Going Public
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Popp didn’t invent the approach–New York sound artist Nicolas Collins was experimenting with skipping CDs in the late 80s–but he certainly popularized it. The distinctive sound of early Oval albums like Systemisch and 94 Diskont (issued in the U.S. by Thrill Jockey) has begotten an entire subgenre, known as “glitchwerks,” whose better-known representatives include Pole, Pita, Vadislav Delay, Noto, Stilluppsteypa, and Farmers Manual. Meanwhile shareware programs similar to the one Popp originally considered–including Super Collider, Audio Mulch, and Sound Hack–have been widely disseminated over the Internet. He never did make his own program, called Ovalprocess, available, and he no longer has plans to. “It’s not interesting anymore,” explains Popp, who arrives in Chicago this weekend to kick off a North American tour. “At that time all of these music makers and programs didn’t exist.”
The point, Popp says, is not for the user to do his or her own “remix” of Oval’s music: “Thinking of it as a remix is already defining the musical outcome as a retail product, which I’m not at all interested in.” Though he makes a living as a recording artist, he says he finds the notion of finite authorship irrelevant in this technologically advanced age. Skotodesk is intended to generate discussion of the modern music-making process by erasing the role of the artist–a middleman of sorts in Popp’s view–and allowing the user to participate directly. “I’m not interested in teaching people anything, but [in making] a modest suggestion for one possible alternative way of seeing things in the field of electronic music,” he says. “Of course, there’s the danger of being seen as the mastermind behind Ovalprocess, as someone trying to virtualize themselves in the software, but that’s a risk I happily take because that means that people are taking it seriously enough to discuss on this level.”
Next week’s Reader will include complete critical coverage of the second annual Chicago World Music Festival, which begins Thursday, September 21. This week you can find information about opening-day concerts in the International section of the music listings.
