Editing John Oswald (composer) (section)

==Works==
His 1975 track "Power" married frenetic [[Led Zeppelin]] guitars to the impassioned exhortations of a Southern US evangelist years before [[hip hop music|hip hop]] discovered the potency of the same (and related) ingredients. Similarly, his 1990 track "Vane", which pitted two different versions of the song "[[You're So Vain]]" (the [[Carly Simon]] original and a cover by [[Faster Pussycat]]) against each other, was a blueprint for the contemporary pop subgenre, 'glitch pop' or '[[mashup (music)|mashup]]'.

In 1980, Oswald founded the Mystery Tapes Laboratory, which created unnamed, unattributed works on cassette, described on the [http://www.plunderphonics.com plunderphonics website] as ''"little boxes of sonifericity specifically formulated for the curious listener. Available in your choice of aural flavors: subliminal, blasted, excerpted, repeatpeateatattttttedly, these cinemaphonically-concocted aggregates of très different but exquisitely manifest, unprecedentedly varied festerings of audio quality fine magnetic cassette tapes are the best of whatever you've been listening for"''. Oswald continues to be Director of Research at Mystery Tapes.

His greatest source of controversy was the 1988 release of the Plunderphonics EP, which he distributed to the press and to radio stations. It contained four plundered tracks: "Don't" by [[Elvis Presley]] which included piano accompaniment by [[Bob Wiseman]], "Pocket" by [[Count Basie]], a version of [[Dolly Parton]] singing "The Great Pretender" in which "she gets to sing a duet with himself(sic)", and "Spring", a version of [[Igor Stravinsky]]'s [[The Rite of Spring]]. In 1989, Oswald released an expanded version of the Plunderphonics album on compact disc containing twenty-five tracks, each using material from a different artist. In 1990, notice was given to Oswald by the Canadian Recording Industry Association on behalf of several of their clients (notably [[Michael Jackson]], whose song "Bad" had been cut up, layered, and rearranged as "Dab") that all undistributed copies of Plunderphonics be destroyed under threat of legal action.

<blockquote>
''"I wasn't selling the disc in the stores, so I let listeners tape it off the radio for free," explains Oswald, who paid for the production and manufacture of the CD out of his own pocket. He receives no royalties or financial compensation for airplay. Brian Robertson, president of CRIA says, ``What this demonstrates is the vulnerability of the recording industry to new technology...All we see is just another example of theft."''

''Oswald received notice from CRIA's lawyers demanding that he cease distributing Plunderphonic as of Xmas eve '89. "They insisted I quit playing Santa Claus," Oswald observes.''<ref>{{Cite web |title=Plunderphonics - Negation |url=http://www.plunderphonics.com/xhtml/xnegation.html |access-date=2024-06-13 |website=www.plunderphonics.com}}</ref>
</blockquote>

In 1993 Oswald released ''Plexure''. Arguably his most ambitious composition to date, it attempted to microsample the history of CD music up to that point (1982–1992) in a 20 minute collage of bewildering complexity. The ambition of this piece would later be recalled by the British bootlegger [[Osymyso]], whose "[[Intro-Inspection]]" emulates the pop-junkie feel of ''Plexure''.

From 1993 to 1996, Oswald worked on and released ''[[Grayfolded]]'', a 2-Disc set commissioned by the [[Grateful Dead]] consisting of pieces created from over 100 performances of the song "Dark Star". Oswald initially created and released disc 1, "Transitive Axis", which contains a 59 minute 59 second work in 9 movements. Feeling that there was more territory to explore, Oswald worked on disc 2, Mirror Ashes, which is a composition in "6*" movements. Once both discs were complete they were packaged together with extensive liner notes and a "visual time map" of the sources used in the compositions. ''[[Grayfolded]]'' was selected the #1 international recording of the decade by the ''[[Toronto Sun]]''.

In addition to his extensive work in "plunderphonics", Oswald is also involved with [[wiktionary:acoustic|acoustic]] music, as a composer and improviser. His compositions for orchestra often do include electronic elements, such as ''Concerto for Wired Conductor and Orchestra'' (?), but has also composed for acoustic ensembles, such as ''Acupuncture'' (1991). Oswald improvises with the [[saxophone]], and is a member of free improvisation group [[CCMC (band)|CCMC]]. 

===Other projects===
Oswald is also actively involved in [[dance]], as a composer for dance works, as a collaborator with [[choreographer]]s, and as an active [[Contact Improvisation|Contact Improviser]].

Oswald founded the record label ''fony'', which produced the retrospective box set ''[[Plunderphonics 69/96|69 plunderphonics 96]]'' (a.k.a. Plunderphonics 69/96) and reissued ''[[Grayfolded]]''. The label also rereleased ''Plexure'' and released ''Aparanthesi'', a work which uses the single note A in an experiment with [[timbre]], dynamics, and layering, on CD in 2003.

Since 2000 Oswald has been as active in exhibiting his visual art as in continuing his musical activities.

===Legacy===
In 2004, Oswald was one of six artists to win the annual [[Governor General's Awards in Visual and Media Arts]], as awarded by the Canada Council for the Arts, for lifetime achievement.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.canadacouncil.ca/news/releases/2004/qb127235918565781250.htm |title=The Canada Council for the Arts - Governor General's Awards in Visual and Media Arts: Announcement of laureates |access-date=2008-06-19 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070809190437/http://www.canadacouncil.ca/news/releases/2004/qb127235918565781250.htm |archive-date=2007-08-09}}</ref>