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#17 (Speakers​)​.​.​. [in every moment {of] decay}

from Forgetting and Remembering by Robert Paredes

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#17 (Speakers): [in every moment {of] decay}....

for two-channel tape



Tape music made in the old style from the sounds of analog electronics, clarinet, tenor sax, kalimba and assorted noise makers wherein "decay," as connotative/denotative signifier informs the music at levels large and small. On the micro level, for example, the work is articulated by "conversations" made through operations on the decay characteristics, first of individual timbre/frequencies, then of selected bodies, and then (again) of mergers of bodies of the source material. At the middle level, these mergers are composed into aperiodic "breath-phrases" of grainy, chattering intensity, driven by mid-low frequency quasi-drones which in turn propel clarinet-driven electronic screamings and/or skirlings and/or keenings. These latter impulses, forming arcs within a larger arc, emerge, gain in graded levels of intensity and ultimately dissipate rather than decisively conclude. At the macro level---(the larger arc)---the composition is a bipartite structure in which first-half, multi-source, sound-energies, embroiled in a complex of intensification/dissipation, give way to a steady state, second-half unfolding of purely electronic contemplation/speak ending in disconnection.

From this layered and leveled world of sound, I can infer the inevitable decay of ways of creating, teaching, interacting,....the inevitable decay of mediums of expression (of passé technology operating at the edge of broken-down; of non-conductive patch cords failing to enable the breathing of a circuit ((the emergence of a thought)), of painful surges from nowhere in particular)....the inevitable decay of the human body, of human connection, one to another, possible only, yet doomed, through bodies....of dreams now nearly quiet....and....in every moment of decay I can, as well, infer the sound(s) of an inevitable and beautiful resistance thereto(o).



#17 (Speakers) [in every moment{of] decay} was made at the Experimental Music Studios [Lewis Studio] of the University of Iowa between August, 1992 and March, 1993.

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from Forgetting and Remembering, released June 22, 2021

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Robert Paredes Iowa City, Iowa

Robert Paredes (1948-2005) was a composer, performer, essayist, multi-media artist
and teacher whose output was consistently and consciously experimental. Expressing his deep interest in language, social justice and interpersonal relationships, his work was often a context to investigate the
essence of music, its meaning and its role in society. ... more

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