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20180701

Rasmus Hedlund Luminös Klang (2018). A good vibes summer techno track with a video by Paula. The track has a strong Maurizio vibe and the road trip music video is in baltic-style.

A Kulttuuri ykkönen episode on the power of curating. Jussi gives a good description on what culture institutions are: Factories which reproduce the past. This is why we should not expect museums, stages etc. to react to pressing political issues. They are specifically designed to keep art and life separate, which is why they cannot serve decolonial, radical identity politics (they can only create representations of these movements). He also offers an honest description of the work of curators: It’s only partly about curating.

Settling to New York City. The Fciny crew welcomed our four member family warmly. We sorted our two room apartment so that the kids have their own room. The apartment building has a gym in its basement and it’s located very close to the Grand Street in Brooklyn (Control is right next door!). Had to buy a new phone, my Oneplus3t LTE doesn’t work here. Got a Samsung 7J Prime (it’s scrappy). All of the food is coated with sugar, everyone I’ve seen has an iPhone and our apartment air-conditioner is leaking water (had to pry it open to drain it). And it’s all great! The city is more spacious then I expected.

I want a Rakit Analogue Drum Synthesizer kit.

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20180621

Why I No Longer Read Heavy Books (2018) Andy West. A touching coming of age (coping with trauma) short story. I’m particularly moved by the authors description of his father.

My father was in front of the TV, topless on the couch. I can recall the swirls of dark hair on his chest and shoulders. He was smoking filter tips and drinking beer from a can. I was sitting on the floor between him and the TV. An advert came on appealing for donations to help starving people. Gaunt African children appeared on the screen. The shape of their bones showed through their limbs. Their teeth and eyes looked cartoonishly large in their narrow faces. My father took the lid off of a tin of chocolates that was on the coffee table next to him, took out a chocolate and threw it at the screen.

Radio Enemy 008b a junky – cut-up harsh noise compilation by Yan Jun’s associates from China.

Jenna Sutela interviews Shu Lea Cheang A Network of Spores (2017).

In my view, orgasm is a very conscious, dedicated endeavor, a hard-earned pleasure that often involves durational, tedious foreplay. The Japanese word for orgasm, iku, actually means “going” rather than “coming.” Upon arriving at orgasm, in Japanese one might call out iku, iku, going, going. Between coming and going, the spark of controlled energy flows both ways. Before Tinder and Grindr, I.K.U. portrayed stored orgasm data on-the-go, ready for download and consumption, a clean transaction sans foreplay.

DIY: MIDI Thru Box a good tutorial by Marocco Dave (2017) for building a useful midi utility.

Aural Archipelago “is an online repository for the musical sights and sounds of Indonesia”. An archival project by Palmer Keen (an American DIY ethnomusicologist). A year ago I wrote that all sampler technologies colonize by default but recent afrofuturist discussions and experiences listening noise have lead me to think that samplers are not as bad as I though. It’s easy forget that we are listening to media (not sound). Digital artifacts caused by compression and other glitches are a big part of the experience. Glitches develop a secondary narrative, a stream of involuntary noises and pauses which feel very lively (every listening experience is different depending on network speeds, changes in audio player standards etc.). Digital (and particularly online) audio is more like LP than LP. Archives never preserve content, they only collect data. Archives only have political and cultural influence if we believe that a recording can capture the essence of a performance and that the subject of the recording will not benefit from it. Also… These recording are so great that I can’t complain. My favorite so far is Sarka Rangsang. Dijf Sander’s Jaipong is dope too (Massive Attack mixed with Doors) but his art could be interpreted as an appropriation.

I’m on my way to Saarijärvi (on a train via Jyväskylä). Three kids (6-12 years) are travelling alone. The youngest asked the oldest: “Sisu, which one would you like have: A years worth of ice cream or a years worth of barbecue food?”. Sisu replied: “Barbecue food of course, because it’s more expensive then ice cream”. They all nodded in silence because Sisu’s answer was so wise.

I’m having the time of my life with the Bastl Kastl and a Zoom 70cdr on a train. I’m having great results changing the different synthesis modes using the random voltage pattern generator. I’m wandering in a solid but relaxingly random ambient&noise territory. My only question is how to expand my setup from here. Zoom 70cdr is working as a plate reverb and a delay which I toggle when changing sounds. I guess I have to find a drum machine next (A Leploop Multicassa perhaps).

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20180511

Redistribution via Appropriation: White(washing) Marbles (2018) iLiana Fokianaki.

There has finally been the addition of much-needed voices and positions from outside the Western canon. Nonetheless, these voices are usually framed not only by white people but by white logics. Institutions, biennials, and mega-exhibitions attack colonial pasts, but not presents. They are quick to be politically correct and “host” the Other—while often maintaining an all-white staff, and a clearly rigidly Western approach as to how to institute.

Before attempting to address what is to be done, one must first understand the limitations of the contemporary art institution and the mega-exhibition. These forms fail to escape the mechanisms of power they wish to condemn, since they cling to a notion of “civilization” with roots in modernism that continues to structure particular modes of discourse.

When departing on a quest to define the Western and the white, one needs to take into account that the notion of “white” carries socioeconomic and political weight. The propaganda of the WWW (White Western Westphalia) order has always counted on including as many countries as possible in the definition of this Western whiteness, “modernizing” and “civilizing” them throughout the centuries, via globalization and capitalism, but simultaneously exploiting them.

Nonetheless, a clear trajectory belongs to particular countries that have always been part of the West, and another trajectory belongs to others that have hopped in and out of the Western wagon. They are not equally “white.” […] One thing is clear: whatever defines White Western Westphalia today, its de facto imposition of a supposed superiority is certainly to blame for the current socioeconomic and political realities of Europe and the world.

Music Thing Modular – Mikrophonie Berlin Full Kit (Limited Edition) is an eurorack module that has a circuit board element based on the map of Berlin. Feeling proud about the Berlin Wall Distortion! Also noticed that using green-screens for pedal demo videos is a thing now.

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20180416

Wearing my spring jacket which I surface treated using a boiled linseed & beewax mixture. Spring rain doesn’t penetrate the cotton cloth but the downside is that the jacket smells faintly like freshly cut grass. The wax-coating made the denim fabric darker and the jacket looks cool. Droplets of water stick to the surface, I feel like a cowboy or sailor. Tuned an old hoodie too, lengthened its sleeves and replaced its backside with a lighter fabric (for better ventilation). The jacket and the hoodie work well together.. Only the front and top of the garment is waterproof and the backsides allows inter-garment climate control.

Collected synths and controllers for our Oodi modular presentation from Pasila library. I received a Make Noise 0-Coast and a Arturia Beat Step Pro. They are the first instruments of the Oodi modular system and I’m the first person to loan them! We will use them with Viktor at Kontula Elektronic to demo services that Central Library Oodi studios will offer for library users. I have week to learn how to use them. I’m now a (fake) synth-expert, demoing instruments which I don’t own. I hope someone will make musicmesse-style awkward interview of us.

Preparing for a live radio interview regarding our work (Neighborizome) at the Kone foundation Lauttasaari mansion. I’ll have 5min of airtime to introduce people to Performance Architecture (I’ll refer to Alex Schweder if possible). Used the little time I had to build a case for “new mansion culture”.