Re: sevheads

[Julian Knowles <j.knowles@xxxxxxxxxx>]

FYI my response to Tom Ellard


> > From: Julian Knowles <j.knowles@xxxxxxxxxx>
> > being a sydney person and having occasional contact with the ex severed
> > heads people, i can say this review seems to typify their distaste for
> > newer electronic music forms.. its certainly not personal!!
>
>Ah bullshit! Complete bullshit Julian! You shouldn't say things like that.

Tom, its not necessarily an attack.. merely noticing that in conversations
i have had there appears to be a dissatisfaction in the ex severed heads
crew (primarily with Stephen and Garry who i both greatly respect BTW) with
current directions. This is  merely an observation. Now i also said that i
am fine with people having positions - we all need them, and i would never
deny a person's right to argue passionately for what they believe in as a
viable musical direction. That's important stuff..  Look, I'm about to go
off to a Francisco Lopez gig here which we are putting on and to take an
example - he HATES electronic sound sources. BUT, he has a really strong
aesthetic position and his music is incredible and a direct result of being
so incredibly focussed.. You should read my comments as follows:  OK, its
clear from your review that you find glitch culture suspect... That's
fine.. My comment is to indicate that you are coming into such a review
with that particular position and therefore your assessment of the music is
going to be permeated with that. I hope this makes the sentiment of my
comments more clear.

Now i was  surprised at the tone of Garry's blurb for his event as it
suggested that tools were everything (in a sense)... technological elitism
etc... and so on... I find this to be a bogus position and unnecessarily
devisive. - thats just my view and next tine i see Garry i'm gonna tell him
:) .. Having said that, its a good line up..(which nevertheless is not
entirely consistent with the blurb..eg Scott Horscroft us using a Lake
Huron advanced real time convolution engine - about as 'elite' as it
gets!!). But in the end its the line up and the music that really matters.
The blurb??? I reckon it sucks.. but i can thrash that out with Garry over
several hundred ales... and thats just my view, nothing more.

>I thought the piece you performed the other night at ISlacks was really
>everything I was asking for.

Thank you - that's very kind. I mean that sincerely in case email gets in
the way of communication (which it is prone to do at times)

 And the regard I have for Pimmon for example is
>again based upon the music - not anything else.

That was a joke.. but your point is taken. On a more serious note, I would
find it extremely difficult to review artists who were friends of mine...
and there is an important point to be made here.. We all review each other
in one to one (private) conversations ('hey that was the worst/best gig
i've ever seen you do...' ) , but a public review is another thing
entirely.. I just dunno how productive 'slamming' reviews are... but maybe
we can agree to disagree on that one.

I don't have a 'distaste for
>newer electronic forms' .... except when they're half arsed.

Haha.... well thats about all a person could wish for!!!

Regards

Julian




>

**********************
JULIAN KNOWLES
Co-Ordinator/Lecturer in Music Technology
Course Co-ordinator Electronic Arts
School of Contemporary Arts (Music), University of Western Sydney
Social Interiors web: http://www.geocities.com/socialinterior/