William Basinski – DP 3: What Is Originality?

 William Basinski’s Decomposition Loops are famous for being the product of a rather random process, namely the chemical decay of sound recording tapes. When attempting to digitalize his earlier ambient music work, the composer discovered new dimensions of music in these damaged tapes – which he promptly decided to record and release as new music in its own right. One of the results, “DP 3,” is a track that at first does not appear to be special at all. It’s mostly built around a simple phrase, just two chords played by violins and a kind of horn, with another high-pitched instrument hidden in the mix moving up and down a second over and over again. Already from the beginning, however, another kind of sound is apparent as some noise in the background, which continues to swell throughout the piece: A weird clipping sound, like a tape unwound and rewound again, with almost the percussive qualities of a marching drum.

The looming impression of this sound increasing over time is growing more certain as “DP 3” progresses. Just as this “drum” sound tries to take over the whole sound sphere, another thing that is almost unnoticeable at first makes its way into the foreground of consciousness: Suddenly, the instruments begin to shift in time, and the rhythm starts dissolving. For example, there is a growing pause between the short phrases this piece of composed of. By minute 38, the mounting sound errors have finally become impossible to ignore, and by minute 40 “DP 3” consists of half-music, half-echo of the ringing notes waiting to be followed by a new set of frequencies. Without knowledge of the main phrase from before, it would be hardly recognizable now. As the void is moving to take over the piece, it fades out, but not peacefully but in rather arhythmic movements.

The phrase that is repeated over and over again is very short and simple, making it (potentially) perfect background music even though maybe not in the sense of Satie. The almost meditative qualities of “DP 3” arise not only from this simple phrase, but from the process of its creation, which becomes very much obvious throughout the piece. What intentions did Basinski have in mind when releasing this material, though? Neither does “DP 3” constitute an original composition in and of itself, nor is it something akin to an exercise in minimal music.

True, the composition is simple, but that should not be a point held against Decomposition Loops, as most of modern pop music is structurally and melodically simple, too, and few would argue that it’s not legitimate because of that. One could argue that “DP 3” is mere self-plagiarism. The answer to the volta behind “DP 3” and the nagging question of its originality is that the process itself and the idea to release this product is the original idea. Listening to the piece, it becomes clear rather quickly that the mounting processing errors due to failing tapes are what sets apart “DP 3” from other compositions. In a way, Basinski breaks the boring perfection of his former ambient work and provokes the listener with the utter destruction of it. Furthermore, the composer goes to show that music is not only something that needs to be originally perceived by some kind of genius composer, but that it is everywhere; Music is revealed, and the composer is merely the one daring enough to not only discover it but to present it as art.