Wednesday, October 26, 2005

What is the practise of art?

What is the practise of art? Does it serve a function other than beauty?

My conversations with thirty artists is a pleasant artificiality. From the hundreds of individuals involved in making art in Hamilton during the Inc’s thirty-year tenure in the city, thirty were selected to have their thoughts inscribed. Hamilton is a city which disallows mythology. Coinciding with the pragmatic nature of the subject material, this process was not an explicit one of inclusion and exclusion. Rather, selection fell the chance of availability. I felt that a systematic and archival approach would betray the true history of the Hamilton Artists Inc.

The art community in Hamilton is one which struggles against itself in many ways. Toronto’s shadow looms over the psyche of many local cultural producers. This proximity to the wealth and potential and mainstream cultural interests seems to doom the city’s art community to a degree of provincialism and hermetic insularity. Arguably, it is precisely this inferiority complex which gives the artists of the Hamilton region their strength of co-operative enterprise.

Hamilton has long been a labour town. The spirit of collective endeavour was fundamental to both the formation and the continued success of the Hamilton Artists’s Inc. Tapestries are woven by the determined execution of a simple idea. Likewise, a local institution precipitated by a co-operative of local artists. A frustrated and determined entity came out of their initial attempts to show their work in the mainstream channels, which seemed determined to ignore them. Democracy is always DIY, and in this spirit the Inc has long sought to hybridize the permanence of institutionalization with the flexibility of populism. Work precipitates from personality; to work otherwise is to fully bureaucratize an organization.

The Inc has long served as a resource centre for artists; allow one lesson to be learned from its thirty year history. Art is not a mythical or romantic process, but rather one of doubt subsumed into practical application.

Tuesday, October 25, 2005

Orphx CD Release



Hamilton has long been associated with the industrial processes that lie at the economic heart of the city. A simple drive along Burlington street at night will illuminate the aesthetic grounding for many local performers. The beat of industrial machinery and Hamilton’s newfound desire to be the world’s biggest drive-thru shopping mall are the twin complements to the aural life of Steeltown. Standing outside many buildings in the city’s north end provides a listener with natural soundtrack of pulses, scrapings, and sonic detritus. The fortuitously found and the callously disregarded becomes an interesting dynamic to the incessant beat of industry. Noise and rhythm coincide and support each other at the intersection of production.

MP3: Orphx - Insurgent Flows

Interestingly enough, most Hamilton residents who seek such aural pleasures in a more formal setting quickly learn to visit the Toronto music scene, as few local venues cater to the tastes of the beat aesthetes. It might be for this reason that local performers who have earned a degree of recognition in foreign lands have a harder time being acknowledged closer to home. As a consequence, many local producers seeking wider recognition have moved to cities which more fully support their music. This exodus has tended to leave techno on the fringes of the local music underground.

Orphx have enough experience with Hamilton that they can see the waxing and waning of the scene. “Ten years ago it was better,” muses Richard Oddie, the producer at the heart of Orphx. “There were a couple venues for good industrial and techno back then. Fifteen years ago there were great warehouse parties. Now there’s no techno in the area.” It was for this reason that Orphx followed the electronic scene as its centre of gravity shifted to continental Europe. Germany has had a particular connection to the band. In addition to performing at the recent Maschinenfest in that country last month, many of Orphx’s recordings have been with the German Hands Productions and Hymen labels.

“The scene’s more widespread there. It’s in a lot of cities, whereas in North America it only exists on a small scale in a few cities. And instead of the fetish people and things that you tend to get here, the European scene attracts a more diverse crowd.” That being said, Oddie has witnessed a substantial rise in interest for experimental music in the local scene. “I think there’s a lot of Mac students who are into this sort of thing but just assume there’s nothing for it in Hamilton. That’s really a part of the general disconnection that they feel for the downtown core. It’s time for Hamilton to get a regular night for experimental and electronic music. We could support a monthly event just with the people who are already out there. There’s plenty of people in the city who want to dance to good music but don’t want to travel to Toronto, and others who want to listen to good DJs. Let’s get DJs out to the growing Jamesville gallery scene.”

This Sunday, Orphx is celebrating the release of the new Hands CD Insurgent Flows with a rare local live performance. The CD implies Oddie’s continued fascination with the mechanics and consequences of social change. The album title signals both the pleasant excess of its kick-heavy industrial rhythms, and the layers of noise and samples which continually insist themselves onto the rhythmic soundfloor. Oddie has used a number of protest recordings as samples which provide a loosely cinematic undertone to the proceedings.

Asked to what extent his activist proclivities infiltrate his music, Oddie questions the authenticity of messages that any artist might wish to highlight in their music. “Whether political or not, you don’t want to force yourself down listener’s throats. ‘Where’s the globalization here, or where’s the ironic media quote?’ You want to be more subtle so you don’t stifle any other meanings in the work. Obviously, it’s hard to resist talking about things when something’s going on. But think of a band like Stereolab. Nice, sweet pop music. But look at the lyrics, which are pretty subversive. It’s not that they’re Marxist, but that they’re catchy. I think it’s important to try different strategies. It’s more challenging to be legitimately ambiguous.”

Elements of previous compositional strategies – such as the use of location recordings centred upon the Hamilton region, exemplified by 2001's The Living Tissue – further complicate the aural landscape that Orphx creates. Other inputs, such as the video work that has highlighted many an Orphx performance, serve as secondary complements to the audio. Oddie harkens back to the early phase of industrial music, when bands like Throbbing Gristle would show things such as autopsy videos during their live performances. “We see that stuff in Marilyn Manson videos now. We’re desensitized to it. You have to almost do the opposite of that kind of shock industrial. Let people determine what they want from your music themselves.” Oddie stresses that the video work that backgrounds the Orphx live show is not meant to distract listeners from the music. “I want to interest them more than the nodding of heads and the twiddling of knobs that we’re actually doing. It’s about patterns of light and is not really narrative or referential.”

Oddie is confident that the propulsive strength of this CD will renew the faith of both chin-strokers and dancefloor enthusiasts alike as to the viability of Hamilton’s electronic community. The Casbah will host Orphx on Sunday, October 30. In a live setting, Orphx performs as a duo incorporating the interplay of Oddie and his wife Christie Sealey with a host of modern and vintage sound equipment. That night will also feature a live performance by local producer Huren – whose dirty, noisy electronic sounds have similarly found a stable of fans worldwide – as well as a DJ set by Matt Didemus of Junior Boys.

Wednesday, October 19, 2005

Check out those Aviators!



Not to get too personal with this post (I'm trying to keep this website a little left of the ordinary journal experience) but my pops made the news. CBC interviewed him for twenty minutes about laboratory testing in the country, and this is the edited version of what he had to say lasting maybe fifteen seconds.

Check it out here (video is in the right corner of the webpage).

Please note that his name is actually Bryan Hewlett. And no, he is not a doctor.

Sunday, October 16, 2005

Deerhoof - The Runners Four



Deerhoof
The Runners Four
[Kill Rock Stars, 2005]

What was once discordant, manic art-rock has now become... discordant, manic art-rock with a heavier beat. While not quite a complete break with their previous seven full-lengths, The Runners Four definitely has more of a rock and roll bite to it. Bass-heavy melodies, like that found in ‘Midnight Bicycle Mystery’, and single string smash riffs like “Rrrrrrright’ and ‘Scream Team’ signal Deerhoof’s usual tricks. On The Runners Four, however, the band’s typically angular nature is softened a bit. Gone are the weird noise poems of last year’s Milkman, replaced by the more straight-up drum-and-guitar rock anthems of ‘You Can See’, ‘Wrong Time Capsule’, and ‘Twin Killers’. Bassist/vocalist Satomi Matsuzaki keeps her melodic instincts on the cute side – ‘Spy on You’ is akin to the second grade singalongs ‘Dog on the Sidewalk’ and “Come See The Duck’ from previous releases. The Runners Four maintains the mysterious beauty of Deerhoof’s previous work, but with a longer tracklisting and more easily digested material, the album might signal their entry into the indie mainstream.

MP3: Deerhoof , "Twin Killers"

Black Dice - Broken Ear Record



Black Dice
Broken Ear Record
[DFA, 2005]

Sometimes the pristine order that emerges from an area of tumultuous chaos proves to be a pacifying experience. This is not to imply a sense of calm before the storm, but rather the calm that comes from overexposure to the storm’s most violent fury. Over the course of their last three full-lengths for DFA, Brooklyn’s Black Dice have emerged as masters of this zen-like craft. Noise-core spasms and power electronic washes fuse with the tribalism of rock and the audacity of improv. This music requires a degree of intelligent patience to sift through the morass of its hedonism, but the rewards are well worth the bacchanalian journey.

At its most basic, Broken Ear Record is about texture and punctuation. The dirty mechanical percussion of album opener ‘Snarley Yow’ invites the listener ever closer to the caustic high pitched loops and chirps that constitute its harmonic subject. Vocal samples in both ‘Smiling Off’ and ‘Street Dude’ are chopped and quantized to the point of a painful, ear-shredding melodicism. ‘Motorcycle’ ends the album with perhaps BD’s most accessible recorded track, as guitar loops and vocal yelps playfully dance over an industrial beat. With Broken Ear Record, Black Dice has provided a long overdue soundtrack to the blackout of August 2003, when the mechanical rattles of the city fell silent to the tunes of urban campfire songs.

MP3: Black Dice - Smile Off

Tuesday, October 11, 2005

Let`s fix this mess.. Chicoutimi style


Saarbrücken transit system, April 2003;
timed cross-platform interchange



Sent: Tuesday, October 11, 2005 7:26 PM
Subject: Let`s fix this mess.. Chicoutimi style (Nov11)


Yo guys,
I thought I'd call on you for your knowledge far and wide.

Alright, I'm trying to get a campaign together at the University for bus passes. There are a small number of students(over 3000) and a large number of parking spaces (1600). Not only that the transit system for the community at large is slim. They neeeeeed this deal, and it just so happens I snaked my way into the environmental commitee at the university and I will try to propose it as a staple campaign.

Ok, number one do you know any info about both campaigns in your schools (guelph and Mac, dunno about queens)?

Number two: did you have a referendum?

Number three: how much was the payment for one semester versus the payment for a bus pass for a month?

Number four: if you got any suggestions let me know.

cheers
aj

hi andy and friends,

i think the HSR got in touch with mcmaster and made the proposal -- they were very short on funds at the time, and were looking for a cash injection, which 15,000 students could easily supply. there was indeed a referendum at the school, but only after the bus pass program had been in place for a year. students who were paying for parking passes felt that it was unfair that they should pay for a bus pass they "wouldn't use", and so they organized a referendum. i imagine that you want to approach the issue from the other side, ie: have a referendum to get the program in place. as for the cost, i think it was $57 for an 8 month pass through the school, which at the time was the price of a monthly adult HSR pass. it's probably up around $70 or something now. i think the graduate student pass was closer to $90 ($101 now), as grad students get a 12 month bus pass instead of the undergrad 8.

the issue i'm wondering about is whether students will support the program if they know that chicoutimi bus service is bad, they will not support paying for the pass. if somehow you can convince the bus line to improve service along "student" routes, then the students might be convinced to back the plan.

i'm going to post this stuff on my web site, which maybe we can use as a forum for this project.

ps: the picture link above takes you to a McGill website to which you might want to extend this project. maybe you could see if they have any experience with the (admittedly different) situation in montréal.

Q x

Friday, October 07, 2005

Random Telephone Conversation # 354b-98

QZH: "Afternoon, Hamilton Artists Inc. Quintin speaking."

Female caller: "Are you a towing company?"

QZH "No, we're an artist-run centre."

Female caller: "Can i get a tow?"

QZH: "No, but I might be able to show you what that looks like."

Female caller: "What?"

QZH: "Towing. One car, preferably a truck, pulling another one to someplace it wasn't located initially."

Female caller: "Do I have to pay to have that done?"

QZH: "You have to pay to have anything done, unless it's an emergency."

Female caller: "Aren't you guys CAA?"

QZH: "No. We are an artist-run centre, which isn't currently specializing in towing."

Female caller: "So you can't tow. Can you change tires?"

QZH: "Umm, we do a different kind of work."

Female caller: "Well, this number was given to me by the phone directory."

QZH: "Well, then it looks like you need a tow. Hold on a second, let me write some of this down."

Female caller: "Thank you."

QZH: "Where are you located?"

Female caller: "Flamborough."

QZH: "That is within our jurisdiction."

Female caller: "Can you get here soon?"

QZH: "No."

Female caller: "You can't hurry up? It's raining and we're pretty cold."

QZH: "Well, I'd have to bike to Flamborough, and that might take a half-hour or so. Maybe more, because it's raining and I'll probably also get a little cold. Maybe not though, as biking warms you up quite a bit."

Female caller: "Why can't you get here sooner?"

QZH: "Because I'm on a bike. Maybe a bus goes out there, I don't know."

Female caller: "I pay good money to you people every year! Why the fuck can't you help?"

QZH: "Hamilton Artists Inc has a limited mandate, even though we do service Flamborough and much of the area surrounding Hamilton."

Female caller: "What do you mean?"

QZH: "Well, I'd like to help. But I don't think our membership accords."

Female caller: "But we just paid you guys like a month ago."

QZH: "I don't think so. Did you pay the CAA? Maybe you should call them."

Female caller: "Well somebody cashed our cheque!"

QZH: "I wish it had been us, then I could get on my bike and help you out with towing your vehicle. From Flamborough. On my bike."

Female caller: "You should be able to help."

QZH: "With a bike?"

Female caller: "Are all your trucks on other calls?"

QZH: "No, Mme. We have no trucks of any sort. Well, none that I know of anyway."

Female caller: "What kind of a fucking towing company are you???"

QZH: "None."

Female caller: "So why can't you help?"

QZH: "Maybe I'll start again. Good afternoon. Hamilton Artists Inc, Quintin speaking."

Female caller: "Yeah, you said that already."

QZH: "Really? I forgot. It was so long ago now."

Female caller: "So you plan on just leaving us out here?"

QZH: "There's only so much one person at an artist-run centre can do."

Female caller: "Nothing, right? Nothing at all."

QZH: "Apparently not, no. Have you tried calling anybody else? CAA perhaps."

Female caller: "No. You're supposed to be able to help. That's why your number came up."

QZH: "It looks like we haven't been updated in the directory."

...

QZH: "Mme, have you tried calling somebody who actually tows trucks? The CAA perhaps."

Female caller: "You already said you don't have our membership."

QZH: "We don't, no. I can send you an application package if you give me your address though. We have an opening coming up in a few weeks."

Female caller: "No thanks. I'm not paying twice."

QZH: "..."

Female caller: "You should be ashamed for not helping. I'm going to get a lawyer."

QZH: "I'm not sure if he or she can tow your vehicle either. Try the CAA."

Female caller: "Thanks for nothing."

QZH: "You aren't the first to say that about our organization, you know."

Female caller: [hangs up]