Re: [microsound] (ot) (Slightly) Politics + electronic Music

[neil jendon <n2eil@xxxxxxxxx>]

Some off the cuff, not fully thought out remarks here:

I think process is  a very honest place to express
politics. I'm always suspect of the "message" of a
song or recording. But, if an artist takes pains to
produce and distribute their art in a way that is in
line with their stated politics, I'm more inclined to
take notice.

As for the lone laptop artist, well, Uwe Schmitt must
have at least 20 different identities.
 
....but seriously, for me, the choice of playing
computer alone as opposed to a traditional instrument
in a traditional band is an easy one. I got fully sick
of hammering on the same song day after day. Every
song started to look like marching orders, regardless
of the intent of the composer.

Also, I wonder if Sly's band would agree that the
playing situation was egalitarian.

-Neil

 
--- "kranning@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <kranning@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
> 
> 
> > I have been arguing of
> > late that the desktop musician is the closest
> thing to true democracy in
> > music.  I posit that anyone with a small amount of
> money can create, record,
> > distribute and promote from the very same box for
> far cheaper than doing
> > things in a non-digital way, with better results.
> 
> you're describing the creation and distribution of
> musical product.
> but seperately, the qualities of the actual music
> itself - the musical
> organizational principles used to make it - can be
> an analogy for some type
> of political structure.
> 
> recently i realized the political content inherent
> in [laugh if you must]
> Sly + the Family Stone's "Stand!". the 'vibe' of the
> music is communal,
> egalitarian, inclusive, engaged, and fueled with May
> '68-style righteous
> anger. but more important: the actual musical
> structures and arrangements -
> the way ensemble plays together - reflects the same
> attitudes: an
> indefinably large group of individuals work together
> in a way that furthers
> their common goal, within a loose framework that
> supports each member's free
> impulses and best efforts. "from each according to
> ability, to each
> according to need." the utopian socialist ideal,
> boom-lacka-lacka-lacka.
> 
> in comparison, lone microsound auteurs seem
> disengaged/uncommitted/elitist.
> staring at laptops == very much like staring at
> navels.
> 
> 
>
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