Monday 14 April 2014

Version City #25 - Aphex Twin Vs Philip Glass and David Bowie

Anyone who is as old as me (quite old and about to get older) will probably be able to remember an example of the primitive tannoy system. Basically a bunch of cone speakers, connected by draped cables, hung high on posts around a field for a school sports day, fete, or similar parochial event. The combination of audio delay and wind speed were never considered as a factor in those days, so with the slightest breeze, the sound could drift in and out of shape, causing unsettling sonic collisions as different passages of the same piece of music reached the eardrum simultaneously.

I felt a similar sensation when I heard this on Stuart Maconie's Freak Zone recently. It's Philip Glass's 1996 symphonic interpretation of 'Heroes', mashed up with a smattering of David Bowie's original vocal and given a faintly disturbing remix by Aphex Twin. Is it possible to like and be weirded out by something at the same time?

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yes, you can. That is great and spooky all at the same time. It really brings out the desperation in Bowie's vocal. Rather excellent.

C said...

I think it IS possible to like and be weirded out by something at the same time... (Revolution 9?) I'm afraid this one just makes me feel a little ill, though! I feel like I'm waking up from an anaesthetic and being wheeled up and down a corridor with doors open onto it, in each room I pass a different song is playing... I'm whoozy and nothing's making sense, ooh I feel a bit dizzy now!

Old Pa's Corner said...

I kept listening waiting for somthing to happen...it did'nt...welll in my book a good song spoiled....I am getting older but I'm younger than that now!

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