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Gerald Puts the Kettle On.
Gerald Roche talks to Brisbane sound artist Andrew Kettle about politics and/in music.
Is your music driven by a personal political philosophy? If so, what
would be the 25-words or less version of that philosophy?
... that the listen my find a great fascination with the natural world that they can compare with their current position and question their entire identity.
John Cage once said: "How can there be any bad music? Nature builds
mountains and meadows, and man puts in the fences and labels." How do you
think concepts like individuality, experimentation, and the hegemonic
production of 'good' music, intersect?
through the contemplation of composition and soundscape it is possible to gain a 'comparison' to a personal identity... modern times could be mistaken for thinking that every possible human expression is capable in a consumerist model, unfortunately the soul of humanity is in fact caged by economic rationalism, if it wheren't for dedicated artists that pursuit the human soul through their work at the expense of their sustainability then the expressions and depth to which the pysche has explored would be entirely shallow to the unforgivable position that it presently is in feeding people manufactured identity to replace an otherwise chaotic subjective journey of expression and identity in society.... otherwise, I'm talking about commercial media.....
In his book "Noise: The Political Economy of Music", Jacques Attali
suggest that the social control of music and its production move through
several stages, culminating in the utopic 'compositional' phase, where
everyone is composing, performing, distributing, and consuming music. Many
people have touted the PC and the internet as being harbingers of such an a
'compositional' age. Do you feel that these tools are over-hyped or
under-utilised in their potential to act as democritisers of musical
production and distribution?
.. from an artist that has embraced the digital medium, partially by way of having my complete works... some 15+ hours available for stream or download at mp3.com.au I can tell you that it can be disappointing sometime as to the weeks when only 30 people visit your site.... the internet is a strange beast of the 1 million users on bigpond I wonder how many of them would find my portal... how people use the internet will be the ultimate desider on the medium.... it definitely cures curiousity by replacing it with frustration... anyhow, I believe that it's ultimately about an identity mechanism... perhaps Australians embrace new technology faster because they are still searching for an identity... why do people listen to commercial radio? I tend to think that it's more for an association with a perceived identity that they gain.... as far as the computer is concerned in music, well you only have to look at mp3, cd burners, label websites, on-line ordering, newsgroups such as Aus_noise, midi keyboards, audio mulch,.... I've been mucking around with it since 1992 and the changes from even then have been crasy... since first being exposedto computers in 1981 the mental logic that has developed has definitely had an impact.... otherwise, I have avoided computers as 'live' instruments from an early experience of blowing up one at our 'Poota' debut gig in 1996... actually, being part of 'Atmospheric disturbances' the experimental radio show that was on 4zzz, I iwe a lot of the success to the internet, being able to search down other local artists.... what miracles happen when a 'bedroom' artist types in 'Brisbane experimental music' into a search engine... I wish I could have done that 6 years ago.... but then....
What role do you feel that experimental music and sound art have to play
in the creation of engineered public soundscapes? Can you envisage public
sound art ever becoming as ubiquitous as murals and sculptures currently
seem to be? Would this be a good thing?
sorry, they already have ... there is a great book that I am reading form a melbourne lecturer, Ros Bandt, about sound art public works.... Adam Donovan is doing a lot in this field in Brisbane.... I was having a deep thought about that urinal all those years ago and how it could have been enhanced by sound.... anyhow, public soundscapes already exist... have you seen the specs on the sound system in the Queens Street Mall... it's quite impressive for a public space....as far as soundspaces are concerned I'm increasingly coming interested in the sounds we can't hear... there is an entirely different 'landscape' of electro-magnetic radio (radio waves) all around us... to contempate it is a beautiful think...
In your three part composition "With my left eye closed...", you
interpreted your responses to a condition of detiorating eyesight in one
eye. What do you feel is the role of diempowerment (whether physical,
social, or political) in the creative process?
... disempowerment is a completely inaccurate assumption of any physical condition... it's a wonderment of the nature.. systems and dynamics... my distorting eyesight was an inspiration to consider things that I could see or hear, as at the time of my initial research into electro-magnetic radiation I was becoming increasing aware of my physical limitations... our perception of the world around us is increasingly governed by out senses.... the short story of the 'with my left eye closed...' was that if I did completely lose my sight I would glad replace it with the ability to hear electro-magnetic radiation.... since that work, I would alter that perception, as it is an amsingly noisey place in the radio spectrum... I am glad I can only hear physical vibrations in some instances....as for the creative process, I have recently completed something that I have been planning for a while.... I recorded the first storm in summer 2001 on a low frequency AM band so that you only hear the lighning strikes then edited out the silence between the crakes to end with a three minute track that in it's compressed time state is a fascination the quickly hear and compare the diversity of the storm's lightning... it's a wonderment of nature, truly inspirational....
The question of experimental music and popular acceptance is often
bought up. How do you feel about experimental music's often perceived image
as an intellectually elite genre of music?...
.... I could substanciate it from my experience.... from my involvement, I first became interested in radio at a very young ages and was as equally interested in the 'non-station' sound as much as the human broadcasts.... years later after getting involved with 4zzz and developing atmospheric disturbances that resulted in coming into contact with many other experimental artists, both locally and nationally, i would tend to think that the average experiemental musician has been encouraged by a struggle to find things new, importantly to express themselves in new mediums and explore the landscape of our existance.. I mean most artists I know where 'bedroom' artists that have been validated by finding and organising groups of interested artists and audience to perform and share their exploration in sound, identity and expression... I have had very little to do with finding an intellectual elite in Australia, certainly there are some great modes of thought and experimentation coming out of high focussed artists in unis and colleges... popular acceptance is a topic that I contemplate occasionally, I still think that people will support you if they perceive that you are doing something 'interesting' .... that whole 'popular' generally has nothing to do with what is being produced, but what identity that it is creating....
I just wanted to touch on a performance that I had in 2001 that seems to be getting a bit of notoriety... 'The Australian National Anthem' performance when I asked everybody to be upstanding for the Aussie anthem and then screams for 10 minutes while creating agonising facial expressions to the stutter of a sampler keyboard was completely a response of the news that australia used tear gas in detention centres.... some resent workings with non-verbal vocal expressions have been very effective in communicating the associationed idea that we waste resources by out perceptions....
Loose Talk, Dodgy Claims. Issue No:3. 2002.
mailto:gedroche@hotmail.com
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