The next assignment went over my head as I have been busy in other activities. I often have the feeling that I am not studying enough while also learning much outside of the coursework. I want to allocate more time for study and research to gain more from the course.
I thought I would discuss some other elements of my practice. Recently I have been performing regularly and have had some interesting realisations around my work. I play live electronic music, often in dance settings, with music that could be described as euphoric, wholesome and hyperfolk-ish. Other buzzy words are oaty jigs, celtic hardcore and cute music. I’ve felt by describing my music in terms that stand out and perplex people is effective in giving homage to my unique sound and vision. It also makes people curious and wanting to come to an event. Until recently I would give more open terms like electronic or ambient, which do not tend to excite people. Being humble is attractive but is it a powerful agent of our times? I like more the idea of creating excitement and positivity around the work. I would even claim that fake humility is prevelant in some electronic music genres that are male dominated. So my agenda is to do homage to my work by imagining that others could benefit from listening. There is clearly ego here, bubbling away, as I run around meeting people, but I believe that is neccessary for carving out the space and platform that I want for my music. It is a tender juggling process to not get consumed in an individualist mindset.
Buzzy buzzy. After performing I have feelings of emptyness and sadness. I wonder what really happened, did I say what I wanted to say?
The pace is so fast that I have little time to prepare a set. I only use a launchpad and my laptop so there is a reduced space for expression. I realised I want to step back from performing and implement more tools of expression to make the performance more live. Also, after a recent set the sound was so distorted, and my vision was not shared with the audience. I have a lot of work to do in sound design and mixing to handle bigger sound systems.
A few days ago I played in Iklectik in the garden space. I really ejoyed playing outside.
Now with some friends we are planning outdoor events. With a portable stereo system and radio system, we have a center output of sound with different outputs dotted around, from radios and bluetooth speakers with recievers. All will be connected to a pirate radio frequency. We will set up in public spaces, with a battery since the set up is small, and invite performers and DJs to play. In our utopian vision, members of the public will dance together outside in an unexpected sound and movement experience. Performers will have an opportunity to express themselves without the restrictions of club spaces. Little money will be needed to set this up. I am thinking of the tem sonic flocking. Body body body! Sound arts needs to prioritize embodiement to harness the healing nature of sound and movement experience.
To continue the revolution folx will dismantle their phones into garden robotics to assist the new food growing communites.
My most recent performance: