“The Anxiety of Influence”: A Review of The Grandfather Paradox

In many ways the mix cd/tape is obsolete as a medium that carries force as a totem of change and innovation in underground music culture. Now that ipod’s, playlists, and mp3′s dominate, everyone is a DJ and a personal curator of sound. In a world where individuation and technology are the driving ethos of our modern culture it is not an accident of history that such a method of musical curation is preferred.

Another glaring issue is that of novelty; I remember a time when a close friend of mine and I would wait impatiently to buy the newest mixtape or cd from a certain DJ because we knew that whatever music contained therein was going to be “new” ie. no one else would have it, and more importantly it was going to be unreleased, aka the rarity factor. Now, when one can simply download the newest track online, and stream podcasts that have productions available straight from the plant instantaneously all at the click of a mouse, one can see why the death of this medium was inevitable. This is hard news for DJ’s, especially those who have spent years carefully cultivating an aesthetic persona, poring over records in the dusty alleys of history, and who have lovingly crafted playlists in the solitude of their rooms just so that they can share the jewels they have come across with the public forum.

The question then becomes; how does one tackle this dilemma ? This brings to mind a quote in an interview with Squarepusher many years ago in Wire Magazine. When asked whether his new record was a step forward in music and technological terms, he simply countered “no, I am not moving forward on this record, I am moving sideways”. It was a rather clever retort and correlates perfectly with the approach on display with “The Grandfather Paradox” ; a mix/album put together by production duo AME, Dixon and Henrik Schwarz.

The tone and mode here is discursive, much like those old mixes used to be before the internet. What was at play before was that there was an actual dialogic structure that was being erected between the DJ, the producer and the audience. In a world where so much information, noise, and static is constantly circling around us such a dialogue is negligible or perhaps even, no longer possible. Albeit there is something to be said for this shift in history, it can be rather exciting and does offer possibilities and causes new modes and structures to appear that wouldn’t have otherwise. However the danger lies in their lack of symmetry and more importantly in the loss of discourse amongst entities, it is the equivalent of a conversation where everyone is shouting at each other from different corners of the room.

The concept behind the Grandfather Paradox is that of mapping out the flow of influences in minimal music extending back to the work of composers Erik Satie and John Cage and tracing those seeds from the past into the future; while briefly resting at certain musical signposts of history to allow the listener to absorb the connections. One travels from the New York loft-academia of someone like Steve Reich to the tribal post punk of Liquid Liquid, into the ethno-afro jazz of Yusef Lateef right through to the motor city chug of Richie Hawtin. That these guys are musically articulate is of no doubt to anyone, they are deft choreographers of sound and influence, fluidly travelling through time to arrive at a destination point that a listener may not have anticipated otherwise. The fact that they are able to make connections from minimal to jazz, towards kosmiche, ambient, and into post punk while ending in early house and techno music is a feat in itself.

Is the tone academic ? That argument could be made in favor or in detraction of what is on offer here. It does feel like a history lesson of sorts, and this could in many ways influence whether this is something that a particular listener would want to experience. The concept and execution is summed up in the title itself: The Grandfather Paradox. The controversial literary critic Harold Bloom’s theory on “the anxiety on influence” is applicable here and would guide a listener to better understanding the approach that these guys are taking. The theory states that most artists have a subconscious impulse to either want to kill or in some way uproot their grandfathers (great artists of the past), because their achievements are of such magnitude and weight that an artist feels its minor and mediocre steps are paltry in light of their accomplishments. Bloom was referring to such luminaries as Shakespeare, Da Vinci, or Bach ; when at the altar of such gods, it is incontrovertible that modern artists feel they are but simply “standing on the shoulders of giants”.

“The anxiety of influence” is an interesting inquiry into the nature of innovation within modern music itself. When interviewing musicians the theme that constantly re-asserts itself is the concern amongst many of them that what they are creating is either simply a regurgitation of the past, or a sub-par version of it. Nevertheless, this has been a perennial concern amongst artists in general since history became a corollary to art, or more accurately, when criticism became an inevitable agent of artistic creation, it is no doubt a consequence of modernism.

Was ambient already conceived and executed through the minimal furniture music of Erik Satie predating it by roughly 3 decades ? Was hip-hop already dying as soon as it started, as evidenced by the work of Gil Scott Heron and The Last Poets, 20 years before Rapper’s Delight ? Is techno really just a lower form of what was being made in the studio of Can when Jaki Liebezeit and Holger Czukay were pounding out motor-machine rhythms ? Standing on the shoulders of giants indeed. The Grandather Paradox poses all these questions without offering any easy answers and simultaneously offers you a musical ride through history while you enjoy the view.

Henrik Schwarz, Ame, Dixon – The Grandfather Paradox: A Journey Through 50 Years of Minimalistic Music

Label: BBE Records
Catalog: BBE120CCD
Format: 2xCD, Compilation
Country: Germany
Released: 23 February 2009
Genre: Electronic
Style: Minimal, Tech House, Techno, Acid

Tracklist:

CD1 – Mixed

01. Steve Reich & Pat Metheny – Electric Counterpoint – Fast (Movement 3)
02. Etienne Jaumet – Repeat After Me (Ame Mix)
03. Kenneth Bager – Fragment Elevenà The Day After Yesterday Pt.1
04. Liquid Liquid – Lock Groove (Out)
05. Cymande – For Baby Oh
06. Patrick Moraz – Metamorphoses 1st Movement (Live)
07. To Rococo Rot – Testfeld
08. Mathematics – Blue Water
09. I:Cube – Acid Tablet
10. O – Atomit
11. Conrad Schnitzler – Electrocon 11
12. Green Pickles feat. Billy Lo & M. Pittman – Feedback
13. La Funk Mob – Motor Bass Gets Phunked Up (Richie Hawtin’s Electrophunk Mix)
14. John Carpenter – The President Is Gone
15. Yusef Lateef – The Three Faces Of Bala
16. Robert Hood – Minus
17. Raymond Scott – Bass-Line Generator
18. Moondog – Invocation

CD2 – Unmixed

01. Conrad Schnitzler – Elektrocon 11
02. Steve Reich & Pat Metheny – Electric Counterpoint – Fast (Movement 3)
03. Liquid Liquid – Lock Groove (Out)
04. To Rococo Rot – Testfeld
05. Patrick Moraz – Metamorphoses 1st Movement (Live)
06. Young Marble Giants – N.i.t.a
07. Kenneth Bager – Fragment Elevenà The Day After Yesterday Pt.1
08. Arthur Russell – Make 1, 2
09. John Carpenter – The President Is Gone
10. Robert Hood – Minus
11. Raymond Scott – Bass-Line Generator
12. Pyrolator – November Muhlheim
13. Cymande – For Baby Oh
14. Can – Sunday Jam