Above: The Amen Break documentary by Nate Harrison, included in the resource selections below.

List of online resources and music selection for week 3 of Hip-Hop to Dubstep, taught during the summer of 2013 at The New School’s  Media Studies, Department of Communication. I will be releasing brief notes based on my class lectures in the near future. If interested in looking at the actual class webpage with all the weekly selections at once, feel free to peruse this link: http://navasse.net/NS/NCOM3039A/. My notes will not be available on the class webpage, only on each corresponding entry here on Remix Theory. Please note that links may become broken. If and when this happens, the best thing to do is to search for the source by name. And do let me know if anything is broken and I will look into it.

View:
Part 1
Part 2

Week 3
June 17 – 21, 2013
Dub/Disco/Hip-Hop

Music selection and relevant links:

The Joy of Disco – The Joy of Disco:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zQpMnU6N4o

Amen Break Documentary (by Nate Harrison):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5SaFTm2bcac
The Winstons – Amen Brother:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GxZuq57_bYM

Scratch
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bj1r6u8zLPo&feature=player_embedded

TB-303 Documentary – Bassline Baseline (2005)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLQwwtjtiY4

The hip hop years part 1:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LhrSlOa2bsA
The hip hop years part 2:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Qjs771lWnE
The hip hop years part 3:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_46ig2V74I

Copyright Criminals
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIoR3PYpduo

Music Selection from Jamaica, Dancehall:

Yellowman – King Yellowman (Full Album) 1984
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i11zpqkmupg
Yellowman Reggae Sunsplash 1982
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ko46_aXW_94

Mr Loverman- Shabba Ranks
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tcWif3u4A0A
House Call (Your Body Can’t LieTo Me), featuring Maxi Priest
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IwtAGWWC9y4

Elephant Man – Willie Bounce
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r038-tDd8eI

Elephant Man & Wyclef Jean – FIVE-O
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nNiBgS4bZ0

YouTube Selection of Dancehall:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wH_0_
pijbZY&list=RD02IwtAGWWC9y4

Music Selection from UK, Northern Soul:

Frank Wilson – “Do I Love You” (Arguably once the rarest record ever)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwvpeYiQwss

The O’Jays – I Love Music (1975)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_1s2UFc_z8

R Dean Taylor – There’s A Ghost In My House
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cp62EBeSZUc

Love On A Mountain Top – Robert Knight
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96eiVUoWzB8

Bobby Freeman – “C’mon And Swim”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1l2agUPZ7lc

The four tops – I can’t help myself – Live HQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXavZYeXEc0

Gloria Jones – “Tainted Love” (1964)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKUjI_CbIY0
(Not northen soul, but a cover of “Tainted Love,” 1984 sequential mashup with “Where did our Love Go?” by Soft Cell, New Wave version):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=srtuQU20QXA

Music Selection from U.S., Disco (before mid-seventies, soul music influenced by the Motown sound):

Viva Tirado Live – El Chicano (1970) 1971 performance:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxmwPkqkCnk
(See Kid Frost below under rap for a sample used in a rap song)

Charles Wright & The Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band “Love Land” (1970)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZ0yX05h3IQ

The Friends of Distinction – “Love or Let Me Be Lonely” (1970)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnEbZjOhUQU

Manu Dibango – “Soul Makossa” (1973)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2jYjUiulMQ

Kook and the Gang – “Jungle Boogie” (1974)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHGOO73Gxg4

MFSB TSOP The Sound Of Philadelphia (1974)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-3nPLfG9gZY

Van McCoy – “The Hustle” (1975)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wj23_nDFSfE

Sylvester – You Make Me Feel (mighty real)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oG2ixYJ79iE

James Brown – The Original Disco Man DISCO (1979)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHQJDbeT1lM

Village People – “In the Navy”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=InBXu-iY7cw

Village People – “Just a gigolo”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1FvVcagZln0

Donna Summer ” Love To Love You Baby ”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6iTciIqLxM
Donna Summer I Feel Love [Extended Dance Edit] (1977)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljxm3NsnVI0
Donna Summer – I Feel Love (Patrick Cowley Megamix)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1km3Fbeo0w

Le Freak – Chic (1978)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DbzooE7jtiE
“Le Freak (House/Funk Deep Remix)”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9e1REw6WFY
Chic Megamix – in memory of Bernard Edwards (mixed in the tradition of the old days with two turntables)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AMlhtKw_Sds

More, More More – Andrea True Connection
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RlJGrIyt-X8

Bee Gees – “Staying Alive” (1979)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_izvAbhExY

Bee Gees Megamix (Straight on two turntables, as it would be done at the club)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dxZckhvwsoM

Music Selection from U.S. (Electro-funk/techno-funk, or simply… “funk” as it was called and known to DJs playing it.)

Three key tracks that informed funk in the eighties:
Babe Ruth’s “The Mexican,” James Brown’s “The Payback”, and The Incredible Bongo Band’s “Apache”

“The Mexican” (break played by Mancuso and DJs in the Bronx, happens at 3:35 – 445)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_YhRkAF1tXM
Incredible Bongo Band – “Apache” (1973)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vnsc_U4sJ8Q
“Apache” is actually a cover originally recorded by The Shadows in 1969:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NoN6AKPGkBo
James Brown, “The Payback” (1973)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IST6qRfVqwY
James Brown’s drummer, Clyde Stubblefield is arguably the most sampled drummer in history:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OOS18vi7WLc

Unity by James Brown & Afrika Bambaataa
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6hE5OmpKyc
Afrika Bambaataa and the Soul Soinc Force -“Planet Rock”
(extended mix, 1982)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7XPmOpLVZPI

Afrika Bambaataa, “Looking for the Perfect Beat”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2RJlYzBhLg4

Twilight 22 – “Electric Kingdom”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2RJlYzBhLg4

Al Naafiysh “The Soul” Side A:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbvDORZ0HlU
Side B:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i46sF1PcqL8
It’s about time Remix:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hLUjEO2ZCs

Cybotron “Clear”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGqiBFqWCTU
“Clear” Frankie Bones (founder of House music) Remix:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkrk5Gzo_2A

Herbie Hancock, “Rock it”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHhD4PD75zY
Live version (inspired many DJs including Mix Master Mike to become DJs–becaue of Grandmaster DSTs performance)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TN5ltss0NMA
See Mike Scratching:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0DLED7krHwU

Much of early electro-funk borrowed (sampled freely) or were heavily influenced by the music of Kraftwerk (Germany). Two songs that were heavily sampled are:
Kraftwerk – “Numbers”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4YPiCeLwh5o
Kraftwerk – “Transeurope Express”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBGNlTPgQII

Newcleus was clearly influenced by the sound coming out of Germany. “Push the Button makes this quite evident.” Also note that while Newcleus were very much experimenting with electro-funk, they also would rap, as you will notice one of their most successful songs is included under the rap section below.

Newcleus – “Push the Button” (extended mix) (1983)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67zWw4UfHWE
Newcleus – “Push the Button” (with vocal intro)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vatk9sF7qyI

The P Crew – “Nasty Rock” (1983)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5rbZ-RQbIg

Midnight Star – “Freakazoid” (1983)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRo426va26I

Music Selection from U.S., Hip Hop (Rap):

Grand Master Flash and the Furious Five – “The Message” (1982)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4o8TeqKhgY

The Egyptian Lover “Egypt Egypt” (1983)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjFs9CPGhts

The Egyptian Lover “I Need a Freak” (1983)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4Cd9wGHtr0

Newcleus – “Jam on It” (1984)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zEmg5GaAHbk

Whodini – “Friends” (1984)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tECCvdWEweA
Whodini – “Five Minutes of Funk”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pskKw8sPtQk
Whodini – “Five Minutes of Funk” (Instrumental)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Y5pj1IoJ7Q

Ice T – “Reckless” (1984)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=POydN8X1GSY
Ice T – “Reckless” (extended mix)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CdnPn8QTDIU

Dr. Dre and the Wrecking Crew (1984)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RT9O-pUGsVM

World Famous Supreme Team (1984)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHMVkqCKknc
Malcolm Mclaren, “World Famous” (1984)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dq_dDiLZl38
Malcom Maclaren, “Hobo Scratch” (1984)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_mHENbpmHk

UTFO – “Roxanne Roxanne”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4KpngczmD7Q

Roxanne Shante “Roxanne’s Revenge”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zVy2LHKFG18

Run DMC – King of Rock (1985)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXzWlPL_TKw
Run DMC – Sucker MCs (1984)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rXVFNs0piP8

Beastie Boys – License to Ill (1986)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7M7d8u40I4&list=PL07ABD2EB68C1C470

NWA, “Something 2 dance 2” (1988)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=794JyvaTHqQ
NWA, “Straight Out of Compton” (1988)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-MrQtOoQRpc

Public Enemy – “Don’t Believe the Hype” (1988)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vQaVIoEjOM
Public Enemy – “Fight the Power” (1990)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8PaoLy7PHwk

Queen Latiffah and Monie Love – “Ladies First” (1989)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLB5bUNAesc

Monie Love “Monie in the Middle” (1990)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AxHLYjz_oEs

Kid Frost – La Raza (1990)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZ8AS300WH4
(See disco section for the original song “Viva Tirado” by El Chicano to hear the source of melody and percussion samples)

Music Selection from U.S., Hip Hop (Turntablism):

Grandmaster Flash, Adventures on the Wheels of Steel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXNzMVLqIHg
Grandmaster Flash Ibiza 2010
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nwvkRx0eV68
Grandmaster Flash live, 2011
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ue2BVDCF9Vg

DJ Shadow, “Midnight in a Perfect World”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmzHRGoKca0

DJ Crush, Kemuri
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVjgRlto8PI

Invisible Skratch Picklz Live
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQ3N6XADe9I

DJ Qbert, 2012 DMC
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SS0rl7IGHwA
DJ Qbert & Mix Master Mike 2012 DMC
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7pVbJClzuc

Kid Koala (Jazz improvization, date unknown)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KbFIGFv4GLQ

Beat Junkies 1998
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29TIvv5uIVE

Above: Skatalites Authentic, included in music selections below.

List of online resources and music selection for week 2 of Hip-Hop to Dubstep, taught during the summer of 2013 at The New School’s  Media Studies, Department of Communication. I will be releasing brief notes based on my class lectures in the near future. If interested in looking at the actual class webpage with all the weekly selections at once, feel free to peruse this link: http://navasse.net/NS/NCOM3039A/. My notes will not be available on the class webpage, only on each corresponding entry here on Remix Theory. Please note that links may become broken. If and when this happens, the best thing to do is to search for the source by name. And do let me know if anything is broken and I will look into it.

View:  Part 1

Week 2
June 10-14, 2013
Dub Music/Hip-Hop

Music selection and relevant links:

Links used to contextualize why everything is not a remix, but why the concept of remixing has become popular to discuss recycling of material in forms beyond music:

Everything is a Remix, Part 1
http://vimeo.com/14912890
Everything is a Remix, Part 2
http://vimeo.com/19447662

Historical resources:

History of Jamaican Music Pt 1
(Discusses ska and rock steady)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4J4P6ozT0g
BBC Reggae The Story of Jamaican Music Programme 2 Rebel Music
(Discusses reggae and briefly dub)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WvycRljrAH4
BBC Reggae The Story of Jamaican Music Programme 3 As Raw As Ever
(Internationalization of Jamaican music)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AnBCnX_Hctk

Dub Stories (full documentary): View the first half. The second half of the documentary is about Dub in France :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6Eet-sm8Yw

Deep Soul The Up Rising Of Motown Part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkd1c4T5HiE
Deep Soul The Up Rising Of Motown Part 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xe9NGrEJQEE
Deep Soul The Up Rising Of Otis Redding Part 3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXGallmBcTA
Deep Soul The Up Rising Of Otis Redding Part 4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jFXR6o639g

Music Selection from Jamaica, 1960s:

Ska:

Ernest Ranglin, “Liquidation”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJ_iZ9iBYBM

Skatalites – Ska Authentic (Album, 1964)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4kH8PvwDyM&list=
PL0A7039D867DDDA2A
Skatalites – Simmer down (1964)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O9HyXc4e7Qc
Youtube’s Music Selection of Skatalites and Ska:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OwPLeczyhKg&list=RD02O9HyXc4e7Qc

Rock Steady:

John Holt & The Paragons – “I’ve Got To Get Away” (1968)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRDILYQqUkM
YouTube’s Music Selection of The Paragons:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ECwMLVUt67c&list=
PL22729AAD8001A0B9

The Melodians – “You Don’t Need Me” (1968)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHe3owGT7iw

Studio 1 recordings:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_fCJEmh0G1g&list=RD02uHe3owGT7iw

Reggae (See England)

Dub (mainly 1970s):

Lee Perry and King Jammy – “Rude Boy”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y87id6TGopc

King Tubby & Augustus Pablo – “Ruler Fi Dub”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hIhaL04aJpI&noredirect=1
YouTube’s Music Selection of King Tubby:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZvYSYOKFCbk&list=RD025iQxCG1c39I

YouTube Music Selection of Mad Professor:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BU75iSYyphY&list=RD02ctnz-GciFQ0

Music Selection from England, 1960s/70s:

Reggae (recordings took place in England, or were made popular internationally through England, with close ties to Jamaica):

Jimmy Cliff, “The Harder They Come”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGE4dnrPPZQ
Jimmy Cliff & others, YouTube’s Selection:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18EAqHx2lMk&list=RD02ixBo3niO_Do

Bob Marley – Catch a Fire (First Album, 1973):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDadSKdegBo&list=PL9BDE49614C503F66
YouTube Music Selection of Bob Marley:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=us7hfASz0g4&list=RD026QC_ZMWTxJU

Bob & Marcia – “Young, Gifted and Black”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubDVUQon5BE
Bob & Marcia – “Really Together”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mi6LDdBdvzo

Music Selection from the United States, 1960s-70s:

The Supremes “Baby Love” (1964)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23UkIkwy5ZM

Marvin Gaye – “Easy Living” (1964)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SzyeHRQdTHQ
YouTube Music Selection of Marvin Gaye:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ARWFDoADlqk&list=RD02SzyeHRQdTHQ

James Brown – “The Payback” (1973)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IST6qRfVqwY

Motown Music Selection:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTe06PrXwo4&list=RD02–jWPzNNdN4

(Looking ahead to week 3)
How concepts of Dub and the selector & MC/Deejay were popularly introduced in pop music:

Chic – “Good Times” (1979)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8g6bUe5MDRo

Sugarhill Gang – “Rapper’s Delight” (1979)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=diiL9bqvalo

Above: “Rehab” by the Jolly Boys, Mento cover of Amy WineHouse’s composition (listed below as part of music selection)

This summer I am teaching an onlline class on the history of remix in music since the 1960s for The New School’s  Media Studies, Department of Communication. I will be making available the music selections for each week in a total of 7 entries. I will be releasing brief notes based on my lectures in the near future, for now I am sharing the online resources and music selection.  The first week’s list of resources is below, following the description of the class. If interested in looking at the actual class webpage with all the weekly selections at once, feel free to peruse it: http://navasse.net/NS/NCOM3039A/ . My notes will not be available on the class webpage, only on each corresponding entry here on Remix Theory. Please note that links may become broken. If and when this happens, the best thing to do is to search for the source by name. And do let me know if anything is broken and I will look into it.

Course Description
This course is a theoretical and historical survey of popular music influenced by or part of the remix tradition in hip-hop and electronica. Emphasis is placed on the shaping of culture by media and vice-versa. Remixes are compositions that reconfigure a pre-existing music recording, often to make it more danceable. As simple as the definition sounds, it carries a complex set of cultural variables that include issues of class, gender, and ethnicity. Listening exercises and analysis of recorded music is complemented by readings that provide understanding of the historical context and theoretical underpinning of remix practices. Our survey begins with popular music in the United States in the early 1950s, including Blues, R&B, Rock n’ Roll, and early funk. In the 1960s, this music was appropriated in the Caribbean and gave birth to new styles, Calypso, Ska, Reggae, and Dub. Then it came full circle back to the United States with the development of hip-hop music. The rise of the international styles called trip-hop, drum ‘n’ bass, and dubstep and the parallel history of techno and house music and styles in-between are then considered, in order to arrive at a theoretical understanding of the complexity of contemporary music and the extent to which it has been defined by the principles of sampling and remix.

———–

Week 1
June 3, – 7, 2013
Pre-history/Critical Context
1900 – 1960s

Music selection and relevant links:

Jamaican Music style before the ’60s:

Mento Music:
http://www.mentomusic.com/WhatIsMento.htm
http://worldmusic.about.com/od/genres/p/Mento.htm
Selection of Mento Music:
http://www.mentomusic.com/buy.htm

Brief Video on Mento Music:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2NWpJZ0t48k

Jamaican Folk Dances Explained:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvktJry98nY

Hil and Gully Rider:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCpTkfYVHpQ

Contemporary Mento Band, The Jolly Boys:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDzzlNX-h7Q

Versioning Mento:
Amy Winhouse’s “Rehab” Mento Version by The Jolly Boys:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XOwl-bMfIkc
Winehouse’s “Rebhab”:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUmZp8pR1uc

Jamaican Journey – from mento to dubstep:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlkf-F803bI

Selection of Music from the United States that influenced Jamaican Culture:

Charles Brown – “Rockin’ Blues”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=flr6S-orNr8
YouTube’s Charles Brown Music Selection:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGtu2gMRIPU&list=RD02T77Ubj6EGlE

Louis Jordan, “Let the Good Times Roll”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCWUvI7yKtQ
YouTube’s Louise Jordan Music Selection:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCWUvI7yKtQ&list=RD021NAUeL0D4SI

Big Joe Turner – “Shake, Rattle & Roll”:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=20Feq_Nt3nM
YouTube’s Big Joe Turner’s Music Selection:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJsod7Lgn8E&list=RD02bMcfKSeVKDA

Nat King Cole, “Nature Boy”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iq0XJCJ1Srw
YouTube’s Nat King Cole’s Music Selection:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6QRiG_WEzTQ&list=RD02J1glriB54oE

Peggy Lee, “Fever” (1958)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGb5IweiYG8

Abbie Mitchell, “Summertime” (1935)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0g12TrSnIE

Billie Holiday, “Summertime” (1936)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uc-_8LdKTDA

Miles Davis, “Summertime” (1958)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQtAWKQ_M7w

Versioning “Fever” and “Summertime:”

Susan Cadogan, “Fever”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T1jvw005Pt0

Ska version of “Summertime” by The Rude Boys (2000)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xV4W6JqUJpI

Reggae version of “Summertime” by B. B. Seaton (1973)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5RAMm_VmOjA

Versioning  in Jungle/Drum ‘n’ Bass:

“Sweetest Taboo” by Sade:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kcPc18SG6uA
“Sweetest Taboo” by Sweet Corner:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6glc6egYdg

Beatles, “Come Together”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axb2sHpGwHQ
MC Olive, “Come Together”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DVkPYGZnLks

I received a tweet with the image above.  I think it’s a good remix in its own right. It appropriates not only the title of my book but also the concept behind the sound of music quite well.

Thanks to Harold Schellinx; his tweet: https://twitter.com/hefferman/status/321968978903851008/photo/1

Image: The four diagrams of The Framework of Culture. Each is discussed below.

Note: This text was commissioned for the exhibition Reuse Aloud, taking place at the NewBridge Project Space, Newcastle, England; and broadcasting 24 hours a day on basic.fm throughout March, 2013. Many thanks to the curators Will Strong and Rosanna Skett for commissioning the text.  A recorded version is also part of the exhibition.

An earlier version of this text was presented as my keynote speech for Remixed Media Festival in NYC.  In that occassion I only focused on literature. The version for Reuse Aloud was revised to include art and music as well. My thanks to Tom Tenney, director of the NYC festival for giving me the opportunity to test my ideas in front of a very receptive audience.

This text can also be downloaded as a PDF, which is friendlier for print, or for reading on tablets: NavasFrameNC_Web

Introduction

We live in a time when the self-awareness of recycling of material and immaterial things is almost taken for granted. I state almost because, as the following analysis demonstrates, the potential of recycling as a creative act in what we refer to as remix is in constant friction with cultural production. Consequently, the purpose of this essay is to demonstrate the importance of remix as a practice worthy of proper recognition exactly because of its ability to challenge the mainstream’s ambivalent acceptance of aesthetic and critical production that relies on strategies of appropriation, recycling, and recontextualization of material.

Proper recognition is only worthy when it is an attestation of a particular achievement, which can only come about through struggle. Arguably a type of struggle that is certainly recognized and even celebrated quite often, (which admittedly makes for romantic narratives) is the basic human struggle: the will to live. We can think of struggle here as a term spanning across all types of activities, from war to natural disasters—many which are now commonly shared all over the world.

But to begin with a more basic premise, struggle in its most abstract form can simply consist of reflecting on the pain of self-awareness; of having the burden of knowing that we just exist and, for the most part, will do anything to make sure that we will exist for as long as possible. Many of us are willing to find ways to extend our lives before we take our last breath. Others, admittedly, will struggle to leave this world as soon as possible; thus, it may be suicide the subject of struggle in such cases. But this brief reflection on struggle as a humanistic preoccupation is mentioned because we diligently have extended it to everything we produce. It is an important ingredient in what we may call progress.  As romantic as it may sound, human beings have the tendency to struggle in order to be better; whatever that means. And as we have grown as a complex global society, we have been able to extend our struggle on to and through media.

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Image source: slate, by Laura Terry.

Back in October of 2012 Simon Reynolds wrote a passionate piece on Remix Culture for Slate magazine titled “Your Are not a Switch” in which he calls out mainly scholars who are using the reference of the DJ and remixing to discuss issues of originality, and especially in his view, questioning the concept of the “genius.”  For me what is striking about Reynolds’s position is that he goes over much of the literature that has been produced for the last few years claiming that all of the authors (amazing that all of them,  a bit essentialist on his part disappointingly), especially those in academia are guilty of dismantling the originality in creativity.  To make a sweeping statement like this is troublesome enough but there is more.

As much as I like Reynolds’s research, including his most recent book titled Retromania, I have to say that his article is long-winded and does not contribute anything new, not even a strong counter-argument against the authors he calls out.  Reynolds appears to want to celebrate the artist as genius, and to do this he claims at the end of his article that there is something to the process of coming up with new material based on a unique interpretation.  Well, this is not so different from what some  of the authors that he is critiquing are saying.  In fact, this is the whole point of the books, such as Synreich’s Mashed up, or Amerika’s Remixthebook.  Perhaps it’s the “academic” or (I prefer) the systematic and rigorous approach of some of the publications that may come off as a way of killing the potential of creativity that is misread by Reynolds.  But to understand the grammar of a process, to understand the history, to understand the politics of a cultural activity does not mean that such an activity, in this case creativity, will whither. It simply means that we will understand it better and we need to because the process of borrowing from and being inspired by others now has turned into a material conflict that is finely tuned with economics.

I’m talking about copyright conflicts, of course. We need to understand the process of creativity because we need to make sure that it keeps flowing as it always has. With new technology we are able to archive more of that process and all that is archived becomes commodity in some way. This is really what is at play at the moment in, yes, all of the books and essays Reynolds is critical of; they are  contributions to overcoming such an impasse. And is creativity or the concept of the genius being redefined in this process? Yes.  But all things change, they evolve.  It’s the way we function.  We cannot hold on to some idea of genius or originality as it functioned in the past.  Just like photography redefined painting, just like the computer redefined just about every aspect of daily life, the concepts of the genius and originality are also being redefined.  And this is not a bad thing at all.

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I share a couple of paragraphs from Reynolds’s text below:

Image source: Basic.fm

Note: Very happy to be participating in the upcoming exhibition, ” Reuse Aloud.”  Information below.

Directly from the basic.fm blog:

Newcastle’s Tyneside Cinema and The NewBridge Project present Reuse Aloud, a month-long exhibition and radio broadcast throughout March 2013 featuring work from national and international artists, musicians and writers.

The project will be hosted in The NewBridge Project Space on New Bridge Street West and broadcast on Tyneside Cinema’s online radio station basic.fm as part of its digital arts programme, Pixel Palace.

Reuse Aloud is curated by Will Strong and Rosanna Skett and will examine the art of using old and existing compositions to make something new, and ask questions about originality in the digital age.

It will do this through an ambitious schedule of live and pre-recorded work with contributions from artists and musicians from across the globe, including critically acclaimed artists Frank Nora, Eduardo Navas and Natalia Skobeeva, DJs and mashup pioneers Z-trip and Girl Talk, and award-winning Canadian rap artist Baba Brinkman.

Throughout March a radio booth will be installed in the NewBridge Project Space and it will broadcast 24 hours a day on basic.fm.

Reuse Aloud will open to the public at 5pm on Friday 1 March with a preview event featuring new work from artists Andy Ingamells, Sam Christie, Jess Rose, Rachel Magdeburg and Joe Pochciol.

The project space will be open to the public Monday-Friday, 12noon–6pm throughout March and will culminate in a live 24-hour broadcast marathon starting at 6pm, Friday 29 March and running until 6pm, Saturday 30 March.

Regular updates about Reuse Aloud can be found at:
http://www.basic.fm/
www.thenewbridgeproject.com <http://www.thenewbridgeproject.com/>
http://www.facebook.com/events/117549618424766/

Image from Cali2’s Flickr stream. From left to right: Mark Amerika, Giselle Beiguelman, Elisa Kreisinger, Arcangel Constantini, Trish Stone, and Eduardo Navas

The opening at Calit2 on January 17 was a complete success.  Many thanks to Jordan Crandall and the gallery committee for their support in the realization of the exhibition. A special thanks to Trish Stone and Hector Bracho and the entire Calit2 team for all their help.  It was truly a great experience.  The discussion panel, which took place just an hour before the official opening will be online very soon, in the meantime I want to point out that there are lots of great pictures on Flickr for anyone interested to view.

More Soon,

Eduardo

Date: January 17th, 2013
Time: 5p Panel; 6p Reception
Location: Calit2 Auditorium and gallery@calit2, Atkinson Hall, UC San Diego
Host: Jordan Crandall, Vis Arts and gallery@calit2

Guest Speaker: Eduardo Navas, Curator (pictured); Artwork by
Mark Amerika & Chad Mossholder, Giselle Beiguelman, Arcángel Constantini, Elisa Kreisinger

DESCRIPTION/ABSTRACT:
A panel discussion and reception mark the opening of Three Junctures of Remix, curated by Eduardo Navas. It runs Jan. 17 to March 15 in the gallery@calit2.

The exhibition THREE JUNCTURES OF REMIX features the art of Mark Amerika & Chad Mossholder, Arcángel Constantini, Giselle Beiguelman, and Elisa Kreisinger, a group of international artists who have explored and reflected on the implications of the creative act of remixing since the concept became popular beginning in the nineties. The art works crossover and explore three junctures (moments of production) of remix: the pre-digital/analog; the digital; and the post-digital which developed in chronological order, but after their initial manifestation, became intertwined and currently are often reintroduced in conjunction to inform the aesthetics of remix as a creative act in art practice. The exhibition is curated to reflect on how computing has enabled people to recombine pre-existing material with unprecedented efficiency that is relatively affordable just about everywhere information-based technology is widely used. This has affected how local and global communities view their cultural production, from politics to the arts.

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Image source: Re/mixed Media

Note: Below is the abstract for my Keynote Lecture at the 2012 Re/Mixed Media Festival, to take place at the Brooklyn Lyceum on November 10, 2012.

For the 2012 keynote talk, Eduardo Navas will discuss his research on how the recycling of material, as currently understood in terms of remix, is at play in literary practice in relation to a feedback loop which forms The Framework of Culture.*

Abstract:

The Framework of Culture makes possible the act of remixing. This Framework consists of two layers which function on a feedback loop. The first layer takes effect when something is introduced in culture; such element will likely be different from what is commonly understood, and therefore it takes time for its assimilation. The second layer takes effect when that which is introduced attains cultural value and is appropriated or sampled to be reintroduced in culture. The first layer privileges research and development. Creative literary practice as well as all of the arts function on the second layer, which is why, more often than not, their production consists of appropriation, or at least citation of material with pre-defined cultural value. The two layers have actually been in place since culture itself came about, but their relation has changed with the growing efficiency in production and communication due to the rise of computing. The presentation evaluates this change and its implication for creativity in contemporary cultural production.

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* The Framework of Culture is defined in Chapter One of my book, Remix Theory: The Aesthetics of Sampling.