DJ Spooky Sound Unbound

• Words: Derek Beres
• Label: Sub Rosa
• XLR8R Rating: /10

In the liner notes to his latest mix, DJ Spooky writes: “Today, for me, music isn’t music anymore–it’s information.” Thus his second shot at remixing the diverse Sub Rosa catalog–the first resulted in 2004’s Rhythm Science–is, appropriately enough, a sort of novel in musical form. Taking a collage of heavy and heady audio bytes from Allen Ginsberg, Gertrude Stein, William Burroughs, and James Joyce, Spooky drops them into a sonic mosaic constructed by John Cage, Bill Laswell, Edgard Varèse, and many others. Spooky is a philosopher of sound; this is not a mix you can put on without paying keen attention. Fortunately these 45 diced-up tracks merit an in-depth exploration.