[microsound] Caleb Kelly's "Cracked Media" - or: how not to write a book

[Tobias Reber]

dear microsounders,

here's a personal review of "Cracked Media" by Caleb Kelly (MIT Press,  
2009)
written for the .microsound mailing list by Tobias Reber


Caleb Kelly's book "Cracked Media" (MIT Press, 2009) is a book I had  
been looking forward to since reading about it in spring 2009, and  
which takes on a topic that has - as far as I know - not been tackled  
in book form before - that of musicians' and sound artists's misuse of  
audio technology in the 20th and early 21st century. Now, while having  
provided me with s couple of details about certain artists' body of  
work, the book has done nothing but leave me frustrated.


Despite providing a detailed table of content and an outline of the  
book, it takes Kelly almost 300 pages (p.274) to begin formulating  
original thought and to ask relevant questions. Before that, and  
mostly after that, the book does nothing more than provide a whole  
heap of historical data which can mostly be found in pre-existing  
sources (as Kelly himself admits, there is plenty of writing about  
e.g. Marclay). Apart from showcasing some australian artistis (Kelly  
is australian) working with vinyl or turntables, nothing essentially  
new is said about the featured artists that goes beyond detailing  
their part in a seemingly logical progression in sound media  
experimentation.
What's more, key points of Kelly's narration are scattered an repeated  
almost randomly throughout all sections, not just the one which was  
designated for the topic.


Formally, too, the book is a mess. The 250 pages of re-counting of  
history is front by an introduction to noise theory in the arts,  
drawing on Douglas Kahn, Jacques Attali and Jonathan Sterne's "The  
Audible Past" (Duke University Press, 2003 - highly recommended). In  
the fourth chapter, as questions such as "Why cracking media?" begin  
to trickle in, Kelly illustrates de Certeaus "tactics of the everyday"  
in relation to cracked media. This is in itself the most original  
contribution to the book, even if most of what's written has been  
mentioned along the way in earlyer sections. And it makes me want to  
read de Certeau. The book never comes close to developing a plausible  
thesis or to pointing, as Chapter 4 initiall promises, towards a  
possible future of the practice.


The language in which the book is written is often vague about  
important points, stale and full of music journalism clichés. Example:  
the oh-so-descriptive "pop, tick, skip and glitch" (page 295) word  
collection is varied endlessly throughout the book, and whole  
sentences are repeated almost word for word, sometimes on the same  
page (e.g. 265). Example: "Making use of 'clever tricks',  
practitioners of cracked media exploit their tools outside of their  
everyday strategic uses" (292). One of the more extreme examples is  
listed a the end of this e-Mail. Or this way of beginning sentence (or  
three, that is): "Lesser is happy to hear the CD glitch documented,  
without additional input from himself and without making the tracks  
into songs or pieces. Lesser lets the sound of the stressed CD system  
be itself - more akin to John Cage's approach than the digital audio  
scene. Lesser here is closer to Yasunao Tone than he is to  
Oval." (pages 278/279)On another occasion (page 265), accomplishments  
are attested to Oval which have earlier (page 227) been said about  
Yasunao Tone.

Plus, the book is riddled with typos unlike any book i've ever read.


Now, the pencil scribbles, which as usually accompanied my reading of  
the book, have turned from notes into criticism of the text. So I have  
plenty of bonus criticism which can be provided, should anybody  
decidedly object with my mercyless bashing. As a small christmas treat  
i have included below a list of sentences the author uses to  
circumscribe the focus of sound artist Yasunao Tone's work (by the  
way: suggested reading "Yasunao Tone. Noise Media Language" incl. CD,  
Errant Bodies Press 2007). Striking, isn't it?

I wonder how MIT would release a text which is so obviously unfinished  
(author), so badly edited (editor) and oviously not proof-read. The  
grim ironic thought that all the noise and repetition might be an  
attempt to let the book's content fiddle with its form sadly doesn't  
help.


As the book's topic is at the core of microsound practice, I'm sure  
some will have read the book, and I'd be glad if this personal take at  
judging the book would provoke some responses or even start a  
discussion about writing on this topic.


Tobias Reber

Biel, Switzerland
December 16, 2009



... and now for the christmas list (note the page numbers).

page 211
Yasunao Tone ... heard these digital sounds as ripe for exploitation  
toward sound expansion, indeterminate composition, ...

211/212
Tone's interest in chance and the singularity of the performative  
situation...

212
Tone ... has a longstanding interest in indeterminate composition.

218
Whereas Tone and Collins are interested in indeterminate compositional  
practices...

227
...extremely close to the technique used by Yasunao Tone to produce  
his  indeterminate compositions...

227 (title)
Yasunao Tone's Wounded Compact Discs: From Improvisation and  
Indeterminate Composition to Glitching CDs

227
Yasunao Tone is a Japanese experimental musician with a substantial  
history of practice. Although his use of indeterminate techniques  
dates back to the early 1960s, he is also at the forefront of the  
current interest in glitches, cracks, and unstable systems for sound  
production, all of which use a measure of indeterminacy and chance.

227
Tone's compositions are harsh in their intensity and volume but are  
also compelling in their radical use of indeterminacy to generate  
unexpected outcomes. He came across the CD glitch in 1984, and has  
since included it as a ...element in his composition and performance  
work.

232
Tone ... continues to be active in the arts scene. He has composed a  
number of pieces utilizing indeterminate composition for the Merce  
Cunningham Dance Company.

232
Tone's early work of the 1960s was heavily involved in indeterminate  
composition...

233
Tone's work since the 1960s has focused on exploring various methods  
that introduce random events and indeterminate compositional  
techniques into live performance.

242
Tone, although mostly interested in live performance practice...

242
The piece now met the conditions that interested Tone in performance,  
those of indeterminacy and chance.

242
In this sense, the piece is indeterminate as Tone  has final control  
not of the outcome of its performance, only of its limits.

243
Tone has been involved in contemporary compositional practice since  
the early 1960s. His work has much in common with contemporary digital  
music practices and his work is appreciated within a contemporary new  
media context, as is evidenced by his Golden Nica award.

243
Tone's practice thus traverses a number of important periods in  
experimental sound practices... It is through his interest in  
indeterminate composition and the digital error in CD playback...

245
Like Tone, Nicolas Collins's approach to technology and his use of CD  
players shows and interest in indeterminacy, chance, and the accident.

280
The process for Tone is bound up in his ongoing interest in chance and  
indeterminate techniques in composition.

291
Yasunao Tone takes a CD ... and attaches tape to its surface... to  
create an indeterminate performance.

295
Yasunao Tone's "Wounded CDs," for example, form both the sound content  
and the indeterminate structure of his performances.



---

Tobias Reber : musician / sound designer

Tobias Reber
Freiburgstrasse 32
2503 Biel
Switzerland

mobile: ++41 (0)79 573 11 69
email: tobiasreber at sunrise.ch
www.myspace.com/stereorabbi