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Intelligent/Ambient Techno
live in the Brucknerhaus, June 24, 1994
' Underground Resistance
Underground Resistance
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' United Frequences of Trance
United Frequences of Trance
The theme of this year's Ars Electronica is, as is generally known, "Intelligent Ambiences". An apparent coincidence exists in that possibly the most interesting developments in the music of the techno movement, which resembles a healthy plant with the branches that have sprouted in the past five years, being termed "intelligent" and "ambient". These two branches, which are the newest, represent a notable turning point in the recent history of this electronic form of music. If techno was a music form used exclusively by DJs to hypnotize the masses from the turntable until a relatively short time ago, ambient and intelligent have freed themselves of this duty and have developed into a musical art form."There's no techno tonight, we're playin' ambient." Well-known bouncer in front of the "XS" club in Frankfurt, every Sunday evening. This style is consumed not only in clubs and at raves; large quantities are also taken at home in the form of CD/LP. Dancing generally bothers no one at ambient and intelligent parties, although the majority is there to experience the music at the required volume.
A similar phenomenon has already appeared in the history of popular culture. When Beat groups invented psychedelic music in the mid-60s, the nightclub managers were irritated at first because the guests just sat around and did not drink alcohol. Beer, normally held in the hand lovingly at concerts in the 80s, is being increasingly substituted by psychoactive soft drinks in the techno scene. And there is still another similarity: The prominent sound generators of psychedelic music, the sitar and the wah-wah guitar and their chirps and buzzes resemble the sounds produced by the mass-produced analog synths of the Japanese company Roland with their short filter attacks, long cut-off and resonance values with a modulated envelope amount. This trend away from compulsive hedonism, the turn to becoming involved in the creative process, to techno events with solos, to the realtime experience of a live performance was described by MAD MIKE, the head of the intelligent pioneers UNDERGROUND RESISTANCE from Detroit, in his fax of 3/28/1994 to Station Rose:
UNDERGROUND RESISTANCE'S LIVE SHOW IS BASED ON U.R.'S TOTAL COMMITMENT TO EXPERIMENTAL MUSIC. OUR CONCEPT OF MAN-MACHINES AND TECHNOLOGY IS TESTED EVERY TIME WE PLAY LIVE. IN OUR EXPERIMENTS ON STAGE WE PROBE OUR THEORY THAT SOUND IS AN UNRECOGNIZED LIFEFORM THAT MAN HAS LITTLE TO NO KNOWLEDGE OF. THE MEN OF U.R., TEAMED WITH THEIR UNDEPENDABLE ANCIENT OLD ANALOG EQUIPMENT ALONG WITH THE ADDED UNPREDICTABILITY OF A LIVE SHOW AND AUDIENCE, LEADS TO A ONE-TIME ONLY EXPERIENCE FOR US AS MUSICIANS AND FOR THE AUDIENCE TOO, WHICH IN THE END WE HOPE WILL BROADEN ALL OF OUR UNDERSTANDINGS OF SONIC ACTIVITY AND HOW IT AFFECTS US. – OUT- MAD MIKE
In this method of working with technology through the senses, analog synths from the early 80s are connected in MIDI loops by means of modern sampling technology. The live techno artist moves his studio to the "stage" for the performance and creates new variations on his sequences, new tones, temporal structures and loops in realtime.
A NUMBER OF THEMES ARE PRE-DETERMINED BEFORE THE PERFORMANCE AND ELEMENTS ASSIGNED TO EACH MUSICIAN. IN ADDITION, EACH MUSICIAN HAS HIS OWN PRE-PROGRAMMED SEQUENCES, WHICH ARE NOT REVEALED TO THE OTHERS BEFORE THE PERFORMANCE. CERTAIN MACHINES ARE ALSO SET UP TO BEHAVE IN A TOTALLY RANDOM FASHION. UNITED FREQUENCIES OF TRANCE
Dominic Woosey
Station Rose expands the "live" concept by its multimedia constants and complements the performance with telepresence feeling via realtime global networking:
DURING THEIR LIVE PERFORMANCES, STATION ROSE CREATES A VIRTUAL ROOM WITHIN A ROOM BY MEANS OF SOUND AND PROJECTION SURFACES. THIS ROOM CONSISTS EXCLUSLVELY OF BEAMS AND PROJECTION SURFACES ONTO WHICH VISUALS ARE THROWN. THESE IMAGES ARE DOWNLOADED AND EDITED LIVE ON THE COMPUTER. THE LIVE MUSIC CONSISTS OF SOUND SAMPLES FROM THE DIGITAL ARCHIVE OF STATION ROSE AND THESE ARE THEN COMBINED INTO COMPOSITIONS.
ON THE SEQUENCER, WITH A MODEM, A REALTIME CONNECTION IS CREATED WITH THE EMAIL NETWORK "THE WELL" IN CALIFORNIA, OF WHICH STATION ROSE HAS BEEN A MEMBER SINCE 1991. THIS NETWORK ALLOWS USERS AROUND THE GLOBE TO PARTICIPATE IN THE EVENT. CHANGES WILL TAKE PLACE DURING THE PERFORMANCE, THEREBY CHANGING THE AESTHETICS OF THE VIRTUAL LIGHT SPACE; INFORMATION WILL FLOW THROUGH THE MAILBOX ONTO THE WALLS ILLUMINATED WITH COMPUTER EMISSIONS. THE NETWORKING PROCESS CAN BE OBSERVED ON THE PROJECTION SURFACES AS A FURTHER OPTICAL ELEMENT.
STATION ROSE/ Gary Danner & Elisa Rose gunafa@well.sf.ca.us
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