[78-L] Is there a Disco mix, ya think?

[David Lennick]

Can't wait for the video.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/music/in-uk-stars-record-john-cages-silent-work-433-and-its-a-seasonal-hit/article1833069/

n U.K., stars record John Cage's silent work 4'33" – and it’s a seasonal hit
ELIZABETH RENZETTI
LONDON— From Saturday's Globe and Mail
Published Friday, Dec. 10, 2010 4:00PM EST
Last updated Friday, Dec. 10, 2010 5:11PM EST

You can’t sing along with it or dance to it. It does not have a catchy beat – 
or, in fact, any beat at all. Yet the producers of Cage Against the Machine are 
hoping that their single – four-and-a-half minutes of famous musicians being 
perfectly silent – will be the top-selling single in Britain this Christmas.

This week, 40 musicians representing the old guard (Billy Bragg, Orbital) and 
the new (the Kooks, Guillemots) entered a London studio and did not play their 
instruments in a performance of John Cage’s famous silent composition, 4’33’’.

The studio microphones picked up breathing, shuffling and, on the second take, 
the muffled sound of someone’s buzzing BlackBerry. But there was no singing, 
and no music played. The resulting single, the proceeds from which will benefit 
four charities, will be released this week, in time for the frenzied British 
ritual known as the race for the Christmas No. 1.

“There was an incredible atmosphere in the studio,” said Julie Hilliard, who 
dreamt up the project with her husband Dave, an artist, and their friend John 
Rogers. “Everyone turned up on time, there was no diva attitude.” (However 
there were reports that troubled Babyshambles singer Pete Doherty failed to show.)

Although it’s not available for download or radio play until Monday, Cage 
Against the Machine has already won a sizable Internet following, with 80,000 
fans on its Facebook page. The remix maestro Mr. Scruff is planning a cover 
version, in which he tapes himself walking around silently for four and a half 
minutes.

‘’The great thing about 4’33’’ is that you can project anything you want onto 
it,” said Hilliard. “It’s a beautiful blank.”

The Christmas No. 1 has become an unlikely battle ground in Britain in recent 
years. After several stars of the X Factor TV show won the top spot – which is 
so highly coveted that bookmakers take bets on it – last year an Internet 
campaign was launched to end the dominance of Simon Cowell’s music factory. In 
a hard-fought battle, X Factor’s Joe McElderry was narrowly beaten by the 
hard-core U.S. band Rage Against the Machine and its song Killing in the Name.

This year’s silent single is in part a tribute to the Rage Against the Machine 
campaign (the band’s Tom Morello has called the song “awesome”). “A lot of 
people see it as a way of sticking it to Simon Cowell,” Hilliard acknowledges, 
“though I have nothing against him.”

More important, she says, is raising awareness and funds for charity – 
including CALM, an anti-suicide group, and the British Tinnitus Association. In 
November, a charity single from the British Legion consisting of two minutes of 
silence reached No. 20 in the charts.

But will enough people actually buy a four-and-a-half-minute anti-song to 
propel it to No. 1? “That is the million-dollar question,” Hilliard said, 
adding “there’s definitely a place for silence and reflection at this time of 
year.” It’s an experiment worthy of American composer Cage, who once noted, 
“There is no such thing as an empty space or an empty time. There is always 
something to see, something to hear.”