DISCOSPHERE by John Oswald
A porecelain figure in a pinwheel dress pirouettes perpetually 0n the lid of a box of music. The spinning mechanism also turns the gears which time the sonorous striking of tongs. The strikings sound as the dance is seen. Dance is being moved moving to sound or without or not. Dancing is what is watching is what is dancing. Music is the hearing of dancing. *
This album features soundtracks for dances. Some were created before dances and then adapted to them. Some were created after seeing some particular constructions of movement. All these sounds were made because of dance. Other soundtracks for dance, also by John Oswald, are not in this collection. Some of them are logically inseparable from hearing while seeing. The hearing alone is not enough. Portions of 'Shane', 'Baryshnikov', and 'Fence' are like that. The parts of the dances that are featured here are other portions of much longer works. The soundtrack to Bill Coleman's ballet 'Zorro' is performed live by Shelley Hirsch and David Moss. for instance, exists as a live recording, that is not included here, mostly for that reason.
"Wili", of the cover photo, is a solo which Sue Lee dances, and it is a companion piece to "Wounded", which was Oswald's only entirely collaborated dance by that time (except for 'Warm, Wind, Pressure and Aura' created with Belinda Weitzel, which has no soundtrack). It was created with Holly Small who also created "Wili". In "Wounded" the musicians are also the dancers. These soundtracks will be released in a subsequent volume of DISCOSPHERE.
volume note: This album has a wide dynamic range — it is sometimes potentially very loud and it is sometimes equally very quiet. At first this variety of volume may be confusing. A suggested level can be set by first referring to one of the talking pieces, such as Track 12. Set loudness controls so that the voice is at a realistic level, as if the speaking person is in the room with you. The rest of the album is relatively louder and quieter than this.
* Or, As Webster's Third International New Dictionary would have it, 'being executed by different parts of the body in accordance with temperament, artistic precepts, and purpose'.
Tracklist
| 1. | skindling shadés | 5:00 |
| 2. | amina | 4:42 |
| 3. | bell speeds | 3:00 |
| 4. | field | 4:24 |
| 5. | nothing | 2:27 |
| 6. | short attack | 2:06 |
| 7. | angle | 2:43 |
| 8. | melody | 2:34 |
| 9. | shane | 3:31 |
| 10. | prey | 10:07 |
| 11. | soine | 0:59 |
| 12. | touch | 1:22 |
| 13. | love 1 | 1:58 |
| 14. | fence | 12:14 |
| 15. | vt | 0:20 |
| 16. | beat | 3:19 |
| 17. | code | 3:54 |
Videos
Credits
Music – John Oswald
except 'Small Attack' by Holly Small & John Oswald
Photo: Bill Coleman – Tom Brazil
Collage – Holly Small
Photo: Denise Fujiwara – Stephen Katz
Photo: Holly jumping – Antonia Villa Señor
Photo: John Oswald & Holly Small – Vid Ingelevics
Photos: Sue Lee; Marvin Green & Sonia D'Orléans Juste – Cylla Von Tiedemann
Recorded, Mixed, & Mastered by Producer – John Oswald
Digital Transfer– Clive Allen
Design – John Oswald
Stills Editor [Film Prep] – Bob Wilcox
'Soine' title– Naoko Murakoshi
Executive-Producer For ReR Megacorp – Chris Cutler
Coordination Of the Manufacture of the original CD – Bill Sharp
License
CC BY-NC 3.0. See the Creative Commons website for details.
Oswald is best known as the the creator of the Plunderphonics genre, an appropriative form of recording studio creation which he began unfolding in the late ’60’s. This got him in trouble with, and also garnered invites from major record labels and musical icons.