John Oswald – Mishmash song

 

John Anthony Oswald was born in Canada (30.05.1953) and is a composer known for the music genre of the “Plunderphonics”. He describes the term “Plunderphone” as a type of music that alters pre-existing samples. This creates new but also familiar pieces of music. I found this approach very interesting, although I initially thought that Oswald would only create remixes. One could describe his song “Plexure” as a kind of remix since he takes parts from different songs and uses fragments of them. The result is a kind of mishmash song. This song then has a kind of life of its own through the “life” of the other pieces. My honest opinion about “Plexure” is that I did not enjoy listening to it. To me, it sounded like sheer chaos. I really tried hard to find a context within this song. However, it was not possible for me and I believe that this was also Oswald´s intention for his listeners. I think the art in his music is the sheer chaos, that is why it is called art. At the very beginning of this song, I was afraid that it would stay the whole time chaotic and deafening. After two minutes, however, it became somewhat easier to listen to for me. While listening to this piece I was aware of my problem with this kind of music. Music makes people dream things as with the example of “Light Is Calling” which I really liked. The problem with Oswald´s “Plexure” was the sheer amount of songs and that they were mixed. I could only listen to them for a few seconds which was the reason that I could not really empathize with the songs. I found the passages where the songs were played backward particularly annoying. Moreover, this part of the song sounded like an unknown language to me, but also very unmelodic and weird. Nevertheless, I think that the music genre of the “Plunderphonics” has also something instructive to offer. For example, I found it very interesting that “Plunderphonics” could be also used to represent songs from a specific period of time or to summarize a century or year. I was not aware that this kind of musical representation existed before. I also think the song would have sounded much better if, for example, only the score from certain films had been used. Also, it would have been more pleasant to listen to if only songs of a particular music genre had been used, or no singing at all. To sum up: I found John Oswald´s music, in particular his song “Plexure”, not enjoyable. I do not think that I could use this type of music as a form of background music. I also tried to write this review while listening to this song, but I could not concentrate at all. Moreover, I do not think that “Plexure” can be listened to while doing any tasks that require thinking and concentration. However, what I found really fitting was the cover of “Plexure”. This cover represents people from different “worlds” and their respective music. I could even say that what I liked most about this song was its cover.