Future Loop

["Scott Bullerwell" <tanelorn@dimensional.com>]

Kim asks:

> Where is loop based music going? What directions will it be taking in the
> future? Not the gear, but the music itself! What compositional,
> improvisational, cultural, etc. directions are things heading in? Will it
> find more or less of a place in popular styles? Will it find more or less
of
> a place in 'high art' styles? What will it be? What might the loop
> innovators of tommorrow be doing? Remember, its a music question, not a
gear
> question.....

I would venture the following:

The distinction between music and not-music is about as clear as the
distinction between plants and weeds.  Was Lou Reed's "Metal Machine Music"
indeed music?  What about the sound of windchimes in the rain, or a
mechanized manufacturing tool that produces an "A" when the motor is
running at full speed and and "F" when the motor is running at idle?  Does
intent matter?  Is music communication, or is it merely sound, interpreted?


In general, we recognize music when we hear patterns of sound that follow
some set of rules.  Even if we don't know what the rules are, we can
usually tell, say, a gamelan orchestra from a truckload of cheap pots and
pans going over a cliff.

Rules, of course, can be simple or complex.  And rules can be broken.  What
rules can be broken, and in what ways they can be broken, is not always
something that can be objectively quantified.  

Looping devices allow an artist that chooses to, to break rules that
otherwise are difficult or impossible to break, and to make new rules that
otherwise are difficult or impossible to make.

[Sorry that's vague and probably a cop-out, but Kim's question is right up
there with "what good is a baby?"  I think looping per se is going to have
as much impact on music as the musicians who embrace the technology--no
more, and no less.]

Scott Bullerwell
tanelorn@dimensional.com
Boulder, Colorado, USA