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Paul D Miller – aka DJ Spooky – describes his musical and artistic oeuvre as “collaging”. Indeed, within contemporary popular culture, he is possibly the most outspoken and fervent motivator for the power of détournement in digital media.
Thus, it is fitting that he addresses “the remix” in his new book Sound Unbound. A tome to the most ubiquitous and aural version of collage in the world today, the book has an impressive and diverse list of contributors including Steve Reich, Saul Williams, Bruce Sterling, Scanner, Pauline Oliveras, Brian Eno, Naeem Mohaiemen and more – not to mention Miller himself.
It is in this curation that the relevance of sampling and remixing digital music and culture goes beyond entertainment, to speak of a brave new world that is itself a remix, glitching between timeless hyperreality, public dislocation and corporeal presence. This is not framed as a bad thing. As Cory Doctorow says in the foreword: “Technology giveth and technology taketh away”. Instead, there is an enduring romance – love and hate – that is communicated throughout the book. It is as though, living at the very brink of science fiction, these artists, writers and musicians are navigating an unperceivable future.
Sound Unbound is accompanied by a double album sourced from the Sub Rosa archive and remastered by Miller. Moving between Sonic Youth, James Joyce, Marchel Duchamp, Sun Ra, Iannis Xenakis, John Cage and Iggy Pop in minutes, the album is quite a trip, to say the least.
This is Miller’s second book, following on from Rhythm Science (2004), which was about “the flow of things”. Both are published by MIT Press.
Paul D Miller – aka DJ Spooky – describes his musical and artistic oeuvre as “collaging”. Indeed, within contemporary popular culture, he is possibly the most outspoken and fervent motivator for the power of détournement in digital media.
Thus, it is fitting that he addresses “the remix” in his new book Sound Unbound. A tome to the most ubiquitous and aural version of collage in the world today, the book has an impressive and diverse list of contributors including Steve Reich, Saul Williams, Bruce Sterling, Scanner, Pauline Oliveras, Brian Eno, Naeem Mohaiemen and more – not to mention Miller himself.
It is in this curation that the relevance of sampling and remixing digital music and culture goes beyond entertainment, to speak of a brave new world that is itself a remix, glitching between timeless hyperreality, public dislocation and corporeal presence. This is not framed as a bad thing. As Cory Doctorow says in the foreword: “Technology giveth and technology taketh away”. Instead, there is an enduring romance – love and hate – that is communicated throughout the book. It is as though, living at the very brink of science fiction, these artists, writers and musicians are navigating an unperceivable future.
Sound Unbound is accompanied by a double album sourced from the Sub Rosa archive and remastered by Miller. Moving between Sonic Youth, James Joyce, Marchel Duchamp, Sun Ra, Iannis Xenakis, John Cage and Iggy Pop in minutes, the album is quite a trip, to say the least.
This is Miller’s second book, following on from Rhythm Science (2004), which was about “the flow of things”. Both are published by MIT Press.
