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John Oswald

Profile:
Composer, saxophonist, and sound artist John Oswald (b. May 30, 1953 in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada) is best known for his plunderphonics, which involves using samples of existing recordings to create a new work. Oswald has performed throughout Canada and in the USA as an alto saxophonist, playing in both solo and group improvisational settings. Under Oswald's direction Pool, an improvisation collective originally established at the Gallery in 1979, was held on a weekly basis 1982-8 at the Cameron Public House. In dance, he has prepared scores (mostly tape) for Dancemakers, Tangente, Toronto Independent Dance Enterprise, and Bill Coleman's North American Experience. He has participated as an accompanist and/or dancer in performances by Fujiwara, Small, Danceworks, the North American Experience, and others.
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Discography

Releases:
Improvised (2 versions)   Music Gallery Editions ... 1978
Moose And Salmon (LP, Album)   Music Gallery Editions 1978
Spoors (Cass, Album)   Not On Label (John Oswald Self-released) 1982
Kissing Jesus In The Dark (Cass)   Mystery Tape Laboratory 1983
Discosphere (CD)   ReR Megacorp 1991
Recycled Music (Cass)   RRRecords 1991
Plexure (CD)   Avant 1993
Acoustics (CD)   Les Disques Victo 1994
Grayfolded (Album) (2 versions)   Artifact Music ... 1996
Tummysuckle Ruse (7")   Lunamoth 1996
Parcours Scénographiques (CD)   Avatar / OHM éditions 1997
Bloor (CD)   CIMP 2000
69 Plunderphonics 96 (2xCD + Box)   Seeland, fony 2001
Complicité (3xCD)   Les Disques Victo 2001
Dearness (CD)   Spool 2001
aparanthesi (CD)   Empreintes DIGITALes 2003
Chronophotic: Cinéma De L'immobile / Moving Stills: CensusQ (CD + DVD)   Avatar / OHM éditions 2004
Number Nine (CD)   Emanem 2006
Timefields & Maritides (CD, Album, Enh)   Musicworks 2007
Mystery Tape - X2 Version 2.2 (Cass, Album)   Mystery Tape Laboratory  
Mystery Tape LX Version 2 (Cass, Album)   Mystery Tape Laboratory  
Mystery Tape XX (Cass)   Mystery Tape Laboratory  
Plunderphonic (Cass)   Mystery Tape Laboratory  
Sampler (Cass)   Mystery Tape Laboratory  
Remixes:
Happy Ending / It's A Beautiful Day (12") It's A Beautiful Day (... Matador 1997
Remix Album: Happy End Of You (3 versions) It's A Beautiful Day (... Matador 1998
Wingspan EP (CD, Maxi) Book Of Wings (Plunder... Wicklow 1999
Experimental Remixes (EP) (2 versions) Explo Mute Records Ltd. 2000
Walter Ruttmann Weekend Remix (CD, Comp) Wknd 58 Intermedium Records 2001
Mix:
aCCoMpliCes (CD, Album)   Les Disques Victo 1998
Appears On:
Ice Death (LP)   Parachute 1977
Electric Eye (LP, Album)   Voicespondence 1979
The Great Toronto Drummers Greatest Recordings (3xLP + Box)   Music Gallery Editions 1979
Boot & Fog (LP)   Music Gallery Editions 1980
Danseparc (LP, Album)   RCA 1983
Maritimes & Newfoundland (Cass, Comp)   Musicworks 1983
Music As Transformation (Cass, Comp, C60) Fire, Fire Musicworks 1983
A Walk Through The City (Cass, Comp, C45) Walking Musicworks 1984
Musicworks 28: Electroacoustic Music In Canada (Cass, Comp, C45)   Musicworks 1984
The Music Of James Tenney: Selected Works 1963-1984 (Cass, C90) Spectral CANON For CON... Musicworks 1984
An Atlas Of Scores (Cass, Comp, C45)   Musicworks 1985
Rē Records Quarterly Volume 1 Number 2 (LP, Comp, + M) Mystery Tapes 1 Rē Records 1985
Sound Constructions (Cass, Comp, C45) Cracklebox Musicworks 1985
Times & Tides (Cass, Comp, C45) Fade In Breathing, Roo... Musicworks 1985
Anything Goes (LP, Album)   Creative Works 1986
Musicworks 34: There Is No Reason To Believe That Music Exists (Cass, Comp, C45)   Musicworks 1986
Ars srA (LP) Vivace! ADN 1987
Musicworks 40: Sonic Mappings (Cass, Comp, C60) Speaker Swinging (Exce... Musicworks 1987
Rē Records Quarterly Volume 2 Number 1 (LP, Comp) Parade Rē Records 1987
Plunderphonics (12")   Mystery Lab 1988
MCMXC (Cass, C60)   ZH27 1990
CMCD: Six Classic Concrete, Electroacoustic And Electronic Works 1970-1990 (CD) Parade, Parade ReR Megacorp 1991
Death Of Vinyl (CD, Comp) Brown DOVe 1991
Hope You Like Our New Direction (LP, Album) Edge Of The World Reckless Records (2) 1991
Rubáiyát (CD, MiniAlbum, Promo)   Elektra 1991
The Magnificence Of Stereo (CD, Album)   Sruti Box 1992
This Piano Thing (CD)   Swerve Editions 1992
Musicworks 57 (CD, Album)   Musicworks 1993
Decisive Moments: Hot Real-Time Electro-Acoustic Collective Composition (CD, Album)   Track & Light Recordings 1994
Musicworks 64: Sound Ecology 3 - Perception (CD, Album, Comp) Koan Musicworks 1996
Giorni Felici (CD, Album) Vivace!, Vivace! Materiali Sonori 1997
aCCoMpliCes (CD, Album)   Les Disques Victo 1998
Hot Pants Idol (CD) The Ten Commandments Barooni 1999
Experimental Remixes (CD, EP) Explo Mute Records Ltd. 2000
CCMC + Christian Marclay (2xCD)   Art Metropole, Non Musica Rex 2002
Hearing Aid (CD) Interview: Members of ... Supposé 2003
Piano Mechanics / Speaker Swinging (CD, Album)   Clu Clux Clam 2005
Domo Arigato Derek-Sensei! (CD) Pre-Vou 1996 Balance Point Acoustics 2006
Depredation As Rhythm (File, Ltd)   JMF (2) 2007
Everyone Needs A Pimp (CD, Album)   Pacemaker Entertainment Ltd. 2007
Theremin In The Rain (CD, Album)   C3R Records 2007
Tracks Appear On:
Music As Transformation (Cass, Comp, C60) Fire, Fire Musicworks 1983
Music Of The Inuit And Other Voices (Cass) Kissing Jesus In The D... Musicworks 1983
A Walk Through The City (Cass, Comp, C45) Walking Musicworks 1984
NMATAPES 3 (Cass) Bird-Funk-Pause NMA Publications 1984
Rē Records Quarterly Volume 1 Number 2 (LP, Comp, + M) Mystery Tapes 1 Rē Records 1985
Sound Constructions (Cass, Comp, C45) Cracklebox Musicworks 1985
This Is Religion (Cass, Ltd, C40) Power Shitting Elephant Tapes 1985
Times & Tides (Cass, Comp, C45) Fade In Breathing, Roo... Musicworks 1985
Musicworks 34: There Is No Reason To Believe That Music Exists (Cass, Comp, C45) Making Ends Meet Musicworks 1986
Desperately Seeking Suicide (LP, Comp, Ltd) 1/2 Speed Of Pig Slaug... Priapismus Records 1987
Musicworks 40: Sonic Mappings (Cass, Comp, C60) Jazz Edit Musicworks 1987
Rē Records Quarterly Volume 2 Number 1 (LP, Comp) Parade Rē Records 1987
Rē Records Quarterly Volume 2 Number 3 (LP) Klangfarbenprobe Rē Records 1988
Musicworks 47: Cross-Cultural Exchange (Cass, Comp, C64) Nine Examples Of Plund... Musicworks 1990
CMCD: Six Classic Concrete, Electroacoustic And Electronic Works 1970-1990 (CD) Parade ReR Megacorp 1991
Death Of Vinyl (CD, Comp) Brown DOVe 1991
Quarterly Collection 1 (CD) Mystery Tapes 1 ReR Megacorp 1991
Quarterly Collection 2 (CD, Comp) Klangfarbenprobe ReR Megacorp 1991
Short Stories (2 versions) Spectre Nonesuch ... 1993
3 Fingers And A Fumb (2xCD) VT, Z Blast First 1994
Angelica 1994 (CD) Continuation In Concer... Dischi di Angelica 1994
Deconstruct (CD) Blast Packets, Sonic E... Blast First 1994
Ding Dong Deluxe (CD) Gadget 2.05 Avatar / OHM éditions 1994
Musicworks 60: Plunderphonia & Vox (CD) Power, 7th, More From ... Musicworks 1994
The ReR Quarterly Volume 4 Number 1 (CD, Album) Z ReR Megacorp 1994
Electro Clips (CD, Comp, RE) Bell Speeds Empreintes DIGITALes 1996
Angelica 1997 (CD, Comp) ! Cudegokalalumosospas... Dischi di Angelica 1998
Harbour Symphony: Music for Ships' Horns (CD) Pier Sound Arts Initiatives 1998
RRR 500 (LP, Comp) Untitled RRRecords 1998
Playbacks (CD) J.O. Complete Bingo Records 1999
Sonic Boom: The Art Of Sound (2xCD, Comp) Mad Mod Hayward Gallery 2000
Ohmix (CD) Ohmigone, Ridge Avatar / OHM éditions 2001
Walter Ruttmann Weekend Remix (CD, Comp) Wknd 58 Intermedium Records 2001
Illegal Art Exhibit (CD, Comp) Black Illegal Art 2002
Electricities - Électricitiés (2xCD, Promo) Sonic Euthenasia Canadian Music Centre 2003
Haunted Weather. Music, Silence and Memory (2 versions) Lune Staubgold ... 2004
Messiah Remix (CD, Comp) Partial Cantaloupe Music 2004
Raiding The 20th Century - Words & Music Expansion (CDr, Mixed) Way (Asher Ogre Groin)... Ninja Tune 2005
SFU 40: Celebrating Electroacoustic Music At Simon Fraser University 1965-2005 (CD, Comp) Burrows Cambridge Street Records 2005
Smiling Through My Teeth (CD, Comp) Pocket Sonic Arts Network 2008
Shir Khan Presents: Exploited (2xCD, Mixed, CD ) The Case Of Death Exploited 2009
Unofficial Releases:
Never Mind The Bootlegs (3xCDr, CD-ROM, Unofficial, MP3) Dab, Plexure, White Boom Selection 2002
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