Count off, sampling and Kirk Pearson's unpersoned "Going Up"

Last Sunday, I was talking with my friend about De La Soul intense sampling style and at some point the conversation veered further into conceptual art territory of supercuts and Youtube Poop. In particular, I was asked whether there were any pieces that combined counting and sampling that weren't DJ Shadow's "The Number Song". And I remembered one - i saw it a few years back. I just couldn't remember its title.

So i've spent over 5 hours trying to find this particular plunderphonic mashup. What a nice way of spending Sunday evening. For some reason it was way harder than i thought. 

Here's what i remembered: the piece featured a countdown from one to one hundred culled together from various songs. Plain, simple and to the point. The best supercuts are always like that - they just blast through and leave you contemplating.

I first saw this piece mentioned in one of the Rate Your Music lists back in the early 2010s. After that, i saw it featured on one of the topical wikipedia pages, either Sampling or Mashup. I also vaguely remember it being on Free Music Archive. The only things i couldn't pin down was who made it and what was the title.

At first, i checked rate your music and couldn't find anything resembling that particular piece. But i have found a list with many-many unusual types of count off in pop songs. It was insightful and ultmately pointless.

Then i have checked whether the piece was still referenced on the aforementioned "sampling" and "mashup" wikipedia pages. None. I also checked "plunderphonics" page. If there were any mentions of this composition - they were long gone. Or they were still there and i just couldn't identify it correctly due to my recollection of the piece being incorrect or misrepresentative.

Then i went further down the wiki wormhole and checked pages like "Count Off" and "Counting (Music)". Once again - nothing. 

Then i went all guns blazing on google and typed every imaginable description of the composition i could think of - "plunderphonic counting off/count off/countdown composition", "countdown out of samples from different songs", "count off sound collage" and so on. There were three types of search results: 1 - DJ Shadow "The Number Song" (obviously); 2 - every children counting song ever (predictable outcome); 3 - general references to respective concepts (because there was nothing else relevant).

It felt really awkward - i was certain that i heard that piece but i just could not find any trace of it. At some point i even thought that it was some kind of Mandela effect thing or that i just imagined that piece and then forgot about it and now thought about it again but as something else. It was really confusing.

Then it hit me - if i can't find anything on the current web - why not peek at the past? After a thorough raid on Wayback Machine on every available lead - i was able to identify the track.

The name of the composition was "Going Up". It was made by Kirk Pearson. The composition was released in 2011 on an album "Please Don't Sue Me". "Going up" is made out of unaltered soundbite samples from different songs that together create a count from one to ninety-nine. The selection of samples is eclectic - among other things you get obvious Doors reference and less obvious Zager and Evans reference.

Here's what is interesting - it is scrubbed from existence. I've looked through every available Kirk Pearson release and couldn't find it. Not even the slightest mention. There were lots of stuff but not "Going Up". Why? Guess what - there is only a few things that can make things un-exist on the internet. In case creative works - it is mostly commonly a copyright violation.

The thing is - the whole "Please Don't Sue Me" album was a giant lament configuration of plunderphonics - it was a detournement of other people's stuff - culture jamming in action. The thing that propels the culture forwards and opens up new possibilities and explores new aesthetics. 

And naturally at some point the representatives of these people took action. Because we can't have conceptual art that transforms other pieces and recontextualizes them to explore certain themes and ideas - it is disrespectful and detrimental to the sources. 

It is very sad, but i'm glad i took this journey. It made me think about how unsafe and fleeting is culture jamming. But at the same, it encouraged me to move on. It is an act of defiance, and that's what art is all about.

Now, let's perpetuate the legend of "Going Up".