Comments on: THE PROBLEM WITH POST-MODERN MUSIC

By: Justin null Beck

Justin null Beck — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 09:10:36 +0000

This isn’t post modern. Post modern means sampling, endless dull self-referencing, hyper-self consciousness and negative, cynical “hipness” which is at best is purely technical and leaves us back to the existential, but this time the stranger kills entire ecosystems instead of an Arab.

By: Lab report March 8th 2010: 3+1 questions – Stet Lab (a space for improvised music in Cork, Ireland)

Wed, 07 Apr 2010 21:56:52 +0000

[...] I find it interesting that Dominic Marcella points up the YouTubified duo with Bruce Coates as an example of unsuccessful music. Bruce and I would [...]

By: Dominic Marcella

Dominic Marcella — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 09:36:34 +0000

Peter, you aptly refer to them as “artists”, which is precisely what they become, and as such, I do not mean to denigrate them. However, not all artists who use sound as a medium are composers of “successful music”. That doesn’t make their work any less interesting or laudable.

The danger in heralding these artists as the prominent post-modern or post-post-modern music composers is that many people begin to increasingly value the logical components of music over the emotive components. Xenakis, for instance, was every bit as innovative and interesting as Cage, yet his music was always emotive. I would refer to Xenakis as a composer and to Cage as an artist whose medium was sound (although Cage, at times, and especially in his early years, could be considered a composer as well).

Also, I do not generally consider improvisation (free or structured)to be an un-mindful conveyance of feelings. The Coates-Park improvisation is a rare extreme.

By: Peter Breslin

Peter Breslin — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 13:38:18 +0000

You attribute only character defects to post-modern composers who refuse to “compose with all of the tools available to them.” This is a terrible trap in criticial writing. Perhaps if you opened your mind and ears you would understand that many artists do precisely what they want to do by choice and many audience members attend with sincere admiration.

You also commit another tiresome mistake. This is the mischaracterization of improvisation as a raw and un-mindful conveyance of feelings. Leaving aside the relative merits of the clip you posted, your shallow and reactionary oversimplification completely undercuts what might be an interesting opinion piece.

You certainly are audacious, despite your claim to the contrary, early in this annoying essay.