Introduction
The Call and Response of Rusticity
Artist: Rusticity
Title / Release Page: Call and Response
Release Date: 2014 Dec 05
Genre: Dubstep / Techno
License: CC BY-NC-ND
Media: MP3 / OGG / FLAC
Pricing: Free
Label: Mobius Spin
Rating: ★★★★★★
The Call and Response of Rusticity was born of the collaboration of 3dtorus and Nystada. 3dtorus took a bunch of sampled material from Nystada’s ‘Uneasy Listening Session’ and “spun some music around them” and with a few rehearsals this release was born.
The Call and Response of Rusticity
I am tempted to call this an EP, despite the fact that it is over 30 minutes long, and in most cases would qualify as a full release. The five tracks, varying in length from 6-7.5 minutes does little to convince me that this should be considered a full length release.
But more than the number of tracks, or the length of the release, the factor that really makes me think of this an EP is the “music” that you will find on this release. It really doesn’t have the feeling of being a completely realized work. Instead it has a feeling of a set of works that are unified by a set of characteristics, but left unfinished. They feel like the beginning(s) of songs, but lack many of the elements to make them complete piece of music.
These are abstract works that have simple rhythms and sequences. They are mostly on the slower side. with a very mechanical feeling to them. However, they are devoid of the elements that one might consider to be key parts of songs melody and harmony being the two major elements.
As for the idea that these are “call and response” works, they even fall down t\on that aspect. Typically a call and response comes in the form of a statement from one person, and an expression from the listener / audience. This is predominantly a form found in African cultures. There is nothing that really resembles this form in these pieces.
So, what is this work then? It fits mostly in to an area that I would think of as abstract rhythm manipulation. That is, there is a series of sampled noises, rhythms, counterpoints and arpeggios designed to fill an allotment of time. They are almost ambient, but the dance-like rhythms take them out of that category. They are experimental in how sounds and noises are layered and juxtaposed, and in how the sequences and counterpoints build within the compositions.
There is a tendency to try to strip music down to it’s essential elements these days. To try to find with the lowest number of elements to find things are listen-able and still serve a purpose. In this case, these works can be considered something of a success. They do have form and structure, and they do seem to fill a purpose for dancing, or possibly as background noise / sound.
But while that is a big trend these days, that doesn’t mean these are successful works when judged against the majority of other works that are out there these days.
Conclusion
The Call and Response of Rusticity is something of a misnomer, as it doesn’t really have any call and response elements to it. It is a stripped down exercise in rhythmic manipulation using sequencing, arpeggios and layering of sounds and noises. Overall it is an abstract set of pieces that are most suited for dancing, or as background sound.
