Carl Stone — Electronic Music from 1972-2022 (Unseen Worlds)
Electronic Music from 1972-2022 by Carl Stone
Unseen Worlds brings us their third installment of Carl Stone archival releases. Following "Electronic Music from the Seventies and Eighties" and "Electronic Music from the Eighties and Nineties," "Electronic Music from 1972-2022" makes a stab at filling in some of the gaps from Stone's sizable list of works. Presumably by the time this review gets published Stone will have added another release to his vast discography from the last 50 years.
"Electronic Music from 1972-2022" offers an until now unheard documentation of Stone's very earliest work in the two compositions "Three Confusongs" and "Ryouund Thygizunz," both realized in 1972 at CalArts, where Stone was studying with the composers Morton Subotnick and James Tenney. The voice of Carl's old friend and band mate, the late Z'ev (at this time still known as Stefan Weisser) was used on both these pieces. In stark contrast to the other tracks on this compilation, "Three Confusongs" and "Ryouund Thygizunz" develop slowly with heavy use of delays and resonance. Yet similarly to Stone's later works' extensive use of sampling, recordings of the voice of Z'ev reading his concrete poems provide the basic working material that launches in motion these haunting and mysterious pieces.
It was also while studying at CalArts that Stone's sampling practice found its future direction. Working as an archivist in the school's library, Stone got saddled with the job of transferring thousands of vinyl records to tape. This saturated Stone's ears with a vast and seemingly incongruous selection of music that included classical repertoire, electronic composition, world music and jazz, just to name a few. Stone had to transfer multiple discs at the same time, thus creating incorrigibly random collisions from this wealth of archival material. Through this process Stone began to see the juxtaposition and repetition of musical soundbytes as the modus operandi for his compositional practice.
Working in a vein with much in common to the use of sampling in hip hop, Stone has never shied away from plumbing the depths of popular music in a fearless and unabashed disregard for any notions of what might be regarded as good taste. It is perhaps this attitude, as much as the actual samples themselves, that imbues much of Stone's work with a heavy dose of humor and playful confrontation. The composition "Vim" from 1987 provides a good case in point, with samples from The Beach Boys' "Fun Fun Fun" being looped and chopped nearly beyond all recognition while still creating this nagging feeling of "Where have I heard this before?" Only towards the very end of the piece does it become apparent what one has just been subjected to in the form of this insidious earworm.
Stone's work can also be eminently danceable, often employing samples of drums and percussion in a process of accretion that can lead to dizzying heights of tension and release, not far in essence from Derrick May's work, such as the seminal "Strings of Life" from1987. Stone adds to this his experience from the trippy sixties, notching up the density and movement of his compositions till they take on a distinctly psychedelic feel. One can imagine whirling dervishes, The Master Musicians of Joujouka or your favorite neighborhood rave where ecstasy meets a discombobulated vortex of looping samples and very grooving beats.
Parallel to a summary of Stone's work during this fifty years, "Electronic Music from 1972-2022" also gives an overview of the development in electronic music technology which, as much as any conceptual preoccupations, often seems to have provided the impetus for much of the development in Stone's compositions. From working with Buchla synthesizers at CalArts to early samplers and Apple computers, each advancement in all this musical hard- and software has enabled Stone to dig deeper into his proclivity for iteration and sonic disorientation.
Track eight, the 2007 piece "L'os a Moelle," is a good example of this. Developed during a residency at the Groupe de Recherches Musicales studios in Paris, Stone devised a way of injecting new musical material into the shell of another piece of music. In the case of "L'os a Moelle," this involves using a brazenly strutting sixties rock riff as the shell and injecting a cavalcade of disparate and confusing samples, all following the tonal and rhythmic form of the original riff, which by the end of the piece has become completely subsumed by the injection of sampled material. If this description sounds confusing, then wait until you hear the track.
Three pieces from 2022 close out this compilation and in a way encapsulate all the ideas and techniques from the preceding tracks. For long-standing fans or listeners just discovering Stone's work, "Electronic Music from 1972-2022" will provide a fascinating look back over this composer's output from the last 50 years, straddling that fine line between rigorous experimentation and hilarious irreverence.
Jason Kahn
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Dr. rer. nat. Stefan Hotes
University of Marburg
Research interests
Ecology of cultural landscapes
Ecosystem functions and ecosystem services
Sustainable land management
Ecology of wetlands
Palaeoecology
Science-Policy interfaces
Current projects
BioHolz Biological diversity and ecosystem services of forests with a focus on the role of wood
LEGATO Land-use intensity and Ecological EnGineering – Assessment Tools for risks and Opportunities in irrigated rice based production systems
JAGUAR Sustainable futures for cultural landscapes of JApan and Germany - biodiversity and ecosystem services as Unifying concepts for the management of Agricultural Regions
BioLuz Biodiversity indicators for sustainable land use in Luzon, Philippines – development, education and awareness-raising
Work experience
since 01.10.2011 Researcher, Faculty of Biology, Department of Ecology, Animal Ecology, Philipps-Universität Marburg, Karl-von-Frisch Strasse 8, 35032 Marburg, Germany
01.06.2007 – 30.09.2011 Researcher, Faculty of Biology and Chemistry, Department of Animal Ecology & Systematics, Interdisciplinary Research Centre for Biosciences, Land Use and Nutrition, Justus-Liebig-Universität Giessen.
01.04.2006 - 31.05.2007 Assistant Professor, Center of Excellence "Biodiversity and Ecosystem Restoration", Laboratory of Conservation Ecology, Institute of Agricultural and Life Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan.
01.09.2004 - 31.03.2006 Postdoctoral Researcher, Center of Excellence "Biodiversity and Ecosystem Restoration", Laboratory of Conservation Ecology, Institute of Agricultural and Life Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
02.02. - 30.04.2004 Lecturer, School of Health and Biosciences, University of East London, UK.
Outreach and professional contributions
Reviewer for Deliverable 2(a) Guide on production and integration of assessments from and across all scales of the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), since 2014
Scientific secretary of the Ecological Society of Germany, Austria and Switzerland (GfÖ), since 2012
Organization of symposia and workshops on biodiversity, ecosystem services and sustainable land use
Nihon to doitsu no satochi satoyama no seibutsutayosei seitaikei sabisu kenkyu (Fukui, 2014)
Satoyama Landscapes in Japan, Germany and beyond (Tokyo, 2013)
“Biodiversity and Sustainable Development - Ecological and Socio-Economic Challenges for the Conservation and Restoration of Wetlands in Japan and Europe” (Germany and Japan, 2007) -> Report PDF
Selected publications
Früh-Müller, A., S. Hotes, L. Breuer, V. Wolters, and T. Koellner. 2016. Regional Patterns of Ecosystem Services in Cultural Landscapes. Land 5:17.
Opgenoorth, L., and S. Hotes. 2016. IPBES is in the books: Pollination and scenario assessments are the first two steps to guiding policy makers in the global biodiversity crisis. Frontiers of Biogeography 8.
Hotes, S., K. Sasaki, C. M. Hotes, A. Eigner, A. Früh-Müller, F. Machnikowski, L. Breuer, E.-A. Nuppenau, V. Wolters, and F. Jopp. 2015. Building the basis for sustainable land use – concepts and strategies for implementation in Germany and Japan. Keio Research Institute at SFC (KRIS) Japan Studies Platform Laboratory Working Paper No. 10.
Schmidt, A., K. John, G. Arida, H. Auge, R. Brandl, F. G. Horgan, S. Hotes, L. Marquez, N. Radermacher, J. Settele, V. Wolters, and M. Schaedler. 2015. Effects of Residue Management on Decomposition in Irrigated Rice Fields Are Not Related to Changes in the Decomposer Community. Plos One 10.
Settele, J., J. H. Spangenberg, K. L. Heong, B. Burkhard, J. V. Bustamante, J. Cabbigat, C. Ho Van, M. Escalada, V. Grescho, H. Le Huu, A. Harpke, F. G. Horgan, S. Hotes, R. Jahn, I. Kuehn, L. Marquez, M. Schaedler, V. Tekken, D. Vetterlein, S. B. Villareal, C. Westphal, and M. Wiemers. 2015. Agricultural landscapes and ecosystem services in South-East Asia-the LEGATO-Project. Basic and Applied Ecology 16:661-664.
Schmidt, A., H. Auge, R. Brandl, K. L. Heong, S. Hotes, J. Settele, S. Villareal, and M. Schaedler. 2015. Small-scale variability in the contribution of invertebrates to litter decomposition in tropical rice fields. Basic and Applied Ecology 16:674-680.
Brady, M., K. Hedlund, R.-G. Cong, L. Hemerik, S. Hotes, L. Mattsson, E. Schulz, and I. K. Thomsen. 2015. Valuing Soil Natural Capital in Agriculture. Agronomy Journal 107:1809-1821.
Förster, J., J. Barkmann, R. Fricke, S. Hotes, M. Kleyer, S. Kobbe, D. Kübler, C. Rumbaur, M. Siegmund-Schultze, R. Seppelt, J. Settele, J. H. Spangenberg, V. Tekken, T. Václavík, and H. Wittmer. 2015. Assessing ecosystem services for informing land-use decisions: a problem-oriented approach. Ecology and Society 20.
Tsiafouli, M. A., E. Thebault, S. P. Sgardelis, P. C. de Ruiter, W. H. van der Putten, K. Birkhofer, L. Hemerik, F. T. de Vries, R. D. Bardgett, M. V. Brady, L. Bjornlund, H. B. Jorgensen, S. Christensen, T. D' Hertefeldt, S. Hotes, W. H. G. Hol, J. Frouz, M. Liiri, S. R. Mortimer, H. Setala, J. Tzanopoulos, K. Uteseny, V. Pizl, J. Stary, V. Wolters, and K. Hedlund. 2015. Intensive agriculture reduces soil biodiversity across Europe. Global Change Biology 21:973-985.
Aue, B., T. Diekötter, T. K. Gottschalk, V. Wolters, and S. Hotes. 2014. How High Nature Value (HNV) farmland is related to bird diversity in agro-ecosystems – Towards a versatile tool for biodiversity monitoring and conservation planning. Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment 194:58-64.
Hotes, S. and L. Opgenoorth. 2014. Trust and Control at the Science–Policy Interface in IPBES. Bioscience.
Opgenoorth, L., S. Hotes, and H. Mooney. 2014. IPBES: Biodiversity panel should play by rules. Nature 506:159-159.
Hughes, P. D. M., G. Mallon, A. Brown, H. J. Essex, J. D. Stanford, and S. Hotes. 2013. The impact of high tephra loading on late-Holocene carbon accumulation and vegetation succession in peatland communities. Quaternary Science Reviews 67:160-175.
Setälä, H., R. D. Bardgett, K. Birkhofer, M. Brady, L. Byrne, P. C. Ruiter, F. T. Vries, C. Gardi, K. Hedlund, L. Hemerik, S. Hotes, M. Liiri, S. R. Mortimer, M. Pavao-Zuckerman, R. Pouyat, M. Tsiafouli, and W. H. Putten. 2013. Urban and agricultural soils: conflicts and trade-offs in the optimization of ecosystem services. Urban Ecosystems:1-15.
Settele, J., I. Kühn, S. Klotz, G. Arida, E. Bergmeier, B. Burkhard, J. Bustamante, Dao Thanh Truong, M. Escalada, C. Görg, V. Grescho, Ho Van Chien, K. L. Heong, N. Hirneisen, S. Hotes, R. Jahn, T. Klotzbücher, G. Marion, L. Marquez, A. Marxen, R. Moritz, F. Müller, Nguyen Van Sinh, J. Ott, L. Penev, B. Rodriguez-Labajos, M. Schädler, S. Scheu, R. Seppelt, P. Stoev, T. Tscharntke, V. Tekken, K. Thonicke, D. Vetterlein, S. Vidal, S. Villareal, W. Weisser, C. Westphal, M. Wiemers, and J. Spangenberg. 2013. Kulturlandschaftsforschung in Südostasien – das LEGATO-Projekt. Pages 315-323 Geographie und Landeskunde. Deutsche Akademie für Landeskunde e.V., Leipzig.
de Vries, F. T., E. Thebault, M. Liiri, K. Birkhofer, M. A. Tsiafouli, L. Bjornlund, H. B. Jorgensen, M. V. Brady, S. Christensen, P. C. de Ruiter, T. d'Hertefeldt, J. Frouz, K. Hedlund, L. Hemerik, W. H. G. Hol, S. Hotes, S. R. Mortimer, H. Setala, S. P. Sgardelis, K. Uteseny, W. H. van der Putten, V. Wolters, and R. D. Bardgett. 2013. Soil food web properties explain ecosystem services across European land use systems. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 110:14296-14301.
Hotes, S., K. Sasaki, F. Jopp, A. Eigner, and V. Wolters. 2013. Yoroppa ni okeru seibutsu tayosei chiiki senryaku - toku ni doitsu o jirei toshite (Regional biodiversity strategies in Europe - the German example). Landscape Research Japan 77:114-118. (in Japanese)
Limpens, J., G. Granath, R. Aerts, M. M. P. D. Heijmans, L. J. Sheppard, L. Bragazza, B. L. Williams, H. Rydin, J. Bubier, T. Moore, L. Rochefort, E. A. D. Mitchell, A. Buttler, L. J. L. van den Berg, U. Gunnarsson, A. J. Francez, R. Gerdol, M. Thormann, P. Grosvernier, M. M. Wiedermann, M. B. Nilsson, M. R. Hoosbeek, S. Bayley, J. F. Nordbakken, M. P. C. P. Paulissen, S. Hotes, A. Breeuwer, M. Ilomets, H. B. M. Tomassen, I. Leith, and B. Xu. 2012. Glasshouse vs field experiments: do they yield ecologically similar results for assessing N impacts on peat mosses? New Phytologist 195:408-418.
Seppelt, R., B. Fath, B. Burkhard, J. L. Fisher, A. Grêt-Regamey, S. Lautenbach, P. Pert, S. Hotes, J. Spangenberg, P. H. Verburg, and A. P. E. Van Oudenhoven. 2012. Form follows function? Proposing a blueprint for ecosystem service assessments based on reviews and case studies. Ecological Indicators 21:145-154.
Aue, B., K. Ekschmitt, S. Hotes, and V. Wolters. 2012. Distance weighting avoids erroneous scale effects in species-habitat models. Methods in Ecology and Evolution 3:102-111.
Limpens, J., G. Granath, U. Gunnarsson, R. Aerts, S. Bayley, L. Bragazza, J. Bubier, A. Buttler, L. J. L. van den Berg, A. J. Francez, R. Gerdol, P. Grosvernier, M. M. P. D. Heijmans, M. R. Hoosbeek, S. Hotes, M. Ilomets, I. Leith, E. A. D. Mitchell, T. Moore, M. B. Nilsson, J. F. Nordbakken, L. Rochefort, H. Rydin, L. J. Sheppard, M. Thormann, M. M. Wiedermann, B. L. Williams, and B. Xu. 2011. Climatic modifiers of the response to nitrogen deposition in peat-forming Sphagnum mosses: a meta-analysis. New Phytologist 191:496-507.
Gottschalk, T. K., B. Aue, S. Hotes, and K. Ekschmitt. 2011. Influence of grain size on species-habitat models. Ecological Modelling 222:3403-3412.
Nozoe, K., J. Nishihiro, S. Hotes, and I. Washitani. 2010. Kasumigaura kogan Myoginohana shitsugen ni okeru shokubutsu no shutayosei shihyo toshite no kamonohashi (Importance of Ischaemum aristatum var. glaucum as an indicator of plant species richness in Myoginohana Marsh, Lake Kasumigaura, Japan). Japanese Journal of Conservation Ecology 15:281-290. (in Japanese)
Hotes, S., A. P. Grootjans, H. Takahashi, K. Ekschmitt, and P. Poschlod. 2010. Resilience and alternative equilibria in a mire plant community after experimental disturbance by volcanic ash. Oikos 119:952–963.
Hotes, S. and V. Wolters, Hrsg. 2010. Fokus Biodiversität - Wie Biodiversität in der Kulturlandschaft erhalten und nachhaltig genutzt werden kann. Oekom-Verlag, München.
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