Sunday 13 January 2013

20th CENTURY - Musique Concréte

Recorded sounds which are transformed using simple editing techniques such as cutting and re-assembling, playing backwards, slowing down and speeding up.

This became possible with the advent of tape machines - the first track in this playlist (Etude aux Chemins de Fer) is one of the earliest examples, manipulating recordings of a steam train.

It was by using tape machines  eg. Track 4 (Come Out) that Steve Reich struck upon the idea of phasing that he used in his later minimalist compositions; when he started the same recording on two different tape machines and they gradually went out of sync as they were running at slightly different speeds.

The use of a recording from the Tokyo underground system at the start of 'Twilight World' (Track 5) could also be regarded as MUSIQUE CONCRETE. Another example from Pop Music is the start of Pink Floyd's 'Money', where cash machines are heard in a rhythmic OSTINATO (but you can't get Pink Floyd tracks on Spotify!)


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