The Music of Sounds and the Music of Things: Sonic Creativity within Sampling and DIY Cultures. Abingdon: Routledge – viii, 206 pages written with John Richards.
This book investigates two areas in which the appreciation of sonic creativity can be easily acquired across diverse cultures, ages and interests: the music of sounds – making music with any sounds, part of today’s sampling culture and the music of things – and the creation of instruments using existent materials (another type of sampling?) involving the notion of ‘instrument as composition’ as part of today’s DIY (or DIT, do it together) culture.
The book offers broad discussions regarding the music of things (written by John Richards) followed by the music of sounds (written by Leigh Landy). These chapters are followed by a focus on the workshop demonstrating the collaborative and inclusive potential in both areas, and a spotlight on eight artists with a broad diversity of backgrounds and approaches to sound and music who discuss their perceptions. The book’s conclusion focuses on similarities and differences between the music of sounds and the music of things, suggesting, finally, that both might form part of the 21st- century’s folk music landscape.
The book is primarily aimed towards students interested in current forms of sonic creativity but will be of interest to those interested in broader issues of sampling culture, hacking and sound studies.
Table of Contents
Chapter 1 – Introduction
To start: it’s about innovative music
More specifically: it’s about sound-based music, much of which
uses technology
Our hypothesis
A word on coexistence
The book’s approach
Chapter 2 – On the Music of Any and All Sounds (Leigh Landy)
Delineating the music of sounds
The sound-based music paradigm
Addendum: The EARS terms which appear under the header, ‘Genres
and Categories
Chapter 3 – The DIY Sound-making Artist (John Richards)
Introduction
Politics of making
From musical instruments to objects and things
Fuzzy things and New Materialism
Low-level electronics
Making as performance
Sound and stuff
To close
Chapter 4 – Recycling Sounds – Sampling Culture (Leigh Landy)
Setting the scene: ‘Techno Viking’
On today’s sampling culture
Issues related to sample-based music
Innovative sample-based music
Chapter 5 – Workshops and Participation – New Communities
Introduction
DIY sound-making workshops (John Richards)
Participant motivation
Example models
Criticism of workshop
Sound-based workshops and collaborative practice (Leigh Landy)
Returning to many of the book’s key themes with respect to workshops
and collaboration
On the notion of a folk music of sounds and things
Chapter 6 – Artist Statements
Introduction
Ros Bandt
Maria Chavez
Gijs Gieskes
Laura Garcia (Netz) – Medial Dark Ages
Christóbal Martínez
Ziad Moukarzel
Robin Rimbaud – Scanner
dj sniff (Takuro Mizuta Lippit) – The Playback Musician
Chapter 7 – The 21st Century Sound-based Musician
Recapitulation
Looking forward
References