Well Tim if you do not buy my argument that's cool, but let me say this:
when you wrote
I have a more particular view, I think. Art has to be something that only
the person that creates it could have created...all art should be a
first...
to Random Junk I believe, you hit upon one of the fundamental differences
between modern art theory and postmodern art theory. Please allow me to
generalize a bit here, because otherwise I could write a book of an
email:)
In modern art (and I mean visual art, but the trends/ideas I talk about
carry into other fields of study), the point was to as you say 'be a
first', and thus you have all the 'isms' of art (cubism, surrealism,
minimalism, etc). The problem with this was that it cultured a certain
elitism in the world of fine art, in particlar painting, where in many
artists/subgenres competed with each other saying 'Look my painting is
more intelligent than yours, mine is doing something better than yours.'
The theory behind the work kept getting more esoteric and obtuse, and in
the meantime, the 'first ideas' were being rapidly exhausted.
Meanwhile the proponents of postmodernism were trying to redefine the
rules of fine art a bit. To extend Random Junk's quote a little, the
postmodernists' viewpoint was 'Hey you guys can out-intellectualize each
other all you want. All your doing is putting pigment within a frame.' And
thus, art truly is what you make it. The postmodernists realized to an
extent that there was an end of 'the firsts'. This is why mixed media,
collage and references to past styles (ie a -retro- look) is so prevelant
in art as well as contempoary imaging all around you.
The art of sampling, whether muscially or visually or whatever, is totally
postmondern.
I believe IDM type music in general is a postmodern art form.
You might be wondering how this relates to our debate:)
Well of course the Rebirth is limited. In some ways, you're right, you
won't be creating anything on it that is a 'first', but what musician out
there from AFX to Squarpusher to Orbital etc, is really a 'first'? That is
what I meant by understanding the limitations of the medium. Know what it
can do, know what it can't do, know what it can do very well. Know what it
could do *if* you thought about it a bit. Rebirth can make music. Rebirth
cannot make 'new' sounds. Rebirth is very capable of making crappy acid
house. Rebirth is also capable of making very beautiful electronic music
too, if you sat down and played with it for a few weeks.
You're claim that 'a monkey could do it' leads me to beleive you probably
sat down with it for a night, discovered it's novelty value, discovered
you could basically make Richie Hawtin's entire discography in a night,
and dismissed the software as devoid of value. What would happen if you
played with it for a few weeks? IMHO you did not discover all the sounds
that could come out of it. Sure, they are all 303 sounds, but done in the
right way, they could be great.
To say that it is 'emtionless' simply means one thing: you my friend
haven't spent enough time in front of it!
ANd hey, if that 303 sound is not your cup of tea, that's cool too but
just know there are plenty of things you could do with Rebirth (as with
the TB-303 or TR-808) that defy your notions of unoriginal or emotionless.
Sorry for the long email, it's the art school graduate coming out in me:)
I have the feeling Random Junk had dabbled a bit in Postmodern clutlure
theory too.
Peace
Nate
Nate Harrison
Digital Magician Inc.
www.digimagician.com
nate@digimagician.com
313.994.7316