Week of February 19, 1996
An interview with John Oswald, who created an art form called "plunderphonics" - audio art made from existing materials - and took on the Grateful Dead's "Dark Star."
I was introduced to Oswald by Henry Kaiser in the late '80s. His CD plunderphonics is a mind-blowing collection of revised works, using various techniques. Gary Lambert and I introduced Oswald to Phil Lesh, and Oswald appeared as a guest on a radio show Phil and Gary hosted on KPFA, first known as Rex Radio and later as Eyes of Chaos, Veil of Order. Lesh introduced Oswald to the rest of the Grateful Dead and supported his proposal to do a plunderphonic treatment of the Dead's seminal improvisational vehicle, "Dark Star." The resulting work, Gray Folded, was released in two parts; this radio show was produced at the time of the release of the second half, "Mirror Ashes."
From the plunderphonics web site:
This 2 disc set is the latest plunderphonic album and was commissioned by the Dead, or as Phil Lesh put it, "David Gans and I sort of talked him into it"."It" is composed exclusively of live recordings (from the Vault) of the Grateful Dead's "Dark Star" and was originally released as a single disc, "Transitive Axis". It was originally proposed that Oswald make something "very short".
"What interested me most about the Grateful Dead was their extended playing style", explains Oswald. "I wrote a counter-proposal to David saying, 'Well, I've been thinking about it and all I can hear is the opposite - something very long.'"
Gray Folded is available from CDBaby.
I interviewed Oswald for Wired Magazine. "The Man Who Stole Michael Jackson's Face" was published in issue 3.2, February 1995.
If you have an advanced sense of musical adventure, John Oswald will satisfy. I highly recommend poking around his web site and listening to his stuff!
John Oswald, Gray Folded
RECEDES (WHILE WE CAN) (excerpt)
Interview: John Oswald re plunderphonics
John Oswald, Plexure Avant 016, 1993
PLEXURE (excerpt)
Interview: John Oswald all about "Dark Star" and Gray Folded
John Oswald, Gray Folded
LA ESTRELLA OSCURA (excerpt)
THE SPEED OF SPACE (excerpt)->
DARK MATTER PROBLEM/EVERY LEAF...
Grateful Dead 3/2/69 Fillmore West, San Francisco
DARK STAR->
ST. STEPHEN
Every Wednesday, we post a program from the Grateful Dead Hour archives for your enjoyment and enlightenment. You can browse or search the playlists - by song title, show date, guest name, etc - at gdhour.com or on the GD Hour Search page, and let me know what program(s) you'd like to hear by emailing me at gdhour@dead.net.
Thanks for listening!
David Gans