awepittance Posted November 18, 2013 Share Posted November 18, 2013 Personally I'm surprised that in all my time of listening to ambient music and being in the experimental scene I had literally not heard his name until the Disintegration Loops, and all of the sudden he's somehow a really important dude with this long history, as if he's been working so hard at this for so long that Loops was like his magnum opus. with all your time of listening to ambient music and being in the experimental scene, you could have figured out that he released Shortwavemusic on Raster Noton in 1998. that's the earliest official known release of his though right? I don't follow raster noton closely nor have I ever, but I was aware of this release after I heard Loops. 1998 a long history does not make. I know it's supposed to be some kind of archive release, but seems again suspicious to me. Sorry I do not believe it especially this part Originally recorded in New York in 1982, Shortwavemusic was left to gather dust for 16 years until Raster-Noton issued the album on clear vinyl in 1998. how did someone who's now revered is so awesome make music for so long and have absolutely no one talking about him until he released this LP? that question has not been answered yet Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
awepittance Posted November 18, 2013 Share Posted November 18, 2013 as I explained above, he experimented with loops in the late 70s and early 80s but nothing came of it. in NYC during that time he simply never made an impression. this is what I'm curious about, how could someone who's music is so revered now in the 00's not make an 'impression' making and releasing small runs of stuff for so long? It just seems really odd to me. His wikipedia page is fleshed out with a detailed back story of this period when he supposedly made no impression, who's verified it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Friendly Foil Posted November 18, 2013 Share Posted November 18, 2013 It's not like he ever made pop music. Or that every super talented person out there get lots of fame. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
khov Posted November 18, 2013 Share Posted November 18, 2013 He was there from the beguining......William Basinski is the Jack Torrance of electronica. Honestly i dont know, perhaps you're right, all i know for sure is that i truly love his loops & drones. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brisk Posted November 18, 2013 Share Posted November 18, 2013 Quick, someone carbon date Basinski's reel tapes. Whatever happened to just enjoying the music? If you need the 9/11 connotation or a 30 year period of non-recognition to justify listening to his work, then you're probably missing the point in the first place. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcbpete Posted November 18, 2013 Share Posted November 18, 2013 This can't be posted enough times - Here's the rest of the amazing things http://www.youtube.com/user/outpostedit?feature=watch Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goiter Sanchez Posted November 18, 2013 Share Posted November 18, 2013 This can't be posted enough times - Here's the rest of the amazing things http://www.youtube.com/user/outpostedit?feature=watch It really can't. Release these already! will pls Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Herr Jan Posted November 18, 2013 Share Posted November 18, 2013 Instead of just repeating the same arguments without any evidence, let's look at some facts. Fact is he played saxophone on 2 albums that were released in 1979 and 1987, both of which are not even close to ambient tape loop experimenting.http://www.discogs.com/Infra-Dig-Infra-Dig/release/1616163 http://www.discogs.com/Black-Randy-And-The-Metrosquad-Pass-The-Dust-I-Think-Im-Bowie/release/1366031 + his work in this group: http://www.soundclick.com/bands/default.cfm?bandID=175388 Another fact that can't be denied is his Arcadia, since one member here was actually there, I recall some old user on here even saw Diamanda Galas there once in the early 90's? + he said he did loads of jams with bands in his space in NY in the 80's in a YT interview (I believe it was this one http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=moJa-rpGfp8 ) so that proves that he had at least some connections in the music world back in those days. And finally, he pretty much explains his whole 80's story in detail here: http://www.houstonchronicle.com/life/article/Composer-William-Basinski-in-search-of-the-4870022.php#/0 "Hegarty (of Antony and the Johnsons) is one of a few people who possess some of Basinski's early cassettes. "I used the music as the soundtrack to my own life and work in theater," he says." So, yeah, believe what you will, I believe him as it is really not that farfetched. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
awepittance Posted November 18, 2013 Share Posted November 18, 2013 well i guess i was wrong them, now i understand why it took so long for his career to take off and when it did he only has old recordings to show people s before he did a David Bowie Labyrinth impressio from the 80s in the 00'n. it all makes sense now. I was under the mistaken impression that during his whole career he made loop based ambient music, but clearly that is not the case. He had a musical career but a much different less impressive one that is fleshed out in his press backstoriesso in essence he was a pretty typical artsy 80s musician that didn't get 'discovered' by the experimental art world until 1998 for a few side projects he did involved soundtracky work, which again cannot be proven to have been made previous to the late 90sI appreciate the notion of him working for so long doing so many different things that never took off, so I do understand the desire to 'lift him up' and give the guy a chance since he's old now. It's a pretty charitable act actually. edit: at the very least, the only true part of what I've theorized here is that someone has done a very good job of representing him (now) as a much more avant-garde musician than he clearly was for most of his career. It's an interesting spin/rewriting history press job. So this is a learning moment for me, to differentiate between a complete hoax and a 'juking the stats' style rewriting/lie of omission historical overview Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest zaphod Posted November 18, 2013 Share Posted November 18, 2013 i don't find his music interesting in the least, but how is this a "successful" hoax? he's not known outside the pfork hipster/autistic drone fan crowd, probably doesn't make enough money to live. you've got to have a seriously unreal life outlook to think any of these artists, even the ones making some money, are living some kind of wealthy lifestyle. i'm sure he's supplemented the reality of his backstory to get publicity among the few publications that give a shit about this kind of music, but it's not like he's this outsider music supervillain laughing his way to the bank. go outside more and stop reading about electronic music gossip if you think that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Herr Jan Posted November 18, 2013 Share Posted November 18, 2013 well i guess i was wrong them, now i understand why it took so long for his career to take off and when it did he only has old recordings to show people s before he did a David Bowie Labyrinth impressio from the 80s in the 00'n. it all makes sense now. I was under the mistaken impression that during his whole career he made loop based ambient music, but clearly that is not the case. He had a musical career but a much different less impressive one that is fleshed out in his press backstoriesso in essence he was a pretty typical artsy 80s musician that didn't get 'discovered' by the experimental art world until 1998 for a few side projects he did involved soundtracky work, which again cannot be proven to have been made previous to the late 90sI appreciate the notion of him working for so long doing so many different things that never took off, so I do understand the desire to 'lift him up' and give the guy a chance since he's old now. It's a pretty charitable act actually. edit: at the very least, the only true part of what I've theorized here is that someone has done a very good job of representing him (now) as a much more avant-garde musician than he clearly was for most of his career. It's an interesting spin/rewriting history press job. So this is a learning moment for me, to differentiate between a complete hoax and a 'juking the stats' style rewriting/lie of omission historical overview Apart from that, yeah, pretty much. In that interview I posted above he comes across as saying like he just dabbled in recording random stuff (radiosignals, radiobroadcasts, piano jams, whatever) on tapes. I always assumed he began to rediscover those recordings since the late 90's and then reworked them in the studio to become what they are. For example, in two albums/tracks of him you hear the exact same piano loop but reworked a different way, which just shows he probably only had the piano part he cut to a loop (wether he cut the loop in the 80's or later, we'll never know, but that doesn't make the music less impressive).IMO you should blame the journalists more than the artist for having these false hyped up preconceptions of the artist's history. Journo mythologizing happens all the time and afaik only one musician rewrote his history himself to be cool (a shitty black metal solo artist, Nargaroth). and of course (to a lesser degree) Aphex's SAW "85"-92... ahum Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
awepittance Posted November 18, 2013 Share Posted November 18, 2013 Herr Jan, yes exactly. You are dead on the money. But i take issue with what Zaphod said above, I live in a pretentious artistic musical hipster shit-storm zone. Of course he doesn't have anything remotely close to mainstream success, but to underestimate the influence press outlets like Pitchfork has on 'bubbles' ( it put it in quotes because his name is literally a household term in the electronic music scene here) would be naive. He is a musical super villain, pure and simple Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest zaphod Posted November 18, 2013 Share Posted November 18, 2013 Herr Jan, yes exactly. You are dead on the money. But i take issue with what Zaphod said above, I live in a pretentious artistic musical hipster shit-storm zone. Of course he doesn't have anything remotely close to mainstream success, but to underestimate the influence press outlets like Pitchfork has on 'bubbles' ( it put it in quotes because his name is literally a household term in the electronic music scene here) would be naive. He is a musical super villain, pure and simple i don't underestimate the influence pitchfork has on him. i said in my post that pitchfork is one of the publications that made him famous. he tops out there. i'm saying maybe get some perspective about "success". if by success you mean that he's guaranteed to come in 14th place on every p4k "top 100 albums of the 00's" list then he should be writing books with malcolm gladwell. let's be real here, he's shrewdly manipulative in his association of imagery with his (imo) boring music. i'm sure there's a conflation of real and fake in his backstory, but as alcofribrasss said, it's literally the shittiest long con ever. "the greatest trick the devil ever played was convincing the world he was an unsuccessful musician in the 80s and a mildly successful drone musician in the aughts"? lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
awepittance Posted November 18, 2013 Share Posted November 18, 2013 flol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alcofribas Posted November 18, 2013 Share Posted November 18, 2013 lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Dylan Posted November 19, 2013 Share Posted November 19, 2013 But at the same time every artist try to make things mythical if anything. Bob Dylan invented a whole backstory to his life when he started in NYC, saying he played in Bobby Vee's band, that he was a teenager riding the rails and traveled with a circus. Did that change anything in the end? The BOC brothers not telling they were brothers, creating a lot of weird aura of mystery behind all their creation. And let's not talk about Richard here, we could list a thousand idiosyncrasies. My point being, does this take out anything from his music? Can it stand alone, and listen to it without the 9/11 gimmick? Or his other stuff, if you never knew about the history, does it change anything? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dr lopez Posted November 19, 2013 Share Posted November 19, 2013 lol oh awepittace sometimes..... <3 for days man but can I just give you a hug! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
auxien Posted November 19, 2013 Share Posted November 19, 2013 So, basically Basinski is Mugatu. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
awepittance Posted November 19, 2013 Share Posted November 19, 2013 but can I just give you a hug! yes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alcofribas Posted February 21, 2014 Share Posted February 21, 2014 the march issue of wire has an article about Arcadia fyi to stimulate all those who remain curious on this controversial topic. i believe edward snowden now lives there... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dr lopez Posted February 21, 2014 Share Posted February 21, 2014 Herr Jan, yes exactly. You are dead on the money. But i take issue with what Zaphod said above, I live in a pretentious artistic musical hipster shit-storm zone. Of course he doesn't have anything remotely close to mainstream success, but to underestimate the influence press outlets like Pitchfork has on 'bubbles' ( it put it in quotes because his name is literally a household term in the electronic music scene here) would be naive. He is a musical super villain, pure and simple i don't underestimate the influence pitchfork has on him. i said in my post that pitchfork is one of the publications that made him famous. he tops out there. i'm saying maybe get some perspective about "success". if by success you mean that he's guaranteed to come in 14th place on every p4k "top 100 albums of the 00's" list then he should be writing books with malcolm gladwell. let's be real here, he's shrewdly manipulative in his association of imagery with his (imo) boring music. i'm sure there's a conflation of real and fake in his backstory, but as alcofribrasss said, it's literally the shittiest long con ever. "the greatest trick the devil ever played was convincing the world he was an unsuccessful musician in the 80s and a mildly successful drone musician in the aughts"? lol oh lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Friendly Foil Posted February 21, 2014 Share Posted February 21, 2014 Holy lol calling Basinski a musical super villain. That's amazing. I completely forgot about this wonderful thread. Thx for the bump. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
awepittance Posted February 21, 2014 Share Posted February 21, 2014 *vomits* Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
logboy Posted August 12, 2014 Share Posted August 12, 2014 these get individual releases on CD this september 1st. i've long been tempted by them, and managed to get a good pre-order deal on them at £7.50 each, so giving them a try. not sure about just how they balance between stillness and (very) slow evolution, but at that price ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest jasondonervan Posted August 31, 2014 Share Posted August 31, 2014 ^ Forgot I ordered them, and they turned up rather unexpectedly today! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.