DJ Spooky's brand of audio-collage transcends his labors as archaeologist and cuckoo. With dozens of sound sources including Marcel Duchamp, James Joyce, Raymond Scott, Sun Ra, and Morton Subotnick, this companion to his Sound Unbound book balances theory with swinging music.
The sheer quantity and obscurity of the voices to be heard on Sound Unbound is staggering. The words come thick and fast and from such heavyweights as Jean Cocteau, Joyce, Gertrude Stein, Duchamp, Rene Magritte, and Sussan Deyhim. Sounds to match and contrast come wild and soothing from such imaginations as Subotnick, The Master Musicians of Jajouka, Scott, Iannis Xenakis, Edgar Varese, and Terry Riley.
I haven’t read the book but this compendium leaves me thinking that, even though the (time out of) joint role of creator and interpreter can seem a bit suffocating, since we are insufferably lazy we probably need DJ Spooky not only to do what he does but also to tell us what he is doing and what it all means. For certain some of these juxtapositions sound great, not least dropping the frothing Dada poetry of Raoul Hausmann into swirling strings and spacey rhythms (courtesy of Radio Mentale and Shukar) but a nagging insufficiency persists. Perhaps the book sheds light on whether there is a connection beyond mere sound, but even if it does, these clips would have to be palatable for most listeners to care. Thankfully, Spooky never sacrifices sound for meaning.
Also on the plus side, the array of archival contributions is truly gobsmacking. Amidst the cross pollination, Raymond Scott’s contributions stand out, Ginsberg is placed in the folk setting where he so obviously belongs, and Sound Unbound showcases an understanding of the power of repetition in poetry and blues: a truth we might hear in scratching vinyl, dub, rap, jazz and the branches that have grown out of those roots. However, there is something awfully predictable about the pairing of William Burroughs with Iggy Pop (although that may be the point) and there’s an element of preaching to the choir in the choice of material. Maybe DJ Spooky feels his work is apolitical or that the left-leaning wing of the arts has a monopoly on the radical. That may be the case, but something deep within me wishes he would take his skills and torture Rush Limbaugh and Pat Robertson with their own reactionary words. Meanwhile, I expect those who have read Sound Unbound will want to hear this disc as much as I now want to digest the book.
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