Module 6 Lecture Content: Audio remix, Remix culture, AFROfuturism + Re-imagining

This week we will be looking at music and audio in terms of “remix” and re-imagining, and how this concept informs the approach that many audio / sound and music artists take with their works. I usually try to create a common thread throughout each week’s content, and this week is no different in that regard. We will start by looking at some examples of video remix and how they relate to audio / music remix, and then expand upon that discussion.

The difference this week is that we will be going “back in time”. Well…ok...I know I have been doing that a lot over the past few weeks in terms of examples and also in direct reference to the time-traveling film “Back to the Future”. But, in terms of lecture content, I have tried to work somewhat chronologically. This week, however, I will be breaking with that standard by looking at some early “remix” works from before the Dadaist collages from the 1920s that I discussed last week. The reason for this is that while visual and audio remix intersect, they also evolved independently from one another in the late 1800’s to early / mid 1900’s and beyond.

And, while the roots of contemporary music / audio remix can be traced back to at least the 19th century, we will begin this discussion by reviewing some very contemporary works: the remixes of Old Town Road by Lil Nas X.

REMIX + CONTEMPORARY MEDIA CULTURE

In summer 2019, Lil Nas x released his track Old Town Road. This track, mostly propelled by the Billy Ray Cyrus remix version, became the longest running Billboard #1 song of all time. As I was teaching last summer, and discussing this song in another course, it continued to sit at the top of the charts every week. The song that eventually unseated Old Town Road from the #1 spot was Billie Eliish’s Bad Guy, which was also heavily propelled in a remix version of its own. The video originally accompanying the track was a compilation of Red Dead Redemption 2 clips edited together to form a cinematic sequence, similar to many of the video remix and remake examples explored last week.

I focus on Lil Nas X’s Old Town Road because it utilized many aspects of remix / remake culture, including its most critical foundations. Lil Nas X was unsigned when he catapulted to fame. As a skilled social media user, he adapted this medium to promote his song via Tik Tok dance challenges tagging the Yeehaw Agenda. These videos quickly helped build a community of listeners and viewers - the more folks who participated in the dance challenges, the more the song itself spread, and Lil Nas X also established an incredibly effective partnership with Billy Ray Cyrus by tying his most successful remix version with a country star that would allow Old Town Road to jump into multiple categories. Watch the video below, which describes how the song was created and initially promoted. In many ways, Nas X adeptly gamed the system to push his track into a high ranking position, however, I believe it is also his musicianship, timing, and excellent promo abilities that account for Old Town’s Road staying at the top of the charts for so long.

Old Town Road is a remix track in its most basic form. The remix version with Billy Ray Cyrus helped contribute to the song’s ultimate popularity. It is difficult to ascertain if Old Town Road would have achieved the popularity it did if Cyrus had not been part of the remix version, however, this collaboration ties into the track’s ultimate narrative, which existed prior to Cyrus’ involvement. I believe that a larger element of this song’s popularity has to do with its relationship to the YeeHaw Agenda and the abilities of social media to reach out to communities and engage with narratives that are sometimes ignored within other mainstream media channels.

The YeeHaw Agenda actually relates to the 4D, time based artworks and concepts we have been discussing all quarter. It explores the construction of American Identities, and creates a space for folks of color to fill a “cowboy” identity that has been almost completely reserved for white cis, straight men, in both historical accounts and contemporary landscapes. This current designation is not histrically accurate, however - according to some statistics, in the 1850s to 1900s, folks of color accounted for nearly 1/4th of all “cowboy”-identified people in the Western United States alone.

From this standpoint, the Yeehaw Agenda reclaims a historical narrative by reimagining a new current reality that includes folks of color within this “cowboy” identity. It edits and re-establishes a timeline and history outside of a mainstream narrative, to not only address a more accurate historical narrative, but to address and put forth a future landscape. These types of landscapes are often times constructed by pre-conceived notions of the past and of established mainstream historical context. Looking forward with these different contexts, new futures are possible.

This type of “futurism” is something utilized by many musicians and sound artists. Since all sound artworks and music are - at least technically - 4D and time-based, I decided to continue to use this concept of remix as an organizing thread. Instead of focusing on audio artworks that engage with more straightforward notions of time, I will focus on artists and musicians who work within this concept of remix and re-imagining new futures.

AUDIO REMIX CULTURE - BASIC TIMELINES AND CONTEXT

Audio remix culture originated from a somewhat different set of circumstances and histories than visual remix culture. In the late 1800’s and early 1900’s, Blues grew out of African-American vocal traditions and instrumental musical styles, which then strongly influenced the development of Jazz in the 1920’s.

Both Jazz and Blues work with specific musical structures and patterns, chord progressions (which create an audio aesthetic) and improvisation components. With this use of some established parameters and improvisation, these 2 types of music are in themselves a form of remix, as they work within “original sources” but also constantly re-invent themselves. With a true jazz chart that centers around improvisation, the piece typically begins and ends the same way, but the improvised portions are different - or remixed - by the artists every time it is performed. The performance of each chart was also a physical collage - songs would change drastically depending on the combinations of the venue and performers on any given night. This could, in-turn, influence meaning - a song that might typically be slower or more melancholy could easily be turned into an upbeat dance chart by altering just instrumentation and tempo. Many of the musical structures and patterns present in Blues and Jazz are also featured in Hip-Hop music, which is the contemporary point of origin for modern audio remix, especially in its electronic form. Watch the video linked below (the image will link to another page) which illustrates and describes some of the connections between Jazz and Hip-Hop music.

Hip-Hop originated in New York in the early 1970’s, with roots also in Rhythm and Blues (R+B), Soul, and Funk. A core component of Hip-Hop was the use of audio sampling - taking cuts of sounds and music from other sources - and combining these samples to create an original audio track. Remix - in its rudimentary form - was also key to early Hip-Hop. Many of the early Hip-Hop artists and groups were creating tracks from old Soul and Funk records - because these records were limited in duration in order to play in a radio format, the artists needed to extend the audio tracks in order to continue to insert new lyrics and other samples over them. This practice was first explored by Jamaican Sound Systems starting in the 1950’s and 1960’s, and became a key and integral component to Hip-Hop music’s progression and versatility. The video below looks at these Sound Systems - when watching, consider how these events produced and sound and performance that could be compared to visual collage.

DJ + REMIX CULTURE

There are many remix scholars who explore and write about the impact that remix culture has had on other artistic mediums and electronic and digital media in general. Video remix is directly derived from audio remix techniques and - in many cases - technologies. Additionally, the connection between visual collage and remix only came after the establishment of the practice of audio remix - Dada artists did not see their collages through the lens of “remix” because the concept did not yet exist as a way of describing a category of artworks or a process. As with many art-forms, the practice came first, and the the theory was developed alongside and then further refined afterwards.

Many also view audio remix as a precursor to electronic artworks, digital media artworks, interactive and playable media and even programs and algorithmic processes and computing systems. These writers believe the popularization of remix culture, primarily via Hip-Hop, has formed a general, basic understanding and vocabulary of remix aesthetics that influence the way that we create and view artwork, produce media and envision creative systems, among many other things. This week, the readings by Paul D. Miller and Eduardo Navas explore contemporary remix culture and it relates to and influences other forms of media and art. Some of the terms and concepts in these pieces are very complex - don’t get caught up in trying to understand every idea completely reading through the article for the first time, and instead just mark some spots to return to later in the week.

INTERLUDE - CAGE, MARCLAY + OTHER SOUND ARTWORKS

All the while that producers, artists, and DJs within Hip-Hop culture were developing the practice of audio remix, other sound artists were working with some similar remix concepts but talking about them in somewhat different ways and presenting them to different audiences. There were many artists working with the idea of sound and music as a physical object that could be manipulated and effected via physical inputs and outputs. These included working with physically altering musical instruments or playback devices and formats - such as record players and records - or working with silence and the lack of sound as sound itself.

Two examples of this methodology are below, by the artists John Cage and Christian Marclay. When viewing these pieces, consider how the pieces are still very tied to physical objects or visual elements. The focus of Marclay’s “Records” are the physical, sculptural recombinations of different audio records. In many cases, the design of this final artwork is prioritized over whatever audio might actually be produced. In the case of Cage’s 4 33, the piece would not work without a physical location, performance space and also physical potential for music or sound to be performed. If this was just a film of an empty room with no piano, the resulting silence would exist within a completely different context - it is only the physical presence of the audience, the stage, the performer and the instrument that focus the piece to be less about silence, and more about the lack of music.

These artists approaches remind me of the ways in which visual collage artists worked with collage as a very physical process. Even when working with things that were more conceptual, such as narratives, there was usually a physical process associated with the intermediate process or final collaged result. For this reason, I draw tend to draw a distinction between these types of sound artworks and the use of remix within Hip-Hop music. This type of music was primarily driven by sound and performance - a format that is much harder to document and explore, but also very 4D in terms of its dynamic, intangible nature.

CONTEMPORARY REMIX + PROGRESSION

Just as technological advancement has impacted the development of many 4D formats, audio remix’s progression is directly related to technology used to create it. Sampling and remixing became more dynamic with the advancement of recording and playback devices, along with more complex sound production equipment such as drum machines, audio samplers and sequencers. As electronic music technologies progressed, remix could be further explored (keep in mind not all electronic music is remix) and, in turn, the practice of audio remix inspired an entire array of remix-focused tools.

Digital audio formats and editing technologies have allowed artists to work with remix in completely new ways. By the early 2000s, many of these technologies and programs began to be infinitely more accessible, pushing the boundaries of the audio remix. Mashup albums like Danger Mouse’s Grey Album defined a new category of remix, where entire albums by different artists were mixed together - the album mixed together JayZ’s Black Album with the Beatles’ White Album.

Content Advisory - Some explicit language

Digital formats and tools made this type of approach much more possible, as artists were able to more easily experiment with different aspects of each track and also more flexibly manipulate and control time. Additionally, streaming audio and video platforms like Soundcloud and YouTube provide a plethora of audio sources to start with, and a platform for widely sharing new remix artworks. In the videos below, Kutiman uses YouTube as a starting point for his remixes, which are compiled from unrelated clips sourced from hundreds of videos.

REMIX + AFRO-FUTURISM

To conclude this lecture, I’d like to return to the idea of constructing new futures via the remixing process. While Megan Thee Stallion and Lil Nas X do not directly define their remixes as Afrofuturist, the Yeehaw Agenda they do engage with has some similar mechanics, working with re-appropriation in order to present a re-imagined reality and possibility space. This mechanic is a key component in Hip-Hop culture and music - in part because so many aspects of African American Art and Black Culture have been misappropriated and altered in order to attract or appeal to a mainstream audience without benefiting the original artist or even acknowledging the original source.

An example of this can be seen in the life’s work of Little Richard, who passed away this weekend. Little Richard is a key artist in establishing the sound and style of Rock and Roll. His songs were covered by bands like the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, but much of their original meaning - in terms of some lyrics but more in the delivery and performance - was altered or lost. Little Richard self identified as the “King and Queen” of Rock and Roll - he presented a gender and sexuality that did not fit into dominant cultural constructions, and challenged the definition of what a “Rock and Roll” singer looked like and how they sounded and acted. His music was often used for its sheer power and uniqueness, but altered in ways to make it more consumable for mass audiences. These alterations, however, often changed integral elements of the music’s core meaning, erasing the alternative viewpoints and narratives Little Richard was expressing.

The song Tutti-Frutti is especially indicative of this type of erasure. The original lyrics suggestively referenced anal sex, which challenged many sets of gender and sexuality norms at the time. When the song was adopted by artists such as Elvis Presley and Pat Boone, the meaning was changed to be about ice cream or sweets. This type of misappropriation and meaning changing sits directly in opposition with remix culture, where something that challenges a construction of dominant culture is altered in order to make it fit more easily within those limits and boundaries.

Similar to remix, Afrofuturism also challenges dominant narratives and re-imagines new realities. Artists do this by presenting narratives - via song, music, film, video, stories, visuals, fashion, etc - that put forth potential futures centrally framed by Black Culture and the Black Experience. Janelle Monae is a contemporary hip-hop artist who explores Afrofuturist narratives. In the 1950’s and 1960’s, when Little Richard did not easily “fit” into conventional Rock and Roll categories, his music was changed - by others - to better fit the limits. Janelle Monae’s music - and other Afrofuturist narratives - constructs a future where the limits, not their content, are completely redefined.

From this standpoint, one could argue that Afrofutursim remixes time itself. Below is the entire “Emotion Picture” that Monae filmed and released with her most recent album Dirty Computer. Watch through at least 2 - 3 tracks within the film to get a sense of the combination of Monae’s audio, visual and narrative constructions and meanings. How does Monae work with time - and the future - as a concept? And, finally, how does Monae’s vision of the future connect back to the current moment and our current reality.

Content Advisory: some 17+ mature content for those of you watching with younger folks nearby