Sunday, February 23rd, 2014

Bill Drummond Channels Florian Schneider

I finally remembered today to search for details of Kraftwerk’s decades-old invocation to spend “one day a week without music”. The only reference I can find which makes me believe it isn’t a figment is one which describes them working “six days a week” on their music , but even that doesn’t constitute proof ₁. After all, maybe they were just tired, or wanted to go cycling. My recollection is that Florian Schneider avoided generated sound altogether on that 7th day, because his brain needed a rest; to allow time for “the fibres to recover”, as my father might say. A little further down that same article (right at the bottom, actually), this:

“Questioned about the group’s long silences in the 1980s, Schneider once retorted shyly that there was too much sound pollution.”

So it seems odd that Bill Drummond’s No Music Day should make no mention of this antecedent, particularly when KLF are so often cited as descendants of the masters. Can someone as broadly informed and erudite really have forgotten the modern origins of what is – I freely concede – an excellent idea?

But then again, Drummond has form when it comes to unabashed headuptheassery. Here’s a quote from a 2006 article:

“I have tried different tactics to re-engage with music. In 2002 I decided to listen only to albums made by artists who had never released an album before. As soon as a second one came out, I would stop listening to them.” ₂

Well that makes perfect sense, doesn’t it? And with one or two minor tweaks – such as stopping only at the, say, 9th long-player – you could even crowbar Beethoven into the mix without losing Ode to Joy.

To be fair – and it doesn’t entirely pain me to be fair – Drummond’s emphasis leans more towards consumption of culture than it does its production. Whereas Schneider was extolling the virtues of such a hiatus because he felt it refreshed his creative energies, Drummond is more focused on the sense of bombardment; the superficiality of ubiquitous sound, music as veneer, or even less substantial than that, an aerosol, settling randomly on our perceptual surfaces.

“We can have this non-stop soundtrack as we sit on the bus, do the shopping, go on holiday. And whether it’s music from Bali, Bach’s Cantatas or the latest R&B, the experience is somehow the same.” ₃

And so, he went out and bought a domain, and set up No Music Day, thus making a big noise about his silence evangelism. Bravo, Bill. And thank you Florian.

References

• 1. http://www.julianevans.com/2012/12/the-art-of-the-kraft/
• 2. http://www.theguardian.com/music/2006/oct/15/9
• 3. Ibid