Confession

Writing electronic music may seem like an easy task at first. All who have tried have realised that there is a difference between writing a piece that sounds either amateurish or too commercial and creating something truly unique. Electronic music is supposed to be opening new horizons towards melodic and rhythmic structures that are not limited by physical properties of natural instruments and its musicians.

One can argue though, that the removal of all such intermediaries brings the composer a step closer to the ultimate barrier. Of course, we’re talking about inspiration. There are a plenty of audio samples and software packages out there, in fact maybe too many. Machines are increasingly fast and humans increasingly impatient which inevitably leads to a path where machines will be able to interface with the composer on almost an organic level and reward the musician with an instant result.

Unfortunately we’re not quite there yet and it will be some time until we reach that level. But let’s reflect on this exciting time where technology and science flourish and draw our inspiration from this dynamic and uplifting era

Sigh. The day when music can be created instantly. Sounds awesome, although to be honest that means there will be a much greater amount of crappy music probably. But that isn't really a deterrent. The quote above comes from the site Analogik, which focuses on the creation of electronic music and is currently entertaining me with its huge archive of great articles. Right now I've got a separate tab for an explanation of the physics of analogue and digital music, as well as another essay asking what went wrong with techno culture.


OK, so out comes it: I may be considered an amateur electronic music creater. I feel comfortable calling myself an amateur but not so much musician. There is something really geeky, yet awesome, about spending hours in front of the computer playing around with different samples and settings to create fun sounds. For me, since I don't know what I'm doing at all, it's like musical fingerpainting: it's not so much about building a song or getting anything out of it I would actually want anyone to hear, it's just completely FUN to smear sounds wherever I want. Especially doing that on top of my own super enhanced and reverby, disco diva vocals. Yeah, it's so freaking ridiculous and entertaining I can barely think about it without smiling.

I stole the first couple of paragraphs of their homepage to demonstrate a theme of futurism that runs through a great deal of the writing: there is such a sense of excitement about the development of technology as a means for creative expression, and, more vastly, the eventual expansion of creative possibilities beyond what we can imagine today. It's about the next frontier of music and art and intelligence. I sense the romance of undiscovered stars and a steady determination. The underlying assumption is that its part of inevitable technological development--we all know we'll get there, it's just a matter of when. See their article on the future of electronic music.


In another tab I'm reading through an explanation of a music project described as 'An Ever Changing and Evolving Entity of Sound,' that aims at basically creating a long stream of music using parameters and databases of samples and instruments. It would never sound the same because anyone would be able to make changes in the parameters and alter the sound, thus creating a communal collaboration:

"Every one of you out there is wonderful in your own special way, and we all have at least one little increment of uniqueness that is different from anyone else.... What if we all connected and worked peace by peace to put together something that is beyond the concept of songs? ..

We beings are coming together finally. Late at night when you're lonely and depressed you can log on to find someone else in the same state of mind and collaborate in violent noise. We will make love to each other in a new way. Expressing things from hate to sexuality will be prominent in this new world of communication and language. How amazing are we? Its time people take a baseball bat to there [sic] TV's and log on to express one's self. "

This is why I love electronic music. It's friggin deep.