At his 1968 speech about Différance addressed to the French Society of Philosophy, Jacques Derrida said: “the subject
becomes a speaking subject only in its commerce with the system of linguistic differences; or yet, the subject becomes a
signifying (signifying in general, by means of speech or any other sign) subject only by inscribing itself in the system of
differences. Certainly, in this sense, the speaking or signifying subject could not be present to itself, as speaking or signifying,
without the play of linguistic or semiological différance. But can one not conceive of a presence, and of a presence to itself of
the subject before speech or signs, a presence to itself of the subject in a silent and intuitive consciousness?”
By titling this album Différance, which is literally neither a word (a self-referential unity of concept and phonic material) nor a
concept, the focus shifts to the possibility of conceptuality, of a conceptual process “within” the differential game of
signification.
This collection of blocks of time and sound is another effect within my musical production on which I have printed my own
vision of what I see as the richness not only of the game, but of the différance, the movement that makes the game itself
possible. And so, each one of the pieces collected here represents a short step in a long process of cleansing away the
traditional associations of a sound, in attempt to get closer to that intuitive consciousness that is located somewhere “before
speech or signs”.
For the past eight years, a correlated and particular use of electronic processes and acoustic sounds has been a very
important element in my musical work, and this is mirrored in the fact that all of the pieces collected here are either pure
electronic pieces or have an electronic element involved. Each piece focuses on different cleansing “techniques” to try getting
closer to that intuitive consciousness: Apnea tries to establish itself in the obscure boundaries of recognition between acoustic
and electronically processed sounds; in Memento, the uses of distorted sounds (although similar to those of the piano) are
intended to break our relationship to that instrument; !¿? exists in the world of uncertainty between sounds that are
intentionally crafted by a creator versus sounds that are the "accidental" result of the unpredictable; the sounds in Sturm und
Drang struggle to free themselves from their teleological destiny through manipulation of time relationships and spatial
movement within the stereo field, striving to isolate themselves from their related past and future events; the sound content of
Modem / line in renders the distinction between “noise” and “sound” irrelevant since noise is the fundamental sonic material of
its composition; Stimmtausch leads itself out of its “original” sound identity, gradually transforming the work along a curve from
pure voices to noise; Adult rated relies on the ‘harshness’ of its sound source to build its discourse; and in Dogma the incisive
use of a visual sound representation which constitutes the video component of this piece strives to change its original purpose
across time, from a technical tool of sound analysis into an actual musical representation -even notation- system.
This album symbolically closes a particular stage of my musical production. These pieces contain the many traces to what has
come to be my “present”. And, as Jacques Derrida said, “It is because of différance that the movement of signification is
possible only if each so-called "present" element, each element appearing on the scene of presence, is related to something
other than itself, thereby keeping within itself the mark of the past element, and already letting itself be vitiated by the mark of
its relation to the future element, this trace being related no less to what is called the future than to what is called the past,
and constituting what is called the present by means of this very relation to what it is not”.
Producer/Liner notes: Edgar Guzmán
Project advisor: Daniel Lippel
Special thanks: to my family, especially my mother whose unconditional support over the years provided me the opportunity to
look for my dreams. To my former composition teacher, whose open doors and "lack of guidance" led me to find my own path.
To ICE members, for their faith in my work-- I hope I'll continue to earn their respect. To Dan, for making this project an
enjoyable and enriching experience.
I also like to thank Pablo Gómez, Mauricio Náder and Rebekah Heller whose performances are included here, and Wilfrido
Terrazas who, somehow, has always been there during my career sharing the power of The Force.
