Opening the Cage: 4’33” for Christmas Number 1

“The All Sound Music of the Future” is a phrase taken from the writings of John Cage.  Though our music is perhaps not what Cage would have imagined when he coined it, we feel at home with his enterprising spirit and dramatic, unreserved approach to exploring the boundaries of what music can be.  We’d like to think he wouldn’t be too mad at us appropriating the phrase for the title of our blog.

We came across it on the train to our first ever session of studio recording.  Shu had borrowed a couple of his books from the music library and we were flicking through them to pass the time.  We’re not music scholars, and it came as a great surprise at how electrifying Cage is as a writer.  History is full of figures who were famous for their superhuman efforts as composers, but failed miserably at translating this into words: Wagner’s pompous and flowery essays when compared to the all-encompassing magic of his music is a case in point.  For Cage, however, there is not really a dividing line between where his philosophy ends and his music begin: it's all geared at daring you to imagine further than you already can.

There is something about Cage’s music which seems to surpass the tradition of experimentalism that the 20^th century is so famous for.  For a long time I couldn’t quite work out why, but last night I stumbled on a youtube comment that seemed to hit the nail on the head.  It was a remark that considered how in 4’33” you could see “the twinkle in his eye”.

And there it is: there is an innate playfulness about Cage’s approach to the often bewildering world of the avant-garde that makes it so infectious and compelling.  His fiddling with pianos to transform their possibilities and create fascinating tunes is a good example of the composer’s combination of childlike, hands-on excitement and sublime, technical wisdom.  Here, as in so much of Cage’s music, is an example of the tension between tactile fun and otherworldly beauty.

The same can be said of 4’33”.  There are obviously a huge many aspects to this piece/idea that folk much smarter and better prepared have discussed in depth, so I’m not going to lecture anyone.  I just wanted to say that here you can see that wonderful tension again: even watching the recorded performance, you’re not sure whether you want to burst out laughing at the ridiculousness of the situation or be drawn into a very poignant and affecting emotional experience.

Because though in many ways it is a fantastic joke, it is also demonstrates a really cool idea.  4’33” is an illustration of how much of ourselves we put into music, and an argument for the necessity of space and reflection to digest it’s awesome power.  Now, of course this is an obvious point and not even the most pertinent argument that piece presents, but I feel that with Suggs & Co recording it for Christmas number 1, it is a important one to consider.  How much of music today is set to 11 and compressed enough to remain there, with the gaps filled by the inane mutterings of radio DJ’s to help us feel like we are never alone?  More than a chance to batter SyCo again, it is an opportunity for clean space to triumph over landfill noise, and for experimentalism to beat similitude.

But the potential of a high profile mainstream recording extends far wider than a mere political statement.  Perhaps the most exciting thing about 4’33” being widely available on the airwaves will be the possibilities that repeated radio broadcast will give to the piece.  Cage’s whole point was that there was no such thing as silence; 4’33” is supposed to include the surrounding noise of the listeners own individual experience.  With repeated hearings throughout the wide variety of situations that you would expect to hear a number one single in, 4”33 will become more dynamic and exciting than ever before.

This Christmas we will see a fantastic opportunity for the world of the avant-garde to meet that of the mainstream.  It’s a momentous occasion, if you think about it.  Let’s make it happen.  Buy Cage Against The Machine’s 4’33”.

Oh, and while your at it, download our noisy, highly-compressed, tonally simple, radio-friendly and totally awesome single for free here. 

Cheers!

Al

Ps.

For fun: here’s a poem based on one of his anecdotes by another man who delighted in exploration and playfulness as grounds to a serious and affecting art, the greatly missed Edwin Morgan.

Opening the Cage: 14 Variations on 14 Words
"I have nothing to say and I am saying it and that is poetry." — John Cage

I have to say poetry and is that nothing and am I saying it
I am and I have poetry to say and is that nothing saying it
I am nothing and I have poetry to say and that is saying it
I that am saying poetry have nothing and it is I and to say
And I say that I am to have poetry and saying it is nothing
I am poetry and nothing and saying it is to say that I have
To have nothing is poetry and I am saying that and I say it
Poetry is saying I have nothing and I am to say that and it
Saying nothing I am poetry and I have to say that and it is
It is and I am and I have poetry saying say that to nothing
It is saying poetry to nothing and I say I have and am that
Poetry is saying I have it and I am nothing and to say that
And that nothing is poetry I am saying and I have to say it
Saying poetry is nothing and to that I say I am and have it
— Edwin Morgan, The Second Life
Edinburgh University Press, 1968