Spectres: Composing Listening / Composer l'écoute

Spectres #1

by François Bonnet (Editor), Bartolomé Sanson (Editor), Robin Mackay (Translator)

ENGLISH

This book has been conceived as both a prism and a manual. Following the “traditional” arc of electroacoustic composition (listen—record—compose—deploy—feel), each of the contributions collected together here focuses in on a personal aspect, a fragment of that thrilling territory that is sonic and musical experimentation.
Although the term “experimental music” may now have be understood as referring to a genre, or even a particular style, we ought to hold on to the original use of this term, which was based more on an approach than on any particular aesthetic line to be followed. The experimental is first and foremost a spirit, the spirit of the exploration of unknown territories, a spirit of invention which sees musical composition more as a voyage into uncertain territories than as a self-assured approach working safe within the bosom of fully mapped out and recognized lands.

FRANCAIS

Le livre qui suit a été pensé comme un prisme et un manuel. Suivant l’arc « traditionnel » de la composition électroacoustique (écouter — enregistrer — composer —déployer — ressentir), chacune des contributions regroupées ici pointe un aspect personnel, fragment de territoire passionnant qu’est celui de l’expérimentation sonore et musicale. Si le terme de musique expérimentale a pu être assimilé à un genre, voir à un style, il ne faut pour autant pas oublier l’usage initial de ce terme, qui était basé plus sur la démarche que sur la ligne esthétique adoptée.
L’expérimental, en effet, est d’abord un esprit, un esprit d’exploration des territoires inouïs, un esprit d’invention qui voit dans la composition musicale plus un voyage vers des terres incertaines qu’une démarche assurée produisant dans le giron de terres balisées et reconnues.

CONTENTS / SOMMAIRE

1. Chris Watson
Recording
Enregister

2. Brunhild Ferrari
The Microphone’s Gaze
Le regard du microphone

3. Espen Sommer Eide
Exercises in Non-Human Listening
Exercices d’écoute non-humaine

4. Beatriz Ferreyra
Perceive, Feel, Hear…
Percevoir, ressentir, écouter…

5. Drew Daniel
Towards a Heterology of Sound: on Bataille and Musique Concrète
Vers une hétérologie de son : à propos de Bataille et de la musique concrète

6. Eliane Radigue
Time Is of No Importance
Le temps n’a pas d’importance

7. Stephen O’Malley
Sound Matters
Sons élémentaires

8. François J. Bonnet
Underneath Listening
En deçà de l’écoute

9. Jim O’Rourke
Chair and Table
Une chaise et une table

10. Régis Renouard Larivière
Acousmatic Recreations
Récréations acousmatiques

11. Daniel Teruggi
Spaces of Mind
Les espaces de l’esprit

12. Félicia Atkinson
On the Patio: The Voice, Doubt, Perspective and Immersion
Dans le patio : la voix, le doute, la perspective et l’immersion

13. François Bayle
Space in Question
L’espace en question

Genres: Music

228 pages, Paperback

Published February 1, 2019

Reviews

[Evgen Novakovskyi]

spectres — це серія збірок есеїв від артистів та звукоінженерів про музику та природу звуку. перша з них присвячена процесу звукозапису, звукосприйняттю та переважно тій частині експериментальної музики, що називається musique concrète. діапазон найширший: від спроб причислення “брудних” записів вуличного нойзу до простору гетерології жоржа батая (!) через потік аудіальних асоціацій, що виникають під час прослуховування Sunn O))), до роздумів про пошуки нового способу сприйняття музики, натхненних конструкцією слухового апарату москітів.

це дуже незвичний погляд на музику: під якимось неймовірним кутом, про існування якого навіть не замислюєшся. текстуально це, треба визнати, доволі душно, йобко та обскурно, але разом із тим по-дитячому захоплено, самовіддано і безмірно палко, наче подорож незвіданими територіями.

Listening allows me to see something else, and vice versa. It creates a shift. Everything is in movement and in relation. When listening I allow myself to contemplate a branch that sways in the garden for longer than usual, to make detours when walking, to play with my apprehension of time and space. When listening I mentally walk through places I left a long time ago. Thanks to sound, I voyage to where I am no longer, when I am no longer there. I come unstuck from things.

не забудьте пристебнутися.

[b̴̜͍̮̘̫͚̺̎́̈̆͜͠͝ę̶̦̜́ń̸̯̫̣͑ · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent and inspiring curation of essays highlighting varying perspectives of spatialization, musique concrète, resonance, composition, recording and listening. Favorite essays are by the following authors:
Elaine Radigue
Chris Watson
Drew Daniel
Jim O’Rourke
Brunhild Ferrari
Daniel Teruggi

[kari trail · Rating 4 out of 5]

a bilingual (english/french) essay collection on electronic music, composing, atmospheric listening, and a lot more. i don’t know much about electronic music so a few essays didn’t really resonate, but there were some in particular that were pretty moving: “exercises in non-human listening” by espen sommer eide and “on the patio” by félicia atkinson were my favorites.

a few quotes that i can’t stop thinking about!

“the microphone as a finger pointing toward an object so as to make it heard.”

“gradually, like a snowball, [the microphone] increases in size. every new object recorded also becomes a new membrane for the next… finally after weeks, months… a lifetime of recording, we reach a microphone the size of the earth, recording itself in the silence of space.”

“when listening i allow myself to contemplate a branch that sways in the garden for longer than usual, to make detours when walking, to play with my apprehension of time and space. when listening i mentally walk through places i left a long time ago. thanks to sound, i voyage to where i am no longer, when i am no longer there. i come unstuck from things.”

“i see music as a house to live in temporarily; in different voices, a tent in the desert, a transitional forest, a twilight hour. inside this place language shifts, like a soft, supple, flexible material, in clay or textile, a möbius band, a knot to be tied and untied.”

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

A enjoyable series of short essays on concrète, acousmatics, spatialization and other topics. Worth revisiting. The essays by Éliane Radigue, Beatriz Ferreyra, Chris Watson (Cabaret Voltaire) particularly resonated with me.

[Adam · Rating 2 out of 5]

C'est rentré par un oeil et c'est sorti par l'autre...
Faut sans doute bien connaître la musique des participants pour que ça ait un sens.

+ J'avais pas compris qu'un côté était en anglais et l'autre en français je croyais c'était des trucs différents ducoup j'ai lu le côté anglais alors que la majorité des auteurs sont français oups

[Justin · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Time is of no importance. All that counts is the duration necessary for a seamless development."

I will say, this book should be illegal to take out in public.

Just blinding people left & right.