Is this guy a joke, or a mad genius?... that's what I wonder about.

I ave listened to the Disintegration Loops dlp 1.1 like a ton, over the past few months.

I love IT!!!... just can't ever get sick of that constant repeating motif (or whatever the hell you'd call it).


So today I'm like, man... I wanna buy that sh1t.... discogs has people selling it for between 500 to like 900$.

2000 limited copies, yadayadayada,.

Bummed kinda... so anyhow, was reading a reddit post about it (the box set) and saw some comments about how Basinski's head was up his own as5 on 9/11... just chilling on his roof in Brooklyn listening to the finished product... then I watched an interview with him, and saw what he does with his shows and of course his brilliantly articulated, but perhaps grossly over-analyzed views on sound or tape-loops etc.

And although I can and do buy into gross over-analysis of art, I for some reason may not be buying this guy's thoughts..

I don't know... just thought I'd ask some on here for their thoughts.

peace

 

these dlp recordings are sooooo damn good though... but i mean, clearly they are just old songs that are slowed down and looping or somethin... so i mean... as far "Will" really creating from scratch, these timbres... well, I don't know.

Can't stop listening to them tho

 

if you think it's all that.. then buy it champ.... think of it as an investment.. but if you buy it sealed.. you may as well never open it
or take around a 50% depreciation on the value of it....

https://www.ebay.com/itm/William-Ba...531114&hash=item25e06a17e4:g:PtYAAOSwDiBZJCrh

 

DLP 1.1 and 2.1 are just $10 on Bandcamp (FLAC included). I don't think it's genius, but not a joke to those who can appreciate his stuff.

 

Wow. Checking out Wikipedia for Basinski (while listening to DLP 2.1), turns out he was at North Texas State University just a year or so before I studied there (electronic/computer music) in 1980. He may have still been there... NTSU hosted the 1981 International Computer Music Association conference (John Cage was there, among others). They had recently gotten a Synclavier (that's what brought me to the school). Basinski was more of a tape guy back then, but it was (still is) a great music school with great musicians to work with. That's the time frame that the Disintegration Loops source tapes came from.

 

DAMN!! wow... no kidding guys.

Crazy you were with him at school synth4grins

Jeez, I'm on bandcamp all the time, have no idea why I didn't check it.

 

Although I'm more of a Steve Reich guy when it regards "minimalism" (sorry for the term), I quite like his Disintegration Loops. It is not for me to say if he is a genius or not, but I truly respect his work.

 

For me : genius.

 

surely a marketing genius, if not a musical one

if you have a video downloader for your browser, the price goes to $0 on YT,
or if you want a nice quality VBR, check your friendly neighborhood tpb, also $0

 

Last edited by a moderator: Jan 16, 2018

and Brian Eno who is? i respect the his work, but a genius.......

 

Well let's admit Brian Eno IS a genius and Basinski isn't very far to be one too.

Seriously (it's just my personal opinion and feeling) his music, it's duration, the slowness and subtlety of the changes into it, it produce something very special in my brain and my body. Like a sort of meditation/transcendence thing.

I will add here that I'm a big fan of contemporary art (even there is a lot of crappy artists in it and some other are really amazing) and for me Basinski's music is undoubtedly on the border between experimental music and contemporary art.

 

thx Pollice verso, exactly this one!!! 1978......

 

I don't like people wearing sunglasses while talking to others. If you're into IDM, you stumble over Basinski at times. Uninteresting and boring for me. Too artsy. Same goes for that Ryoko Ikeda (not sure) guy, with that Dataplex thing. I prefer traditional pop music like from Autechre etc.
Elseq can be listened to even by my grandma, which is great.
Basinski to me sounds like "put some adaptiverb on top of things- done".

 

i love this bit :

 

"Experimental music and contemporary art" is all they taught in university composition classes (except for Berklee) back in the 80's. It may be the same today. That Autechre - Dropp sounds exactly like what I and others were doing with Moogs and tape in the 80's, as well as what the computer-based algorithmic compositions sounded like then, and many still do today. The difference here is they just add a beat to it (computers do that too today). I don't mean to put it down, everyone gets something different from their music and appreciates different qualities and characteristics of it. It all has a purpose and a following, including ambient/minimalist/pop varieties.

Regarding my comment that it sounded like computer composed music, I feel (and fear) that within just a few years there will be so much computer composed/generated music all over the place (especially in the ambient/minimalist/pop realm), that music and the music industry (like many other industries embracing Artificial Intelligence) will be completely transformed. A large, powerful AI-based system owned by corporate interests will easily crank out formulaic pop songs and trailer spots in minutes, while it takes us days or longer. Eventually that tech will come down to us on our PCs and phones. We'll be flooded with content, but with no market to sell it to. (sorry, a little off topic and a whole new discussion)

So, what does this mean for "avant-garde" artists like Basinski and others, and us? Probably just concerts and merch? At least he's touring right now...

 

great thoughts... wow.

I am down with Basinski... not sure how i feel about the stark bonedry minimalism and the any connection to genius.... I suppose, unless you are the first to do it.


But man the loops sound incredible...they are sooooo intoxicating... I always love that lowmid, endless pad thing that a lot of good ambient artists do. Biosphere has great shit like that too.