kleister klepstoffe

 Kleister klephoffe by bartlebooth

roolzaphone

non-random thoughts

a guest post, contributed by Quentin Korn:

Randomness, while the term is debated, can be defined as an equal chance of any outcome usually quantified by a specific number of possible outcomes. However it is logical to assume that every event is a result of and directly affected by innumerable extremely complex interlocking chains of previous events. What we call randomness is just complexity, beyond what any human being can reasonably trace back, among the major variables. For example, if you flip a coin for all practical purposes you cannot predict the outcome and it will be very close to an equal chance(randomness). However if there was a supercomputer that could chart out every variable affecting the chance of heads vs tails, such as the nicks and scratches on the coin, the angle of your thumb, etc. and calculate the PROBABILITY* to extreme precision, it would not be a completely even chance because absolutely nothing in nature/reality balances out to perfection. Similarly, if you were to have knowledge of the exact placement of every single atom in the universe since the big bang you'd be able to calculate every "random" future event, including the RESULT* of the flipped coin.

*in these examples, probability and result should be distinguished.

machine music

Since Kraftwerk the imagery of the machine has permeated electronic music. Think mechanical 4/4 beats, techno-metallic timbres, vocoded vocals, superhuman tempos. Man-Machine music. But take a closer look and you will see that this concept of machine in popular music has always been merely a metaphor, an affect. It never seriously confronts the idea of what a machinic electronic music is capable of or even what music itself can be.

Considering other concepts of machine can lead us in very different directions. For example we can take our cue from deleuze & guattari and imagine that all instruments are machines as are the bodies that play them. A guitar-machine connects to a finger-machine, a tuba-machine connects to a mouth-machine; these machines are in turn connected to a memory machine, a pattern recognition machine, a listening machine. So each instrument-machine is product, process and producer as are the machines they connect to. Or take a synthesizer, for example. Each module, be it an oscillator, a filter or an amplifier, can be thought of as a machine that processes voltages. Each module also has many points by which it connects to other modules via switches or patchcords. By connecting various modules together we create a larger machine-of-machines whose flow of electrons are a complex interaction of its various constituent parts. And if we connect this to a speaker-machine, we will hear the sound of our synthesizer-machine assembly.

Where can this machinistic view lead us? Potentially to a virtual field of sound where any music is possible, the actual music we hear being merely a product of the kinds of machines and types of connections made. A world of music that is much deeper, broader and with more difference then what popular music has offered us thus far. However there is another vital node in our music-machine which must be accounted for - us. The various modules of our synthesizer don't patch themselves together nor do they select themselves for inclusion in the machine in the first place. We do that based on our own tastes, experiences and moods, the sounds we hear on youtube and the sounds we hear only in our heads. So we are a node in the machine just as a filter or an oscillator is. At the same time we are a node in many other machines as well which in turn influence our tastes, experiences, moods, youtube views, etc. By connecting modules, listening and turning knobs we influence the flows within this synthesizer-machine of which we're a part and at the same time bridge its connection to all the machines that we're in turn connected to. More simply, we can say that we actualize a music from the potential field of virtual sound that our machinic connections make possible.

But what specifically is manifest as sound from among the limitless virtuality of our synthesizer-machine is very much related to our willingness to challenge the stable identity of music itself. And to the extent that we remain stuck in a conception of music rooted in traditional theory or popular genres we will make more or less the same music no matter what machines we use.  However if we conceive of music as an exploration of what our electronic instrument-machines are capable of, of what we are capable of, we can form entirely new connections leading to new kinds of sound experiences. These connections will not just be within our instrument-machines but across all machines of which we're a part. We can even call these sound experiences 'music' but and in doing so we will have to rid music of the fixed identity to which it has clung for generations. We will have to open it up to difference.

When Kraftwerk released the Man-Machine in 1978, they pointed the way to a new future in electronic music, one capable of overcoming the limitations of the human operator of instrument-machines. And to some extent this has occurred as seen in the 180bpm tempos of drum-and-bass or the lightning-fast arpeggios of berlin school. But because the man-machine himself remains a vital connection, the music produced will remain largely derivative unless a new consciousness emerges which fully embraces the limitless virtuality that our technology makes available.

indium forestal

 indium forestal by bartlebooth

morning constitutional

After I drop my son off at school each morning I typically take a meditative walk in nearby Rock Creek park. However, try as I may while hiking the wooded trails I can never quite fool myself into believing I'm in wilderness:

 white oak, hewed
 cries out deception
 yellow throat
 robbed of infinity
 has forgotten the question

Quentin is the superdevil