[microsound] Re: micro-publics

[Keith Labun <keith_lab@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Phil---
> Given that the kind of work that we do, either online or off, doesn't
> tend to have a large public, do people ever get weary of doing stuff? Do
> people ever get frustrated by the lack of response to their work? If so,
> (how) do you find the strength to carry on? How have people changed
> their work, if at all, in order to increase its impact and the amount of
> response it generates?
>
> [I ask this as I ponder shutting down the weblabel I've run for the last
> year because of what appears to be a lack of interest on the part of
> both artists and audiences. Have other people had similar experiences?
> I'd be interested to compare notes.]
Hi this is Jon Vaughn from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. You may know me from No 
Type.com or Slapart.com or notype.com/nishi, or from Holzkopf. Or not. I 
would like to respond to your text here.

I have been doing experimental shit of various kinds (mostly sound & 
performance) here on the prairies for at least 5 years seriously. Yah, I 
have had two people at a show before & 200 at another. And the question 
after a while becomes--how do i communicate with people & get better (more) 
feedback, etc.Yah, I can relate to your feelings here, man. :)
After a while one of the problems seemed to be the pure abstraction thing. I 
needed more content, more points of reference (especially popular and/or 
*local*), and more recognizable forms or sounds in which I could *seduce* an 
audience. Now, one of my solutions since the summer of 2001 (the year i 
first experienced mutek & more importantly --the dancy *real* minimalism of 
kompakt) has been dj'ing. This has changed everything a whole lot. I am even 
playing outdoor raves now I fucking loving it--what affetionate & exciting 
communities!!--they actually support eachother! (well, except for the dj's!) 
--there really are no clubs here *anymore* for anything but top40 (even the 
gay glub only plays top40 and anthems). Although I respect that not everyone 
wants to dj, and play dancy stuff (although you don't have to--you can get a 
way with a lot for even just putting yourself under the guise of 'dj'--and 
playing in club/rave/dj contexts--if you can get in), especially if you live 
in montreal or vancouver--cuz there is lots of people doing it already, and 
probably better cuz they've been doing it for a long time.

In Saskatchewan, the last time electronic music attracted more people than 
100 people to a show (with the exception of DIGIDOME which i will talk about 
later on), was in the days of raves, notably the *plastic puppet motive*, a 
revolutionary club & collective that hosted some of the first 'lectro 
parties of the prairies. During those days (mid-late 90s) this phenomenon 
seemed too big and I was close-minded to it, and really hated the music 
(except for the jungle & drum b bass--that was ok--although now i can barely 
stand it--ekk!) ... i just wanted my stupid noise rock shit. SO years later, 
After being exposed to kompakt & mutek, etc.etc. etc.(and in the last year 
or so, bpitch control! ye-ah!!), already being a insanely fanatical about 
minimalism in general, it suddenly *clicked* for me, I liked minimal dance 
music!  & i loved the crowd!!!(i talked to & met way more people (& friendly 
people) at mutek than victo!--I expected the opposite) and previous to that, 
one night after a frustrating performance that i did in my drama class in 
university, i felt so betrayed by the lack of communication i seemed to be 
experiencing when i gave my 'cut-up' performance in which I had spliced 
together a bunch of texts making no sense,etc...when i got home...for some 
reason...i had the urge to listen to britney spears...it was just in my 
head..and i couldn't get it out....in 2001 the song was 'stronger'...so i 
checked it out--and have not been the same since. Needless to say, it was 
'healing'!! Now, I realize that britney and dance music is not for 
everyone--especially the people on this list!--but I offer it as an example 
of how I emerged from self-referencial abstraction and into a work that was 
still experimental, but worked with things that other people knew and saw, 
often on an everyday basis. Now, I realize, you might be like: BIG FUCKING 
DEAL!!!!! what the fuck is new about this? Sure, valid point, but the other 
point I am trying to make is that i was hiding behind abstraction (and 
earlier on, angst). It was not until I opened up &  sang a song, or to 
danced to a funky beat with lots of people or alone on the dance floor--that 
i really felt vulrenable & like I was taking a risk--and when people see 
that you are vulrenable too--there is a possibility that they won't be as 
ignorent or non-impressed or non-interested in what your work, they open up 
to you when they see evidence that you share their world...--and then you 
feed em the noise!!!!! whoop-pish (crack o' the whip!) haha just kidding 
(yes & no). Any ways... I think CONTENT is really important...and working 
with reference points for people. obviously jim o'rourke & john zorn are 
examples of people that are 'dealing' with these problems in creative & fun 
ways too...my apologies for the all-too-popular avant garde references...so 
not suitable for this list ;) .

.... and my 3rd point is to respond to what the other person said, Claudio, 
in that it's importnat for us audio artists to collaborate, especially with 
people & things that are don't do audio, or who are not audio (or even 
human--or at least--not male!![in our cases, phil]) Recently in my Montreal 
performance at my CD launch with No Type at the Rien-a-Voir festival 
sub-series, Prerien, my collaborator(Max Haiven from halifax) and I, 
included many non-electronic, and even non-sound elements into our 
performance--keeping in mind the festival's mandate that their is 
'nothing-to-see'..but played with that to a very high extant. We began the 
performance with Max playing field rec from a forest with spooky 
horror-esque music very quiet--and i *crawled* (*Ringu* style--like that 
chick when she comes out of the tv and gets ya!) down the the stairs to the 
theatre floor--with a blanket over me--head first--really slow...(remember 
there's nothing to see--even for me!) this was highly enjoyable for me & i 
tried to communicate the pastiche-horror-suspence of the music--keeping it 
from remaining an pure abstraction...and we did other things as well like 
write letters (that non one saw--remember nothing to see), strangle a 
turntable with rope (kill sound before it kills you! haha), drop things (by 
accident--oops was that a glitch?), and toped it off by *singing* the liner 
notes from our cd --ballad style--without microphones-- a highly silly but 
*benevolent* gesture & ending to a really spooky (or stupid for some i don't 
know) performance. I don't know what most people thought that weren't our 
close friends--but they definately will not forget soon---as Montreal 
concert go-ers are often subject to amnesia & apathy due to the number of 
shows that take place on a daily basis.

Yah, so use visuals-it helps. use your body-it helps. use your voice-it 
helps. & don't be afraid to use narrative sometimes--i have definately been 
afraid to for too many years. narratives don't have to make sense or sound 
nice, also---ALSO--to reference the old rave days again, hosting events in 
weird or unlikely spaces helps too. Last year I co-programmed & coordinated 
an audio_visual event with local artist-run centre, Paved art & new media, 
entitled DIGIDOME--and yah, it took place in a Golf Dome--with five video 
projections onto the dome itself & on separate screens--it was wild!!! that 
sure attracted the public's attention a bit. :)

So yah, these are the words of someone who has been trying to do 
experimental shit in SASKATOON -SASKATCHEWAN of all places. And I'm still 
kickin'. This summer I am co-programming & performing at the *unofficial* 
sequal to Digidome (not in a dome this time)called Phantom Power 
in------NORTH BAY, Ontario!!! Talk about outreach--ya-ah!! My advice is that 
if you are not getting the reaction (or any reaction) from your audiences 
that you desire--than don't be afraid to jepordize your work--put it in a 
state in which even ---the microsound list--- might not know what to think 
of it...find out what you are ashamed of...or what other's are...or what you 
are afraid to like---if anything...cross the bounderies between music & 
non-music--whatever that may be.. find out what other people who don't come 
to your shows like--try to work with OTHER peoples tastes---like source 
material!!!!! work with artist-run centres---there are so many in Van! 
(sorry if you already do) work in different spaces---unlikely spaces, etc. 
appropriate & transform, etc. (fade out into artspeak..)
BUT--you know *all* of this already---you're a master's student in fine 
art---you're very intelligent--maybe you should be dumb instead? or do bad 
art? when all else fails---think of WARHOL!!!
don't forget humour!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! or as the 'guide to 
performance art' tells us: when all else fails--just take off your 
clothes!!!!! ;P

& about your web-label--don't shut it down!!! i have been working on a 
submission to it for 2 years!!! (sorry I have never told you)--and guess 
what--(i'm not lying)--it's called "public"!!!!! and practicly about what we 
are talking about here... 
weeeeeeeeeeiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiirrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrd!!!!!! .... there seems to be 
an excess of web labels out there--but it will decrease. or at least be 
threatened--cuz as david turgeon notified the notypers recently--'the age of 
free server space is over!!!' .. . . . . try to envolve your physical 
community in your weblabel...why not make little hand-bills for it with new 
releases mentioned, etc... that is what i am going to do my partner carrie 
gates' & I's web label --oops, sorry that's another topic, another email, 
--so it's back to the grindhouse for jon!

p.s. please accept this email with the consideration that it is meant with 
the ut-most benevolence, i am not trying to tell you what to do or how to 
do, just offering suggestions based on my own experiences with a very 
similar problem to yours.

aufweidersehn!

jon vaughn

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