John Oswald - Plunderphonic & Discosphere

If you've been following this site you probably know that I hold John Oswald in high esteem. His works in the field of sampling, which he calls plunderphonics, is astounding, fascinating and deeply educational. Oswald isn't one to merely sample a portion of a song and loop it like a stereotypical hip-hop recording (or most of Sean "Diddy" Combs' catalog, although that's another story), instead Oswald distorts, compounds and chops recordings into bits, sometimes rendering them unrecognizable. His work isn't for everyone and much of it would probably be labeled noise by those who don't appreciate the avant garde, but for those with an appreciation for the different or bizarre, Oswald's works are considered genius, and I strongly agree with that belief.

Back in July of 2009 I wrote a rather detailed account of the non-release of Oswald's best known work, both for the quality of it's content and it's infamy, the Plunderphonic CD. The CD was a collection of Oswald's reinterpretations of a wide range of music, everything from the world of American pop to classical, all chopped and edited into stunning reworkings. Plunderphonic was never meant for sale, Oswald pressed up the CDs and sent them to friends, artists, libraries and other parties with the intent of sharing his work and not making any profit whatsoever. While this would be most likely be considered acceptable in the US, Oswald lives in Canada and the CRIA sued him only to have the master tapes and all remaining copies of the CD destroyed. I'm not going to rehash all the details here, especially since the July 2009 article can be read here and goes into further detail, but the Plunderphonic CDs non-availability has made it quite the fascinating piece since and a major collector's item for anyone lucky enough to own an original copy. Most of the material from it has been reissued over time, albeit in slightly altered forms and without the original liner notes, and low-quality rips circulate frequently, but despite the net being the wonderful resource it is I don't believe anyone was openly trading any high quality copies of the album. I'm going to change that today.

Earlier this year, while on another forum where people were discussing their rare finds, someone mentioned having found an original Plunderphonic CD in a used bin for around five dollars. I politely asked that fellow if he might be able to rip it for me and he was kind enough to do it. He sent me the album as a single lossless file with a pdf containing scans of the packaging and liner notes, to which I split the file into multiple tracks with Medieval Cue Splitter, cleaned and edited that cue sheet and am presenting it to you for download as both FLACs and V0 MP3s. Unfortunately, I don't have the individual who provided me with the original files screen name so, if you're reading this, my apologies but feel free to drop me a line and I'll give you the credit you deserve.

I'm also posting another rare Oswald release, Discosphere, in FLAC and V0 MP3 formats for your listening enjoyment. Apart from altering the file tags there was nothing changed about these files and they were received from a private site that will remain nameless, although I would like to give a thank you to the individual responsible for sharing it. Discosphere, unlike Plunderphonic, is a collection of Oswald's works for performances and installations, and while it has similarities in style and production to that of Plunderphonic, it should not be considered more of the same.

Oswald is still at it, making intense art and pissing people off, and the world is all the better for it. He recently reissued his Plexure CD as prePlexure, a vinyl only release containing a new take on the original work named prePlex, and the original piece renamed PlexureConcentrate. Of course, my whole not having a job thing which translates to not having money makes it difficult to purchase such an item, but judging by the excerpt from a rough version of prePlex that Oswald has available to listen to on his site I'm sure the finished product will be stunning. That rough excerpt of prePlex can be found here, although who knows how truly rough it is compared to the finished version, and more information about purchasing the vinyl and Oswald in general can be found at his FONY label site. You can also purchase the Plunderphonics 69/96 compilation via iTunes and it is well worth the price. Much of the Plunderphonic CD and excerpts from Discosphere, Plexure and other Oswald projects are featured in the compilation, but those versions have been remastered, reedited and in general have differences from the original releases. I may eventually post a lossless rip of the 69/96 comp, if only because the second CD is nearly unplayable in most setups due to it's bizarre formatting. That's a story in and of itself, one I'm not going to get into right now. Honestly though, as great as that comp is to listen to, the listener really benefits from the exhaustively detailed interview and liner notes included with the physical packaging, none of which are included with the digital release. Maybe Negativland can help people out with that. You can also download some of Oswald's Mystery Tapes at the wonderful UbuWeb.

One more thing, please take note that you must download both rar files for the FLAC versions of Plunderphonic and Discosphere, though they won't expand together. The files aren't linked to each other so don't delete the rars until you've extracted all the files from all parts. Enjoy!


John Oswald - Plunderphonic

FLAC Part 1

FLAC Part 2

V0 MP3

01 beatles
02 dab
03 way
04 replica
05 white
06 dont
07 pretender
08 black
09 brown
10 fabulous
11
12 prelude
13 net
14 birth
15 pocket
16 mirror
17 mist
18 ten4
19 tune
20 spring
21 7th
22
23 aria
24 rainbow
25


John Oswald - Discosphere

FLAC Part 1

FLAC Part 2

V0 MP3

01 Skindling Shades
02 Amina
03 Bell Speeds
04 Field
05 Nothing
06 Short Attack
07 Angle
08 Melody
09 Shane
10 Prey
11 Touch
12 Love1
13 Fence
14 VT
15 Beat
16 Code
17 The Case Of Death