Author: Paul D. Miller Aka Dj Spooky That Subliminal Kid File Type: pdf The conceptual artist Paul Miller, also known as Dj Spooky that Subliminal Kid, delivers a manifesto for rhythm science - the creation of art from the flow of patterns in sound and culture, the changing same. Taking the Djs mix as template, he describes how the artist, navigating the innumerable ways to arrange the mix of cultural ideas and objects that bombard us, uses technology and art to create something new and expressive and endlessly variable. Technology provides the method and model information on the web, like the elements of a mix, doesnt stay in one place. And technology is the medium, bridging the artists consciousness and the outside world. Miller constructed his Dj Spooky persona (spooky from the eerie sounds of hip-hop, techno, ambient and the other music that he plays) as a conceptual art project, but then came to see it as the opportunity for coding a generative syntax for new languages of creativity. For example Start with the inspiration of George Herrimans Krazy Kat comic strip. Make a track invoking his absurd landscapes...What do tons and tons of air pressure moving in the atmosphere sound like? Make music that acts a metaphor for that kind of imm **From Publishers Weekly DJconceptual artistauthor Paul Millers pseudonym is at once an arcane reference to William S. Burroughss Nova Express and a childlike recognition of the sometimes eerie, disembodied sounds he gathersan immediate indicator of the gleeful enthusiasm with which both his mixes and his first book juxtapose cultures high and low, new and old, avant-garde and street. Son of Howard Universitys dean of law (who died when Miller was three) and a mother who ran an international fabric shop off Dupont Circle, Miller spent much of his childhood in Washington, D.C.s nurturing bohemia before studying philosophy and literature at Bowdoin. That his thesis was on Richard Wagnerwhose theory of gestamtkunstwerk (the total art work) presages much of todays new media revolutionis no surprise. The emerging aesthetic he describes is one in which the proliferating technologies of sampling and studio manipulation have eroded the distinction between musics producers and consumers. From dub in Jamaica to the turntablism of the South Bronx, how music was manipulated by listeners after the fact has become as important as how it was originally made. The range of reference Miller brings to his description of these phenomena reaches back to Vico and Emerson and forward to Eminem, giving DJ culture the broad contextualization its innovations have long warranted. Though much of what Miller describes is hardly new either to listeners or practitioners, his insights as a practicing and successful DJ are fresh and unpretentious. The enclosed CD, an expert full-length mix that moves from Artaud to Morton Feldman, then Patti Smith without blinking, paradoxically points out that Miller is still a better DJ than writer its effortless juxtapositions cohere in a way his text (including 45 minimalist illustrations) rarely manages. But even such writermusicians as John Fahey and Glenn Gould rarely accomplished that, and Miller has certainly earned a place in their company. Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. Review It wouldnt much surprise me if DJ Spooky invigorates the intellectual world someday as Professor Spooky or even Chancellor Spooky. (Bruce Sterling, author of The Hacker Crackdown and Tomorrow Now Envisioning the Next Fifty Years) Dj Spooky and COMA, together sampling provocative thoughts and creative graphic design, have made Rhythm Science a fascinating addition to todays book culture. (Bernard Tschumi, Architect, Columbia University, author of the Event Cities series) Once again, Paul Miller has pushed the sonic arts and sciences to a new level, and in the process re-masted literary form. I guarantee, this book will mess with your head but in a funky way. (Robin D.G. Kelley, author of Freedom Dreams The Black Radical Imagination) A densely allusive manifesto that is itself an objet dart with a die-cut cover and a Dj Spooky sampler CD. (Josh Glenn, Boston Sunday Globe) ...[A] huge leap for the culture of the now. Its software for your head. Upgrade your grey matter. (Roy Christopher Slap) Miller gets his points across in novel and affecting ways...a singular voice. (Larry Blumenfeld, Jazziz) Miller raises compelling questions about the philosophy behind the DJ mix and the role the DJ plays in society. (Doree Shafrir Philadelphia Weekly) Millers insights as a practicing and successful DJ are fresh and unpretentious. (Publishers Weekly) ...Rhythm Science is a compelling book written by a formidable intellect...a pivotally important manifesto for DJs. (Christian Carey Splendid) The writing drifts easily, while cool design from COMA and a CD round out the package... (Anne York Res Magazine) Weve ended the century of broadcast culture -- when manufacturers produced the culture we consume. In this brilliant and beautiful book, Paul Miller gives us the rhythm of sampled culture -- culture created by those who can remix, and by technologies that enable anyone to remix. Rhythm Science is science it is art it is the story of how freedom would build better science and art. Dark, with bright flashes, in tempo, with syncopation, it is a companion to the next stage, if were allowed that next stage despite law that would keep us locked in the past. (Lawrence Lessig, Stanford Law School, author of The Future of Ideas The Fate of the Commons in a Connected World) In Rhythm Science Miller remixes sounds and ideas with equal dexterity. A new vibe for a new world. (John Akomfrah, film director) Paul Miller has got the brilliant negro thang down cold. This is a meditation on music and self in which Paul plays with words much the way DJ Spooky plays with sound. (Toure, author of The Portable Promised Land) The conceptual artist Paul Miller, also known as Dj Spooky that Subliminal Kid, delivers a manifesto for rhythm science — the creation of art from the flow of patterns in sound and culture, the changing same. Taking the Djs mix as template, he describes how the artist, navigating the innumerable ways to arrange the mix of cultural ideas and objects that bombard us, uses technology and art to create something new and expressive and endlessly variable.