guest post by Doctor Popular
Semi-obscure music fans rejoice: iTunes is currently featuring “Four Minutes, Thirty Three Seconds” by John Cage as their Discovery Download of the week! For those that don’t know, 4′33″ is a composition in which Cage instructs the musician not to play anything at all for four minutes and thirty three seconds. It’s the sort of piece that was written to insite conversation in high school intro to music classes and to be a long running joke for music majors for generations to come. I’ve got to admit it’s really cool to see iTunes feature it so prominently in their store. Maybe it will encourage a few people to check out some of Cage’s other pieces (like his scores for prepared piano). Grab the free iTunes download of 4′33″ here.
Inspired oby John Cage’s composition of silence, I have created a few musical re-interpretations for you to download:
4′33″ iPhone ringtone (inspired by @sfslim)
4′33″ Drown Radio’s Bangin’ Remix
Cage VS Rock (a mashup of 4′33″ with A.R.’s “Lucy”)
And here are some related pieces culled from the internets. If you have any you’d like to share, please post them in the comments below:
John Cage Vs. Pineal Gland Zirbeldruese “4:33 Erotic Emergency” by Catcubed
4′33″ of the return on BART from Paule Anglim by ifyouseeclay (more here)
image via iTunes
Here Are A Few Related Posts You Might Enjoy:
- Website & Corporate Logo Mashups
- Kutiman Remixes YouTube on Thru-You
- Eclectic Method Remixes Phish’s 99 Albums
- Body Remixes of Daft Punk’s “Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger”
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Note: John Cage Vs. Pineal Gland Zirbeldruese “4:33 Erotic Emergency” is best played at max volume — you can really hear the subtleties that way.
nice april fool’s day joke. Google had a lot of them, too:
http://intertronfilter.blogspot.com/2009/04/google-april-fools-pranks-comprehensive.html
Hey Jesse, this actually is not April Fools related. It’s a weird story, and we debated holding off a day to post it in case some thought it was a prank, but it’s totally real. As weird as it sounds, 4′33″ is really iTunes “Discovery Download” all of this week.
Thanks for the list though. For the record, I think Trent Reznor wins April Fools http://www.nin.com/strobelight/