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2 videos and a lot of venting
StoreTags: video, stop motion, minimal, crap
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So I've been in NY for about 7 months, and have been getting kind of disillusioned about the scene here. I grew up reading about mind blowing events that would happen with regularity. John Cage was friends with Jackson Pollock, and Merce Cunningham (among others) and they all met frequently at some bar where they would talk about stuff then put together mind blowing works. I've been scouring the scene pretty hard since I've gotten here, and have yet to find something that really blows me away.
Aside from that, I can't even find SAFE experimentalish stuff. Things that are categorized under the umbrella term experimental because they come out of a tradition that has its roots there. When searching for shows, I tend to find a lot of minimal house, or free jazz. 12k, although based in NY, only has shows in europe as far as I can tell. Big venues like Roulette and The Stone have very "safe" experimental artists. I saw Fred Frith and Pauline Oliveros live, and although I liked it a lot more than most of the improvised music I've seen in NY, it left a lot to be desired. Other venues claim to book experimental artists, but that usually means an indie rock band that's too crappy to go mainstream. In order to apologize for their lack of skill or musicality, they claim to be experimental, but it really means that the balance is waaay off, and there's no sense of rhythm even though they're clearly trying to lay down a beat.
This brings me to my main rant. I love the work of Keith Fullerton Whitman, Sebastien Roux, Joe Colley, Rhys Chatham, Rafael Toral, Sawako, and a whole lot of other artists who might either be impressive to name drop or wankerish. I don't really care. I love their sounds, and I know that there are other people who do as well. I know there are people who are even more underground who do stuff in a similar vein...or perhaps they do something TOTALLY different and mind blowing, however, there's a good chance I'll never be able to go to a show to see them since they don't have a drummer and a singer who will whine about crap that the kids are into these days, and yet they're far too tonal to interest the academic pricks. I would have thought that if I'd be able to see these artists live anywhere, it'd be in NY, but I was horribly mistaken.
I'd like to emphasize that I'm not looking for personal glory. Playing shows and seeing them are 2 different things. I'd like to be able to leave my apartment every now and then and actually see a show that defies both popular music and academic wankery. I like watching academically sanctioned concerts, and I like going to punk rock shows, or seeing disco dj's or whatever. It's all good, but the stuff that really blows my mind is impossible to find. I'd love to see a laptopist live who didn't feel the need to rock the beats.
I'm totally disillusioned. Here are 2 videos I did almost a year ago. Both are studies in micromovement...nothing new, but new to me. They don't really mean anything and I'll be the first to admit that I don't know crap about video. I basically liked the idea, so I made them, and will hopefully make more in the near future. This isn't really the proper place to post them, and they won't make you want to dance or laugh or anything. Like most of the tracks I post, I'm doing it because I don't really know what else to do with them.
I'm at the point where I'd much rather people think I suck at what I do than to feel like I need to do something people would like. I've made music (electronic and otherwise) that has seen MINOR popularity, and it never feels as good as the stuff that risks having the pa turned off in the middle of your set, or the curtain closed.
Feel free to start a flame war. It might lead to interesting conversation/debate.
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06/30/07
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lilt
well in auckland we have a small noise scene but they are very regular, at least once a week
the problem i find is, as you mentioned tripnik, its extremely 'safe' its all boring as fuck drone stuff...really clean, moves from quiet to loud and back
i just want to yell 'fuck that shit up!!!' and jump at them and smash their laptops over my head and connect their cables into my nose
yeah...it sucks...
oh and we have whiney rock bands as well
that it
even the underground hiphop guys never play live because they barely get a crowd, despite hiphop being so 'big' in new zealand people only care about big amercian artists...not realising they have underground hiphop artists that are 10x better in auckland
/rant
but i totally understand!!!
06/30/07
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Tripnik
ha, my live set would piss you off. I'm totally one of those boring droney people. In the interest of my laptop and your head, I'll try to avoid visiting new zealand ;)
07/02/07
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Leo
I live in Bowling Green, Ohio. It is a very small town. Just a few years ago, there was a great deal of music happening all over our little town. Most of it was rock, but it wasn't all bad. There is a band from here called Stylex who everyone went to see. (They had an SH-101, and really wrote catchy songs.) Then, they only started playing in Toledo, our bigger city to the North. Then, there were a few bands that replaced them with punk, which knew their roots, and wasn't that bad. Then there was pop-punk, now it is just whiny skinny white guys on stage with funny hair or a drug problem. Also, it use to be you'd pay three to four dollars to get in the door. Now, even on a f'ing Tuesday it is ten bucks. No one wants to pay that. The bar is losing money because they have to charge more because smoking was banned in our bars. People are staying home more because house parties provide smoking, drinking, and any other form of frowned upon fun.
Despite all of that, there is a small but steady group of electronic musicians in Bowling Green that never really go away. Annually, we have the Black Swamp Arts Festival. The first time I performed there was in 2000. Billed as "The Electronic Stage", it has moved from a tiny tent in the middle of the street, to the Commons Area, and now we play in a historic theater, with big sound and all. Solvent played last year. (I was pretty happy to be on the same bill as Solvent.) I help a lot of these guys put together albums or figure out what kind of synth they need, and such like that. It occurred to me while reading this, that if we weren't out there, doing it anyway, it wouldn't be there. The general thrust of what I'm saying is: "Keep at it." If we didn't play to empty floors from time to time, there wouldn't be any fun to it. It comes with experimentation. About three weeks ago, a friend of mine played at a local bar. There was a bachelorette doing a bar crawl in the back, and about half a dozen of us watching him. No one we didn't know was there to see him. That didn't matter too much to him, though. Last week, he played at the same place, on the same night of the week, and after an hour or so of this set, someone none of us knew showed up and made his way from the bar to the stage. He stayed there, and hung out after the show.
Also, I saw Hrvatski in this tiny bar in Cleveland called "Speak in Tongues". I heard they were shut down due to a liqour license problem. Shame, it was sweet. Girl Talk, Hrvatski, and Greg Davis, all for $3...
07/02/07
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mirm
it's not where you are--it's where you're at.
(at least you have a community to vent to.)
move somewhere where you'll be happy without a scene.
this seems to be a re-occuring theme on this site:
jaded electronic musician seeks greener pasture to play (insert sub-genre here) electronic music to an appreciative audience.
I just don't think it's that easy.
There is no "place" for what you are searching for.
luck and health
07/02/07
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Tripnik
yeah, I was in an incredibly pissy mood when I posted the original message. Eventually I realized that I was complaining about a boring scene, but in the meantime I wasn't creating anything that was much more than a rehash of old ideas formulated by other people. Since then I've tried to redirect my frustration into creating something worthwhile.
You're totally right...it'd be the same no matter where I was living. I guess this blog was more of a realization that those musician havens that books and movies would have us small town kids believing in just doesn't exist. Another step closer to becoming a real live adult!
07/02/07
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mirm
* It's ok to be jaded.
Being honest with yourself concerning frustration is realistic.
It's good that you can channel your frustration into something more worthwhile.
I think that it is the fodder of the bohemian artist.
My old roommate commented to me at a gig we played this last weekend in Austin--stating:
"when you lived in austin you were much more prolific.
you were jaded, hung out on the porch and chain-smoked and bitched about the "scene" (which is funny b/c Austin is pretty thriving)
which made you spend more time in the studio--playing less gigs, but making sure the ones you played were far more worthwhile..."
I've tried to make this a focus...less time gigging, more time writing
(except i've quit smoking and learned to laugh a little more in the face of the futility of it all)
07/04/07
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notcool
Wait! I think I have a new idea. My god, I can't believe that nobody has thought of this before. It's slowly coming into focus:
D
*come on, idea, come out of the darkness*
D....I
*you can do it!*
D.....I......Y !!!
*that's it. That's fucking it! Yes!*
But, wait, I'm sure I've heard of that before. Some people might even be doing it. Wow.
07/08/07
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soundhdack
check out nyc's finest: Video&NR=1
07/08/07
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soundhdack
sorry. again, check out nyc's finest: link
07/08/07
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soundhdack
LOL!!! what be wrong with em411? definitely takes the drama out of the video. the real one, that is. anyway, once again, and finally, check out nyc's finest: link
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