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Experimental Composers: Decked Out, A History of the Turntable (Audio)

Oct 20, 2016
Produced by Clocktower Radio.

Since Thomas Edison's first effort in 1877 through to vinyl emulation software like Serrato, the mechanical spinning disk and stylus have endured to provide an ever expanding vocabulary for artists in sound. Through scratching, beat matching, montage, looping, and other techniques the turntable matured to something far beyond the "sound writing machine" that Edison introduced, Alexander Graham Bell improved, Emile Berliner perfected, Pierre Schaefer re-invented, Kool Herc manipulated, Grandmaster Flash elevated... then Marclay found Bambaataa who listened to Kraftwerk who followed Stockhausen who heard Cage who knew Schaeffer who studied Edison.

With selections by: Thomas A. Edison, Pierre Henry, Pierre Schaeffer, Grandwizzard Theodore, Peanut Butter Wolf, Marina Rosenfeld, Martin Tétreault & Otomo Yoshihide, John Cage, Christian Marclay, Invisibl Skratch Piklz, and Massimo Simonini. Originally compiled by David Weinstein for the Art Sound Lounge of Art Basel Miami Beach 2007 (excerpt).