PROBES #18.2
Auxiliaries
Curated by Chris Cutler
The PROBES Auxiliaries collect materials related to each episode that try to give a broader – and more immediate – impression of the field. They are a scan, not a deep listening vehicle; an indication of what further investigation might uncover and, for that reason, most are edited snapshots of longer pieces. We have tried to light the corners as well as the central arena, and to not privilege so-called serious over so-called popular genres.
In this auxilliary, batchelor pad hi-fi stereo exotica whips off its kitschy disguise to reveal a revolutionary core, abandoning boring documentation for a hyperreal exploration of novel timbres, impossible spatialities and radical fragmentation. This is where recording technology finally becomes aware of itself as an aesthetic rather than as a purely technical medium.
In PROBES #19 Chris Cutler continues to look at the importation of exotic instruments, in this case from Africa, in pursuit of a specifically non-American American expression of culture and politics.
In PROBES #17, we trace how the gamelan collided with western notions of music and exotic percussion spread like a virus into every field.
Transcript
Transcript of PROBES #18, curated by Chris Cutler.
In PROBES #18, Chris Cutler raises lowly percussion high and introduces us in the hyperreal world of hi-fi stereo, pure listening and exotica.