Monday, December 12, 2005

Sampling And The Web

One of the things I (desperately) want to do here is to make a connection between hyperlinks and samples. Robert Chistgau, in this Village Voice article about the pitfalls of sampling way back in 1986, says the following about early remix pioneer Steve "Steinski" Stein:
I wouldn't claim Steinski is any kind of rad; disarming "postindustrial" capitalism is a sideline for him. He's just a perpetually disillusioned optimist who still assumes that the sounds and images rippling through the American consciousness are, forget copyright, every American's birthright--that we're all free to interpret and manipulate them as we choose.
Double Dee and Steinski's classic "Lesson 3: History of Hip-Hop" sounds like this.

Others have a similar feeling about interpretation and manipulation. John Oswald says this. His music sounds like this (click on any of those links, and wait). Negativland say this stuff. Their music sounds like this.

I have a feeling that remix culture has contributed to the tendency towards the free and unrestricted use of web material that hyperlinking suggests. The sample (when used artfully) is not just fodder for musical creativity, it is also a cultural refernce point - simultaneously exisiting in one work (time, place, social/cultural context) and making refernce to another (time, place, social/cultural context).

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