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Fried has described his approach to composition and technology in four related principles:
Interrogation: the exposure and exploitation of a machine's basic functions and assumptions. The Jamaican 'dub' producers of the 1970s used the multi-channel mixer to create drastically altered versions of reggae recordings. What is being interrogated in this case is the paradigm of multi-track with its long rows of meters and volume controls; just how this is accomplished electronically, whether by tubes or transistors (or running mice) is irrelevant.
Differentiation: the use of musical applications that are necessarily unique to the equipment employed. Wendy Carlos and others used early Moog and Buchla synthesizers to create sounds that were specifically unique to the synths, not as substitutes for other instruments. They were exploiting the range of the innate characteristics that the instruments made available, rather than trying to re-create something else.
Catalysis: the use of machinery in the service of a live event that is unique to the moment. Cage used live radio. Arguably the piano serves the same function in 4'33". The catalyst, a substance which fosters a reaction among other substances, itself comes out of the process unchanged. Fried uses live radio and other indeterminate elements, however, unlike Cage, he aims for a rather more conventional musicality and theatricality. Sometimes a chance decision is simply the best, most musical decision - if the context is creatively and intelligently controlled.
Subversion: the use of tools in ways not originally intended (by the manufacturer). The early 'scratch' disc-jockeys manipulated phonograph players by hand. John Cage in Cartridge Music (1960) suggests that feathers and toothpicks be inserted into a phono cartridge instead of the needle. The most popularly-known technological subversion might be the intentional pointing of an electric guitar into its amp to (musically) create feedback.
Copyright © 12 February 2000 Jeff Talman, Saratoga Springs, NY, USA