BOUNCE rumoriatdetritus.net: Non-member submission from [The Evolution Control Committee <eccatpobox.com>]

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Thu, 17 Sep 1998 17:22:33 -0700 (00906078153, 199809180022.RAA10709atflotsam.detritus.net)


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From: The Evolution Control Committee <eccatpobox.com> Subject: Re: [rumori] FAQ Q
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Okay, let's start and build a framework here:


********************** Begin: DETRITUS FAQ ***********************
********************** Begin: DETRITUS FAQ ***********************
********************** Begin: DETRITUS FAQ ***********************

/// EDITING NOTE: Some suggested guidelines for working on this, until
someone volunteers to receive and coordinate all submissions and
alterations... When making improvements to the FAQ, please copy and edit
the entire FAQ from the "Begin:" headline above to the "End:" line below. Make your edits and send the entire thing to the list. People wishing to
make major edits may wish to request
that nobody else alter the FAQ until s/he sends their improved version out
(for database geekheads out there, think of how records are locked in a
multiuser environment). ///

FOCUS: The Detritus focus is about the notion of "sampling": where an artistic work copies part of a pre-existing work (artistic or otherwise)
and incorporates the copy as part of a new whole. While the focus often is
about sampling in a musical context it is important to note that this has
significant roots in visual art as well, and we are interested in ALL forms
of sampling.

TABLE OF QUESTIONS:
What is "Detritus"? What is www.detritus.net?
Why is detritus?
Isn't this illegal?
Is this just about Music?
What about copyright? (An introduction to fair use, etc.)
Isn't this just a front because you lack creativity?
Who started all this?
Who are the current players in sample music and how do they relate?
Where can I find related world-wide web sites?
How can I contribute?
How can I make my own detritus?
Glossary




-=-=-=-=-

WHAT IS "DETRITUS"?
A more factual definition: Detritus is the stuff of decay. It is the
semi-living, usually gooey, muck-encrusted stuff that other life forms feed
on (or off). It is the truth of what is rotten: that it will live to see
another day as soemthing else. It is worm food. It is you - one day...

Conceptually: Detritus is a metaphor! It's the detritus of our own
lives, the stuff that gets tossed, but somebody else picks it up, and sees
something new in it, some kind of food for thought...

-=-=-=-=-

WHAT IS WWW.DETRITUS.NET?

It's a gathering place for detritus (the metaphorical kind, that is)...
(What are some of the messages that the web site tries to communicate?)

-=-=-=-=-

WHY IS DETRITUS?

We encourage people to pick up pieces of our popular culture and reuse them.
That's our purpose. So much of our culture makes use of repurposed stuff,
canned stuff, ready-mades, etc. But almost always this crap is presented as
NEW!, when really it is the epitome of USED. So, we exist as a home for
stuff that chooses to make explict its origin as something else.

-=-=-=-=-

ISN'T THIS ILLEGAL?

The first amendment protects free speech. If our purpose was to steal
things and present them as ours, we would indeed be breaking the law. But
satire is fair use, well-protected by current legal statutes. We maintain
the right to make something new out of the readymades of today, as a means
of commenting on what they are trying to communicate.

-=-=-=-=-

IS THIS JUST ABOUT MUSIC?

Answer: No. Detritus is concerned with all art forms. Since the creator
of the site is mainly a composer, it started out being mostly about
sound and music. but the intention is to give equal attention to
other media.

-=-=-=-=-

WHAT ABOUT COPYRIGHT? (an introduction to fair use, etc)

((Wonder if www.negativland.com might have an easy made boilerplate answer
for this... hey, we could sample it from them!))

-=-=-=-=-

ISN'T THIS JUST A FRONT BECAUSE YOU LACK CREATIVITY?

Everything must be judged on it's own. Since context contributes most
significantly to meaning, we would have to determine whether the context
created something meanignful enough so as to be creative in its own right,
or not.

WHO STARTED ALL THIS?

If only this were so easily answered. As with many artistic styles,
many people deserve credit and mention for their work:

[EDITING NOTE: people should fill in details for each name if they know
something. I've arbitrarily picked names that might have some potential for
interesting detail. Feel free to add or subtract as you like.]

LUIGI RUSSOLO:
PICASSO:
BRAQUE:
MAX ERNST:
DADA:
DUCHAMP:
RAUSCHENBERG:
KOONS:
MIKE KELLY:
EISENSTEIN:
BRAKHAGE:
PIERRE HENRY:
JOHN CAGE:
WILLIAM S. BURROUGHS:
KARLHEINZ STOCKHAUSEN:
JOHN HEARTFIELD:
DICKIE GOODMAN:
NEGATIVLAND:
COLDCUT:
GREATER THAN ONE:
GRANDMASTER FLASH:
PUBLIC ENEMY:
JOHN OSWALD:

-=-=-=-=-

WHO ARE THE CURRENT PLAYERS IN SAMPLE MUSIC AND HOW DO THEY RELATE?

As you might guess, there are a number of different people making
sample-based music and art, and with very different motivations and
backgrounds. Naturally there's a lot of overlap, but loosely you might
divide them into these camps:

DANCE/TECHNO. Examples: Emergency Broadcast Network, Skinny Puppy, Coldcut.
Everyone's a sucker for a good beat, and having a good sample on top of
it helps. This category could be divided up quite a bit, but we'll just
take the easy way out and put it all under dance. And what is "it"? Such styles as Industrial (both old-school Throbbing Gristle style and newer
Front 242 style), Rap (Hip-hop, gangsta, etc.), and Techno (Drum 'n' Bass,
Hi-NRG, Jungle, House, Acid, and everything in between). Samples used in
dance music tend to be short soundbites that are often from popular culture
(movies, TV, or other dance music). Because dance music appeals to a large
audience and samples from popular, for-profit sources, copyright
infringement suits are often levelled against them... but not exclusively.

ACADEMIC. Examples: John Oswald, John Cage. [[Can someone flesh this out
more?]]
If you can think better than you can funk, you'll probably get more out
of the academic realm of sample use. Samples are used less for recognition
or familiarity and are often longer.

RADIO. Examples: Negativland, Aerial comp CDs.
Somewhere between dance and academic (though closer to the academic
side) comes radio-based samplers. Negativland has championed this area, and
although both John Cage and Karlheinz Stockhausen used radios in their
work, using radios themselves isn't necessarily the goal here. The keyword
here is improvisation. Things don't have to be in a song context or have
rigid structures; they can be put together on the fly, with little
preparation. Like academic works, familiarity and length typify the sample
usage, but the joy here is often found in lucky (or is it skillful?)
collisions of found sounds, and sometimes the participation of radio
listeners calling into the station.

-=-=-=-=-

WHERE CAN I FIND RELATED WORLD-WIDE WEB SITES?

## http://www.tiac.net/users/daveread/pwsi/pwsi.htm ## The band Pop Will Eat Itself is known for heavy sample use, and has
some fans rabid enough to list damn near every one of them.


>> Other WWWLinks would be good of course. That amusingly detailed list of
>>samples from industrial songs comes to mind. Oswald's site, Negativland's
>>site. Don't forget MACOS. More ideas later...
>
>yes. i think the FAQ should be self contained, though. The Rhizome page
>has all those links. If stuff comes up of course i'll link to it in the
>FAQ, but ideally i think a FAQ should just be good old clear explanatory
>prose.

-=-=-=-=-

HOW CAN I CONTRIBUTE?

-=-=-=-=-

HOW CAN I MAKE MY OWN DETRITUS?

-=-=-=-=-

GLOSSARY:

Sample
[Re-]Appropriation
Copyright [Law]
Electro-quoting
Plundering
Collage
Musique Concrete
Ready-Made
Plagiarism(tm)
Detournment
Found-sound (and the fact that found-sound isn't neccesarily appropriation)
Culture Jamming
CopyLeft
Public Domain
Juxtapose
Context
Briccolage

-=-=-=-=-

CREDITS:
Steev Hise started this ball rolling with his mighty word. The ball was
picked up by Mark Gunderson and furthered by <name>, <name>, and <name>.
********************** End: DETRITUS FAQ ***********************
********************** End: DETRITUS FAQ ***********************
********************** End: DETRITUS FAQ ***********************


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