Listening Review

Merzbow ‘Worms Plastic Earthbound’ from the album Pulse Demon (1996) 

Ewell in his Music Theory and the White Racial Frame challenges the gatekeeping of the power of the whites within music theory and seeks to reconstruct music theory institutions through racial liberation. A significant portion is dedicated to addressing the theory of solutionism and how racism is not a disease to be cured but a structure to be dismantled. Complimentary to this thinking is Khyam Allami's efforts to develop new MIDI systems as a response to the excluding formats of music technology as it relates to microtonality.

In Guy's chapter within Handle With Care, the issue of field recordings and indigenous protection is addressed very well. The authorship of the individual is a concept that dismisses the collective social body that any recognized individual is a part of and discredits the generational traditions that indigenous cultures derive from. This is complimented by a lack of international copyright law leads to cultural exploitation as a form of musical colonization.

Music Theory and the White Racial Frame - Ewell
Critique of the homogeneous white identity that comprises almost the entire membership,  full-time employees, associate and full-time professors of the Society for Music Theory. Challenges the gatekeeping of the power of the whites within music theory and seeks to reconstruct music theory institutions through racial liberation. Joe Feagin is Ewell’s source of the ‘white racial frame’ to deframe and/or reframe the institutionalized racism of music theory. Addresses theory of solutionism and how racism is not a disease to be cured but a structure to be dismantled. The translations of Schenker’s works into English brought about much controversy as his racist philosophical inclusion was omitted and claimed to be irrelevant to the musical content. 

Microtonality and the Struggle For Fretlessness - Allami
Brief overview of tuning systems and related terminology. Traces historic development of 12-tet and incorporation into Western music. Focused his research on microtonality in software systems and how to overcome challenges and limitations of MIDI for notation and recording. Much of his critique seems to be a qualitative response to the effectiveness of technology to implement musical systems that were not considered when being developed. Creation of his Comma program (real-time tuning) and the MIDI 2.0 advancements. 

Handle With Care - Jaarsma
The issues of field recordings and the vulnerability of the people that they have been taken from. Calls out First World records since they are a major force in the distribution of ‘world music’ and ‘exotic sounds’. The authorship of the individual is a concept that dismisses the collective social body that any recognized individual is a part of and discredits the generational traditions that indigenous cultures derive from. The lack of international copyright law leads to cultural exploitation as a form of musical colonization. 

Let’s Dump Master-Slave Terms - Kirn
The terms ‘master’ and ‘slave’ used in music technology are direct references to the power dynamic involved in slavery. Kirn proposes a series of terms to replace slavery based language in an effort to counter the lack of critical development within the music technology industry. The proposal for new terminology, I believe, is a type of ‘solutionism’ which Ewell highly criticizes. This article has a kind of deflated gusto to it, the author doesn’t portray themselves as a reputable scholar (i.e. useless joke making, informal speech, diary-esque portrayal)  and the overall tone lacks an authoritative command. Questions that I had after reading; 1) Who first proposed these terms? 2) How do these terms become the elected substitutes?

Sisters With Transistors - McCabe
Review of the film Sisters With Transistors, a movie about the women pioneers of music technology that have gone unnoticed. Mentions a small list of women creators, very short read and simply a plug for the film.

Decolinizing Electronic Music Starts With It’s Software - McCabe
Khyam Allami’s programs Leimma and Apotome are production softwares designed to reduce the Western musical thought in electronic production and enable international styles of music to be compatible with electronic music making. The global musicians using standard production tools are not as able to recreate the authenticity of their music and the solutions provided by Allami’s work provides an aesthetic remedy. Offering these programs for free democratizing the production experience and is in opposition to the commodification of musical efforts.

The Secret History of Women In Electronic Music - Herrera
Shifting the narrative of electronic music history to reimagine the women who were involved and reshaping out understandings of sexism in music technology. Lists pioneering women and their impactful efforst in music technology history. Also a plug for the film Sisters With Transistors.

Philip Ewell: Erasing Color- RILM
The whiteness erasure of nonwhiteness from the feminist theory of herasure, the female erasure within a male-dominating society. Outlines the ‘three legs’ of American music theory; whiteness, maleness and cisnormativity. The notion that blacks need to elevate to the level of whites is itself a propagation of racism and the true antiracism efforts should be invested into creating a horizontal structure of comparison. Finishes with a list of 28 individuals who were colorasured from music history.

This Is Appropriation (message on X) - tagaq
The performers and composer seemed to have a somewhat educated background in the musical style and cultural heritage, but how much of this is artistic theft? Is 'cultural essentialism' a valid argument? The YouTube comments don't really offer any voices of dissent, I was hoping for someone to present a counter to the piece but it all seems like praise.

The Story Behind “Master-Slave” - Ongig
Short read, about master-slave history and the movement away from such terminology. Describes a few major tech companies’ responses to the controversy and their dealings with removing it. 

Analysis and Analyses of Electroacoustic Music - Zattra
The plethora of different approaches to electronic music analysis leads one to believe that there is no primary method, each can be carefully considered and implemented to suit the needs of the creator. It is not possible to have total objectivity when exercising analytical methods, the parameters and limits of the analysis are inherent to the analyzer’s subjectivity. Lists influential figures that have proposed their own systems of analysis. Transcription remains one of the greater challenges because of technology’s inability to analyze sound in the way the human ears do. 

The Assembling of "Stria" by John Chowning: A Philological Investigation
The text of a musical composition is  a reference to the actuality of the sounds and represents a process of potential. One must consider the intentions of the composer as part of the composition and the “philological and historical” processes that inform the compositional process. Another example of composer’s using the golden ratio as mathematical structures for music composition. The technological limitations of the day prevented Stria from realizing it’s true potential upon its first performance. A thorough and extensive list of various composers and music theorists’ critique, analysis and notational attempts at Stria.

Inside Computer Music - Clarke, et al.
In-depth historical overview of the technological developments that led up to the possibility of Stria’s composition. Highlights the influence of Mathew’s designs and computer technologies. Outlines personal history of Chowning and describes how his introduction to frequency modulation, and his soon to be developed FM synthesis, comes from a data coding error. The language in the read is overall more accessible than the Zattra article as it is targeted to a much larger audience who may not have technical knowledge of the subject, although there is some intricate jargon and technical language used.