Here’s the final chapter in a a three-part trilogy of text written by Lawrence English, titled A Young Person’s Guide To Hustling In Music and The Arts, subtitled For You.

Make sure to read all previous entries : [ intro ] [ for the work ] [ for others ]

In the early 2000s, when I was supplementing my income with freelance writing, I had a curious conversation with Gene Simmons from Kiss. Part way through the interview, meant to be about an upcoming tour, Simmons’ drifted into his real passion – business. He said to me the one rule he lived by was “you’ve got to have a line in the ocean to catch a fish”. This comment stuck with me, as it’s inherently relevant for any hustler. If you’re not visible, how do people know about all the work you’re up to and how it might fit into their needs or projects? Now this doesn’t mean you rattle off your resume every time you meet someone (that’s tedious, truly it is), but it does mean you should be out and about open to projects and ideas.

‘Yes’ is an important word, especially when you are starting out. Even if a project isn’t exactly aligned with what you’re interested in, there are probably lessons and skills to be acquired. So be open and be interested – that’s not to say agree to everything that pops up in front of you, more just think about the scope of what a project might offer in the longer term, rather than the immediate outcomes that will result. Basically, it’s about thinking strategically. I can attest, saying yes to projects like a lecture on location recording has led to commissions from museums and agreeing to produce a show for an artist has led to new commissions for similar projects both for myself and the artist involved. It’s win, win!

Entitlement is a big no no. We’re blessed to be in a country where there are some good opportunities and a fairly high standard of living. We’re lucky to enjoy some decent access to government and council funding, to work with supportive venues (both public and private) and to have a few patrons of the arts. Of course, to be honest, we could always do with more (and should actively advocate and encourage such growth), but we need to realise that not everyone is in the same boat and we can’t just take these things for granted.

If you’re supported by a patron or awarded a grant, then try to make the most of it. Who knows what tomorrow brings – this is particularly the case for freelancers who exist project to project. After all, policies change, government interests shift, patrons come and go – each opportunity you have is something you should take hold of and remember that it may not always be this way.

On top of that, a personal recommendation – spread your risk. If you happen to operate entirely on government support, a patron or any kind of income from a single source, then keep in mind that income may not always be there. The stability we may have known before is eroding quickly and without remorse. If you’re serious about staying active in the longer term, there’s nothing more important than having back up plans and alternative income streams to see you through the difficult times. This might take the form of part time work, or a nest egg you build for yourself in the better years. It might also be thinking strategically to secure yourself a buffer of activity so you know where your meals are coming from for the next 12 months. Whatever works for you, your projects and your creativity. Just remember, nothing is forever and nor should it be. Change is a beautiful and chaotic thing, wild and exciting, don’t ever settle into freelance stasis unless you want to decay.

I’m not talking physical health here, but spiritual health. Free time swiftly disappears when you’re freelancing – it’s a DIY world and you can bet no matter how hard you beg, the admin fairies won’t do those budgets for you or reply to the mountain of emails. With that said, it can be difficult to commit time to exploring new art, music, installation, writing etc. That’s where trouble can start. There’s nothing more important for the mind than being constantly stimulated and excited by new ideas and new creative pursuits.

I’m not saying go to every opening in town, to the contrary, sometimes interests outside your area of work will be most useful for sparking new ideas and concepts. Don’t forget that there’s a whole world out there for the exploring – a world rich in possible inspirations and curiosity, don’t be afraid to make time and go explore it.

I’ve rarely found that a project presents itself in an entirely complete (and funded) state. This is where the hustle is most pronounced – how to cover shortfalls? How to find the right ideas or partners to support particular aspects of a project? More often than not finding answers to these problems won’t be a singular exercise. It’s going to require strategy and thinking outside the square. To realise a recent project, I’ve had to secure four partners in three states to meet the expectations set by a commissioning partner. Whilst a general lack of support from that commissioning partner is frustrating, it highlighted to me how important this kind of thinking is.

It pays to think about these things ahead of time too. It’s partnerships and working relationships that can really dig you out of difficult holes. Building diverse contacts with a group of people/organisations/patrons/funding sources that can be utilised from time to time is a must for long-term survival and also, in some respects, for the recognition and understanding of the work you are doing. It’s important to recognise the potentials and limitations of these partners and to be respectful of their needs. A force fit isn’t ever the best fit. Equally no one partner should be ‘milked’ – that’s a short-term fix and always ends with someone feeling they’ve been wronged. There’s no need to suck any one partner dry, not if you want to work with them again.

Australia is a joyously small place, and lets face it, that’s one of the charms. We all generally know each other and people we don’t know are only separated by a few degrees. This is a blessing and a curse. If you need help, it’s never too far away, but if by chance your work/ideas don’t gel with the current state of play here, things can feel constrictive. Don’t fret though, there are always overseas opportunities to be found or grown. It might seem a bit distant, but a little research online, a few emails and who knows what might reach back out of the virtual darkness.

It’s also worth remembering what we do fits into a much wider ecosystem and often we can find ourselves caught up in local politics or issues that may weigh down on us more than they should. It’s important to remember we have brethren across the globe, all fighting the good fight.

It may seem obvious to say this, but seriously, this is a must. If you’re not in a position to have a close companion, have friends and family to rely on. As important as your work feels (and is), there’s more to life than this. There’s a whole wider world out there and it’s important to remember that, as sometimes you can feel quite crushed and disheartened after a rough year or two.

It’s at those times, a pat on the back from a loved one, the warm glow of a dog or cat on your lap or a nice walk or run in somewhere green can offer you a chance to reflect. Always remember that there’s more to your life than that project that won’t get up or that opportunity that just keeps eluding you.

Art, music, film, theatre, dance, literature and the list goes on – the best work is always driven by passion. It is what carries you through the troughs and allows you to enjoy the peaks.

If you lose that, it’s okay, maybe it’ll come back and maybe it won’t. The thing is be aware of that feeling, and don’t lie to yourself about it, as that only catches up with you down the line. If you do lose your passion for a spell, there’ll no doubt be other options open to you – other ways that you might facilitate or foster great work being produced. Loving what you’re doing and who you are doing it with makes everything that much more worthwhile and satisfying.

As useful and reassuring as money can be, it doesn’t ever satisfy like passion does. As many freelance producers and artists can attest to, often there’s nothing more difficult than having to create and deliver a project that you’re not actually passionate about. If you are passionate about the project and it doesn’t turn out the way you’d hoped, ultimately it’s never that much of a problem because you had a great time doing it, working with people you care about and want to see do well. If it does work out then that satisfaction is only amplified. So be true to yourself and create work and opportunities you care about!

Here comes the second installment in a three-part trilogy of text written by Lawrence English, titled A Young Person’s Guide To Hustling In Music and The Arts, subtitled For The Work.

If there’s one overarching rule to this game it’s respect. Very few of us are getting rich here, most of us are in this because we’re driven by a foolish desire to support work we care about or feel passionate about. Much easier livings could be sought in any number of academic, corporate or public service positions – jobs with actual benefits like superannuation, holiday pay and sick days.

What we have (or should have) is mutual respect. There’s room for everyone’s work and curatorial pursuits here. There might be moments where you feel you’re overlooked or someone else gets that chance you thought you might be best suited to, but something else will pop up.

Another thought, be diplomatic. Belligerence, though an utter necessity from time to time, can be a bit of a drag for people around you.

It’s a simple one, but often overlooked or forgotten.

If you agree to do something, then live up to your word. There’s nothing more frustrating for a freelancer than having a whole array of things promised to you by a third party for a project and then one by one have them dismantled or not honoured. Sometimes these things are unavoidable (act of God, we’ve all been there) and you just need to accept it and move on, but that’s not always the case. Sadly sometimes people (either through lack of experience or something less excusable) simply don’t deliver what they promise.

So just as it’s frustrating for you to experience, think of people on the other end. If you agree to help on a project or offer a fee to an artist or agree on certain conditions, then try everything in your power to respect those agreements. It’s the least you can do to honour those things you agree to as best you can. And if you can’t, own up to them. Be honest enough to take responsibility for those shortcomings and (if possible) in a timely fashion.

It sounds easy enough to do, but give yourself the better part of a decade in the throws and woes of the freelance arts and music environment and you’d be amazed how foggy your early memories can become. It’s quickly possible to lose track of what it was that first got you started. Over time your reasons for doing what you do may ultimately change, but it pays to remember what sparked you to start this voyage. That reason that made you take the leap of faith into unchartered waters might seem naïve, perhaps even foolish, but there’s a kernel in that thought, that when returned to down the line reveals something new each time you consider it.

As circumstances change, that reason remains anchored in a time and place and offers you a chance to consider where it is you’ve come from, where you thought you might go and whether or not you’ve come close to that. Perspective can be difficult to get and little things like this can be vital in giving you context and understanding for what it is you’re doing now and why.

As I said before; memories can be short. That said, it’s not too much to remember and think about those who support you. Freelancing is about peaks and troughs and not everyone’s wave cycle is at the same frequency. You can almost guarantee that people you see on the way up, you’ll more than likely see on the way down in your cycle.

Having friends, supporting them and hopefully having them support you is vital in the ebb and flow of creative freelancing. It’s important to remember that we’re all creative people trying to work out a place for our projects and aspirations. There’s room for everyone, so don’t be shy giving people a lift up when they need it. Who knows before long they might be doing the same for you when you need a helping hand.

It’s not hard to do and more often than not we don’t do it enough. It’s the least you can do to show people what they do for you actually matters and is meaningful.

Welcome to the first installment in a three-part trilogy of text written by Lawrence English, titled A Young Person’s Guide To Hustling In Music and The Arts, subtitled For The Work. Be sure to check out the [intro] to the article.

Hype isn’t usually the answer to success; especially not in the longer term. If you’re out for a spike of recognition, sure, hype will do that. With today’s social media, the ability to create a gust of attention quickly is like some wonderful fantasy Edward Berneys may have had in the 1920s. But easy come; easy go – especially in the ever-­distracted world of today.

For something to linger, for art and music to capture minds and be remembered, there needs to be something powerful, meaningful and evocative in the work you present. That’s what we’re all striving for to varying degrees, to be remembered and ultimately to be relevant in future times, and the best way to do that is to commit yourself to producing the best work you can.

Talk is cheap, and getting cheaper, each project you undertake should offer some legacy and lend itself to the overall vision of what it is you do. Time is precious, and while it mightn’t seem so when you’re starting out, it only becomes compounded as you keep on creating. So spend that extra bit of time working at that piece or project. Cutting corners eventually catches up with you – if not publically then certainly it affects your own approaches and processes when making work.

William Burroughs is sorely missed and it’s little gems like this that remind us just how spot on he was. The middle road, the road of mediocrity, this is not the road to aspire to. Take some chances, reach that little bit more than you think you should. Of course, don’t burn yourself and the work out – but at the same time don’t fall short, don’t give in to the easier well-­trodden path. There’s nothing more satisfying than the sense you’ve worked, pushed and achieved something that took more than just simple delivery. We’re often faced with mediocrity, conservative creativity and work that occupies at the lower register of innovation – there’s no need for you or your work to exist here.

To quote The Simpsons;

Krusty “What have you done for me lately?”
Bart “I got you that Danish”
Krusty “And I’ll never forget you for it”

Collective memory is short at the best of times. Lets face it, there’s so much creation happening daily that it’s easy for people’s memories to wane. Do you remember what art you were experiencing this time last year? Or what music was capturing your ears? Possibly not.

So for all us cultural producers, documentation plays a crucial role in helping jog the memory. It’s both personal and public – sometimes returning to documentation a couple of years on can be a real learning. What worked, what didn’t and why?

Documentation also helps build a portfolio that’s crucial when you’re attempting to attract new work and partners. There’s nothing more useful than being able to give examples of what it is you do and hopefully the quality to which you do it.

I am proud to present the readers of Headphone Commute with an article by Lawrence English. Republished in three sections, today we only tease you with this introduction by the author.

Lawrence English started his first fanzine when he was 15. He started a label the following year and has since been heavily involved in music, sound and media arts. Over the past 20 years he has tasted the bounty of arts related work, including freelance criticism, artist management, event production, tour managing, label production, exhibition curation, design, creative consultation and more. As an artist he has presented artworks and performances on every continent on the planet (yes, even Antarctica) and continues to produce works that prompt questions of field, perception and memory. He lives in Brisbane with his family of 2 humans and a schnauzer.

Over the past decade and a half, I’ve enjoyed a wonderful freelance life making relative mountains out of dirt piles – well at least that’s how I’d like to perceive it. In many ways it’s what we all do in the arts – take whatever we can and make the best of it. We choose this because more often than not we love what it is we do, and with whom we do it. This mentality is an ever-growing necessity too, as we continue to operate in one of the most underpaid areas of creative enterprise. Recent reports on annual incomes from groups such as the Australia Council For The Arts indicate the acute nature of this predicament.

Having remained freelance throughout my professional life has proved challenging at times. Early on, there were months when baked beans and toast was a staple, but mercifully I’ve been fortunate enough to get by year to year thanks to a little luck, some strategic thinking and a lot of generosity and support from wonderful and creative people who have encouraged my curatorial/artistic endeavours. To these people I am eternally grateful.

So now, on the eve of my 15^th year working at this ever evolving beast we call freelancing in music and the arts, I feel it may well be time to publish a few of the small rules and ideals that have sought to guide me during this voyage.

The title A Young Person’s Guide To Hustling In Music and The Arts is a homage to the inspiring introductory book and record series of the same name, that summarise a body of work in one short, sharp burst. Some readers might perceive a touch of cynicism in the choice of the term ‘hustling’, but as a freelancer it’s probably one of the most apt verbs for how the process of realising projects can appear at times.

Rather than the more negative associations attached to the word, I’d like to think of hustling referring to the determination and the willingness to do what it takes to get a project off the ground. There are no set rules in this game, no ‘how to’ manual or university course you can take to get a grip on it all. It’s freeform, irrational and chaotic – a beautiful chance for creative individuals to do the best they can to realise their work and the work of those they support.

Sadly, looking back over my time freelancing, I’ve seen so many wonderful and visionary curators, producers and artists shrivel up and pass into other work before they realised their potential. These people, many of whom I can’t help but feel could be producing astonishing work right now had circumstances been different, stopped practising for a variety of reasons many of them concerning the economic instability (feast and famine, you could call it) of the freelance producer/artist work life. There’s no simple answer on how to increase sustainability within these areas, but one thing that certainly has assisted me has been the insight and mentorship of elders and those more experienced in the field. It’s partly this sentiment of sharing that has brought about the writing of this little guide.

It’s important to state, this guide isn’t a cure all. Nothing is universal, there’s no one answer or solution to the challenges faced in creativity and sustainability. This text is merely one freelancer’s thoughts and reflections about the particular set of circumstances and challenges that have presented themselves over the past decade and a half. I hope there’s some useful and thought provoking points here and that some of these views might prove poignant to you in sustaining your interests, passions and creativity.

Lawrence English, July 2 2011.

Stay tuned for the three parts of the guide, to be published individually in the upcoming days on Headphone Commute!

There’s a store in my old college town that I visit maybe once a year or two when I’m around. The shelves are stocked with the latest pop-jizz and radio’s'hit, but it is the back section, marked in yellow, aged, and peeling “techno/rave” label that draws me in like a magnet. Here, time stays still… Used and then abandoned compact disks are collecting dust with punched out bar codes and crossed out prices. For some reason I always feel like I’m visiting a shelter, about to adopt an unwanted soul. Music from the early 90s is still shrink wrapped, rejected even at the lowest prices. I swear, I think I even recognize a few CDs that I have sold to the store two decades ago, when I was in need of hard cash. And now, reaching into the bins, I pick them back, one by one…

Here is my prized harvest of today:

$3.99 – FUSE – Dimension Intrusion (Warp / Plus 8, 1993)
- Early Richie Hawtin. Seriously?

$3.99 – FSOL - ISDN (Astralwerks, 1994)
- OK, I have like 4 copies already, but couldn’t resist.

$0.50 – The Future Sound of London – Far-Out Son Of Lung
And The Ramblings Of A Madman (Virgin, 1995)

$1.99 – Various – Pure Abstrakt (Shadow, 1996)
- A compilation of blunted trip-hop and jazz!

$2.99 – Aphex Twin – Come To Daddy (Warp, 1997)
- Another release I couldn’t just leave behind.

What a steal, right? Under $14 for five monumental releases! Even if some of these are almost two decades long, these are still gems worth owning in physical form. Or maybe it’s just me… Richie Hawtin’s FUSE release contained a particularly interesting note, that I enjoyed reading on a park bench (just like back in the 90s). Here, I found a copy of it online, presenting to you in its entirety. Hope you enjoy…

(this is an image. full text follows below)

Detroit 1990. From a dark self-destructive city comes a haunting futuristic soundtrack. Collages of inter-active grooves spewed forth by machines and men, cyber-active, abstract dance rhythms, spoken by samplers with a human touch.

Even in it’s North American spiritual home, Techno has never been readily accepted, never acknowledged as the important musical advance that the rest of the world appreciated it as and when Detroit’s original legion of techno messengers headed overseas to spin their gospel to Europe, enticed by more receptive audiences, the Seventh City was left without a monarchy to bear it’s crown.

Richie Hawtin and John Acquaviva, two friends from across the river in Canada had been regularly crossing the short distance to Detroit to visit the clubs that these techno legends – namely Derrick May, Juan Atkins and Kevin Sauderson – had been playing at.  Richie realised this gaping hole could not be allowed to exist and thus set about installing himself as one of the city’s resident Techno DJ’s at a club called The Shelter.

In 1990, armed with this combination of DJ’ing experience, the inspiration derived from the previous Detroit musicians and armfuls of bedroom demo tapes, the pair, also realising the back-seat that the distinquished Detroit record labels like Transmat, Metroplex, and KMS were taking, decided to set up their own label as further means of keeping the Detroit faith intact. Thus, +8 Records was born. It’s aim; to release pure, earnest Techno music. But the Canadian pair needed an identity, after all how many technospotters could familiarise with Windsor? The message on the records made it clear, this was ‘The Future Sound of Detroit’.

Throughout 1990/91 when piano anthems, quickly disappearing white labels and throwaway rave-pop began to make an impressionable appearance, the meaning of Techno became distored and abused. The release material that may get lost in the mountains of hype, or became trapped in the fast-buck-beats, losing grasp of the ideals that had launched them in the first place. Just like in the days of Transmat, Nu Groove, and Metroplex, +8 gave techno enthusiasts a label in which they could purchase without even breaking into tit’s shrink-wrapping. With each +8 release devotees knew that quality came without question, and here was a label that truly represented Detroit in the ninties, a label with minimal sampling but maximum inventiveness. Tracks like Cybersonik’s Technarchy (Hawtin/Acquaviva and friend Daniel Bell), a record which subsequently gave Belgium it’s cue to unleash a thousand records emblazoned with thick synth signals, came pressed up alongside thermionic blazes like ‘Melody 928.V2’ and spacey sub-stations like Speedy J’s ‘Evolution’. In techno speak, they say it’s the spaces inbetween that count.

It was the 1991 compilation ‘From Our Minds To Yours’, that gave away man clues to previously untapped ears. Thirteen tracks which opened doors and thoughts that relayed messages through their common denominator Roland communicators. It also began to bring to attention the F.U.S.E. pseudonym that Richie Hawtin had begun to use for his solo projects. Richie had already released one F.U.S.E. single, the electromagnetic ‘Approach & Identify’ EP, four tracks of experimental illusions aimed at loading information into the cerebal brainwaves and transferring them into complex body beats. Now stamped with a new sloganeering acronym, ‘Futuristic Underground Subsonic Experiments’, ‘From Our Mind To Yours’ included two further F.U.S.E out of mind and body experiences.

The influence of acid has never left Hawtin and if anybody is remotely responsible for the resurgances of the Roland TB303 and the surreal sounds it releases then surely +8 and Hawtin along with fellow Detroiters, the often fear-inducing Underground Resistance, must share much of the blame. Richie has often taken the 303 to a new dimension, either creating liquid scopes, slowed down into a sea to electro bubbles, as demonstrated on ‘Slac’, or “substance Abuse’, a technofloor dominator in 1991, or ‘Circuit Breaker’ another of his other outlets for ruthless ideas, released on +8’s harder dance subsidiary Probe, set up to deal in well weighted chunks of industrial slanted Techno. Misuse machines? Richie manages to make them maon, groan and explode in your head.

‘Dimension Intrusion’ is an impressive array of sub-world disturbances and discreet musical mechanics. But these are no jejune rave tunes, these are timeless pieces of abstract dance that can be placed on file, called up in years to come still bearing the same effect as on their initial impact.

As Richie will tell you himself, ‘Techno is from the gut and is full of emotion’. In reality Techno has no regionally identifiable factors, Techno is a gospel shared globally, hence Warp’s interacting here with +8, a musical communication beamed across continents, shared with similar minds. Considering their output, the majestic quality of the music, Hawtin’s and +8’s profile has been strictly contained to the techno underworld and in reality this is where they truly belong. Their releases will never chart, they are aimed at appreciative, receptive ears and mightly sales sheets do not count for imagination and true musical emotion. Perhaps they are best left that way, to be discovered slowly through connections like this one. If you’ve only just discovered the names of Richie Hawtin, John Acquaviva and +8 Records, then retrace their steps. Research through their back catalogue reveals a forcefield of intrigue, of singular sonic detonations linked through a common law. From then on retrace the steps of the musicians that they too have discovered and given vital vinyl space to, people like Daniel Bell & Jochem Paap aka Speedy J.

In the meantime plug in ‘Dimension Intrusion’ and blow a few fuses.

Sherman, NME, April 1993

• First of all, you can skip all of the below advice. After all, you already know better than everyone else! How hard is it to get blacklisted? In fact, if you want to succeed in not getting your music ever heard, don’t even tell anyone about it!
• If you decided to actively get ignored, keep on reading… The main goal of your message should be to convey just how easy it was for you to hit the “send” button! After all, you’re all about being “green”, and transferring digital bits and bytes does not hurt anyone! Remember to be very nonchalant about the entire thing, demonstrating to the reader that no effort was put into your communication at all…
• Don’t bother researching the target publication and the types of music that it covers. They are used to thousands of emails a day! Plus, they are definitely backed by a multi-million dollar corporation that can afford an army of illegal immigrants to sort through all the mail. Why should you waste your valuable time? It’s all about sponsoring the jobs in this economy!
• Collect a bunch of addresses from different sites (use a bot to spider them for emails, or purchase from a spamming agency), and blast an email to all in one shot! Even better, make sure you CC: everyone, so that the addresses are visible and available for others to steal.
• Send from a fake email address (use anonymizer), this way the reader can never reply and get back to you with comments on your music. Let them Google your name and arrive at your MySpace page where they can leave you a message through their fantastic HTML5 web interface!
• Leave the subject of the message completely blank, or write something generic like “NEW RELEASE”. Make sure the subject is in all CAPS – pretends you’re SCREAMING at the reader! For extra attention, use ASCII art in the prefix like so: “.oO~<<!!README!!>>~Oo.”
• In the body of your message simply write “helo, listen my music”. Or even better, just write “you’re welcome.” Be sure to ignore a spell checker and skip any proof reading. Remember – the less you write, the better. This is a tweeting generation, after all!
• Attach a high-resolution rasterized bitmap of your artist name, archives of empty iTunes directories, multiple MP3s with missing ID3 tags, and for extra effect, the actual body of the same message in a PDF. The purpose of this action is to inflate the message size to its maximum capacity. Disk space and bandwidth are free!
• Write your message in another language, like French or German (web browsers have built-in language translator these days). Include individual links for each one of your social sites (minimum a dozen), which in turn just redirect back and forth to each other in an infinite loop.
• If you choose to include a link to an actual downloadable album, make sure it takes the visitor to a site with many pop-ups and possibly malware. Make it very difficult to actually download the thing! If the link is to a streaming sample, make sure it uses an obscure Java plugin to play, requiring an upgrade to the latest OS, and that the actual track is constantly “water-marked” with a robot text-to-speech voice-over saying, “this is just a promo… this is just a promo… this is just a promo…” throughout the track. Again, the goal here is just to tease and never deliver!
• If your album release is followed up by a public performance, make sure to list the venue name, but leave out the address – in this world of internet, the name of the street is not important, let the reviewer use Google maps for the location. If you’re feeling generous and decide to include an actual address, be sure to leave out the country – after all, Broadway is only in New York!
• If using a mailing list service, make sure to first subscribe the receiver without their prior permission. How else are they going to get on your list? Then, when the message gets blasted, avoid ways to unsubscribe at all costs! Either don’t include “unsubscribe” links, or have them take the reader to a 404 page. For maximum effect, use your mailing list with other unrelated promotions, like for the sales of your latest energy bracelet, or a fundraiser for your fun trip to Goa.
• If you have extra time on your hands, and really want to have fun with this, create a templated generic message. Avoid all personal touches. Select a colorful background (bright pink or purple does the trick), embed multiple images that take minutes to load from tracking sites (make sure these are animated flashing ones), and make it look like a big billboard poster – let everyone know how much time you took in making this gorgeous! Bottom line – make sure it speaks louder than the music itself!
• And last but not least, remember, Time = Money. And in this world of zero-sum game, for every moment of someone else’s wasted time, you benefit financially in return (don’t ask me how it works, the formula is magic). So even if your music won’t ever be heard or let alone reviewed (isn’t that the goal?), at least you have made your mark on this planet!

This Saturday, September 3, Rephlex Records celebrates their 20th anniversary with a showcase at The Empty Bottle in Chicago. The line-up includes Bogdan Raczynski, Aleksi Perälä, Soundmurder, Wisp, and Monolith. Earlier that day the same artists are scheduled to perform a free noon “lunchbreak” concert at Millennium Park. Information on the tour is scarce. There are no West Coast dates, and rumor has it a New York show has been canceled [Editor's Note: Headphone Commute confirms that a scheduled event at (le) Poisson Rouge has been indeed canceled]. Denise Dalphond discovered Sunday’s show is at Woodruff’s in Ypsilanti, Michigan.

Summarizing Rephlex Records is as difficult as summarizing Aphex Twin himself. When the label was founded in 1991 by Richard D. James and Grant Wilson-Claridge the British electronic music scene was in its infancy. Warp Records was still releasing house music and bleep techno. Other contemporaries, including Applied Rhythmic Technology (ART), B12, Black Dog Productions, and Evolution Records, were heavily influenced by the Detroit sound. Fans started calling these labels’ products “intelligent dance music” to separate them from the goofy breakbeat and simplistic trance releases flooding clubs and climbing charts. The phrase’s built-in value judgement (echoed in Rephlex’s preferred term “braindance”) is still a source of controversy.

The above labels weren’t afraid to acknowledge their Chicago house and Detroit techno roots. ART published tracks by Carl Craig, while Rephlex released a Drexciya single as well as an entire Future Sound Records compilation. In its early days, Rephlex mostly showcased Richard D. James and friends. Michael Paradinas’ productions in particular stretched the boundaries of what techno should sound like. The label’s discoveries are a who’s who of electronica, from Cylob to Squarepusher. In their second decade, James and Wilson-Claridge continued to release the unexpected, including albums by French composer Pierre Bastien, obscurities by Stakker and Black Devil, and even a couple of grime compilations.

Personally, Rephlex Records has been an incredible inspiration. It’s a label I collect religiously, whose releases helped shape my taste in music back in college (having spent my teenage years listening to house and hip-hop radio mix shows). Two years ago, Rephlex started offering releases digitally, and their physical products began to dwindle. This year their Web site hasn’t even been updated. I sincerely hope this weekend’s concert isn’t part of a farewell tour. Mike Paradinas has shown it’s still possible to lead a vibrant, evolving label. Here’s hoping Rephlex has at least another decade in it.

Words by Jacob Arnold of Gridface. Republished with permission.

Once again, I’m back with a Reflections entry, to check out my listening patterns, one, two, and three year ago, about this time in August. I’ve done a few similar write-ups a few years ago, and they helped me put my journey through music into a reflective perspective and revisit some of my favorite dusty albums. I hope this is not much of a diversion from my regular articles, and that some of the names on here will excite you as well…

Here are the top 15 most played artists during the month of August:

Looking at these charts, I immediately queue up some albums from Slow Dancing Society, Cougar, Last Days, Murcof, Proem, and Fennesz…

[Original photography by Luis Argerich - Reflections at Navarro by lrargerich]

Today, I’m trying something new… An in-depth reflection on one specific track (song), and some of its incarnations through the years through variety of covers. And what better way to kick this one off than with a one titled Gloomy Sunday… Read on, and make sure to hit [play] along the way on the embedded tracks…

Although I officially became familiar with this tune after giving an in-depth review of Venetian Snares‘ Rossz Csillag Allat Született (Planet Mu, 2005), I actually have heard one of its original renditions at the beginning of Steven Spielberg‘s Schindler’s List. There were, of course, many other covers, including one by Björk, and even by Christina Ricci in the film The Man Who Cried. But of course, one of the most famous renditions, the same one sampled by Aaron Funk, is the one by Billie Holiday, recorded in 1941. This original recording, because of its content, was actually banned by the BBC until the turn of the last century!

A little about the song… Gloomy Sunday was composed by a Hungarian pianist, Rezső Seress in 1933. There are actually two sets of lyrics. One, the original by Seress’, depicts Hunary during first world war, titled Vége a világnak. The other, titled Szomorú vasárnap with lyrics by László Jávor, translates to “Sad Sunday” and is “mourning to a lost lover and a pledge to commit suicide to meet said lover again in the afterlife”. Of course, the same song exists in English, German, Spanish, French, Russian, Finnish, Swedish, Italian, Greek, and yes, even Chinese, Japanese, and Vietnamese!

Another, absolutely stunning cover, is by the one and only Kronos Quartet. Yes, the same one that performed Clint Mansell‘s score to Darren Aronofsky‘s Requiem For A Dream. The quartet has also some fantastic releases on its home label, Nonesuch: Terry Riley: The Cusp of Magic (2008), and Floodplain (2009). This track is taken off their 1986 release, Caravan:

Sarah Brightman, the English classical crossover soprano, yes the same one who performed at the Beijing Olympics and captivated the world with her beautiful voice, took a stab at the song, and absolutely nailed it with her smooth, velvety, voice:

Now wait just a second!!! Here comes Sinéad O’Connor! This cover is taken from her third full length album, Am I Not Your Girl? released by Chrysalis in 1992. It’s beautiful!

I don’t even know which version I like better!!! They’re both so good, yet different… Or am I completely out of my element here? I’m not sure… Yet here’s another cover, with that Portishead-like trip-hop feel, from Bermudian singer, Heather Nova. This is a music video of the track that appears on her 2001 release, South.

Oi! I’m exhausted! I’ll leave you with this final classic by Venetian Snares… Hope you enjoyed this little distraction… Leave me your feedback – I’m really curious to hear what you think of all this!

As always: I feel it is of the utmost importance that purveyors of so-called “independent” music realize the importance of the free-flow of information and that it is only through this last bastion of free-expression (the internet(s)) that we are able to circumvent the trend-setting entities (that engage in the subsequent analyzing, optimizing, and honing of market-data and research to create more returns for the following quarter) and actually listen to what we want to listen to. Arguably, that flow was disrupted this year by regulations that the FCC desires, or, perhaps, the legislation that will follow in its footsteps; though politics tends to be messy, I encourage all those who enjoy listening to actual free human-expression to forever be vigilant in examining legislation that surrounds the flow of information (afterall, Hideo Kojima tried to show us what control of information can entail).

That being said, the internets have granted us:

Kemialliset Ystävät – Ullakkopalo (Fonal)
When I bought KY’s self-titled album years ago, I set it down after my first listen and said something to the effect of ‘what the hell did I just hear?!’ and wasn’t ready to return for nearly a year. Now KY is the most fascinating of musical projects that I know of, and has warped my mind enough to now seek out the 9 books that Jan speaks of in the liner notes.

Flying Lotus – Cosmogramma (Warp)
Do the Astral Plane might deserve album of the year, too. Really satisfying controlled chaos.

Ous Mal – Nuojuva Halava (Preservation)
Another collage-d-nostalgia gem from Ous Mal; was totally blown away with some of the tracks on this album. Moving between the here and now, and weaving so many layers it is difficult to imagine that all these sounds weren’t born together, the Finnish couple really wove another amazing aural-sweater of memories that I never had, but am thankful that I do now…

Scott Tuma – Dandelion (Digitalis)
Year upon year, Scott Tuma logs in another amazing space-soaked journey through his head; I kind of assumed he’d be quiet for a while after the *amazing* Not for No One, but then this comes out and sits in a place all its own.

Prisma – The Cosmic Coil (TIME-LAG)
Straight from the forests of mysterious Maine; two female voices over lots of hazy synths and guitars, chanting, and ends with a beautiful lullaby goodbye…first release from this group, and a really nice surprise. Crazy textured insert and simple & beautiful TIME-LAG packaging…

Grouper – Wide (Weird Forest [Reissue])
Really great vinyl reissue of Harris’ album from 2006 (I think?). Self-multiplying voices stuck in stasis in a cave with really great reverb. Really got lost in this, and hadn’t heard it until this year…

Yellow Swans – Going Places (Type)
Trance inducing drone + noise; incredible gray-scale explorations that focus on metallic aural-minutia…sorry to have caught Yellow Swans on their swan song, but I was really blown away with their ‘final’ gift.

Nick Kuepfer – Avestruz (Constellation, from Musiqe Fragille #1)
Western-tinged Montréal-based guitar experiments; funny that this does not sound like an album made by a classical guitarist! Plays with structure nicely, and discards it sometimes, too; awesome thick LP jacket and packaging that Constellation is known for so fondly (comes in the Musique Fragille 3xLP set, which was done awesome-ly).

Max Richter – Infra (130701)
Mr. Richter just kills me with simple processing and string arrangements that are always deceivingly archetypal, which could seem to be bland, but are anything but, and frequently interrupt whatever it is that I’m doing otherwise. A very worthwhile listen each and ever time…really grows on you.

Big Blood – Dead Songs (TIME-LAG)
After following Cerberus Shoals’ 90′s transition, seeing their post-millennial psych-out and then onward to Fire on Fire, it was awesome to see some of those same folks hone in on a specific idea and go all the way with it; this is the first “rock” record I’ve heard in a long time that saturated so well…the closer on this track is amazing, and has an amazing gate-fold jacket.

Other points of relevant listening in 2010:

Prince Rama – Shadow Temple (Paw-Tracks)
Nicest people in the world making the craziest throw-back hollow-earth prog in the multiverse; Paw Tracks seems like a perfect fit, and with AC helping produce their newest record, Prince Rama got a more polished record and it sounds awesome; by far one of the most compelling live acts I’ve ever experienced, and constantly on tour; check them out!

Smokey Emery – Soundtracks for Invisibility III (Kiamesha Drive)
Live tape-loop manipulations by Mr. Daniel Hipolíto, and the third in his Soundtracks series; hand-made loops of loss and other emotional saturation that bleed not unlike William Basisnki’s Disintegration Loops, but one a much more succinct time-scale. Heavy, effectual, and sincere, I’m really thankful that Mr. Emery is local to ATX…

NIKE7UP – Thief in the Night Mix 7″ (Light Lodge)
There is no way of accurately and/or properly describing how much I thoroughly enjoy hearing well-known pop tunes from my adolescence cut up, butchered, and made better than they could have ever been originally! Really compelling & consistently poignant in its approach to critique the status quo by dissecting it; more soon, I hope.

LIVE recordings worth catching ::::::::::—:::::::::::

GODSPEED YOU! BLACK EMPEROR ***LIVE*** at Troxy (12/14/10)
Honestly, I thought a live recording from GY!BE would be something I would only experience in my dreams; surprise, they’re playing again and didn’t loose a step.

JEFF MANGUM ***LIVE*** at the Schoolhouse (12/5/10)
As if my most intense of listening-wishes were granted, there’s also a great recording of Jeff Mangum playing some NMH stuff available for listening; now if only NMH was also touring…

indianqueenrecords.com

Top 20 Albums of 2010

The rest of these are in no particular order:

myspace.com/thelocrian

The past year has been Bedroom Community’s biggest and busiest yet with no less than four album releases, a Whale Watching tour that actually turned into three (thanks Eyjafjallajökull!) – numerous collective and individual events, appearances and collaborations, and even a presidential visit to the Greenhouse Studios.

Here are some of our artist’s individual highlights from the year 2010:

Sam Amidon’s I See The Sign hit top albums lists hard — including lists at The New York Times and MOJO — and continues to do so; Sam also toured the world, finally read The Great Gatsby and liked it (but apparently not as much as he liked Chesterton’s The Man Who Was Thursday who he claims is ‘some insane shit’), turned 29, became unhealthily obsessed with Sonny Rollins; and beat Tetris on his iPhone.


Daníel Bjarnason released Processions to great critical acclaim, winning Composer Of The Year and Composition Of The Year at the Icelandic Music Awards, as well as winning the Kraumur Music Award for Processions and being nominated for the Nordic Music Prize for ‘Bow to String’. Some of Daníel’s most memorable moments of the year were the Ulster Orchestra and Víkingur Ólafsson concert in Belfast, the concert with Hjaltalín and the Icelandic Symphony Orchestra, the spectral-festival with Ísafold chamber orchestra, writing ‘Larkin Songs’ for the festival in Kirkjubæjarklaustur and conducting Rigoletto at the Icelandic Opera. Last but not least there was the Processions release concert, where Daníel shared a bill with the Danish Efterklang by coincidence which later led to a collaboration between him and the band.

Ben Frost was chosen by legendary artist Brian Eno for a year of mentoring in the Rolex Arts Initiative, composed the score to Wayne McGregor’s FAR dance piece (for a chance to see the piece live click here) and was nominated for Best Album (classical/contemporary) at the Icelandic Music Awards for BY THE THROAT.

 Ben and Daníel were then commissioned by Poland’s Unsound Festival to create a new piece of music inspired by Andre Tarkovsky’s 1972 film and the original novel Solaris written by Polish author Stanislaw Lem. The music is performed live by the duo with Sinfonietta Cracovia.

Nico Muhly released two albums (‘by accident’, he claims): I Drink the Air Before Me via Bedroom Community and Decca Classics and also via Decca A Good Understanding as well as writing two operas; one for Metropolitan Opera and English National Opera and the other for Gotham Chamber Opera. Somehow in the middle of all this he managed to find the time to work on everybody else’s music like crazy and blog regularly on his fantastic website (which you should check it out if you haven’t already). He also had a love/hate relationship going on with printers and started listening to Russian music.



Valgeir Sigurðsson, meanwhile, released Draumalandið, his score to the acclaimed eponymous film by Þorfinnur Guðnason and Andri Snær Magnason. The album features the entire Bedroom Community artist roster and was nominated for ‘best soundtrack’ at the Icelandic Film Academy Awards.
2010 kept Valgeir busy in the studio; as well as producing all of the Bedroom Community releases, his collaborative efforts with artists such as Magic Numbers and Wildbirds & Peacedrums saw the light of day. For Christmas, Ben gave Valgeir a copy of the Mötley Crüe biography in the hope that it would inspire his next album. Valgeir is still reading The Dirt…

The final strike this year was Yule: a free Christmas compilation album with every purchase through the Bedroom Community store over the holidays. The album featured previously unreleased material, remixes, rarities and exclusives by all the Bedroom Community artists.

Even though this was in many ways a hectic year for the label, we’re nowhere near exhausted and are already working on our 2011 projects. We have a lot of things coming up and want to share some of the highlights with you:

One of the things we’re most excited about is our newest addition to the Bedroom Community, the mysterious Puzzle Muteson from the Isle of Wight! We’re proud to tell you that his debut will be out in early 2011 – and we’re pretty sure you’ll love it as much as we do.

That’s far from being the only release scheduled for 2011. We will release Solaris by Daníel and Ben, the first seeds for a new solo album by Valgeir have already been planted and the wonderful Whale Watching Tour will be brought back to life via the power of the DVD. More on that as the details unfold.

And finally: Nico’s opera Two Boys — based on a true story from the complex world of the internet — will be premiered at London’s ENO on the 24th of June. Tickets are already selling fast, so get them here while you can (don’t forget your opera binoculars).

So, stay tuned – and have a good one!

bedroomcommunity.net

2010 Rotations (alphabetical)

thanks and a safe trip to 2011
stephan

bitsteam.de

Records I’ve listened to a lot this year
(in no particular order):

Best shows I saw:

irisarri.org

papercutzed.com

jonhopkins.co.uk

RICHARD CHARTIER . top 10 of 2010 list

: )

r

3particles.com | lineimprint.com

2010 has been a pretty incredible year for both Hibernate & Rural Colours, somehow I managed to release 12 albums, 26 ep’s and put on 12 concerts. It was also a year where I received too many demos and spent a lot of time checking them out, but along with all that, I reckon 2010 has been an incredible year for music plus it’s been real interesting to see how the ambient/experimental/drone genre has developed even though the whole scene is somewhat saturated. My list of favourite releases of the year has basically been compiled from albums that I’ve had on repeat over the year and is in no particular order…

hibernate-recs.com

Here are a few lists in no particular order of things I heard, saw and experienced this year that had great impact on me. I think a thesis of these things could be made to accurately articulate the year for me.

yannnovak.com | dragonseyerecordings.com

Here are 50 albums that made my year in alphabetical order.
Experimedia’s 50 personal highlights for 2010.
Nondefinitive and in alphabetical order.
Excludes Experimedia releases.

jeremybible.com | experimedia.net

2010 has been a strange year. Intense and weird. It sort of just ran by me while I was busy with other things. There have been some bad things but there has also been good ones. I guess it all evens out in the end right?

So it’s that time again. Where we look back at what has been and here are some excellent records from the past year, in no particular order at all:

I love them because The Bear Quartet always is the best band in the world, even when they’re not that good. And I’m not saying Monty Python is a bad album, because it’s not, it’s brilliant in every way. Just listen to the lyrics on Lovers Goodbye. That track pretty much sums up all that they are in one perfect song. I think The Bear Quartet could quite possibly be one of the most important bands we have in Sweden today. Their music is unruly, intense, uncompromising… always on the move towards something new and unexpected. I often try to explain to people just what makes them so good. But in order to get them I guess you have to know the story and have heard the albums. Seen the evolution over the years and the unwillingness to stay in one place or to do as people expect or do things the way you should do. They’re a band existing solely on their own terms, far away from everything that’s bland and mainstream. They do whatever they please and they exist in a perpetual now. The Bear Quartet are kind of my idols. Although I bet they would detest me if they heard me say that, and that’s just another reason for loving them even more…

Their swan song and a show of force. There’s something sympathetic with a band that chooses to call it quits before they start their down-hill slope. Although I think we could have taken some more, right? Then again, now we get tons of solo albums from Pete Swanson and that ain’t no bad thing either so I’m really not complaining here. Going Places is a masterpiece and I’m just bummed I missed out on the vinyl edition.

And so it finally saw the light of day. I know Greg’s been working on this album off and on for the last couple of years, struggling to get it recorded and done. And I’m very glad he pulled through. When my wife first heard it she thought it was a new Jóhann Jóhannsson album. And she wasn’t too far off with that notion actually. There’s something grand yet restrained in this piece of music. It’s orchestrated and lush, but never over the top. Where I feel that Jóhann Jóhannsson has kind of turned into the Coldplay of ”modern classical” Greg stays away from the more obvious clichés and adds some much needed grittyness to it all. Very lovely and very good from this exiled Englishman.

Motorpsycho is, rivaled only by Supersilent, the best band in Norway (and imagine my excitement when I saw them perform together at Rockefeller in Oslo in March. Two and a-half hours of insane jamming and improvisations). When I first started hearing about this album there was talk about it being a space opera with twenty-minute songs and long, spaced out jams. And that’s exactly what it turned out to be. But all of this is of course paired with the most beautiful 60’s melodies, amazing guitar play from Hans-Magnus Ryan and some of the most beautiful arrangements the group has ever produced. Motorpsycho celebrated twenty years as a band 2010 and I would not be surprised if they go at it for another twenty years. And by all means, please do!

How does one find his way out of a personal tragedy? When Esbjörn Svensson died in 2008 Sweden, and the rest of the world for that matter, lost a brilliant musician. And I can imagine Dan Berglund lost his place. After playing for so long together in Esbjörn Svensson Trio, Dan must have been devastated. But from the wreckage of this tragedy Tonbruket was born. The music exists somewhere between jazz, country and… something else entirely. I can’t recommend this album strongly enough. One of the absolute highlights of the album is the track Song For E. Sometimes the simplest of gestures are the grandest.

In the summer of 2009 I did a two-week US tour. And when I was i Chicago I played at The Empty Bottle and that was one of the best shows I’ve ever experienced. But that had nothing to do with me but rather with the fact that I shared the stage with Zelienople. And it was mind blowing. I can’t begin to tell you how grateful I am to have seen the live. It was brilliant. While we were in Chicago we stayed at Mike’s place and hung a bit with the guys and they’re just the best people ever. Completely retarded with a humor bordering what’s socially accepted and that just made them even nicer in my mind. Everything I’ve heard from them has been absolutely brilliant and Hollywood is no exception. Two long tracks full of textures, hazy melodies, menace and more serene passages. Amazing.

The follow-up to the amazing All Is Well. There were periods when I listened to All Is Well twice a day for weeks on end. It’s still one of my absolute favourite albums. And because of this I knew that I See The Sign wouldn’t be equally good, that just wouldn’t be possible. And it’s not either but it’s still a very beautiful album (although I could have lived without some of the tracks). But no one can deny the greatness of the R. Kelly cover Relief. And trust me, this is not a joke. Sam Amidon means every word when he sings:
What a relief to know that, we are one
What a relief to know that, the war is over
What a relief to know that, there’s an angel in the sky
What a relief to know that, love is still a lie…

So, lots of good music, lots of good things happening I guess. But I just wanna stop here for a moment and send a thought to Adam D. Mills. Adam was the man behind the very nice Australian label Sound & Fury who released my cassette Waverly Cemetary (Sydney) with the very lovely and talented Penelope Joy. Adam is unfortunately no longer with us. He didn’t live to see his 30th birthday, and that pains me. Our lives are so damn fragile and there’s just so little time to do all the things we want to do in life isn’t there? So 2010 went fast but it was pretty good and I believe 2011 will go even faster. I won’t have time to do half of the things I want to do, there will be ups and downs and I’ll grow one year older…

But hey, it’s like my mom always says: If you stay alive, you get older.

Simple but true.

So, let’s stay alive and get older. Deal?

Dag

In Allan Moore‘s classic comic book series, Watchmen, written in 1986-87 and recently adopted into a film, directed by Zack Snyder, we come upon the story’s main antagonist, named Adrian Veidt. Going by the name Ozymandias, Veidt retires from the superhero work, devoting his attention to running his own enterprises… At the end of the eleventh issue, we read a fictional interview between Dough Roth of Nova Express and Adrian Veidt, and stumble upon the following:

NOVA: Changing the subject entirely, do you listen to much music? I wondered what your taste might be, as a superhero…

VEIDT: I like electronic music…

OK… Do I have your attention now? Yes… A super hero villain likes electronic music. But that’s not all… Read the rest of the interview, and keep in mind that this was written in 1986:

VEIDT: I like eletronic music. That’s a very superhero-ey thing to like, I suppose, isn’t it? I like avant-garde music in general. Cage, Stockhausen, Penderecki, Andrew Lang, Pierre Henry. Terry Riley is very good. Oh, and I’ve heard some interesting new music from Jamaica… a sort of hybrid between electronic music and reggae [...]

What what what??? Could it be that Allan Moore is looking into the music of the future, and is describing dubstep??? Seriously???

VEIDT: [...] It’s a fascinating study in musical forms generated when a largely pre-technological culture is given access to modern recording techniques without the technological preconceptions that we’ve allowed to accumulate, limiting our vision. It’s called dub music. You’d like it, I’m sure…

I leave you there… Send me your thoughts…

(all entries are listed in alphabetical order by artist name)

For this month, I’m queuing up a revisit to Phonem, Blackfilm, Murcof, CoH and some Venetian Snares.

(all entries are listed in alphabetical order by artist name)

Yes, I’m definitely going to give Dictaphone another spin. And I think Kangding Ray, Dabrye, Rudi Arapahoe, and Funckarma need another listen…

A few days have passed since I attended MUTEK, and I am now able to reflect on the five days I spent in Montreal. Overall, what pleased me the most, was the ease with which the festival unfolded. There was no overwhelming drama, major technical difficulties, or other issues that could have possibly made this a disappointing experience, given the vast scope of the festival. Yes, the weather was bad in the last few days, but the crew was prepared and moved the entire outdoor Piknic into a club setting on a day’s notice. Thumbs up for organizing that!

The location of the festival was ideal, and the numerous venues were literally within a city block. When multiple events were going on, it was easy to walk across the street into another performance. The security crew were super nice, and barely noticeable, stamping your hand on the way out, and checking the wrist on the way in. Again, a super smooth transaction that could have been a stressful situation. And whoever thought of building Chinatown right next to the festival deserves a special award! The array of Asian delights satisfied my empty stomach and equally vacant wallet. Big thanks to Banh Mi Cao Thang for the amazing Vietnamese sandwiches at three bucks a pop!

Brandt Brauer Frick at Nocturne. Photo by Caroline Hayeur courtesy of MUTEK.

The crowd was friendly and the people were beautiful. With the exception of a few drunks here and there, who put on a free comedy show stumbling in front of moving traffic, I was surrounded by a mature audience that appreciated the variety of showcased music. All of the artists I have met and interviewed were professional, patient, and respectful. Some may wonder why I even bother mentioning this, but those who have dealt with difficult individuals know what a mark it could leave on the overall experience.

I loved the outdoor wireless broadcast, enjoyed the panels, and wish I had more time for the workshops. The schedule was a bit tight, and I wish that I could have attended the Ectoplasmes³ series – I missed every one! The Saturday night party, Nocturne 4, could have started a few hours earlier, but otherwise the programming was pretty tight, and should have kept the pass holders satisfied. Big points for a variety of free programming for the public – a great exposure of the new talent and electronic music to the city!

Marsen Jules at A/Visions. Photo by Caroline Hayeur courtesy of MUTEK.

My absolute favorite was the A/Visions series, with performances by The Caretaker, Marsen Jules Trio, Vladislav Delay, Tim Hecker, and Ben Frost to name just a few. My newly discovered Montreal based talent includes Bernier + Messier, Gemmiform, Thierry Gauthier, and Aun. My favorite dance sets where I actually moved my feet include Jon Hopkins, Overcast Sound, Demdike Stare, and Ikonika. And the award for the most permanent memory goes to the hooker on the corner of Saint Laurent and Rue Ste Catherine, who tried to entice me with her running mascara and ripped up pantyhose. You’re beautiful, honey, but I’m not a fan…

And just so that I don’t look like I’m always positive, my most disappointing experience featured the Days Inn. With the rotting elevator carpet, hay filled pillows, coin sized soap, and most importantly, unpredictable internet, it’s no wonder why I spent most of the time outside. Maybe I’m spoiled, but I expected just a tad higher quality for the $140 a night. At least the valet returned my car safe and the room didn’t have bed bugs [that's a whole other story]. Oh well… A mattress and a hot shower is always better then a tent and a baby wipe.

Time Drifts by Philipp Geist. Photo by Caroline Hayeur courtesy of MUTEK.

My big thanks go out to Morgan Steiker and Mara Gourd-Mercado for making my journalistic experience at MUTEK go as smooth as possible. Without your perfect schedule, up-to-the-minute updates and top-notch coordination I would have been completely lost! It’s a pleasure watching you at work. Now stop trying to obsess over every detail and get some sleep! Overall, MUTEK jumps to the top of my favorite electronic music festivals. And given my availability next year, I would be happy to jump in the car for a smooth six hour drive, to be fully surrounded in music among some of my favorite artists. Five stars. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

I know I’ve asked a lot of questions there, and I don’t have the answers. Instead, I invite you to contribute to this thread with your thoughts. And mainly – how do you measure, convey, and support your findings on “importance of being important”. Is it the number of words in a Wikipedia entry under the artist’s name? The number of available seeds in the bit-torrent node? The number of album sales, or people attending the concert? The number of listens on last.fm? The number of votes on rateyourmusic.com? Of course, it’s all very subjective and relative. So what’s your take?

Three years of music… No… I’m not about to try and summarize all of the amazing albums that have made it to my rotations list – that is nearly impossible. Instead, I want to point my time machine to this exact month of April, over a period of one, two, and then three years, to see what I have been enjoying back then. Thanks to my membership of last.fm, I was able to gather these statistics and tabulate the top played albums going back three years. Many of you already know that I don’t believe in ‘dating’ music – a great album is a great album, regardless of when it was released. So here’s a very short flashback to the music of my past, that will no doubt be played again today in my rotations…

(all entries are listed in alphabetical order by artist name)

This quick revisit maybe me already dust off Xela‘s For Frosty Mornings And Summer Nights, as well as three albums by Marsen Jules: Herbstlaub, Yara, and Lazy Sunday Funerals. I’ll be definitely queuing up some Pole, Dictaphone, Murcof, and Julien Neto soon enough! Here’s to more wonderful times, with good old friends!!!

[Original photography by Luis Argerich - Reflections at Navarro by lrargerich]