Who is Beck? Sonic markers as a compositional tool in pop production

Abstract

Throughout the history of music recording, the use of certain technologies and instruments has left distinctive marks on recordings – marks that imply an intrinsic relationship between an era and a sound. At the same time, producers and artists have taken advantage of this relationship, constructing and otherwise exploiting what I have elsewhere conceptualised as sonic markers. This study explores how Beck's use of sound as a compositional tool constructs sonic markers that have in turn contributed profoundly to the formation of his musical identity. First, I take into account Beck's use of various pop aesthetics to explore how sonic markers are constructed through appropriation. Second, I offer an assessment of the ways in which Beck's musical identity has been formed from his play with the sonic markers of other eras. Third, I provide an analytical account of ‘Sexx Laws’ (1999) to illustrate how Beck's play with sonic markers of time also informs individual song structure and composition.

Playing with medium: Intertextuality and phonomatic transformation

“…This article introduces three types of phonomatic transformation, although this is by no means a complete list. The first kind of practice is retronormativity , to borrow a term from Askerøi (2013, p. 42), who defines it as ‘the mechanism of placing the past in the present’. Retronormativity can be understood as the coalescing of different carriers of meaning by referencing a combination of stylistic traits, instrumentation and/or media, all of which possess their own sonic markers that are emblematic of certain eras.…”

“…This interest in sounds from the past resonates with the wider retro movement and suggests an ambiguity about contemporary culture, in which neither the new nor the old are valued in their unmitigated form, rather new forms are created by reinventing the past from the position of the present (Brøvig-Hanssen 2013a, b). Askerøi (2013) argues that stylistic traits act as sonic markers and function not only as imitations of the past but also as representatives of the past's socio-cultural values. The characteristic signatures of different media also act as sonic markers, as through their history of use they have acquired both cultural and historical associations.…”