|
|
| |
|
|
UNRELENTING SONGS OF THE 1979 POST DISCO CRASH
(Sonig)
|
|
|
|
|
|
"Jason Forrest remakes songs under the name Donna Summer." That’s how he explains the postmodern situation that’s come to exist between the makers of music and those who take that music beyond remixing to remaking it as part of the burgeoning "mash-up" movement. Powerful yet inexpensive computer software has transformed the formerly time-intensive and technically difficult practice of audio cut-and-paste into a populist playground where everyone’s a potential auteur and anything’s fair game (as long as you don’t get caught). Forrest, for his part, asserts smugly in the liner notes to Unrelenting Songs that "no real instruments were used in the creation of this album." And, as promised in the title, the source material is drawn heavily from some of the disco era’s most familiar grooves, remade in gleefully knotted constructions that veer woozily from idea to idea. But Forrest owes equal sampling debt to the classic rock of the 1970s and ’80s. The schizophrenic "180 Mar Ton," for example, is composed primarily of Styx samples, including screaming guitar solos and gothic organ chords chopping in and out amid the breakbeats. Such a crazed, kitchen-sink approach is nothing new in the increasingly cluttered mash-up landscape. But the strength of Forrest’s personality — he has a knack for inserting his winking humor into every available nook — and obvious love for the songs he dices into fractured bits and pieces lends his mechanical, maniacal music a perversely heartfelt touch.
|
