15
QUESTIONS TO AUTISTICI
TOKAFI.COM
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The
release of "Volume Objects" on 12K set the record straight
on two things: That Autistici was a netlabel artist, strictly
focussed on offering his music for free and tightly glued to the
aesthetics of Creative Commons Licences. And, secondly, that it
was essentially a project expressing itself in short formats,
in tracks, EPs and on a plethora of compilations generously doled
out over a slew of digital record companies. Instead, "Volume
Objects" was a staggeringly associative, stylistically diverse
full-length effort by a composer capable of expressing him with
a rich palette of sounds and with arrangements revealing a mind
which worked decidedly different from that of his colleagues.
In combination with the included booklet of photography inspired
by the music (courtesy of 12k boss Taylor Deupree), it even turned
into the very antithesis of a netlabel release: A multimedia work
of sensual haptics, which you needed to touch and feel to fully
comprehend. Hiding behind the Autistici banner is David Newman,
an artist for whom pure sound is the soundtrack to his life, transforming
the noises and sonic emmissions around him into into subtle short
stories in his oeuvre ("Composition is the ordering of sound
into a meaningful narrative", as he puts it himself). Building
his pieces along the lines of an idea and always keeping a gentle
control on their growth awards his music an urgency often lacking
in electronic experimentation - as well as adding a feeling of
great musicality. Even though this turns him into a source of
creativity sui generi rather than into a member of a clear-cut
genre, his work as head of the Audiobulb label unites similarly
minded forces under a highly appealing roof. It is another thing
he has set the record straight on: Just because something doesn't
have a name doesn't mean it is without meaning.
Hi! How are you? Where are you?
Hi. I’m well. I am in my studio on the computer. There is
the sound of water running through a metal container being played
in a piece of audio I’m listening to.
What’s on your schedule right now?
No schedule. Just sleep, eat, work, create, listen, stop &
sleep. I’m always working on something. I’m thinking
about future live gigs and planning how sounds will work in the
environments I’m playing in. I’m collecting sounds
for projects I’m working on.
What’s your view on the music scene at present? Is there
a crisis?
From my perspective there is no crisis. However, I do not view
myself as part of a wider scene. I have connections, people I
know who make music and play live. We’re all happy as far
as I know. We’re feeling strong and creative. There may
be a crisis from some people’s perspective. I know the market
is changing and this creates a space for uncertainty, maybe a
space for negative equity for those who have invested in the wrong
business models and cannot adapt quickly enough.
Do you see yourself as part of a certain tradition or as part
of a movement?
No, not beyond the generalities of working with sound, ambience,
space, concrete noises and abstract noises. I see myself in the
moment, concerned with my work, my immersion in the sound. That
is the only way to give the material the attention it requires
to do it justice – to explore what I can bring. I acknowledge
that my work is inspired and influenced by everything I have ever
heard. I bring what I bring and some of that will be unique.
What, would you say are the factors of your creativity? What
“inspires” you?
I’m inspired by sound and what it communicates. I am fascinated
by the fact that the same sound can bring confusion to one person
and clarity to another. I’m interested in not just what
sound is but what sound does. For me sound has the power to provoke
strong internal states such as wonderment, anxiety, joy or peacefulness.
How would you describe your method of composing?
When musicians play music, they play with sound. Play is the key
activity. Like a child with paint or clay – you start with
nothing and you become focussed on a colour, a form and tool of
sculpture. It starts with a sound, its form and function laid
bare. I let it play repeatedly and respond to the emotions it
conjures within me. You wonder what it can do, where it can be
taken. I do not write with a preconceived idea of an end point.
I become immersed in the sound and the process I have undertaken
so many times takes over. My interest in the material stimulates
my ‘critical ear’ to inform, shape and supervise the
audio output. There is a stream of consciousness; there is a sense
of dissociation from the outside world, a complete immersion in
the sound. I find the process both exhilarating and cathartic.
There is a sense that something is being resolved within me as
I manipulate the sounds to form a cohesive narrative.
How do you see the relationship between sound and composition?
Composition is the ordering of sound into a meaningful narrative.
The narrative can work at many different levels – temporal,
structural and aesthetic elements all combine to provoke the listener’s
response.
How strictly do you separate improvising and composing?
I don’t. Improvising is composing in the here and now. A
live improvisation does not allow for the audio output to be undone.
A studio composition allows the artist to stop at any point and
analyse the output, evaluate and make changes if necessary. The
main melody from my tracks Attaching Softness From A Shell comes
from a 30 minutes improvisation. This was then imported back into
a new audio track and further worked upon to produce variations
in the composition. However, it was the being in the moment, the
first improvisation that yielded the tune and the main sonic variations
that can be heard.
What does the term “new” mean to you in connection
with music?
If you take “new” as being that which has not been
heard before you will soon be challenged to find anything new
in music. I am less concerned with new sounds or genres than new
perceptions. The newness that concerns me is the perception and
reaction of listeners as they encounter a track that connects
with them in a novel way. It is a deeply subjective experience
with opportunities for personal development.
Do you personally enjoy multimedia as enrichment or do you
feel that it is leading away from the essence of what you want
to achieve?
It depends on how the multimedia functions. I really enjoy non-linear
interactive multimedia, whether that be a flash, java or proce55ing
applet or an art installation in physical space. I am a big fan
of Golan Levin’s work http://www.flong.com/projects/gpp/.
Sometimes multimedia can create an overload on the senses. I am
not a fan of being bombarded to the point where I lose the opportunity
to be able to reflect on the impact of the media on me. I believe
it is very important that art exhibitions that employ multimedia
pay attention to leakage (of sound, sight or smell) across exhibitions.
What constitutes a good live performance in your opinion? What’s
your approach to performing on stage?
I perform with a laptop manipulating tracks of audio live within
the live context, bringing in and out audio content using amplification,
stereo field adjustments, EQ adjustments and FX. My own live performances
are an opportunity to communicate my work in a specific context,
to try and connect with the audience and to adjust the output
in a manner that gives the audience an experience. I try to blur
the line between audience and performer. Sometimes I record the
audience prior to the performance and playback their sound. I
usually play some live objects such as my Steim cracklebox, a
wind-up musical toy or a typewriter. This allows me to bring in
elements from outside of the computer. I usually have a VJ projection
with the aim of complementing or juxtaposing the audio with some
visuals so the audience are not having to visually focus just
on me. I like to incorporate images of insects, flickering light
bulbs, mechanical objects and nature. When the audio and the visual
complement each other and the audience connects with the performance
then you have a good live show. I remember seeing Björk perform
at the Reading Festival one year. She started her set with an
acoustic rendition of “Violently Happy”. It was just
her singing alone and vulnerable with the backing of one accordion
player. At the exact moment of the chorus a huge firework display
ignited in the sky in time with the track switching to a full
dance mix. The affect was astounding.
Do you feel an artist has a certain duty towards anyone but
himself? Or to put it differently: Should art have a political/social
or any other aspect apart from a personal sensation?
I think “duty” is too strong a word. I guess everybody
approaches their art from their own unique perspective and it
serves a function for them. I think as human beings we cannot
totally divorce ourselves from the social and political systems
we inhabit. Personally I do not write with any explicit social
or political agenda. However, some of my work will contain audio
that could evoke political/social narratives from the listener’s
perspective. A remix of Disastrato’s “Curet Must Be
Protected” was submitted for inclusion in the SONOSCOP “sound
works against war” http://www.sonoscop.net/zeppelin2004/prog/participan.html.
These works used sound to highlight the devastation of war.
How, would you say, could non-mainstream forms of music reach
wider audiences without sacrificing their soul?
I would need clarity about what a sacrifice of soul entails. I
hear some great music behind mainstream adverts – really
well designed pieces of ambient and microsound. They function
to support the product rather than being the product. Much has
been written about access to different forms of media and how
content is regulated and controlled in order to prime and then
feed the mass market what “it thinks” it wants. At
the same time there are always openings and quality creations
will always cross over. The audience is intelligent and the challenge
is to create openings where it can be exposed to new work. Ultimately,
all popular genres from classical, jazz, rock and roll or synthesizer
music – were once considered non-mainstream.
You are given the position of artistic director of a festival.
What would be on your program?
I would be interested in inviting people to build objects that
create sound and place them across a natural context. For example,
the festival would incorporate a stream with trickling stone filled
basins, chimes, bells, a bee hive, a bird’s nest, mechanical
objects that tick, chime, switch on and off, the use of wind to
create tones. Harp and guitar strings would be plucked in a random
order. Machines creating steam and in turn electricity would power
flickering lights – each placed in their own separate area
without leakage. There would be microphones everywhere capturing
the talking, the moving and the ambience. People would be invited
to place contact microphones on their bodies within privately
designated rooms. The audience would be invited to visit the areas,
and to visit different listening rooms. The listening rooms would
contain mixing equipment enabling participants to adjust the ambience,
to focus on one element or another, to achieve a constant live
mix of the elements. The festival would promote the opportunity
to play and create. The opportunity would be given for the lines
between audience and performance to be blurred.
Many artists dream of a “magnum opus”. Do you
have a vision of what yours would sound like?
A detailed multi-element participatory feedback loop. I think
I have just described it.
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