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David,
You mentioned that your companion at Sonar felt their performance a sham.
This is a feeling shared by many people who try to translate the more or
less open process of composing music in a studio into a 'live' performance
context (especially where samples and found sounds are involved, as the
chain of reference becomes ever more confused). But surely if we are to
identify a Zeitgeist for modern music/society it would be the breakdown of
the distinction between composition and performance, production and
reproduction - where all that matters is the sound crackling through a
modem, emanating from speakers, or reverberating through walls. In the
mediated world we inhabit art and culture becomes a lattice of
criss-crossing surfaces where the moment of creation becomes increasingly
indistinct from its point of replay. In both clubs and sound installations
there is no longer an original sound event which is relayed via the
speakers, but rather a sonic event which integrally involves PA, space and
audience.
But here is where the difficulty lies. You ask whether the Zeitgeist is now
aligned with a shift towards that kind of soundfield that collapses
distinctions between foreground and background, and swamps the listener
with a singular overpowering experience that does not leave room for
isolated sound objects or a locatable source. With the rise of non-linear
networks such as the internet and interactive systems, the DJ's booth and
sound artist's mixing desk no longer guarantee a monopoly on artistic
vision. It is surely up for grabs now more than ever where the locus of
perception will come to rest. When within a single event the ground
continually shifts beneath your feet the chance of being sucked beneath
murky waters ('swamped' by such a soundfield) becomes something localised,
and immersion need not imply indifference or a simple surrender to the
beat, drone or whatever sound is involved.
Drew