Guild of Sonic Selectors

Kitezh

Guild Unlimited

works | history | future

marcos davidson

Jeweller to the Guild of Sonic Selectors

Members
disk jockeys, samplers, turntabulists
Patron Saint
John Cage

expanded noise hands

sonic selectors have existed since the early part of the 20th century. it is a guild for the modern music maker, with the its core being the product of individual selection. the nomadic process. choice of independent media. freedom from interference, censorship and the interpretation of others. sonic license. pioneers: the composer percy grainger with this 'free music' concepts and contraptions from the 1920s; leon theremin's electronic sound machine of 1927. to name a few. the patron saint of our guild, john cage, coined the term 'indeterminism' (the form of random music). his prophetic quote (circa 1940): 'one day music will be made by dancers for dancers'. around the 1960s west indian jamaican djs were called 'selectors'. 'toasters' were the fathers of rap. thru to the industrial music of the 70s and 80s (throbbing gristle and whitehouse spk). they spawned the 'noisicians' of japan into the 1990s.

the selectors of the early 21st century are the tactile sonic nomads - scratching, sampling, switching with delay and by the grace of 'maker's manor' a greater access to their public. with the digital medium, bestowing exponential growth upon modern music's selecting noise hands.

expanded noise hand ring with valve amplifier; bakelite and silver, 2001 (photograph Chris von Menge)

  Set of rings for right hand of Sonic Selector, featuring moveable parts

Marcos Davidson is a Gold and Bakersmith. He has always had a strong interest in music and performance, in choir, drums, alterbox, radio, and the three dimensions, and so in 1975 began an apprenticeship in goldsmithing in Melb CBD concurrently attending Collingwood Tech and RMIT Gold & Silversmithing and in 1979 started his first workshop/studio (Block Arcade Hub) also producing/presenting radio programs 3RRR, 3PBS, 3CR, ABC… playing in bands and staying up late. Bakelite (the first form of plastic) has been a central material used in Marcos’ work since ’76 or so with the same attention as platinum and gems. Marcos lives in Melbourne.