John Oswald - Plexure (1993)

Has this blog been getting too jazzy and avant-garde? Fuck that, and I'm sorry if I'm contributing in any way to the de-metalfication of Shelby's baby, but this shit has to be heard!


This week marked the release of Girl Talk's album "All Day" which, according to Wikipedia, "consists of 372 overlapping samples of other artists' songs to create new music."

372? That's weaksauce diper-baby shit. Also Girl Talk totally sucks.

In 1992 John Zorn commissioned artist and musician John Oswald to make a record for his Japan-based Avant label. The result was a 20 minute opus mindfuck containing over 1000 micro samples of music featuring everything (and I mean fucking EVERYTHING) from Sinead O'Conner to Gwar. Released as Plexure in 1993, the ultra complex and dense piece was meant to be a brief "history" of cd music released up to that point (1982-1992). Most of the album is built on a structure that begins with the slowest songs from that time (mostly ballads and blues), and proceeds gradually to the fastest (bluegrass and speed metal). This is a must listen for any fan of fucked up music. Super fun, harsh, palatable and difficult at the same time.

This year marks the 25th anniversary of "Plunderphonics", the term coined by Oswald in his essay "Plunderphonics, or Audio Piracy as a Compositional Prerogative" in 1985. A completely re-edited, remixed version of Plexure has just been released to coincide with the anniversary. You can buy the new version here.

Get the original mind-bending masterpiece here.