Haunted by the Glitch: Technological Malfunction - Critiquing the Media of Innovation
Article No.: 23, Pages 1 - 7
Abstract
The glitch: an unexpected moment in a system resulting in the appearance of a malfunction. Commonly found within software, video games, digital images, film, and audio. In a world of digital perfectionism and sleek sonic design, why do artists now seek to re-associate the sounds of computational error into contemporary music? The “aesthetics of failure”, and subsequent glitch music sub-genre, emerged in the 1990s, deliberately using and exploiting technological systems as sound materials for composition. Whilst exploring the technological innovations and artistic movements compounding the rise of this new musical phenomenon, we will also investigate the genres link to French philosopher Jacques Derrida's concept of hauntology. This will give us an insight into the human anxieties associated with a wavering faith in technological progress and modernity when it came to the turn of the millennium. Whilst the last century was spent perfecting the sound recording, the availability of the glitch has revolutionised modern music. We now seem to be entering a “post-digital” era, concerned primarily with the rapidly changing relationships we have with technologies, as well as our increasing dependence on them. The internet has provided the ultimate archival space to reminisce and re-contextualise all sound materials, even those once seen as defective.
References
[1]
Vanhanen, Janne. Virtual Sound: Examining Glitch and Production. Contemporary Music Review. 2003. p.46.
[2]
Cascone, Kim. The Aesthetics of Failure: Post-Digital Tendencies in Contemporary Computer Music. Computer Music Journal, Vol. 24, No. 4. 2000. p.13.
[3]
Goodman, Steve, and Dawsonera. Sonic Warfare: Sound, Affect, and the Ecology of Fear. MIT Press, London, Cambridge, Mass. 2009. p.49.
[4]
Cox, Christoph, and Daniel Warner. Audio Culture: Readings in Modern Music. Bloomsbury Academic, London, 2017. p.551.
[5]
Balanzategui, Jessica. Haunted Nostalgia and the Aesthetics of Technological Decay: Hauntology and Super 8 in Sinister. Horror Studies 7.2. 2016. p.241.
[6]
Ibid; p.243.
[7]
Fisher, Mark. Ghosts of My Life: Writings on Depression, Hauntology and Lost Futures. Zero Books, Winchester, UK. 2014. p.24.
[8]
Reynolds, Simon. Retromania: Pop Culture's Addiction to its Own Past. Faber, London. 2011. p.425.
[9]
Russolo, Luigi. The Art of Noises. Vol. No. 6. Pendragon Press, New York, 1986. p.1.
[10]
Hendy, David. Noise: A Human History of Sound and Listening. Profile Books, London. 2013. p.265.
[11]
Ibid; p.311.
[12]
Russolo, Luigi. The Art of Noises. Vol. No. 6. Pendragon Press, New York, 1986. p.25.
[13]
Church, Scott. Against the tyranny of musical form: glitch music, affect, and the sound of digital malfunction. Critical Studies in Media Communication. 2017. p.322.
[14]
Hendy, David. Noise: A Human History of Sound and Listening. Profile Books, London. 2013. p.320.
[15]
Ibid; p.258/259.
[16]
Church, Scott. Against the tyranny of musical form: glitch music, affect, and the sound of digital malfunction. Critical Studies in Media Communication. 2017. p.320.
[17]
Ibid.
[18]
Bates, Eliot. Glitches, bugs, and hisses: the degeneration of musical recordings and the contemporary musical work. Routledge, New York. 2004. p.220.
[19]
Ibid; p.221.
[20]
Richardson, Mark. A Glitch in Time: How oval's 1995 ambient masterpiece predicted our digital present. Pitchfork. 2015. Web. (https://pitchfork.com/features/resonant-frequency/9730-a-glitch-in-time-how-ovals-1995-ambient-masterpiece-predicted-our-digital-present/) [Accessed 10.03.2020]
[21]
Ibid.
[22]
Jackson, Rebecca. The Glitch Aesthetic. Department of Communication. Georgia State University. 2011. p.13.
[23]
Reynolds, Simon. Retromania: Pop Culture's Addiction to its Own Past. Faber, London. 2011. p.313.
[24]
Fisher, Mark. The Metaphysics of Crackle: Afrofuturism and Hauntology. Dancecult, Vol. 5, No. 2. 2013. p.45.
[25]
Ibid; p.47.
[26]
Fisher, Mark. Ghosts of My Life: Writings on Depression, Hauntology and Lost Futures. Zero Books, Winchester, UK. 2014. p.21.
[27]
Fisher, Mark. The Metaphysics of Crackle: Afrofuturism and Hauntology. Dancecult, Vol. 5, No. 2. 2013. p.48.
[28]
Fisher, Mark. Ghosts of My Life: Writings on Depression, Hauntology and Lost Futures. Zero Books, Winchester, UK. 2014. p.107.
[29]
Ibid; p.144.
[30]
Pilkington, Mark. Hauntologists mine the past for music's future. BoingBoing. 2012. Web. (https://boingboing.net/2012/10/12/hauntologists-mine-the-past-fo.html) [Accessed 07.10.2020]
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O'Donnell, Bob. We're living in a digital world, but analog is making a comeback. Vox. 2017. Web. (https://www.vox.com/2017/5/2/15518900/digital-analog-rediscover-tactile-physical-experiences-vinyl-print) [Accessed 10.03.2020]
[32]
Kelly, Caleb. Cracked Media: The Sound of Malfunction. MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass. 2009. pp.270/271.
[33]
Ibid.
[34]
Ibid; p.73.
[35]
Cox, Christoph, and Daniel Warner. Audio Culture: Readings in Modern Music. Bloomsbury Academic, London, 2017. p.397.
[36]
Hogarty, Jean. Popular Music and Retro Culture in the Digital Era. Routledge, London. 2016. p.33.
[37]
Fisher, Mark. Ghosts of My Life: Writings on Depression, Hauntology and Lost Futures. Zero Books, Winchester, UK. 2014. p.144.
[38]
Reynolds, Simon. Retromania: Pop Culture's Addiction to its Own Past. Faber, London. 2011. p.xi.
[39]
Ibid; p.57.
[40]
Ibid; p.361.
[41]
Ibid; p.323.
[42]
Cascone, Kim. The Aesthetics of Failure: Post-Digital Tendencies in Contemporary Computer Music. Computer Music Journal, Vol. 24, No. 4. 2000. p.12.
[43]
Ibid; p.13.
[44]
Ibid.
[45]
Young, Rob (Ed.) Undercurrents: The Hidden Wiring of Modern Music. Continuum, London. 2002. p.50.
[46]
Toop, David. Sinister Resonance: The Mediumship of the Listener. Continuum, London; New York. 2010. p.xv.
[47]
Ibid; p.59.
[48]
Kane, Carolyn. Compression Aesthetics: Glitch from the Avant-Garde to Kanye West. InVisible Culture, No.21. 2014. p.6.
[49]
Vanhanen, Janne. Virtual Sound: Examining Glitch and Production. Contemporary Music Review. 2003. p.47.
[50]
Bates, Eliot. Glitches, bugs, and hisses: the degeneration of musical recordings and the contemporary musical work. Routledge, New York. 2004. p.212.
[51]
Young, Rob (Ed.) Undercurrents: The Hidden Wiring of Modern Music. Continuum, London. 2002. p.49/50.
[52]
Ibid.
[53]
Fisher, Mark. K-Punk: The Collected and Unpublished Writings of Mark Fisher. Repeater Books, London. 2018. p.362.
[54]
Ibid.
[55]
Foster, Hal. Postmodern Culture. Pluto, London. 1985. p.113.
[56]
Ibid.
[57]
Ibid; p.115.
[58]
Sexton, Jamie. Weird Britain in Exile: Ghost Box, Hauntology, and Alternative Heritage. Popular Music and Society, Vol. 35, No. 4. 2012. p.563.
[59]
Ibid; p.564.
[60]
Günal, Atakan. The Age of Musical Reproduction and John Oswald's Plunderphonics. 2010. Web. p.7.
[61]
Ibid; p.4.
[62]
Bacon, Redmond. The Vaporwave Aesthetic – Ironic Nostalgia. Sound on time. 2018. Web. (https://soundontime.com/vaporwave-aesthetic/) [Accessed 06.05.2020]
[63]
Fisher, Mark. Ghosts of My Life: Writings on Depression, Hauntology and Lost Futures. Zero Books, Winchester, UK. 2014. p.2.
[64]
Horta, Arnau. Vaporwave: The Musical Wallpaper of Lost Futures. CCCBLAB. 2017. Web. (http://lab.cccb.org/en/vaporwave-the-musical-wallpaper-of-lost-futures/) [Accessed 07.10.2020]
[65]
Goodman, Steve, and Dawsonera. Sonic Warfare: Sound, Affect, and the Ecology of Fear. MIT Press, London, Cambridge, Mass. 2009. p.171.
[66]
LaBelle, Brandon. Acoustic Territories: Sound Culture and Everyday Life. Continuum. London; New York. 2010. p.xv.
[67]
Young, Rob (Ed.) Undercurrents: The Hidden Wiring of Modern Music. Continuum, London. 2002. p.47/48.
[68]
Fisher, Mark. Ghosts of My Life: Writings on Depression, Hauntology and Lost Futures. Zero Books, Winchester, UK. 2014. p.174/175.
[69]
Ibid; p.175/176.
[70]
Unknown. The Secret Sadness of the 21st Century: Mark Fisher recommends James Blake's Overgrown. Electronic Beats. N/D. Web. (https://www.electronicbeats.net/mark-fisher-recommends-james-blakes-overgrown/) [Accessed 07.10.2020]
[71]
Cascone, Kim. The Aesthetics of Failure: Post-Digital Tendencies in Contemporary Computer Music. Computer Music Journal, Vol. 24, No. 4. 2000. p.15.
[72]
Cox, Christoph, and Daniel Warner. Audio Culture: Readings in Modern Music. Bloomsbury Academic, London, 2017. p.27.
[73]
Miller, Paul D. (Ed.) Sound Unbound: Sampling Digital Music and Culture. MIT, London; Cambridge, Mass. 2008. p.5.
[74]
Berry, David M. Postdigital Aesthetics: Art, Computation and Design. Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke. 2015. p.152.
[75]
Ibid; p.1.
[76]
Briz, Nick. Thoughts on Glitch [Art] v2.0. 2015.
[77]
Young, Rob (Ed.) Undercurrents: The Hidden Wiring of Modern Music. Continuum, London. 2002. p.49.
[78]
Gallix, Andrew. Hauntology: a not-so-new critical manifestation. The Guardian Online. 2011.
[79]
Fisher, Mark. The Metaphysics of Crackle: Afrofuturism and Hauntology. Dancecult, Vol. 5, No. 2. 2013. p.53.
Index Terms
- Haunted by the Glitch: Technological Malfunction - Critiquing the Media of Innovation
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October 2021
761 pages
ISBN:9781450384209
DOI:10.1145/3483529
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Published: 20 February 2022
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ARTECH 2021: 10th International Conference on Digital and Interactive Arts
October 13 - 15, 2021
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