Many ways to molest the machine

A new tool opens the doors to new kinds of music.” So says Tad Ermitaño, media artist, writer-critic, and filmmaker. As one of the featured artists of the upcoming Fete dela WSK! — an event “dedicated to contemporary electronic, digital and experimental sonic art, as well the diverse range of artistic activities in the context of digital culture in South East Asia,” organized by SABAW Media Art Kitchen and happening this Nov. 19 to 28 — he should know.

And what are the tools of Tad? “It depends on the work I’m making at the time. Some works involve soldering and electronic parts in circuits I design or modify. Some involve programming. Some involve video cameras, sound recorders and so on. So there is no fixed set of gadgets that I use.” There is, however, “a high probability of using things that use electricity and data.”

Calpih8, “beat smith, graffiti purveyor, and soothsayer,” and another Fete dela WSK! participant, is more specific about his gear: “I use an Akai MPC 2000XL, Roland SP404, Pioneer EFX 500, Technics SL1200 turntables, Vestax 05 mixer.” He does not, however, necessarily use these devices according to their original intent. “There’s the manual that explains the manufacturer’s vision for usage and manipulation of the machine, but there are many ways to molest the machine. You get to discover them as soon as you master the machine. One can explore the different functions that can blend or work well with certain theories or preferences of the user.”

This abuse, so to speak, is necessary “to maximize (the equipment’s) potential and experiment with its functions,” according to Caliph8. Sometimes, you need “to crash its operating system to measure its capabilities and how far you can go with it to achieve a certain sound.”

It’s not just a matter of mastery, asserts Juan Miguel Sobrepeña, a.k.a. Moon Fear Moon. “Though it is definitely important for the person to have the technical prowess needed to physically make the music, what I find is that it isn’t the technical aspect that really interests me. The mindset and personality of the one using the programs is the most important ingredient. The mannerisms, tendencies, and other little nuances that identify what kind of person one is have a big effect on the process of making the music itself.” (For his compositions, Moon Fear Moon says “All I use is my computer. I run programs that provide an interface for me to be able to generate sound by modifying and tweaking virtual instruments.”)

Sound designer and electronic musician Malek Lopez, who uses a “laptop, keyboard, knobs, buttons, touchscreen, camera” setup for his music, says “I’ve gone through a bunch of computers. Some just go with age while others, well — ’accidents.’ Most of them were needlessly destroyed because they weren’t acting the way they should’ve. They were being their lesser selves. And died while being punished into what they should have been doing.”

Pasta Groove/Ill Primitivo, a “vinyl junkie, beat producer, and practitioner of the art of sample-based music,” names his “main weapon of choice” as the Akai MPC drum machine/sampler, though he also utilizes “live elements such as synthesizers, electric pianos and bass.” He has qualms about producers who sample music “when they take big chunks of found sounds and just resort to looping — four-bar loops, et cetera. Rather, I would suggest you search for open sounds that you can tweak and reformat... that way you can create layers and really bring about something anew.”

And bringing about that elusive something is the point of all this experimentation and recycling and creation. Sometimes one wonders, however, about this man/machine collaboration, about what drives the cyborg.

“Playing with a drum machine led to fractured, mutating 300 bpm music,” says Tad Ermitaño. “Playing with an amplifier leads to exploring musics made with distortion. So yes, although you are free to sing and clap, and although it is true that you need certain technologies to make certain kinds of music, I’d say that technologies provoke their exploration, and that it is their exploration that generates new forms of music. In that sense, we can be described as the instruments of the technology: the means by which it explores and fulfills its possibilities.” After dropping that thought-bomb, he adds: “Heh.”

Catch all of these artists, and more — including internationally-celebrated guests such as Tujiko Noriko and Hiroshi Hasegawa (a.k.a. Astro) — this November at Fete dela WSK! For more info go to http://www.wskfete.com.