Toronto – One of my pet peeves about watching movies is when actors pretend to be a musicians but aren’t actually playing their instruments. I know this is a ridiculous thing to get upset about, but I can’t help it. There’s just something about it that destroys the illusion. All of a sudden I realize that it’s all a fake, and I’m just along for the ride. I know that everything I’m watching on the tube is fabricated, but this is where my suspension of reality really gets shattered.
Every artist is a cannibal, every poet is a thief.
- Bono
What about the creation of real music? Music is in a constant state of flux; and musicians, like all other artists, borrow ideas from each other and their environment. As Bono so elegantly put, “every artist is a cannibal, every poet is a thief.” It makes sense that musicians are naturally going to emulate and absorb their own heroes as influences. But how does technology change this arena? Instead of being able to simply emulate someone’s style with your own creations, we can now copy them verbatim. Digital technology opens up a whole new world of musical possibilities, but does this pre-fabrication come at a price? How does all of this relate to the world of DJ’s and electronic music?
Let’s be honest with ourselves here: splicing that wicked Miles Davis or Ray Charles riff into your song isn’t the same as creating that melody in the first place.
Now, before I get angry DJ’s and electronic enthusiasts sending me irate e-mails, let me clarify. I’m not trying to compare movie actors with real DJ’s and electronic musicians who create music. I realize that it’s not at all trivial to splice together music from disparate sources to create a cohesive sound. But let’s be honest with ourselves here: splicing that wicked Miles Davis or Ray Charles riff into your song isn’t the same as creating that melody in the first place. As much as I enjoy electronica in this era of Mac-based music, I do struggle with the blurring of lines between the creation and the outright copying of music.
Koop dances on the tight-rope between musician and DJ like no other. A Swedish-based jazz duo, their records have elements of 1930’s swing, electronica and a touch of the Caribbean. What makes them so interesting is that, with the exception of the vocals, their albums are comprised entirely of pre-recorded musical bits. I was unaware of this fact upon first hearing their latest album. To their credit, I would never have guessed from their first track that the record is essentially an intricate patchwork of pre-recorded bits. What’s even more interesting is that when touring this duo becomes a 7-9 piece live band! I don’t mean that they transform into 7-9 musicians like a Transformer, or maybe Voltron in reverse. Rather, they hire musicians to play the digital bits & pieces that they were painstakingly assembled on their album, but in a live setting.
That they are artists is undeniable. The fact that they record albums completely differently from how they play live sets even further blurs the role between DJ and musician. Their Myspace page hints that the process of splicing together songs from pre-recorded samples is one of the reasons it takes so long to produce a Koop record. Koop Islands is their third offering. It’s an enjoyable, if short album, with a few real gems. I do wish that album was more consistent. In hindsight, I suppose that achieving a consistent sound is bound to be difficult when your process for creating music involves this kind of intricate digital stitch work. The first two songs, “Koop Islands Blues” and “Come To Me” are highlights of what this Swedish duo call a fusion of “jazz & love”.
Koop Islands – 4/5
