When discussing arts and culture, one often hears the phrase “the work speaks for itself” thrown around as a sort of broad-reaching neutralization to certain kinds of criticism. At times there seems to be some assumption that understanding the depth of a work, being informed of its conceptual make up and the way it was constructed are only added bonuses to the raw experience of the work itself, playing to the idea that the blind taste test is really the only true gauge of quality. Is the material of the piece relevant without knowledge of the backstory, theory or concept that has made it possible? There seems to be some general assumption that if one has to explain it, then the work is inherently weak, but is the work not incomplete without those components? It’s sort of like asking whether the roof was poorly made because it didn’t stay up without walls beneath it.
Bill Seaman and John Supko
In the case of co-composers John Supko and Bill Seaman’s newest offering, s_traits, a staggering twenty-six track, 77-minute recording released November 4, 2014 by Manchester (UK)-based label Cotton Goods, the blind taste test comes back with excellent resolve, and it is ultimately where the composers end and the work begins that makes this recording so interesting. On the one hand, that statement could be taken to mean that yes, the work stands alone. It is a rhythmic, sonorous, wash of textures and reorganized sampled sounds, pointed by haunting phrases written and spoken by Seaman at the opening of each cut. Supko and Seaman’s authorship alternates track-by-track, though who is responsible for each is not made clear, adding to the autonomy of the work as a whole. In the end, it is wholly enjoyable to listen to and provides for an attention-grabbing experience. On the other hand, however, there is much more to the inception of this unique tapestry that truly enhances just how effective the shared technique of these two composers has been.
Both Supko and Seaman sit on the faculty at Duke University, where they are co-directors of Duke’s Emergence Lab, which is dedicated to “the creation of generative works of art that include many different media elements and processes.” s_traits seems to be the archetypal portfolio piece in support of this mission, as the further details of the work’s emergence bring to light a third composer in the mix, making the totality of s_traits the “product of three minds: two human, one artificial.” What Supko and Seaman have done, in short, is complied over 110 hours of raw audio over a period of three years, and then let a sophisticated, custom-made computer algorithm curate these samples into unique combinations. The material includes everything from analog and digital noise to acoustic recordings and even samples of soundtracks from retro documentary films. In Supko’s words:
The computer did things we would probably never do, because it was able to search vast amounts of music very quickly, and put together many fragments in ways that would have taken us many months to try out ourselves. The results are both unpredictable – since it’s impossible to know which fragments from the 110 hours of material the computer will select and spin into melodies, rhythm, and harmonic accompaniments – and yet oddly coherent.
The computer, in fact was even tasked with choosing which phrase from Seaman’s special text would precede each cut.
The final artistic decisions were smoothed over and sculpted by Supko and Seaman’s human intuitions, making up for the cool calculations of their computer colleague with the warm, intuitive ideals set by their personal tastes and experience. Perhaps the most tantalizing bit over all being the anonymity of each track, which preserves a satisfying esotericism about the piece, keeping it from succumbing totally to its computer brain origins.
What we have here, in the end, is a work whose concept does not in any way overshadow the stand-alone quality of the resultant material, but serves equally to enhance its genius. A thoroughly enjoyable listen distilled from an inventive and very relevant contemporary process, s_traits is well worth adding to any eclectic music library.
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