Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Is MetaMusic metamusical?
Up to about a year ago a www search would have turned up this site, the Anachronisms site and related sites and random junk. Now a search is dominated by commercial purveyors of a kind of muzak that uses sounds of nature and sundry "relaxing" sounds. Ironically this itself may be metamusic as, indeed, muzak may be.
How can this be? The answer is suggested by a latent masterpiece, perhaps soon to be hidden no longer. I refer to Sid Herpes’ unreleased Themes from the History of Time (known to aficionados via bootleg tapes) which begins with God composing a song, inspired by -- the noises of wind and foliage. Thereby creating music -- or metamusic? Word has it that the Anachros have made Themes their next project, once the current album, provisionally titled, Extraordinary Renditions, according to well-placed sources, is complete.
The answer, I suggest, is that music and metamusic constitute a dialectic built into the very DNA of Western civilization. The dialectical relationship only became apparent in the late C20; before that the logic of the law of contradiction ruled, with Music seemingly opposed by non-music. Thanks to the pathbreaking work of the Anachronisms the true paradox is revealed. We await the next synthesis with bated breath.
Up to about a year ago a www search would have turned up this site, the Anachronisms site and related sites and random junk. Now a search is dominated by commercial purveyors of a kind of muzak that uses sounds of nature and sundry "relaxing" sounds. Ironically this itself may be metamusic as, indeed, muzak may be.
How can this be? The answer is suggested by a latent masterpiece, perhaps soon to be hidden no longer. I refer to Sid Herpes’ unreleased Themes from the History of Time (known to aficionados via bootleg tapes) which begins with God composing a song, inspired by -- the noises of wind and foliage. Thereby creating music -- or metamusic? Word has it that the Anachros have made Themes their next project, once the current album, provisionally titled, Extraordinary Renditions, according to well-placed sources, is complete.
The answer, I suggest, is that music and metamusic constitute a dialectic built into the very DNA of Western civilization. The dialectical relationship only became apparent in the late C20; before that the logic of the law of contradiction ruled, with Music seemingly opposed by non-music. Thanks to the pathbreaking work of the Anachronisms the true paradox is revealed. We await the next synthesis with bated breath.
