Listening Through The Noise: The Aesthetics Of Experimental Electronic Music

LISTENING THROUGH THE NOISE This page intentionally left blank LISTENING THROUGH THE NOISE The Aesthetics of Experimental Electronic Music JOANNA DEMERS 2010 Oxford University Press, Inc., publishes works that further Oxford University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education. Oxford New York Auckland Cape Town Dar es Salaam Hong Kong Karachi Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Nairobi New Delhi Shanghai Taipei Toronto With offices in Argentina Austria Brazil Chile Czech Republic France Greece Guatemala Hungary Italy Japan Poland Portugal Singapore South Korea Switzerland Thailand Turkey Ukraine Vietnam Copyright © 2010 by Oxford University Press, Inc. Published by Oxford University Press, Inc. 198 Madison Avenue, New York, New York 10016 www.oup.com Oxford is a registered trademark of Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Oxford University Press. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Demers, Joanna Teresa, 1975– Listening through the noise : the aesthetics of experimental electronic music / Joanna Demers. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-19-538765-0; 978-0-19-538766-7 (pbk.) 1. Electronic music—History and criticism. 2. Avant-garde (Music) 3. Music—Philosophy and aesthetics. 4. Music and technology. I. Title. ML1380.D45 2010 786.7’117—dc22 2009036518 ) are available online at www.oup.com/us/listeningthroughthenoise Recorded audio tracks (marked in text with Access with username Music1 and password Book5983 For more information on Oxford Web Music, visit www.oxfordwebmusic.com 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper ACKNOWLEDGMENTS First and foremost, I would like to thank the artists whose work inspired me and got me through many early mornings. I would also like to express my gratitude to the following sources of research and publication support, without which I would not have been able to finish this project: the American Association of University Women’s American Fellow Postdoctoral Grant; the University of Southern California’s Advancing Scholarship in the Humanities and Social Sciences Grant; and the American Musicological Society’s Joseph Kerman Publication Subvention. I also owe thanks to my colleagues at USC’s Thornton School of Music, whose intellectual and professional support were exemplary. Robert Vaughn’s willingness to order strange and wonderful electronic music for USC’s music library made this a much richer book than it would have been without his help. My parents, Jim and Joan, and brother, Ed, have cheered me on from my first music lessons onward, and I thank them for their love and encouragement. Norm Hirschy is as kind and nurturing an editor as one could ever hope to meet, and I thank him for seeing this project through to completion. Kim Cascone, Richard Chartier, Ezekiel Honig, Thrill Jockey Records, Steve Takasugi, Touch Records, and Miki Yui graciously licensed audio examples for this book’s companion Web site. I received indispensable feedback and suggestions from many friends, including Giorgio Biancorosso, Kevin Dettmar, Luisa Greenfield, Andy Hamilton, Brian Kane, David Nicholls, Scott Paulin, Patricia Schmidt, Steve Takasugi, and Ming Tsao. I am especially grateful to Mandy Wong for her friendship and insight on philosophy, electronic music, and synth-pop; our conversations brightened what could have easily been a tough and lonely slog. To say that I am grateful to my husband and daughter does not begin to describe what I feel. Inouk and Nola are the most wonderful treasures in my life, and I thank them for ever