tangents / Marclay, iTunes, Sakamoto …

Reading and Listening of Interest on the Internet This Past Week or So: An overview of sound artist Christian Marclay (“An Artist Makes Music Touchable,” from the New York Times) and an interview with British painter Trevor Bell, long ago one of Brian Eno’s art-school teachers (here, from the Tallahassee Democrat). And two shorts worth noting from the gadget ezine gizmodo.com: Technics’s digital turntable (here) and the United States military’s digital bugle (here). … And, of course, Apple (the computer company that brought us the iPod, not the record label of the Beatles) finally released the Windows version of its popular iTunes software yesterday (here), and it sweetened the deal with exclusive tracks by various artists, including electronic figures Moby, Alva Noto (aka Carsten Nicolai, remixing Ryuichi Sakamoto), Fischerspooner and Massive Attack. The Noto-Sakamoto item is the standout, a beading remix of a track former Yellow Magic Orchestra leader Sakamoto recorded with cellist Jaques Morelenbaum and Brazilian singer Paula Morelenbaum, aka Morelenbaum2; if you have iTunes on your computer and you’re connected to the Internet, this link (here) should take you directly to it. It’s easy to compare the remix with the original, off the album A Day in New York, thanks to the 30-second clips provided in the iTunes Music Store. This Noto-Sakamoto collaboration comes from Sony Classical, the same company that this year released pianist Christopher O’Riley‘s arrangements of Radiohead songs, True Love Waits. Clearly someone there is thinking beyond the warhorses.