> > >> I imagine .. clubs in the future having visceral sound systems > that react to > >> the audience emotion levels. > > > > isnt that what having a good deejay and lots of bass is for?!?!?! > > there is no technological advances necessary! the best deejays have > > that on lock. > > Yes. But I am also interested in removing the mediator (the Dj) > > This reliance we have on an individual to make the choices for the group is > interesting. However what if we remove that role and create musical > environments where the group themselves are the instigators.
who instigates the instigators? the group itself? then there is no audience and it's all performers and you end up with another group of people jamming in a basement what if someone decides not to participate but to merely observe? there will always be people who feel more comfortable observing (people go to clubs and don't dance) then the whole bloody experiment is undone who sends out the invites for the "happening"? who designs the software that creates this autonomous music? what personal choices does he/she put into the design? there will always, at some level, be an individual making choices for the group it's an illusion to this otherwise > Sure it sounds strange .. but we are talking about new forms of music, new > ways for music to be created and influenced. sorry, I don't buy it music is created and influenced in the same ways and means that it has always been someone hears something and wants to recreate it or express their own feelings about it A software designer is the same as a guitar maker - they add their own spice based on what they've heard before > For me there is something deeply curious about removing the Dj, the band, > the performer and making the audience a self reference. Moving the social > reliance away from the need to have someone responsible for the situation. someone is always responsible for the situation - see above just depends on how far back into the situation you're willing to look this audience triggered device isn't going to design and build itself > Its the removal of the centre, the ego, the singular control mechanism. It's > about creating new types of social structures, new types of dynamic, new > music ?! well, you either have a person being the control mechanism (DJ) who can observe the room, take in emotional levels, combine them with her/his own, and spit back out something unexpected (like stopping the music and telling a story to the audience that has some relevance to what's going on) or you have a machine take in parameters, numbers, equations, and mix them with something that has been programmed into it (and a slower learning curve) and then spitting it back out hopefully matching where an audience wants to go if the emotion is high - does the machine take it higher? Sounds like a bad "trance" DJ to me. what happens if people leave the floor? does the machine start to sweat and change up the music to start a new mood? damn, does all this "getting rid of the ego" have anything to do with bad DJs just being bad DJs? > > >> Or music that you purchase that is an environment, a sonic landscape that > >> is interactive and changes according to the time of day. > > > > isnt that what an ipod is for? mixtapes? > > Yes .. but these devices are isolating people from one another to a degree. > > My (fanciful) suggestion for music as environment is again towards an idea > of music as the interactive medium. Something that is shared or reflective > of the surroundings that it exists in. > > Do we always have to think of music as a personal product? it is a personal product - music *is* a personal product what is wrong with it being so? Ever heard "music as environment" - it's called Muzak. It's sh!t. Even if the dancers on the dancefloor become the trigger for the music then the dancers are the ego the good dancers are going to be all over the floor the people who don't think they dance well will be at the bar - someone will complain that the ego has only changed hands > > >> I think the idea of music as a static object of fixed entity will > become very > >> old fashioned soon. Music will be regarded like plants, something that > >> grows and evolves has a life of its own. > > > > if music is not fixed, what is the point of the artist even existing? > > surely computer programs can just take over at that point and provide > > any number of emotionless theoretical iterations of whatever piece of > > music you insert into it. > > We are trying to imagine new music. > > In our current situation of music the artist has become the iconic figure > at the centre of the music. Often positioned as more important than the > music or the sole reason for the music to exist. are you listening to Top 40 pop music and reading the music mags? > We are having this discussion on 313 aren't we? Techno music is full of > artist who have removed themselves from the music. Leaving the music > to exist on its own. like who? UR built up an entire legend and backstory around their music even though for a long time few people knew who they were Drexciya did the same Moodymann does the same even by being reclusive you build personae I'd say the more reclusive you are the bigger it gets in people's minds > Anyway music is already dissolving as a static object. The recorded medium > has already lost the value that has been trumped up for it. really? tell that to the Northern Soul DJs and all the indie rock labels that are putting out vinyl records first (along with mp3s) all the limited edition collector CDs/records - limited 500 pressings on coloured wax with hand-made covers look into the indie rock world and it's insane the amount of very personal recordings - very DIY stuff I got one CDr from an artist that fat taped hand painted artwork onto a sleeve, hand stamped the artwork onto the CD and then inserted a paper slip saying that if a certain graphic was on the CD you could send in a photo and they'd paint it put it on a postcard and then other people could buy LIMITED EDITION prints of it - the CD is sold out now and someone recently came forward with the graphic so I expect a hand painted postcard to be created by the musician very soon - and I expect that to sell out quickly that's anything but losing value in the recorded/physical medium and that doesn't get registered by SoundScan or get covered in Billboard or any other major label industry rag that is declaring vinyl or CDs dead in favour of mp3s and digital media if anything, I think more people want to connect with musicians on a more personal level than any time before look at how myspace hs blown up - musicians linking directly with fans - and fans want a physical thing they can hold to connect them to that artist > > personally, i think the artist's viewpoint *IS* the music, otherwise > > it is just sound. > > Have you been given this understanding or is this the way music "IS" > > In more some cultures the songs existed in themselves and the musician > was just a performer a artisan who studied the ways to convey the music. what cultures have songs existed in themselves? > Currently we are in a culture of celebrity .. isn't this partly of what the > complaints are all about. That the music is not about the music anymore? you are talking about Top 40 aren't you.... we've always lived in a culture of celebrity - in some cultures it's the best drummer in the village > I don't think great music needs a central figure to make it good. The artist > is entirely able to remain transparent. Plus I am not suggesting that the > type of music I imagine is not created by an artist. nope, sometimes it take a whole band of players who play well together most often when you go to see an orchestra you don't see the composer - you see the conductor and all the other players they all get applause at the end of the performance any good dance floor will have an audience/dancers clapping at the end - if it's right they should be clapping for each other because they've all had a part in taking it higher the DJ should be thanking the dancers, the dancers thank the DJ, the dancers thank each other (applauding yourself) for making the night what it was > In response to the question .. I am proposing that we treat music and > the environments for music in completely new ways. I don't think this > dismisses the Artist, but it might place the artist in a different position > than they currently exist. funny - the same type of talk was going on when DJs were "replacing" live bands I think people are just having a more difficult time interacting with each other removing the DJ or placing the artist into a different position won't change any of that I just don't know if people even understand why they are going out to a nightclub at all anymore MEK
