<nettime> Pop Muzik

[Molnar_Daniel <molnar@carnation.hu> (by way of Josephine Bosma)]

Join the New Folkateers!

Mozart composed and performed progressive, contemporary popular music in
his own time - fair enough, that goes without saying. Today sceptics say
Mozart did everything there is to be done with 12 notes. Let's just
leave this sentence for a while and take a closer look at the new
electronic circus... and discover a dramatic conceptual change.

The first generation of widely used electronic instruments were modelled
on keyboard instruments, so 'pop' musicians could use these smaller,
more practical virtual models as substitutes. Ray Manzarek from The
Doors and Emerson from Emerson, Lake and Palmer come to mind and with
them the first synthesizers manufactured by Dr. Moog in 1963. Moog's
basic idea was to remodel existing sounds of existing instruments by
using electronic devices and constructing real sounds through the
constant flow of electrons.

The first machine that could be called a 'sampler' was the Mellotron -
invented in the same year as Moog's devices -, which looks like a
keyboard. Each key is linked to a short magnetic tape. Each tape can
record sound events - samples - to be played back by the matching key.
It was analogue... and incredibly expensive. The same counts for the
first generation of digital samplers - made by Fairlight (1979) and EMU
Systems (1981). Only state-of-the-art studios could equip themselves. In
those misty foggy Seventies many experimental artists - like Brian Eno -
created the most relevant works not necessarily by working with the
technology, but by basing them on the way of thinking behind it. They
generated soundscapes from pieces, events and layers of sound, not
'real' compositions based on the limiting concepts of 'melody' or
'rhythm'.

The first Hit following such concepts and technology was Paul
Hardcastle's *Nineteen* in 1983. The use of samples and samplers grew
steadily and the next drastic breakthrough came from Jonathan Moore and
Matt Black, the Coldcut duo. These pioneers of sampling kicked off the
careers of Lisa Stansfield, Yazz and many others. In 1987 they released
*What's That Noise*, making them the world's first remixing artists.
=46urthermore they founded Ninja Tune Records and Hex, an experimental
multimedia firm. M*A*R*R*S's *Pump Up The Volume*  in 1988 was the
groundbreaking song - evidently pepped up with some Coldcut samples.
=46irstly, this was the first pop House tune, secondly, it consisted of
nothing but samples, no instruments and no new or additional material
had been recorded during the making of the song.

Soon afterwards, with the publication of *The Manual* (1989) such
techniques became common knowledge. Jim Cauty and Bill Drummond decided
to form a pop group and produce one hit a month. They did it - and
documented the process in the above mentioned book. The band was the
JAMS (Justified and Ancient of Mumu) and the song was *Doctorin' the
Tardis* (1988). By sampling Gary Glitter and the Doctor Who series they
provided an easy step-by-step guide to contemporary pop music, giving
everybody a chance to score a number one Hit. Their first widely known
album, "The White Room" (1991) released under the pseudonym KLF
(Kopyright Liberation Foundation) was produced with only one sampler,
one synthesizer and one guitar. It included the single *What Time Is
Love* - making its way into the Guinness Book of Records because of the
almost 700 different remixes available.

I can recall an ancient interview with a member of Kraftwerk who
mentioned their classic vision of the ultimate German kid, in possession
of a synthesizer and a sampler, coming home from school, building
his/her own song from bits and pieces chopped out of the personal
favourites, taking the bass line from here and the chorus from there.
With the availability of computers and free multitracker sample oriented
music editor software packages (the so-called 'trackers', e.g.
=46astTracker) it seems that today anyone can join the new 'folk' music
movement. The new concept behind pop music places music in the hands of
the common people, and therefore could be seen as a new kind of folk
music.

By now we don't even need to rely on produced sample discs, we have
on-line sample stores and free archives. The widely known acid jazz act
US3 based their hits (best known 'Cantaloop' that samples Herbie Hancock
from the Seventies) on the free access to the jazz archive of Blue Note
Records. Ex-Depeche Mode member Alan Wilder produced his latest album
(Unsound Methods, 1997) under the pseudonym Recoil at home with one PC
and a CuBase Virtual Studio. If you are lucky enough to find software
archives containing the latest high tech packages, filters and
workstation try to get hold of Sonic Foundry's Soundforge or Steinberg's
Wavelab, both providing 24 bit oversampled quality - tough and heavy
digital processing features that can easily match the Russian military
ICE-cracker.

Which leads us to the other side of the sampling fair, the remixing
industry with its saints and sinners (see also: Pet Shop Boys' *DJ
Culture*). Take Brooklyn's Todd Terry as an example, a DJ since the
mid-80s he is best known for the 'EBTG effect'. Everything But The Girl
has been a post wave intellipop duo for many years with some minor Top
40 hits - then came Todd and remixed their single *Missing* - which sold
3 million copies world-wide since its release in 1996, outselling all
their previous records. Soon enough it was hip to release a 'Todd Terry
Remix'. Terry made a killing using the 'One Groove' by charging a
fortune for his 4 second formula. But the really weird part is, it
works! -  because he makes records sell. The other one "doing jobz for
da mob" is Mr. Armand Van Helden. He is from Boston, he's been DJing
since his 15th birthday and his Tori Amos remix (Tori Amos: Professional
Widow (Armand's Trunk Funk Mix) - 1996) made him a world-wide success.
He uses two samplers and charges $60,000 for a remix. Only one groove
and some bass lines. The next thing to wait for will be the ultimate
sample-videoclip. The Emergency Broadcast Network and Coldcut's Hex have
produced some nice experimental works in the field.

What's next? Let's quote an Axl Rose T-Shirt (why not?) that he has
liked to wear on stage: "Kill Your Idols". If you feel real, join the
new folkateers. Grow your own!

Molnar Daniel <b2men@c3.hu>

Thanks to Micz Flor for the textual make-up :)
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