music

Turns Me On EP

turns_me_on_coverThe intro does not leave you hanging: here comes an electro beat, lined with a relentless bassline and supported by a mix-up of samples from a well-known house track and a rhythmic litany by a male voice.

The title track has no refrain, no breakdown, just two long verses that keep on going and going. At first, the lyrics seem to be about those almost “stereotypically sexy” female adornments. The assumption that they are exclaimed with possible sexual aims is soon affirmed, but the lyrics of the second part of the track subverts the arousing into other daily phenomena not so typical of sexual hints.

My desire to talk about a fairly contemporary state of male sexuality – some kind of media programming of a “reptilian” part of the male brain to be sexually triggered with an image – is not so new. Subjective history takes me back to the solo performance called “fiberoptikal” where I wrote a song with verses: “frozen little images / are blocking my sight / making me uptight / they’re like bondage rope”, referring to the sexualized images of female body, including arousing erotic lingerie, specific body parts and their shapes, nail polish, makeup, high heels, specific body poses and movements etc. It was further developed in the performance “Frozen Images” by Wanda & Nova deViator (with Maja Delak), but didn’t make it onto our debut album “Pacification”, so only those that attended the “Frozen Images” concert performance(s) might know about it.

On the other hand, Emanat institute started to develop a new type of feminist and movement-centered burlesque performance. Informed by remix+edit appropriations via electronic dance music and contemporary technological development it was called “Image Snatchers”, a techno-burlesque. In autumn 2014 a workshop with the great performer Ursula Martinez took place, thanks to collaboration with the Ljubljana’s festival City of Women, where the seeds of another take on ‘programming of the male mind’ were planted: a burlesque number called “Turns Me On”. While researching for that piece I subjectively gravitated to a bit of personal history, a popular early house track with a moaning female voice, in my current view another example of voiced embodiment of hyper-sexualized desire, sonic enactment of submission and objectification, in a retrospect a metaphor of manipulation for profit and greed by white male capitalist.

While risking consequences of copyright infringement and a fall to a bootleg obscurity the reference to French Kiss by legendary Lil’ Louis is kept in the clear ear-view – on purpose. It should come as obvious within the context explained above, that this is a quotation, a reference to ponder about and critically reflect the contemporary exploitation of our bodies via frozen, arrested two-dimensional (sound-)images which make us turned on, to which we masturbate, to which we may climax.

Dedicated to all who suffer from erectile dysfunction.

video

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stream/download at Bandcamp:

credits

released August 15, 2016

written, produced and mixed by Nova deViator
vocals by Crucial Pink
mastering by Fred Miller
media & technical support: Radio Študent, Ljubljana

financial support by Emanat Institute and Patreon supporters patreon.com/novadeviator

Thanks to The Feminalz – the legendary Image Snatchers troupe, Emanat, Klub Gromka and Ursula Martinez

Shout-out to Renoise, Processing, SuperCollider, Ardour and Linux Audio communities

available also via Spotify, iTunes, Apple Music, Google Play, Amazon, Rdio, Deezer, Tidal, Microsoft Groove, MediaNet

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Recursion EP in the making

Screenshot - 19. 02. 2016 - 16:33:45

(I wrote this as a public Patreon update)

Today I finished basic structure for a (extended club) remix of original Recursion track. This means that how the track evolves, where are drops, bridges, transitions and other elements is now laid out, I just need at least another day to smooth out the transitions so that they are the way they should be. After more than two weeks of pretty dark creep regarding work (including Patreon updates!) things started to move with a slightly faster pace, which is a relief.

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As I wrote before, the Recursion video is ready for release and during the weekend I want to prepare some teasers (animated gifs!) to go around social networks. I will post the video early at the beginning of the week to my patrons exclusively, the video and EP should be out on thursday or friday, and there’s a background story to the track Recursion that needs to be told. Not sure yet what form this telling will take (writing, video log or commentary to the music video), but I would love to take a form of an “open studio” video log.

In the meantime I’m rushing to finish another remix of Recursion track, send it into mastering and pack it into an EP for Bandcamp (and free name-your-price download).

the violation of expectation

I hear a lot of copycat boom-bap from younger players who sneer at “tradition,” as well as old farts who miss the boat by not taking up at least some of the new tools. There’s merit to both and plenty of it, but letting Marketing lead you around by the nose is not a good plan. If you really want to impress, your music needs to say something more than “I has shiny toys.” Part of the problem is that a lot of people stick to their social group music too much and don’t explore other styles. That leads to inbreeding and a lack of really standout virtuoso moments. So its not that this piece is “bad;” its for sure well-crafted. It just lacks enough counterpoint and small risks to define itself. Its basically a percussion track looking for more involved melody and harmony to give it context. Moving outside just 4/4 would also help. Leonard Bernstein once referred to good music as engaging in “the violation of expectation.” Most dance never challenges my expectations. People should think about coloring outside the lines more often.

via New Video Features Controllerism Gone Wild » Synthtopia.

2013: production – the good and the bad

I wanted to write something about 2013 – a year that is passing in couple of days. I really wanted to take a look at what was done, questioning myself, while it feels it was quite an exhausting year, does it show? So I went through everything, mostly work related dates, deadlines, gigs, preparations, etc.

This year I released a first “proper” (for the lack of a better term) album – Pacification. In fact we – Wanda & Nova deViator, we – Emanat, released it. Personally this felt like a big step, a big upgrade. Those few reviews that we managed to call for were extremely positive. I did home-grown research on music industry after the internet revolutions. I became a pessimist. The industry feels as a suffocating factory, killing the potential of the nets to empower musicians. I resurrected my old net-label from 2006 – Kamizdat. We pretty much successfully released three albums (Pacification, Sad Sam Lucky Outtakes and Ontervjabbit’s 414) this year. The PR strategies and their realizations were weak and too scattered, but we managed to gather some hype. Pacification was even featured on The Wire’s blog about notable sleeves.

With Wanda & Nova deViator we played in Ljubljana (Channel Zero, Gala Hala, Menza pri koritu, Klub Gromka), Maribor, Velenje, Cerkno, Belgrade (SR), Linz (AT), Lille (FR) and Basel (CH). We recorded a TV-gig for national station (broadcast in October). I would love to tour more, but this year it would probably be quite hard as so much was going on. I would be happy if more people bought the Kamizdat releases, but I guess not enough was done on the promotional level.

As Nova deViator I played a decent amount of DJ-gigs in order to get back into serious shape after that hiatus between 2007 and 2011. Lesbian club Monokel became a little home. Extremely non-difficult in terms of size, but still difficult in terms of audience targeting – fans of break/bass electronic dance music are not always comfortable in a gay club, while on the other hand gay/lesbian scene seems to have a passion for cheesy disco and more interested in cruising then the music itself. I recorded some sparky sets and published them on mixcloud. I’m looking forward in persisting with my own blend of breaks, bass and electro funk and playing regularly next year. The rust on my dj skills is pretty much gone and I’m excited about new directions, new dance music discoveries – certain doors opened with development around 160/80bpm range.

The drone-y, experimental side of my musical creativity: released an ambiental Sad Sam Lucky Outtakes, which was well received (within that small limit), played one session at MSUM (Radio študent b’day) and another session at MSUM as part of ‘lecture-performance‘ events, which also included a Maribor episode. Plus a Kamizdat promo night together with Ontervjabbit. In this section belongs a visit to Italy where we played a Sublimation Revision A/V performance at F.A.C.K. in Cessena.

June saw quite demanding preparations and work on Transmittance performance at U3 triennial. The day after the opening of the triennial (of contemporary art in Slovenia) a 10-strong team of performers, musicians, media artists and technicians performed a 2.5 hour long improvisational performance for online audience who controlled certain elements of the show and ‘offline’ audience who watched the whole deal. After the event we produced documentation installed and exhibited in the space of MSUM.

Through August and September intense process took place in creation of Maja Delak’s solo performance “What If”. Music for it took form of different influences, genres and atmospheres, but I’m happy about the inclusion of poly-rhythmics, odd time signatures and some (for me) heavy lifting through SuperCollider (also) using SenseStage. Music (and live sound) for the solo received some really positive (private) feedback. Maja and myself where quite happy about it all.

This year we created a ‘technoburlesque’ titled Image Snatchers. The format of ‘simple’ numbers which are grounded in feminist approaches to performance and good amount of pretty smart but very accessible humor proved as a winning combination. After four editions (the last one being a longer club event on the theme of ‘farewell‘) it generated some serious raving among the general, folksy public. Music, dance, performance, lyrics, video, text, sarcasm, critique, sexuality, nudity, gender bending, and jokes, in a specific language resonated with something primal in peoples’ hearts and minds. It seems as a fantastic framework which has a future potential.

Work on an AV-performance ‘Interface Fractures‘ offered me a chance to concretely dig into Processing language. And despite by huge dissatisfaction with the material on the premiere I must say I’m quite happy that I broke the ice with Processing this year.

“We got recognized!” M. and myself received an award Zlata ptica (Golden bird) for our work on theatre, inter-media and music. This is quite an honor. Maja Delak’s Shame piece got an award at the festival Gibanica by an international jury as best piece at the festival. On the same night, and as part of closing of Gibanica, I received a Ksenija Hribar award for my sound work in performing arts/theatre.

All in all from the view of work and production it feels like a hard-working but successful year. I feel I did a lot, received quite some recognition and appreciation. On the other hand I failed too often and was frequently extremely last-minute which brought stress, disappointment and anger. My failures are mainly related to  asynchronicity between planning and execution. Either I plan unrealistically or I fail at execution (procrastination). Perhaps this is a good basis to draft a resolution for next year: my plans should be more realistic, I should focus better on things with biggest priority.

Rotary Signal Emitter by Sculpture [Picture-Disc LP]

Sculpture is an audiovisual performance duo from London – electronic music producer, Dan Hayhurst, and animator, Reuben Sutherland.

Sutherland ‘DJs’ with home-made zoetropic discs, intricate concentric rings of illustrated frames, projecting fragments of looping images at 33, 45 and 78 rpm – pre-Edisonian imaging technology combined with a digital video camera.

Hayhurst deploys prepared audio material (found tapes, lo-fi electronics, computer programming, and analogue noise) across 1⁄4” tape loops, hardware sampler, cassette walkman and CDJ deck.

The process is important. a kind of unstable modular collage. style. rhythm. spontaneity. input, output, and a bit in the middle called MUSIC (audible and visible) which requires the computer to be switched off.

We present here an audio video picture disc by Sculpture called Rotary Signal Emitter. It can be played conventionally or as a self contained film. It is also intended to be reusable as part of future performances.

The music: A strange amalgam of found sounds (corresponding perfectly with the found imagery), Plunderphonics, ancient electronic music recalling the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, twisted rhythms (imagine Felix Kubin playing Dubstep), all mixed hands-on on the spot.

http://vimeo.com/9220247

Demonstration Reel from Sculpture on Vimeo.

'this is what it's like most of the time'
'you could call it a showreel'

more: http://www.dekorder.com/046.html

questions and notes (interface fractures research 13/10/07)

At the moment I’m quite inspired by an article in The Wire about Matana Roberts (not a jazz musician, but an experimentalist). Her focus on the past of black slavery and reflection on the present (immigration, LGBT, and more) make me think about my own position and desire to reflect my own past, the past of this country. Slovenians, huh. I’m thinking of slovenian folklore, perhaps a slavic, pagan one on one hand, and about the partisan-communist/belogardist-collaborators issues and conflicts on the other. What kind of people are we Slovenians? Cankar talked about servants, fieldhands, toadies… Cankar is a dark departure point. Slightly halucinogenic. I’m asking myself questions about what are my/our roots which define the most problematic issues in the present? And of course, is there a way to express them, or at least this retrospection and questioning – in a contemporary audio-visual way?

Perhaps I don’t want to be so specific in historic way. Perhaps it would be interesting to think about all those different historic roots, but then move onto a slightly more general feelings, like hate, fascism, xenophobia, … and it seems important to stay honest, to keep a strong connection to what I really stand behind.

I would be looking at:

  • history of slovenia (80s?)
  • histories of art/avant-gardes (Zabel, Šuvaković)
  • theories of fascism, anarchism, critical-culture,
  • philosophy of noise (Voegelin)
  • audio-visual languages (incl. M. Chion), Tscherkassky

I imagine producing textual fragments, visual fragments, 3d structures, sonic fragments – a lot of noise, a lot of bass.

I’m thinking of how different today time is, the precarity, the capitalist exploitation (of workers, of consumers). Is this a new form of fascism? No. Since there is no totalitarian state.(?).

Let’s hold that we are living in informational capitalism. Is it possible to use certain political-artistic strategies from the alternative movements of the 80s in order to reveal the paradoxes of informational capitalism? Jodi Dean.

bandcamp uploads

After fiddling around a bit with SoundCloud I listened to a sudden hunch and uploaded most if not all of my albums to Bandcamp: novadeviator.bandcamp.com. So you can now buy the digital albums or download the tracks. Your support is more then welcome.

Here’s a track from an album from year 2000.

Screenshot - 01222013 - 12:29:31 AM

implicit integration of music in society

Anthony Storr: Music and the Mind

Anthony Storr: Music and the Mind

“Pre-literate societies have very little idea of the individual as a separate entity. They regard the individual as indissolubly part of the family, and the family as part of the larger society. Ritual and aesthetic activities are integral parts of social existence, not superstructures or luxuries which only the rich can afford. Amongst the Venda of the Northern Transvaal, music plays and important part in initiation ceremonies, work, dancing, religious worship, political protest — in fact in every collective activity. Especially important is tshikona, the national dance. This music can only be performed when ‘twenty or more men blow differently tuned pipes with a precision that depends on holding one’s own part as well as blending with others, and at least four women play different drums in polyrhythmic harmony.

Music and The Mind by Anthony Storr

TSHIKONA Pipe Ensemble: