent to a recycling plant once dealt with at Scrapclub. Safety is paramount so participants are provided with professional PPE equipment such as goggles, helmets and gloves (professional first-aiders are always on-site). Names are chosen randomly, 10 people at a time get 10 minutes in the ‘scrap pit’ and everybody gets a turn.’

To the unknowing spectator bashing a metal bin repeatedly may seem rather strange, how can this be art? That is the interesting part, Auto-Destructive art flips our perception of art on its head. The art is the act, rather than the act producing art. This is something I wish to explore further in later work.

As a key theme in my assignment, I wish to approach my destruction in the same vain as the Scrapclub. Originally my intentions were to destroy and tamper with musical equipment but proving costly and impractical I have decided upon whatever I can find; records, glass bottles, broken speakers and an old window. I will individually destroy these objects, recording the act on my H4N recorder and Shotgun mic in order to focus on the sounds of destruction.

There is something very ritualistic about communal destruction in relation to the scrap club. The beating of scrap with sledgehammers is similar to the continuous beat found in most African rituals accompanied by encouraging screams and shouts from spectators. I can imagine it takes a while for people to get the confidence to ‘let everything’ go and just break something. The sonics of the scrap club give strength to maybe the more cautious partaker.

Initial thoughts and Idea; Gustav Metzger, Anarchism, Idea

I am particularly drawn to the idea of destructive art because it forces ‘art’ to exist only in the moment thus becoming hyper personal and direct. Unlike something that can be re-listened to or viewed, work that is destroyed or created morphs our preconceptions of what art is. Does the act of destruction become art in itself? Can creation and destruction exist side by side?

The first point of research I was led to after emailing Milo about my interest was the work and ideas of Gustav Metzger. Metzger was a radical thinker, artist, activist and political commentator who coined the term; Auto-Destructive Art.

Here is a source cut out from the Guardians obituary to Metzger;

“Heedless of the commercial art market, as public art for everybody and not a privileged few, auto-destructive art stands witness to society’s capacity to engineer its own downfall through development of the weaponry of mass destruction, the actions of the capitalist systems and damage to natural ecologies.”

The above source highlights the overarching point of auto-destructive art, it is a commentary from a witness’ perspective on the corrupt modern world. At a time when political tension between the East and West was astronomically high, Metzger’s views on ‘our self made extermination’ informed him down the path of art through destruction. As a witness to many of the worlds atrocities, beginning in the early 1960’s Metzger’ experiences and outlook were shaped by events such as WW1, the rise of fascism, WW2, the holocaust, the arms race, the Vietnam War and US brinkmanship. Born into a Polish Jewish family in 1926 (Nuremberg, Germany), Metzger experienced the hatred of facism first hand and had to flee Germany under the Refugee Children Movement. It is clear that Metzger’ concern about our future and the Earths shaped his work. Metzger published his ‘Auto-Destructive Manifesto’ in 1959.

Similar to my own ideas on the balance between destruction and creation, Metzger challenged artistic norms by putting the ‘creation’ of art ahead of the work itself. I find an idea like this relates particularly well to the canon of sound art, for many ‘sound works’ intricacies are given context when exploring the creation of said work. John Duncans controversial sound piece ‘Blind Date’ (1980) is self destructive in creation and execution. By giving himself a vasectomy and leaving his final sperm in a dead corpse, Duncan explores destruction and creation in a totally absurd, extenuated and unique way. During the first national lockdown before discovering auto-destructive art or Metzger’s ideas I became propelled to create my own work in a much more destructive manor than usual. I believe that lockdown, Covid-19, BLM riots and mass division between people has had quite the effect on me. As I’m sure Metzger used art to channel his anger at the world, I attempted this in a much smaller personal scale.

Aiding me on my experiments with destruction and as my disillusionment with modern politics grew stronger, over lockdown I became extremely interested in the ideas of Anarchism. At first, reading Noam Chomsky’s ‘Notes on Anarchism’ was a fun escape from the police state the UK had become. Unaware of Anarchism my views on politics had been subsiding for some time, I consciously spoiled my vote in the last election simply because I didn’t identify with any political party (I was not aware of Anarchism). But It wasn’t until I read into the ‘true’ ideals of Anarchism my views became more concrete. I say ‘true’ ideals because Anarchism has been hugely misinterpreted by right and leftwing politics. When you say ‘Anarchism’ it’s understandable for people to think of the Anarchy ‘A’, the Guy Fawkes mask in V for Vendetta or more absurdly the underwhelming Purge film franchise. Leaders, politicians, royalty and the 1% are scared of Anarchism simply because their power would be dissolved and have done everything they can to discredit Anarchism. The common misconception being ‘Anarchy is every man for themselves, kill or be killed.’ I find this amusing because those words literally describe capitalism.

Linking my initial research of Auto-Destructive art to my Sound Art degree, I have theorised an idea for a sound installation. This installation/work draws upon personal thoughts and conveying them to an audience. For example, I record myself talking about a range of experiences, secrets, desires etc onto tape. Each cassette tape is unique, they all contain a different speech. Now these hundred tapes are handed to each of the hundred audience members. Each of the audience member is required to listen to the tape in a private room or booth, anywhere secluded. The destructive element of this piece would be that every tape destroys itself or the listener destroys it once finished listening. Thus the ‘work’ hangs in its own space after being destroyed, it is neither real or fiction, truth or false. By destroying the personal tape, the listener is actively involved in its destruction and creation. I say creation because when the listener talks about what they heard, there is no proof, too everyone else it is merely fiction and the listener becomes the ‘creator’.

NOTE:The above idea is separate to my creative sound assignment.

Like most projects I begin with a mind map. I feel these are the best way (for me) to externalise my thoughts, ideas and interests. I begin in the middle with the core concept then branch off not really thinking too deeply. Once I have covered the page with notes I can then begin to link things together and pool them back to the main concept/idea.

The overarching concept for my piece is Auto-Destructive Art, creation through destruction. Auto-Destructive art is something I have become very interested in since joining UAL and now I wish to try my own hand at it.

1. Scrap Club, The Destructionist Project : Wajid Yaseen and Joel Cahen
2. Petr Valecek
3. Annae Lockwood-Walking on Glass
4. Gustav Metzger

INITIAL IDEA: A heavily improvised dance-floor composition responding to a number of visual references, crafted through the destruction/manipulation of objects, hardware and instruments.

Below I will cover the main topics from the mind map and how I intend to incorporate them.

1. Music for Dance-floors: Continuing my own personal interest in ‘dance music’ I wish to comment and respond to a number of stimuli regarding early House music and early 80s party culture. I feel this links to Auto-Destructive art due to the way the current nightlife scene has been decimated by covid restrictions. Many of us rely on nightclubs and parties as a way of meeting new people, stress relief, exercise etc, all these have been lost for over a year now. I plan for my piece to be made with a dance floor heavily in-mind.

2) House: House music was born from Disco’s destruction. The above photo captures the end of the ‘disco fad’, Disco Demolition night at the Red Sox Stadium 1979. If it wasn’t for white racist radio jocks and the media’s sudden betrayal of Disco it is quite likely house music wouldn’t exist in the way we hear it now. Chicago House was a direct retaliation to the racism, sexism and homophobia imbedded into American society at the time.

3) Ron Hardy: Directly linking to the above, Hardy was a Chicago DJ who was instrumental in championing the early sound of House. Making his name at the Music Box, a breakaway club from the Warehouse (where the genre got its name, another signifier of destruction=creation) Hardy flipped disco on its head, he played things backwards, played slow records with +8 speed, used a reel to reel for sound effects etc. He was a true maverick and many recognise his experiments with sound came through his addiction to heroin. This would ultimately lead to his death in 1991. A much sombre tone when thinking about Destruction and Creation. I intend to sample a number of his most recognisable records played at the Music box in similar creative ways to him.

4) Gareth and Jose Lessons: I have become heavily inspired by the last few sessions in class, particularly where we improvised with objects but also responded to visual stimulus. I like the idea of using improvisation because its based on instinct and I’m my eyes its the truest form of art. Communicating an emotion or feeling in its most stripped back, un-filtered form. The destructive potential is interesting to me, he same way DJing is an improvised performance, things can go wrong and the outcomes can be really profound. I intend to improvise/jam for a extended period of time focusing on my graphic score and visual collage.

5) Sampling: I also plan to incorporate a range of sampling techniques and build upon my previous assignment. I could potentially sample specific parts from my improvised response and re-mould them into my piece through effects on Ableton, Cecilia, Paul Stretch, Sound Grain etc. I feel sampling is another direct link to the theme of destruction for it involves the dissection of something that already exists. In regards to House music, sampling was the initial tool for young bedroom producers to carve a new sound from popular disco records.

7) Ritual: I briefly touched on this topic in my last assignment and wish to explore this further. Having been made aware of the genres Flashcore, Speedcore and Rhythmic Noise, I have a better idea of how I wish to re-edit the improvised piece. Obviously this might change depending on how the improv goes, it could go so well I don’t have to edit anything at all. Or quite the opposite. I plan for ritual film footage to be a big part of the visual collage, this could lead to unexpected results in contrast to the disco/house footage. The change in visual tones will force me to stay erratic and keep whatever sounds I’m coming up with diverse.

Notes on early 20th Century Russian Futurists and Sound Art:

-The idea of noise orchestras, which the Italian Futurists were first to propagate found fertile soil in Soviet Russia.

Arseny Avraamov’s ‘Symphony of Sirens’ is an epic attempt at noise orchestra and can be considered in my eyes early Industrial music. The aim of the piece was to ‘musicalise’ the cityscape; All of the acoustic possibilities of the city were harnessed–the whistles of factories, docks, and depots, the fog horns and whoops of ships and of trains, church bells…machine guns and artillery fire.

I especially love the idea of Avraamov literally conducting all of these concrete sources from a tall building with large signal flags.

In relation to my essay, there is one segment of the document that talks about Russian Avant-Garde’s attempt at stripping artist practice to a primitive, irreducible pattern. ‘On which the past was built and the future may be constructed’. I find this idea of stripping away can be considered when we look at the primal force that propels people into dancing. Communal, participatory dancing in relation to the loft parties was a way for strangers to express how they felt, away from the conservative eye of the everyday man. Dancing as an exercise itself is good for the body and mind so this directly relates to the ‘future may be constructed’. Releasing tension and stress from the body is fundamental in going forward, music and dance can be a pivotal element in achieving this.

Note: Potentially mention this in latter stage of essay. Might not be relevant but see when done.

In reflection the current title I have is way too broad. I can see myself getting lost in the wealth of angles I could approach this essay. Being only 1,500 words I need to remain precise and put focus onto two specific sites that highlight ancient and modern ritual.

I now prepose this;

The comparison of The Hypogeum of Ħal Saflieni and David Mancuso’s Loft Parties in relation to Schechner’s description of a ‘Ritual’.

By focusing on these two subjects I can talk about them at length and still mention other ritual sources/information I have picked up along the way. I feel that their are many similarities to be drawn between the Hypogeum and the Loft; sound, acoustics, hypersensitivity etc.

I have opted to focus on the Loft firstly due to my personal fascination with it and secondly because of its importance I feel within art and social history.

Listening; IR58 Rising up for the Dub World Within

Taking obvious inspiration from the Detroit Techno gods Underground Resistance, IR is an Ugandan Dub group, concocting experimental electronics, Techno and Riddim into a melting pot of sonic diversity. Utilising spoken word and poetry in-between or accompanying the songs, IR is concerned with propelling Dub and Riddim into the future, re-contextualising western adapted sounds back to the motherland.

The liner notes for the album read:

Sometimes it’s necessary to question. 
the paradigms that have been implanted in our minds 
so we ask you to be pensive 
as opposed to defensive

Being a huge UR and Techno fan I found listening to IR58 to be an excellent listen. The tribal infused rhythms and modern futuristic soundscapes are pulsating, almost like smoking a joint the listener is welcomed with trippy compositions that are lush and abrasive. The spoken word and field recordings are woven into the running of the album, usually a more sombre and reactionary discourse from the dubbed out percussion.

I think it is great to see and listen how far reaching Underground Resistance’s sonic themes have spread across the globe. In a country plagued by war, dictatorships and brutal colonisation, Electronic music and Dub act as an escape but more importantly confront.