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Author: luther blissett Date: 10/25/2001
"Creative Use of Technology in Music: Kettle"
Creative Use of Technology in Music
Technology is everywhere. Technology is used everyday by billions
of people around the globe often in the same way. Surely the
computer revolution should allow us to focus less on the practical
and more on the creative, yet it is blindingly obvious that access
to technology does not automatically provide for innovation and
quality. Just look at the top ten in your country and I`m pretty
sure you`ll agree. So many little cooks with the same recipes. In a
big sea, the little fish get swallowed by one or two giant whales
and that is all the ignorant really see. The true jewels often lie
hidden at the bottom, where only the intrepid will find them. In
this series we look at independent musicians who use technology
creatively.
Part Two : Kettle
For the last few years it has been impossible to talk about
experimental music with out mentioning Andrew Kettle. From hosting
Atmospheric Disturbances, a weekly sound-art show on 4ZZZ, to
moderating the Aus Noise E-group; curating the monthly Small Black
Box sound art evenings to conducting beautiful symphonies of
electro-magnetic feedback. He has received national and
international acclaim for his "Lotto" release: a 3"cd with 45 short
pieces for Random play and an actual Lotto grid for playing along.
Highly opinionated, philosophically motivated, influenced by
principles of Alchemy: Andrew Kettle is a true original in the field
of Electronic music. Here is what he had to say about the creative
use of technology in music.
n.Crypt : Do you feel the personal computer evolution has
enhanced your creative abilities?
Kettle: In different ways... it has allowed the fullfillment of
technological visions of instrument and performance interfaces that
I have had for quite a while. It has also allowed for a simplicity
of design overlayed bycomplex calculations that I don`t have to get
too involved in. Take Sonic Foundry`s Acid program for example: it
is a very simple program , yet it actually does a lot of complex
things. In another way, the PC has truly awakened a new
collaboration and networking of creative artists...
email, search
engines, newsgroups, resources, streaming; the list goes on of new
approaches to communication....
n.Crypt : How do you create your art?
Kettle : The majority of my creativity sources from a simple
fascination with the natural world, its processes and mechanisms;
studying biological rhythms and design is beyond fascination; the
awe of science, physics and chemistry is inspiring. Any development
of a work has a tremendous number of external influences... a
beautiful system is the astrological harmonies or
the elementary
table or the micro/macrocosm of a factory.
n.Crypt : So you are driven by very philosophical concepts - how
does this translate to the technology? Do you merely use it as a
tool for exploiting your vision, or does the process of creation
meet your philosophical concerns midway?
Kettle : I tend to conceive and employ the tools and intruments
as devices and keys to enter or build another perspective.... The
best technologies are the tools that create alternative realities
for comparison to our present ones...beyond this if a relationship
that develops whereby the user and the interface are
indistinguishable then it would be a higher design
that
complements both participants...
n.Crypt : What is the motivation for what you do?
Kettle : For taxation purposes, the answer must be: to ultimately
establish a profitable work practice and lifestyle.... be this as a
combination of the label, my composition, performance, writing and
lecturing. It`s an encouraging thought that I get opportunities from
gallery installation to lecturing.
n.Crypt : To what extent are you restricted (by technology or
other factors)?
Kettle : Generally, financial restrictions is the hardest ...
yet, approaching works as adaptive is beneficial.
n.Crypt : So is it what you`ve got or what you do with what
you`ve got?
Kettle : It goes without saying that it is a point in the present
that concerns me most, as a result that which surrounds me is
utilised to it`s best ability. Yet, I know there are more beneficial
modes of operating that would make things more fluid... still the
journey to a point is ....[?]
n.Crypt : In what sectors of the community do you feel you are
most appreciated.
Kettle : Anybody with a sense of adventure; an appreciation or
awareness of their limitations, that acknowledge the reality of
comparison in judgement; anybody that shares the sense of wonder
about the world around us, yet has an enthusiastic grasp on
imaginated landscapes; anybody that considers other levels of
perception and symbolism, or a comprehension of the microcosmic and
macrocosmic structure of the world that we live in.
n.Crypt : Is there a particular demographic?
Kettle : No, not to my knowledge..... it`s more the
perception.
n.Crypt : What do you hope to achieve, what do you want the
audience to achieve?
Kettle : An acknowledgement of the pure wonder of the world that
we live in, for an audience, the removal of any limitations of
perception; to an extent the questioning of `identity`, the
comparison of experience; to
question `what` we believe and where
we received those belief structures from; to be honest.
n.Crypt : What other issues are incorporated in your art and how
do you "technologize" these issues?
Kettle : Recent works have considered environmental awareness of
our living conditions and our exposure to the unnatural world that
we have created; through making people aware of native radiation in
their life...
n.Crypt : What is your favourite mode of operation
(creatively!)
Kettle : Quiet mediation that affords me a greater perspective of
approaching and creating works; an objective complete over-view of a
work is greatly appreciated during development of a project;
studying a subject enough to then explore the field by experience. I
enjoy `collaborative` opportunities to work on a project that it
divided and each participant completing the jigsaw.
n.Crypt : Who do you admire and why?
Kettle : I`m constantly in a state of awe for local resident
wild-life... their resiliance, adaptability... everything from birds
to marsupials... to think that their blood line extends past
colonization.
n.Crypt : How do you incorporate this admiration in your
work?
Kettle : Not directly, as in `sampling` noises` except for an
early piece which used insects... it`s more of a consideration and
influence...
n.Crypt : What is coming up in the future for you?
Kettle : Establishing a plan to position myself in a regular
circuit of works, from festivals to residencies... to develop the
regionalism of artists and audiences...
n.Crypt : What is the hardest thing you have had to deal
with?
Kettle : Realising that there is a ceiling to sound art in
Australia, and the inevitable travel to professionally develop.
n.Crypt : Please explain, ceiling?
Kettle : Oh, it`s that feeling that you know everyone and every
festival and every radio show that utilises experiemental music or
sound art... and the limit that you can have your work supported by
these outlets.
n.Crypt : What has been you most rewarding work?
Kettle : Organising performance events that allow emerging
artists or future collaborations to develop.
n.Crypt : Any particular occasions/gigs?
Kettle : "Audio Pollen", "Small Black Box", "What is Music? in
Brisbane", "Atmospheric Disturbances".
n.Crypt : You seem to have very keen environmental awareness;
does this conflict with your use of technology?
Kettle : Completely, an environmental conflict has followed me
throughout my creative expression, from photograph to landscape
sculptures, sound production appears to use the least amount of
resources.
n.Crypt : Can you see your interface with technology as
diminishing or expanding in the future?
Kettle : Completely expanding.. sound has a long way to go to
be...[?]
n.Crypt : Where do you see the future of sound-art in
particular?
Kettle : Building better speakers.... current speaker design is
highly ineffeciant.... coupling health awareness of hearing with
art...
n.Crypt : You worked as a hearing aid specialist for a time, how
does this inform your performance (especially considering
"sound-art" is often described as "noise" excessive amounts of which
are accused of causing hearing difficulties)?
Kettle : My experience
in the hearing aid industry was somewhat soul bruising! The term
`hearing aid` is somewhat deceptive in that most hearing aids just
amplify the range of frequencies that we `talk` in, so that human
communication is not lost; this is not at all `hearing` by my
definition. It made me aware of the reality of hearing loss and
damage. I tend not to think of `sound-art` as being heard but would
presume that it is `listened` to.... still it relies on the health
of our ears.
n.Crypt : Explain some of the inefficiancies in speaker design,
and how one might remedy the situation.
Kettle : As for speaker design, most of the speaker drivers are
highly inefficient, in that a lot of the electricity is transformed
into heat and not sound which is the desired outcome. Speakers could
go a long way in being designed to reduce this loss. There are some
designs I have seen from the experiement labs of `metal` sheets that
vibrate when voltage is applied but it`s ultrasound that is
produced. The latest craze of ultrasound distortion producing sound
in air is interesting though.... the efficiency seems to be way up
there, but to prototype prices you way out of the market.
Kettle
website.
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