CDOTD 1/1/2023

 William Basinski: Noctures (2062)

Purchased at The Government Center

Dear Reader:

I have noticed that I've been getting one or two hits (or more) on each of my blog posts in the past week and a half. So, who could be reading this? Adam? Mike? Someone else? Or is it just me looking at the page to check on it?

I've been writing these posts quickly, with little editing and no preparation. I start during the time the record or CD is playing, but usually continue after it is done. 

As of this writing, I have not yet reposted the link to this blogspot page to social media, but probably will again soon.

Probably like many, I learned about William Basinski from a story on NPR (Weekend Edition, I think) regarding the five-CD release of his Disintegration Loops. That set of pieces, completed coincidentally with the 9/11 attack, involve the playing of analog tape loops and recording the results as the medium itself deteriorates. Some never really seem to break down at all; others slowly but surely change as the magnetic coating falls off the tape surface. It's a brilliantly simple concept, played through in what turns out to be a powerful way.

This CD issue includes two long works: the 41 minute "Nocturnes" from c.1980, and the 28 minute "The Trail of Tears" from 2012. 

I always bristle a little when I hear an interviewer ask an artist about his or her "influences." We both need to acknowledge our influences, but we're also not ruled by them. I say this because I do wonder about the influence of Brian Eno on the next wave of composers who would work in what we more-or-less now call ambient music. (Basinski himself mentions Eno's influence "at a tender age" in notes for his Music for Abandoned Airports.) "Nocturnes" may not sound directly like an unused outtake from Music for Airports, but the methods are (I'm guessing) related. They're both centered on use of analog tape loops. One big difference is that Eno's always sound crisp and clear, whereas Basinski's are intentionally muted, lacking in clarity, sound low tech. Another difference is Eno's overlapped loops nearly always sound harmonious, whereas Basinski's are more chromatically superimposed. It's all long and slow, less process-oriented as Disintegration Loops, dreamy and determinately ambient.

While "The Trail of Tears" isn't as low tech sounding as the previous work, it sounds as though he may still be working from similar sources. I'm certain there's digital technology involved in this work's creation, but sounds still maintain a soft-edged, analog haze. A phrase is repeated many times, giving way to a blending of the sounds into a droning chord. This eventually fades, making way for another long phrase, repeated, in a minor mode that gives it a more sinister tone. That repeats pretty much wholecloth without changes for the remaining minutes of the piece. That makes me wonder what his thought processes were for this piece, as it seems that either it's almost another piece, or that there's an extramusical reason the coda is included.