Threw a spontaneous gig with a Po-12 and a Po-16 during the weekend for a birthday crowd. My efforts were received surprisingly well. Bought a Bastl Kastl 1.5 kit.
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“‘Prism House Complete Percussion Vol. I‘ is a compilation of 320 found sound samples gathered from field recordings made exclusively in New York City”. It works well (The music the band makes is sentimental). Sounds of the Junk Yard (1964) Michael Siegel is a better reference for sound of work! My favorite is “Alligator Shear” (201). Siegel’s Sounds of the Office is a classic (Perhaps it inspired the PO-24?).
I’m not sure if SOW: Blacksmith ed1 is offering anything new to the continuum of groove oriented musique concrete. I guess the publications openness (direct availability through archive.org / freesound) is it’s best merit. But there are so many great free sample packs already out there that it’s impossible to stand out. I’ve been bragging that SOW is a True-Marxist sound publication: It is NOT a representation of labor or a glorification of the labor force – It is a tool (Which can be used to to make techno). The grooves of the machines can be yielded to move our semi-unemployed bodies struggling through post-industrial landscapes.
The idea that techno is the music of the working class was announced by Jori Hulkkonen in 2011. I got to interview him during Kotimaan teknokatsaus vol 3 (16:41). Similar views are present in Jeremy Deller’s Acid Brass project. In 2011 Hulkkonen described techno as a “Human soul with the frame of the machine”. He talked about Detroit and how the cities empty industrial spaces were appropriate for social gatherings. Abandoned factories filled with bodies moving to the rhythm of machine made music. He believed that Kemi’s development as a city forged him into the artist he is today. After factories were closed and parents were unemployed, their children occupied the factory facilities, filled them with mechanical sounds and developed new cultural expressions (and industries). Techno served as a gateway for learning how to work with computers, to organize gatherings and to work creatively. It was born from necessity.
The response for SOW has been ok. People have celebrated the release on Reddit. Apparently “Industrial sounds are so hot right now” and the Novation Circuit tailored .syx has is well received (52 likes). Also got in touch with Petri Kuljuntausta who invited me to host an exhibition at Akusmata sound art gallery in the summer. I’m moving steadily into towards sound arts. The transition of migrating from performance art to post-marxist sound art has taken two years and a little under 800€ in gear investment. I regret that we didn’t explore the sonic possibilities of Jesses forge in more detail. The sounds are pretty straightforward. I guess I should apply funding for ed.2? I could ask Hulkkonen etc. to produce songs from the sounds too.
Interesting audio slicer, loopers and scratch emulators as VST: kammerl.de/audio/. Beat-Repeat Effect is also available for
Mutable Instrument’s Clouds.
Visited Ars17 at Kiasma. Not as scary as I thought. Simple stuff. It felt homemade and I was only scared by Ilja Karilampi.
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Magnus Lidström developer of PO-32 for Teenage Engineering discussing software and hardware development with Cuckoo. He has made artificial intelligences work for him: Patternarium offers beats made by algorithms (users can help make them better).
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Met with Andrew Gryf Paterson and Alexander Fleischmann at the HIAP residency in Suomenlinna and participated in an informal stroll around the island, which was organized to discuss “Undisciplinarity”. The theme is related to Paterson upcoming PhD thesis. The event was a part of the HIAP public program. I got to know Paterson when he was working for Pixelache and witnessed his impact on New Media Arts scene in Finland. Pixelache events and festivals brought together craftspeople, farmers, junkyard scavengers, programmers, circuit benders and artist working with video/sound. Rather than identifying and boxing in different genres of new media arts, Paterson was interested on what kind of social and ecological implications different technologies have.
He invited cultural heritage specialists, craftspeople and new media artist to the same front. The technologies they used were not judged based on how old they were – Digital dongles and stone axes fitted on the same desk. For him it was more important to find commonalities and joined motivations across different fields of creative life. It is important to organize behind joined dreams concerning the future and not to allow contemporary technology to segregate us (This premise has practical use in organizational tasks: Hosting a meeting with good food is way more efficient than sending emails).
Paterson has been influential to the development of Ore.e Refineries. The Pixelversity “Unconfrence on Art and Sustainability” in 2011 was a particularly fun event and we launched the NO-CHAIR-DESIGN campaign there. He’s currently working on a text “Reflections on Soil Future(s), Present(s) and Past(s)”. I’ll try to cover it in detail after it’s been published the RIXC “Open Fields journal”.
Got a PO-14 for a -60% discount! and now I could make gig using only Teenage Engineering gear. Also got the Cyanogenmod 13 (Based on Android Marshmallow 6.01) working on my Galaxy S3 (I9300). The device is slow but usable (I might have to return to Cyanogenmod 11 or other rom variant to make it snappier). Currently editing the Grey Cube Gallery video documentations.
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Browsed through a video explaining the Teenage Engineering crews design thinking. In the video Thomas Howard talked about what happens when we move from interfaces being metaphors for real life to interfaces being something else. I guess this is same change in tone is evident in art too. We’re moving from art being a representation of something to art being something else.
Getting prepared for the Ihme-days events on 1.4. We talked on Radio Helsinki about the “Hear and There+” project with Hassan Maikal (aka. Bizzyiam). The show is also available as a podcast which they are marketing with provoking catchphrase.
Went for lunch outdoors with Heini, Topi and Helena. We warmed sausages. Got news that I’m not among the group of invitees to continue the application process for the post of part-time Lecturer of the MA Degree Programme in Ecology and Contemporary Performance. I’m not as disappointed as I’d expect… I guess I was prepared for the rejection. Here is a link to the letter of interest I send them.
Pietari Kylmälä, Aleksis Salusjärvi, Maaria Ylikangas published a clever article Länsimaiden perikato ja uusfossiilisen aikakauden estetiikka (in Finnish) looking at how poorly art museums are equipped to counteract neo-liberal policies.
Got a nice email from Artsi museum about a potential writing gig for their upcoming exhibition. Last week I send them a relaxed inquiry about summer jobs.