Rhythm Science

by Paul D. Miller

The art of the mix creates a new language of creativity. "Once you get into the flow of things, you're always haunted by the way that things could have turned out. This outcome, that conclusion. You get my drift. The uncertainty is what holds the story together, and that's what I'm going to talk about."— Rhythm Science The conceptual artist Paul Miller, also known as Dj Spooky that Subliminal Kid, delivers a manifesto for rhythm science—the creation of art from the flow of patterns in sound and culture, "the changing same." Taking the Dj's mix as template, he describes how the artist, navigating the innumerable ways to arrange the mix of cultural ideas and objects that bombard us, uses technology and art to create something new and expressive and endlessly variable. Technology provides the method and model; information on the web, like the elements of a mix, doesn't stay in one place. And technology is the medium, bridging the artist's consciousness and the outside world. Miller constructed his Dj Spooky persona ("spooky" from the eerie sounds of hip-hop, techno, ambient, and the other music that he plays) as a conceptual art project, but then came to see it as the opportunity for "coding a generative syntax for new languages of creativity." For "Start with the inspiration of George Herriman's Krazy Kat comic strip. Make a track invoking his absurd landscapes...What do tons and tons of air pressure moving in the atmosphere sound like? Make music that acts a metaphor for that kind of immersion or density." Or, for an online "remix" of two works by Marcel "I took a lot of his material written on music and flipped it into a DJ mix of his visual material—with him rhyming!" Tracing the genealogy of rhythm science, Miller cites sources and influences as varied as Ralph Waldo Emerson ("all minds quote"), Grandmaster Flash, W. E. B Dubois, James Joyce, and Eminem. "The story unfolds while the fragments coalesce," he writes. Miller's textual provocations are designed for maximum visual and tactile seduction by the international studio COMA (Cornelia Blatter and Marcel Hermans). They sustain the book's motifs of recontextualizing and relayering, texts and images bleed through from page to page, creating what amount to 2.5 dimensional vectors. From its remarkable velvet flesh cover, to the die cut hole through the center of the book, which reveals the colored nub holding in place the included audio CD, Rhythm Excerpts and Allegories from the Sub Rosa Archives , this pamphlet truly lives up to Editorial Director Peter Lunenfeld's claim that the Mediawork Pamphlets are "theoretical fetish objects...'zines for grown-ups."

Genres: Music, Nonfiction, Art, Research, Essays, Philosophy

136 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 2004

About the author

aka DJ Spooky that Subliminal Kid

Reviews

[Stephanie]

I can't believe I read the whole thing... but I did because I wanted to excerpt something from it for my Remix course, as I was curious about how 20-yr-olds would respond to his associative remixed prose. To me, it was less a book than the extended liner notes of a pretentious teenager on acid. The format is very high concept: there's a hole in the middle of each page and every other spread is graphics, tho not very interesting graphics. I have nothing but respect for what Miller--aka DJ Spooky--does, but his writing is insufferable. I highly recommend his edited collection Sound Unbound, however; it has some great articles. Possibly of more interest to people doing work on sound, but mind-expanding to people who aren't.

[DWRL Library · Rating 4 out of 5]

In Rhythm Science, Paul Miller aka DJ Spooky that Subliminal Kid draws on theory and poplar culture alike to look at how ideas, sounds and media across time speak to one another in “this era of multiplex consciousness.” Using the figure of the DJ as his primary example, he verbally, visually and aurally explores the art and science of sampling to demonstrate the ways in which technology continues to influence the way we create and connect with one another. For those interested in remix culture and ever-expanding definitions of writing, this book offers thought-provoking material in an engaging package.

[D · Rating 2 out of 5]

Este libro es una compilación de lugares comunes, expresados en un clásico registro posmoderno, que mezclan obviedades deleuzianas con estereotipos de la cultura DJ de los 2000. El argumento es básicamente que la elevación del sample a la forma creativa fundamental del siglo XXI quiebra todo registro de autoría y creación intencional, e implica por sí mismo un quiebre cultural en el que el programa de las vanguardias del siglo pasado se ha convertido en la norma cultura por excelencia.

El problema es que Miller simplemente no tiene una ciencia del ritmo: no tiene una teoría sobre la música, ni un manifiesto sobre lo que esta podría o debería ser, ni siquiera un compilado de reflexiones sobre experimentación estética, ni mucho menos una prosa poética capaz de hacer valer la pena la lectura. Todo lo que dice ya fue dicho por Fisher, Reynolds y sus discípulos (recientemente, Kit Mackintosh), con más claridad conceptual y mayor originalidad.

Podría decirse que esta es precisamente la idea: el libro está vacío porque busca ser una escritura de la inercia, contra cualquier presión contenidista o teoricista, una elevación del remix y el sample que obstruye cualquier parámetro de coherencia interna cerrada sobre sí misma. Sin embargo, los momentos autobiográficos del libro impiden que esto sea así: es evidente que Miller está interesado en contar sus experiencias y explicar sus resultados.

Miller quiere una ciencia del ritmo que no sea ciencia, sino puro goce masturbatorio. Su rechazo de lo académico, que no es de por sí negativo, lo ciega completamente a cualquier visión crítica sobre la cultura: ausente está toda respuesta a las reflexiones fisherianas sobre el neoliberalismo tardío y su inhibición de las posibilidades cognitivas de la creación. Al mismo tiempo, quiere una ciencia del ritmo que no sea rítmica: su rechazo paralelo de cualquier aproximación sobre el objeto música/sonido en sí, nuevamente por miedo a teorizar, implica que este es un libro de música que no habla sobre música.

Solo le pongo dos estrellas en vez de una porque aprecio mucho la edición de Dora Robota, que es muy cuidada y, la verdad, preciosa.

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

DJ Spooky (Paul D Miller) is a great musician and he is very intelligent; he's also insane.

This book is a complete stream of consciousness essay on media, technology and their interactions and the parallels with the interaction of life and art (art imitating life imitating art etc etc.)

I found this book very thought provoking. This essay is definitely one of the most apt portrayals of the epistemology and philosophy of art of my technically savvy generation. While this book is stream of consciousness, it is particularly hard to follow. I had to read it twice to get most of the points. This was done as the structure of the text is meant to parallel the message (the medium is the message...) But still it was kind of annoying and may have been better if it had stuck to a little bit more traditional format.

I read this book because I really like DJ Spooky's Music and I had read some other stuff that he wrote and thought he seemed like an intelligent and interesting guy.

[Z · Rating 2 out of 5]

See, he wrote so much, but it meant nothing to me.

[Victoria Florencia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Me gustó, pero es demasiado fragmentaria su escritura y por momentos me perdí bastante. El diseño de la maquetación con las páginas intervenidas tampoco me gustó mucho, aunque entiendo la idea de querer imprimir cierto ritmo a la lectura, para mí no estuvo bien logrado. Por otro lado, Dj Spooky en este ensayo habla, no solo sobre la práctica de Djing (aunque inevitablemente todo pasa por ese filtro) sino que profundiza sobre los nuevos procesos compositivos desarrollados a partir de los '80, cuando se empieza a masivizar la práctica de sampleo y remix. Es muy interesante porque estás nuevas formas de hacer música abren las puertas a otras derivas rítmicas y compositivas: la originalidad pareciera no ser un gran valor en una composición. Dj Spooky plantea el legendario problema del original vs. copia, original vs. cita, remixado actualmente en el problema copyright vs. collage: copyright vs. creatividad.
Por otro lado, hay todo un capítulo sobre las posibilidades creativas surgidas a partir de la invención del fonógrafo

[CTEP]

This book is a non-linear "stream-of-conciousness" style book that looks at the influx of technology, sounds, and images that surround us in the modern digital world. He uses his experiences a dj to serve as the backdrop for the idea that collage, sampling, and other forms of juxtaposing and or mixing elements of our world in an artful way is a valuable and natural step in the evolution of our consciousness.

Should other members read it?
Yes most definitely. Not only does it radicalize your experience of reading a book in the graphic design mixed with text, but also gives a lot of insight into the issues we deal with constantly of access, importance, and impact of technology. It helped me think about technology especially as it applies to art in new ways and I think we have to start working with new paradigms in order to properly integrate technology into our lives.

[Alex Lehr · Rating 4 out of 5]

this is one of those books that makes no sense until it makes total sense and it’s really cool. interesting perspective on something already interesting

[Sofia Cimballa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sick!

[Sandi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Though very short, and not tackling very difficult concepts, this was a difficult book to read. The style is more like a prose-poem than an essay. With the exception of some quotable and interesting epigrams ("home is where your cell phone is" is a good one), the work may not be worth reading for its thesis. Its main points can all be found in other essays (Foucault's "What Is An Author?" seems to be a big influence) and the essay revisits points throughout, which prompted me to think "did I already read this page?"

In the way that it practices the very mode of sampling in its writing style, linking ideas, looping back to ideas, taking examples from sources as diverse as Doctor Who, W.E.B. Du Bois, and Duchamp, the book is successful--it demonstrates its points in its style. However, in much the same way that modern art can be meaningful and ugly, the book is just a pain to read through with the expectation of getting real content out of it.

[Joel · Rating 3 out of 5]

I got a lot of enjoyment from reading this book, which contains many highly quotable sections. Unfortunately it suffers from a lack of direction, jumping from one concept to another, rarely giving each one as much consideration as it deserves. There are many sections of fluid esoteric prose... if only it would coagulate! Rhythm Science does however do a good job of planting seeds in ones' mind with respect to reconsidering what function a DJ performs, and what meaning or influence music can bring to bear upon the technologically-driven relationships of the 21st century. More importantly still, that music and sound are prophetic for society, and as such can signpost developments to come.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

dj spooky is a cool cat. coiner of sweet aphorisms like "home is where your cellphone is" this short book is a romp through his personal narrative (how a kid from d.c. became this conceptual artist published by the likes of MIT Press) and philosophy about what the human subject looks like in the fragmented digital age. he's great at weaving seemingly disparate discussions together in a way that is bold but not gimmicky.

[Karie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is cool. Its an easy, enjoyable read for audiophiles and you will be smarter and cooler for having read it. Leave it out on the table when you're having a party. Even if "Der Komissar" is playing on your party mix, people will see this book and know you are the shiz (and think your party mix is both hip and ironic).

[Megan · Rating 4 out of 5]

reading this is like navigating a three-dimensional space. more accurately, it is like being in a 3-d wikipedia with someone else controlling the mouse. i really enjoy miller's style and exuberance and his ideas on multiplex consciousness, despite many of the ideas being not so new to me.

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

An innovative format and layout and a smart, if (deliberately) derivative little pamphlet on the "culture of the copy" and the role of the DJ within it. The best parts were when Miller reflected on the differences between music sampling/mixing and that in other media.

[Jafar · Rating 4 out of 5]

You don't expect DJ's to be good writers.

[Syd · Rating 5 out of 5]

such brilliance in words that makes me miss being a theory geek in grad school. i have a new appreciation for sound and audio that is rocking how i now make art.

[Alastair Kemp · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although I find this very entertaining and enjoyable, as a reader of much he references, I did find the theory a tad shallow. More style than substance, unfortunately, as there is potential there.

[Robin · Rating 3 out of 5]

art meets literature. hip-hop flow of consciousness and academic musings. fun :)