A Young Person's Guide To James Ferraro & trends in modern experimental

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > No Music Discussion > A Young Person's Guide To James Ferraro & trends in modern experimental

Answers Me: Apr 24, 2012

Just read this pretty cool article that I think would be of interest to this thread:

http://www.electronicbeats.net/2013/05/06/adam-harpers-pattern-recognition-vol-1-the-new-online-weird/

It introduced me to some names I wasn't familiar with too, like a i r s p o r t s

# ¿ May 6, 2013 20:21

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# ¿ Apr 25, 2024 02:00

Answers Me: Apr 24, 2012

I guess this is probably the best thread to ask this: Does anybody have an opinion on what the best albums released on the Ghost Box label � or at least the best for a 'beginner'? I've listened to various tracks by Belbury Poly, The Focus Group etc, but their discography seems quite sprawling to the uninitiated, so I don't really know where to start.

# ¿ Aug 27, 2013 20:09

Answers Me: Apr 24, 2012

Best part of that thread (that I've read so far):

quote:

i have multiple volumes of eccojams in the cryotank set to defrost in the distant future

I also love the idea that eccojams are basically folk music for the digital age. It's so true, the way older music can be repurposed and played around with by anybody. It's the same as it ever was, just now with the pop music you're bombarded with all your waking hours, instead of the folksongs your grandaddy taught you as a kid or whatever.

Answers Me fucked around with this message at 12:50 on Oct 9, 2013

# ¿ Oct 9, 2013 10:13

Answers Me: Apr 24, 2012

Adam Harper wrote a thing about the new OPN. I normally love his writings about this kind of music, but I found this really gushing and not really saying anything. Would be curious to know your thoughts: http://www.dummymag.com/features/essay-adam-harper-on-oneohtrix-point-nevers-r-plus-seven

# ¿ Nov 6, 2013 20:23

Answers Me: Apr 24, 2012

This is probably old news round these parts, but I listened to Blank Banshee for the first time today and it owns:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8oBbJg_PqbU

# ¿ Dec 19, 2013 20:24

Answers Me: Apr 24, 2012

This video (if not the music) reminds me of OPN a lot. I think it's incredible:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKlPOFe5VhM

:nws:

# ¿ Jan 13, 2014 11:21

Answers Me: Apr 24, 2012

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYOr8TlnqsY

Old news round these parts I'm sure, but insomnia and Basinski's 'Disintegration Loops' video (plus trawling through 9/11 emergency transcripts) has just made for the most intense listening experience I've ever had. It's the most powerful/moving musical 'response' to trauma I've ever come across. I love Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima, love Cantus Memorium Benjamin Britten, but this is it. I feel like ~~I'm~~ everything's dying when I listen to it.

quote:

I woke up and the curtains in my room were drawn. There had been a storm the night before and these very heavy material curtains were swagged from this pole across my window, through which you could see the World Trade Center when the curtains were open. But you could see a little bit of the sky above this. And I saw a plane flying very low across the sky through this gap above the curtain. It was very strange. I'd never seen anything like that. There was a commotion at the door and it was my friend who was babbling: 'The two towers are burning. The two towers are burning.' I said: 'What?' And he said: 'The World Trade Center is on fire.' And I said, 'What?!' We ran back to my room and pulled the curtains back and the planes had just hit. My first reaction was, 'How do you put out a fire like that? We're going to be here for ten years, just looking at these matchsticks.' And then I went to turn on the TV to see what was happening.

It was one of those days, many people have talked about it. The weather was extraordinary. It was a crisp clear, dry Autumn day, almost like blue screen. Then someone shouted, 'It's going!' We ran back to the window and saw the South Tower crack and fall off and we just ran to the roof. Our neighbours were already up there. You could see that people were on rooftops all over Brooklyn. [pause] And then we sat there and watched the other tower going down� cascading glass� slow motion� and it was just� God. We couldn't believe it. We were all in shock. There was no news just people babbling on the radio and idiots babbling on the television. We went downstairs and put on the music. It was like, 'This is the greatest show on Earth. Armageddon, here we go.'

So I had this massive sound system in there. It was massive and all the windows were open. So I just put [The Disintegration Loops] on while everyone was staring at what was going on. While we tried to work out what the hell was going on. And this went on until 'Disintegration Loop Four' came on with its catastrophic decay and my neighbour came shrieking upstairs: 'Turn that off!' So we turned it down.

Later that day I went out to get cigarettes. I'd just quit smoking and I was hunting through the ashtrays on the floor of Arcadia to see if I could get an old cigarette to smoke. But I thought, 'No, if the world's ending I can afford to get a fresh packet of cigarettes.' So I got a video tape because I knew my friend Peggy was on the roof with her video camera. She showed me how to frame it and we just left it recording and I said I'd pick it up in the morning. So I did and I went back to the studio and put the tape in the player and put 'Disintegration Loop One' with it�

All of a sudden the world had changed. It had taken on new meaning. As the days and months went by, people just cascaded into their own disintegration loops of fear, terror and anxiety. But also there was a rethinking going on about what had value. There was a lot of compassion in the public sphere amongst New Yorkers.

http://thequietus.com/articles/10680-william-basinski-disintegration-loops-interview

# ¿ Feb 26, 2014 11:09

Answers Me: Apr 24, 2012

Mike_V posted:

This is the way that band/artist websites should be imo http://www.georgeandjonathan.com

This is more 80s electro/boogie-funk worship than modern experimental, but I really like the visualizations.

Still a big fan of this, as far as websites go: https://www.cachemonet.com

# ¿ Apr 23, 2014 09:03

Answers Me: Apr 24, 2012

In my mind music like Ferraro's (at least on Far Side Virtual) is hyperreal in the sense that it is mimetic of a music that is itself a poor imitation of 'real' music , so it is twice removed from reality (or multiple times more if you want to get all Platonic about it).

I.e. the music Far Side Virtual pastiches is itself an imitation of actual music, in that it still features guitar, piano, drums etc but there is something 'off' about it. It's not music that organically exists for people to listen to, dance to, gently caress to or whatever; instead it's the soundtrack to capital: mall muzak, music from financial services commercial, obsolete video games and so on. It's music that doesn't exist for a musical purpose, and this is the sense in which it is hyperreal: it is not music and yet it is, it's not real but functions as if it is.

So Ferraro takes all this music that doesn't exist as 'real music' and attempts to reassert its musicality (its use value over its exchange value, even). He doesn't really pull it off (but the failure is intentional): the music still sounds fake, like an aural uncanny valley. The response of the listener is 'this isn't music to just sit and listen to, so why is this artist asking me to do so?'

Though I suppose, in a way, isn't all music featuring MIDI inherently hyperreal?

Answers Me fucked around with this message at 11:13 on May 29, 2014

# ¿ May 29, 2014 11:09

Answers Me: Apr 24, 2012

I see Saint Pepsi's signed for Carpark Records. I don't wanna be all 'he sold out maaaan', but that seems like an odd step to take for him.

# ¿ Jun 3, 2014 18:01

Answers Me: Apr 24, 2012

slowdave posted:

Why? He makes pop music. I'm glad he has a good outlet for that.

Oh I agree it's awesome for him, just the particular label surprised me.

Having said that, their roster is a bit different to what it used to be, there are a few similar artists on there I guess.

e: To keep things positive, this is gonna own (if they are actually collaborating): http://www.tinymixtapes.com/news/oneohtrix-point-never-and-hudson-mohawke-collaborating

Answers Me fucked around with this message at 19:55 on Jun 3, 2014

# ¿ Jun 3, 2014 18:34

Answers Me: Apr 24, 2012

Not a HudMo fan, OM? I can take or leave his album but he's put out some great stuff since.

# ¿ Jun 4, 2014 09:04

Answers Me: Apr 24, 2012

I guess a lot of his music is like a brostep remix of vaporwave, and not in a good way (if there could ever be such a thing). TNGHT is great though: when I've seen FlyLo live and he's dropped 'Higher Ground' it was pretty much the definition of a

o.m. 94 posted:

2001 trip sequence where hip hop ascends to a new level of existence

Also:

o.m. 94 posted:

But don't ask me b/c i'm someone who wrote a 2000 word essay about James Ferraro

I'll raise you 5000 :eng99:

# ¿ Jun 4, 2014 11:55

Answers Me: Apr 24, 2012

I read this essay today and thought this thread would get a kick out of it. On hyperreality and mashups: http://www.iaspmjournal.net/index.php/IASPM_Journal/article/view/372/560

# ¿ Jun 5, 2014 18:58

Answers Me: Apr 24, 2012

It's a problem specifically with musicology I think, this need to define everything and map terms out in a really simplified yet tedious way. It's frustrating as heck

The theories are there, but it's never gonna be put to use when framed in such tedium.

I once applied to a PhD in a musicology department because I thought that would be the best place to talk in depth about music theoretically and philosophically and it was such a mistake.

(And it wasn't the mashup bit that I found useful about that article [because it isn't really] but because it had some cool stuff to say about hyperreality as applied to intertextual music generally, not just mashups)

E: and yeah, Baudrillard is a kinda lovely theorist; he certainly seems to be going out of fashion anyway.

Answers Me fucked around with this message at 17:17 on Jun 6, 2014

# ¿ Jun 6, 2014 16:52

Answers Me: Apr 24, 2012

Bigup DJ posted:

When things are rootless (rhizomatic) there's no need to compare them to any other state because they're happy to just be things in themselves, and we can explore how they differ on their own terms. �[The simulacrum] harbors a positive power which denies the original and the copy, the model and the reproduction", just like that stuff I posted about the synth horn in Problem Areas. The fact that it's indistinguishable from the supposed 'real' object exposes how lovely and flawed the idea of "real" and "imitation" is in the first place.

This is a really good point, and to bring it back to the music in this thread, it's worth pointing out that whether the music of vaporwave etc is real or inauthentic is not an actual dialectic within the work itself, it's a categorisation that's imposed on it from without. Almost every essay and review about vaporwave gets obsessed with whether it's a critique of the sort of music it's pastiching or just 'merely' in thrall to it. But the key is that it simply is: it's a genuine response to the aesthetic of the simulacra. So, in a sense, that makes it more real than the real, without getting hung up on the purity of the real as opposed to the simulacra (or that there's even a distinction at all).

e: oh right, some actual music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwtFDjv1Pmg

# ¿ Jun 7, 2014 10:18

Answers Me: Apr 24, 2012

But then again he's also been hanging out with Hudson Mohawke, who's Kanye's go-to producer at the moment...

# ¿ Jun 18, 2014 09:23

Answers Me: Apr 24, 2012

Epileper posted:

om94 post yr noise comp! gently caress you i'll do it

http://percivalpembroke.bandcamp.com/album/a-course-in-the-theory-of-drones

I've listened to this three times today already, it's loving great.

# ¿ Jun 18, 2014 13:29

Answers Me: Apr 24, 2012

http://www.thefader.com/2014/06/04/system-focus-inside-1080p-zoom-lens-the-new-digital-diy-labels/

There's a shitload of cool music to check out in this article; some familiar names, some not-so-familiar.

# ¿ Jun 19, 2014 09:53

Answers Me: Apr 24, 2012

Yeah I don't think there's that much connecting chillwave to the music in this thread, sonically or 'philosophically' (or whatever you want to call it). I thought it was just electronic pop music with a fuckload of sidechain compression. I find it pretty vacuous most of the time :shrug:

I do like some of that stuff though, like this: http://slowmagic.bandcamp.com/album/--2

# ¿ Jun 27, 2014 07:10

Answers Me: Apr 24, 2012

Bigup DJ posted:

So you've got Saint Pepsi with the kick snare kick snare, sidechain compression on everything, the thing where it sounds like a lovely old radio. It's all wrapped up in the '80s commercial culture aesthetic in a really shallow, hamfisted way (ie. Saint Pepsi - worship of commerce. Just lazy!) It's like the fact that being a tryhard secretly means you're not trying hard enough, you're just putting a huge effort into a shallow, performative attempt at something.

Nothing else Saint Pepsi's done sounds like this though, the stuff he's put out lately is pretty different to that, and is really great: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1p6t8nCKSdE

If anything he's one of the few people in this scene that's doing something different and pushing things in a new direction, because the whole eccojams thing got stale quite quickly.

But really � and as you said � he's off on a whole different thing to most things in this thread, so there's no point judging him by the aesthetic of Ferraro, Lopatin et al and saying he's failed to match it.

There's an absolute shitload of derivative stuff out there that doesn't really 'get it' before you even get to pretty cool stuff like Saint P. Just browsing the vaporwave tag on bandcamp should tell you that (check this poo poo out, first thing I clicked on: http://aloe-vera.bandcamp.com/album/-).

Basically, I hope there's still room for people like Saint Pepsi in this thread because he owns :colbert:

-

In other news, new Ferraro: http://www.tinymixtapes.com/chocolate-grinder/listen-james-ferraro-or-%E5%A1%91%E8%87%89-or-sukigirl-or-user703918785-suki-girlz

Answers Me fucked around with this message at 18:51 on Jul 2, 2014

# ¿ Jul 2, 2014 18:36

Answers Me: Apr 24, 2012

Saint Pepsi seems to be following that well-trodden path of 1) Make interesting sample-based music 2) Get signed to a label 3) Make boringass non-sampled music because you can't release sample-based music anymore: https://soundcloud.com/carparkrecords/fionacoyne

# ¿ Aug 5, 2014 21:14

Answers Me: Apr 24, 2012

octagonoctopus posted:

I need to see the full version of this so bad

http://www.realeyz.tv/en/ctm-interview-01-02-2012.html

The interview is awkward as hell and makes it real uncomfortable to watch

# ¿ Aug 12, 2014 19:26

Answers Me: Apr 24, 2012

A human heart posted:

More new Ferraro stuff: https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=652826861491316&set=vb.176422539131753

Does he make enough cash to do this full-time? Dude's prolific as hell, I don't know how he'd find the time otherwise

# ¿ Sep 2, 2014 14:06

Answers Me: Apr 24, 2012

https://soundcloud.com/b-e-b-e-t-u-n-e/cob

# ¿ Oct 12, 2014 20:18

Answers Me: Apr 24, 2012

midnightclimax posted:

So I'm currently really enjoying Saint Pepsi, Rollergirl, and Macross 82-99. Any other bands that do similar vapey/funky stuff? (Not sure if it even qualifies as vaporwave though)

Pretty much anything on Keats Collective or Midwest Collective

Aside from the ones you mentioned, Flamingosis is a favourite of mine: https://keatscollective.bandcamp.com/album/flamingosis

# ¿ Oct 12, 2014 22:17

Answers Me: Apr 24, 2012

midnightclimax posted:

Aha, didn't know about Midwest Collective yet. What's your name on Bandcamp btw?

Just realised the label I was thinking of was this one, not Midwest (though they're still good too): https://stratfordct.bandcamp.com/

I don't actually have a bandcamp account! Maybe I should

e: for actual content, I'm addicted to everything PC Music and AG Cook have put out lately, all of which is very This Thread:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hmQ2n5FCdM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=flgWCAaq4oI

# ¿ Oct 13, 2014 17:04

Answers Me: Apr 24, 2012

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNFnKFqew_M

I don't even know what's what

# ¿ Nov 11, 2014 19:53

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# ¿ Apr 25, 2024 02:00

Answers Me: Apr 24, 2012

Want to listen to an hour-long lecture about Ferraro, Lopatin et al? Wait, come back...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYCkxaIBg54

# ¿ Jan 1, 2015 11:11

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