John Cage 7 Compositions for Piano @ 2 (Remix) is a mashup of compositions that last just over two minutes thirty seconds. After listening to the compositions over the years, I realized that a mashup of the seven recordings would follow the principles of chance as promoted by Cage. The compositions mashed include:
Music for Piano 20: 2:33
Music for Piano 85: 2:16
Totem Ancestor: 2:20
A Room: 2:26
Tossed as it is Untroubled: 2:31
Tripple Paced: 2:25
The Unavailable Memory of: 2:22
This mashup is part of an ongoing series of remixes of John Cage piano compositions.
The recordings were performed by Steffen Schleiermacher, and released in John Cage Complete Piano Music Volume1 & 2, 1998.
I recently participated at the El Chopo Museum‘s (Mexico City) series of events titled Bastard Pop. Above is the video archive of my performance which took place on September 7, 2013. The improvisation consists of three major sections. The first is an instrumental remix of Eric B and Rakim’s “Paid in Full” with James Brown’s “Payback.” This one is followed by a remix of John Cage’s “Music for 5 Pianos,” “Music for 4 Pianos,” “Music for 3 Pianos,” and “Music for 2 Pianos” which together form a sound piece I call “John Cage Music for 14 Pianos (Remix).” During the performance I doubled the remix and at one point people heard 28 pianos with different sound effects I set up specifically for the recordings. The last part consists of a remix of Kraftwerk’s “Numbers” with MJ Cole’s “Introduction,” a piece part of his seminal 2step album “Sincere.” The end consists of bass-lines and synth-sounds that I developed with Audiomulch, the software I used for the performance. Throughout the performance I also manipulated the introduction to Laurie Anderson’s “Superman,” which is the last sample heard at the end of the improvisation.
The sound in the space was simply amazing. It is too bad that the videostream went into the red, with the result of sound distortion. At least people online will have an idea about the development of the sound piece. I plan to post a better recording of the improvisation at a later point.
John Cage Music for 14 Pianos (Remix) is a mashup of Cage’s “Music for 5 Pianos,” “Music for 4 Pianos,” “Music for 3 Pianos,” and “Music for 2 Pianos.” All four pieces are 7 minutes plus a few seconds long. After listening to the compositions over the years, I realized that a mashup of the four recordings would follow the principles of chance as promoted by Cage. As a result this piece is part of a series of Cage remixes I will be releasing in the near future.
I will be remixing “Music for 14 Pianos” live at the upcoming event on September 7, 2013 at the El Chopo Museum, UNAM in Mexico City, at which point it will become part of much longer performance.
The recordings were performed by Steffen Schleiermacher, and released in John Cage Complete Piano Music Volume1 & 2, 1998.
As I keep looking over my music collection I have been wondering about the best way to share selected material through social media. I decided to use Grooveshark. I just got started with it, and the online network appears to have a lot of potential for the future of music.
Above is a playlist that I originally was preparing to mix together, but given that the songs would be played almost in their entirety, creating a list on Grooveshark made more sense. I selected songs based on mood and sensibility of what would go well in a set organized to explore various genres at once. I’ll be creating more playlists from time to time.
An improvisation on two CDDJ players and two Technics 1200s recorded at some point in 2000 or 2001. It consists of a remix of various artists including The Art of Noise, Steve Reich, Roni Size, Kraftwerk, Miles Davis, Kruder and Dorfmeister, Underworld along with some bleeps and glitches.
This was a session done in one sitting and it’s not as smooth as I would like; yet, there are enough good moments that I think it is worth sharing, especially given that I am unlikely to recreate it. I am unable to provide credit for some of the tracks due to the fact that I don’t have all the records I used with me at the moment. The list of the songs is below:
1) Intro: excerpts of Kraftwerk: Trans Europe Express (1990 reissue) 0:00
2) Herbaliser: A Mother (Kruder & Dorfmeister Remix, 1996) 1:30
3) Art of Noise: Dragnet (1987) 5:28
4) Kraftwerk: Expo 2000 (2000) 8:26
5) Roni Size and Reprazent: Trust Me (1997) 10:15
6 & 7: Drum n Bass tracks currently unable to check name.
8) Bleeps, 22:00
9) Miles Davis: Chocolate Chip (1992) 24:00
10) Underworld: Bruce Lee (1999) 27:35
11) Malcom McClaren: Hobo Scratch (1982) 30:30
12) Steve Reich: Pulses (1997) 33:20
13) Techno/trance house track, currently unable to check name,
14) Kraftwerk: Numbers (1981) 39:42
15) Art of Noise: Beatbox (1984) 42:37
I was able to set up a couple of decks recently, and decided to mix from time to time selected recordings from my own library to share. The “Trip Hop Revisit” above consists of well known tracks. The last “Beached,” however, is usually included in the genre of Acid Jazz. The list of all tracks is below. I hope you enjoy.
1) DJ Shadow: Lost and Found (S.F.L.), 1994
2) DJ Krush: Just Wanna Touch Her (Stoned Jazz Mix), 1994
3) Massive Attack: Blue Lines, 1991
4) Dread Flimstone: Roots, 1991
5) Tricky: Live W/Yo Self, 1996
6) Milk: Beached, 1994
