Tag Archives: rhythm

(don’t) listen to the one

Written by yeehaa. Filed under lectures. Tagged , , , , , , , , , . No comments.
A presentation that I gave at Utrecht University on the 6th of November 2009 for Journée Szendy (a small conference dedicated to the works of musicologist/philosopher Peter Szendy) organized by Sander van Maas.

get on the good foot

Written by yeehaa. Filed under articles, drafts. Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , . No comments.
In this text I will analyse James Brown's introduction of 'The One' (or downbeat) into popular music as a revolution. Etymologically, ‘revolution’ not only designates a radical change but also a return. Neither one of these movements, however, is more important to the other. The return does not reduce the change to a mere surface effect, nor does the radical nature of the change relativizes the return. In a revolution, both movements are of equal importance. However, the stress alternates; sometimes the change is accentuated, sometimes the return. Together, these two movements do not constitute a full cycle, but a rhythm. Revolutions are neither visual nor acoustic, they are rhythmical.

out of time

Written by yeehaa. Filed under drafts. Tagged , , , , , , , , , . No comments.
Invisible Man, the title of Ralph Ellison’s seminal 1952 novel refers to the lack of opacity of its main protagonist. Rather than reading this book as the exemplary story of a concrete, situated individual – an African-American intellectual before and during the so-called Harlem Renaissance – this article-in-progress will concentrate on the figure of thought that this central character expresses.

about pluralizing rhythm

Written by yeehaa. Filed under about, books // volumes. Tagged , , , , , , . No comments.
The volume Pluralizing Rhythm aims to rid rhythm of its harmless, nearly esoteric, reputation as a cosmic unifier by understanding it in the light of the contemporary medial turn. It consists of contributions that combine the political, aesthetic, musical and theoretical dimension of rhythm, by performing a close analysis of text and objects from contemporary arts, music and politics. In short, Pluralizing Rhythm complicates, disturbs and pluralizes the notion of rhythm.