More is More
by rachMiel

Last month I celebrated frugality ... the Less is More approach to composition. This month I'll play opposites by taking on Less is More's polar doppelganger, More is More.

Excess, when applied in an artful manner, can dramatically enhance the power and expressiveness of music. Two dazzling examples jump to mind: the Mahavishnu Orchestra and Richard Devine.

John McLaughlin's Mahavishnu Orchestra, which had its heyday in the early 70s, was the most ecstatically loud and musically dense band of its era, perhaps any era. (When I heard them live I became physically sick from the assault, but it was a good sickness, an exquisite pain.) Who can listen to the sonic vortex that is Birds of Fire without feeling transported, wrenched upward?

Richard Devine is my favorite avant-DJ. His feral mixes and grooves derive a great deal of power from their density of sonic layering, of ideas, of styles, of beats. His best pieces ravage you, crush you, change the way you listen to electronic music (for the better). If you're new to Devine's alchemy, check out Itsuko from the album Asect: Dsect.

Excess can also work brilliantly in the equipment arena. If you are a composer who thrives on multiplicity, then by all means embrace the glut of DSP programs and plugins out there. Money is no obstacle, since many of these programs are cheap or free. (You can get 100+ free plugins from the DVD that accompanies this magazine.)

Embrace the temptation to overstate, bombard, densify! Assault your listeners (lovingly) and trust them to come back, hungry for more.