John Oswald - Plexure

The Canadian composer, saxophonist and media artist John Oswald for the first time, introduced his experimental music project Plunderphonics. According to his essay “Plunderphonics, or Audio Piracy as a Compositional Prerogative”, the term “Plunderphonics" refers to a novel and bold compositional experiment. This creation was constructed entirely of novel tracks based on previously established and widely recognised musical recordings. Therefore, this process can be related to “sound collage,” a technique usually accompanied by the use of sampling, in which William S. Burroughs’ cut-up exercise hugely inspired John Oswald. As one of the most admirable plunderphonics albums of John Oswald and considered an adventurous and innovative practice from his previous plunderphonics works, “Plexure” was released in 1993, comprised of 1000 artists while the full album runs less than twenty minutes in total. 

My first impressions of “Plexure” naturally pertained to the chaotic, clamorous and unintelligible, even though it was brisk, finger-popping and rhythmically fast-paced, which is nevertheless the type of music intended to provide delight when listened to. The intense information that Oswald aimed to deliver to his listeners and quick switchover between every single short piece certainly got my head spinning. I was somewhat dizzy and perplexed because each time I felt I was close to figuring out the source materials after listening to the piece, the sound just swiftly vanished without any mental preparation and switched to another arrangement. Having said that, I still chose to replay “Plexture” many times out of curiosity. As the sounds crept farther into strangeness, the more my desire to discover its uniqueness flourished. With the reply going on, I seemed to have experienced a rummy trip; driving my convertible in the road, passing by a moody music bar where people are dancing softly and wildly, and right around the corner is a techno party, following a school reunion shortly after. I was immersed in an imaginative but crazy world.

Eventually, I came to a realisation that “Plexure” is an artful work that requires ingenious and resourceful perceptiveness to begin fully comprehending. Considering the fleeting and jumbled nature each piece was recreated and played in, I even conjecture that Oswald didn’t intend to have the listeners plainly and rapidly become aware of every original work. From my point of view, I basically failed to recognise the sources. This was either because the soundtrack is far too chaotic due to the vast amount of early musical works that are cut short in each piece or my lack of familiarity with the sources. I am convinced that the auditory sensations I experienced must have differed from those people who were quite acquainted with the primitive material sources Oswald adapted from. This feeling is probably the beauty of “Plexure:” you can experience everything you’ve dreamt of or would want to create in the future.