Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Phonodrum - Christian Marclay


Christian Marclay is a Swiss-American visual and sound artist known for intentionally damaging vinyl records in order to create multi-layered sound collages. He is an argued early pioneer of turntablism and is closely linked with noise music.


Marclay claims he doesn't look for specific records when creating his works- he simply buys random vinyls from pawn and charity shops and manipulates them. At times he has even taken pieces of different records and joined them together to get rapidly changing and endlessly distorted sounds.


Today's Best Song Ever, 'Phonodrum' can be found on his compilation Records 1981-1989. Marclay reportedly created the unique sound in the number "by dragging a guitar string attached to the stylus across wooded records and wooden discs studded with nails." The sound is about as nuts as you'd expect from that origin.


It's like a building falling at hyperspeed into your ears over and over again as your brain rips down a conveyor belt while being assaulted by robots. Out of the screeches, bumps a squeals comes a sudden urgent and insistent rhythm. It's damaged punk evolving into a dance routine made of twisted metal and broken wood.

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