Human machine music: an analysis of creative practices among Australian ‘live electronica’ musicians
Issue: Vol 13 No. 2 (2012)
Journal: Perfect Beat
Subject Areas: Popular Music
Abstract:
This article presents a participant–observer documentation and analysis of creative practices among a group of contemporary Australian musicians working within the field of ‘live electronica’ (LE)—defined as electronic dance music (EDM) performed for an audience in real time by a group of musicians without the aid of machine/computer-controlled sound generation sequences. Australian LE emerged in the 1990s and went through a period of development during the first decade of the twenty-first century, as live performers dealt with challenges and opportunities associated with digital music technology and EDM. The article examines how LE musicians responded to various technological, social and economic changes by developing innovative creative processes and music industry practices, and argues that LE musicians have played a significant role in the ‘humanizing’ of EDM performance.
Author: Barry Hill, Jon Fitzgerald
References :
Becker, H. 1982. Art Worlds. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Bergeron, N. n.d. ‘Applying African Music Concepts’. Available online at http://www.vicfirth.com/education/articles/Bergeron.html
Bhuiyan, M., and R. Picking. 2009. ‘Gesture Controlled User Interfaces: What Have We Done and What's Next?’ In Proceedings of the 5th Collaborative Research Symposium on Security, E-learning, Internet and Networking (Darmstadt, Germany, 25-29 November 2009), 59–68. University of Plymouth: SEIN.
Brown, O., A. Eldridge and J. McCormack. 2009. ‘Understanding Interaction in Contemporary Digital Music: From Instruments to Behavioural Objects’. Organised Sound 14, no. 2: 188–96. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S1355771809000296
Burgess, J., and H. Klaebe. 2009. ‘Digital Storytelling as Participatory Public History in Australia’. In Story Circle: Digital Storytelling Around the World, ed. J. Hartley and K. McWilliam, 155–66. Oxford: Blackwell.
Butler, J. 2006. Unlocking the Groove: Rhythm, Meter, and Musical Design in Electronic Dance Music. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
City of Melbourne. n.d. ‘Enterprise Melbourne’. Available online at http://www.melbourne.vic.gov.au/enterprisemelbourne/industries/design/MusicMelbourne/Pages/MusicVenues.aspx (accessed 10 July 2012).
Cloonan, M. 2008. 'What's Going On? Perceptions of Popular Music Lobbyists in Australia'. Perfect Beat 8, no. 4: 3–24.
Creagh, S. 2006. ‘Musical Traditions Take a Beating’. Sydney Morning Herald, 16 March.
Frebgel, M. 2010. ‘A Multidimensional Approach to Relationships between Live and Non-live Sound Sources in Mixed Works’. Organised Sound 15, no. 2: 96–106. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S1355771810000087
Harley, R., and A. Murphie. 2008. ‘Australian Electronica: A Brief History’. In Sounds of Then, Sounds of Now: Popular Music in Australia, ed.S. Homan and T. Mitchell, 93–111. Hobart: ACYS Publishing.
Hill, B. 2005. ‘Breaking Down the Trance Background’. Paper presented at Australasian Computer Music Conference 2005. Brisbane: Queensland University of Technology.
Homan, S. 2003. The Mayor's A Square: Live Music and Law and Order in Sydney. Sydney: Local Consumption Publications.
Huq, R. 2006. Beyond Subculture: Pop, Youth and Identity in a Post-Colonial World. New York: Routledge.
Magnusson, T. 2010. ‘Designing Constraints: Composing and Performing with Digital Musical Systems’. Computer Music Journal 34, no. 4 (Winter): 62–73. http://dx.doi.org/10.1162/COMJ_a_00026
Milk. 2006. ‘K-Oscillate: Soul Like Fusion’. Available online at http://www.inthemix.com.au/features/29850/KOscillate_Soul_like_fusion (accessed 11 July 2012).
Monson, I. 1996. Saying Something: Jazz Improvisation and Interaction. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Mullen, T., R. Warp and A. Jansch. 2011. ‘Minding the (Transatlantic) Gap: An Internet-enabled Acoustic Brain-Computer Music Interface’. In Proceedings of the International Conference on New Intefaces for Musical Expression (Oslo, Norway, May 30–June 1, 2011), 469–72. Oslo: University of Oslo and Norwegian Academy of Music.
O’Modhrain, S. 2011. ‘A Framework for the Evaluation of Digital Musical Instruments’. Computer Music Journal 35, no. 1 (Spring): 28–42. http://dx.doi.org/10.1162/COMJ_a_00038
Overholt, D. 2009. ‘The Musical Interface Technology Design Space’. Organised Sound 14, no. 2: 217–26. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S1355771809000326
Paine, G. 2009. ‘Towards Design Guidelines for New Interfaces for Musical Expression’. Organised Sound 14, no. 2: 142–55. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S1355771809000259
Panichi, D. 2008. 'Regulation without Representation: NSW Live Music Policy 1992–2008'. Perfect Beat 9, no. 1: 5–21.
Prendergast, M. 2003. The Ambient Century. New York: Bloomsbury.
Ramkissoon, I. 2010. ‘The Bass Sleeve: A Real-time Multimedia Gestural Controller for Augmented Electric Bass Performance’. Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression. Oslo, Norway, 30 May–1 June 2010, 224–27. http://www.nime2011.org/proceedings/papers/G04-Ramkissoon.pdf.
Rietveld, H. 1998. This is Our House: House Music, Cultural Spaces, and Technologies. Aldershot: Ashgate.
Rouget, G. 1985. Music and Trance: A Theory of the Relations between Music and Possession. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Sicko, D. 1999. Techno Rebels: The Renegades of Electronic Funk. New York: Billboard Books.
Straw, W. 2004. ‘Cultural Scenes’. Society and Leisure 27, no. 2 (Autumn): 411–22.
Théberge. P. 1997. Any Sound You Can Imagine: Making Music/Consuming Technology. Hanover, NH: Weslayan University Press.
Throsby, D., and V. Hollister. 2003. Don't Give up Your Day Job: An Economic Study of Professional Artists in Australia: A Survey of the Economic Circumstances of 1063 Practising Professional Australian Artists. Sydney: Macquarie University/Australia Council.
Toynbee, J. 2003. ‘Music, Culture and Creativity’. In The Cultural Study of Music: A Critical Introduction, ed. M. Clayton, T. Herbert and R. Middleton, 102–112. New York: Routledge.
Unattributed (a). n.d. ‘Electronica’. Available online at http://www.last.fm/tag/electronica/wiki (accessed 12 May 2012).
Unattributed (b). n.d. Available online at http://www.matadorrecords.com/red_snapper/biography.html (accessed 15 June 2012).
Unattributed (c). n.d. ‘Wild Marmalade’. Available online at http://www.wildmarmalade.com/ (accessed 15 June 2012).
Vickery, L. 2004. ‘Interactive Control of Higher Order Musical Structures’. Available online at http://acma.asn.au/conferences/acmc2004/ (accessed 12 June 2012).