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Looper's Delight
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Fellow Loopsters; So now it has been a week since the Y2K3 Festival was held in Santa Cruz (tell me, someone, is Santa Cruz still the looping capital of the world?), yet I have read only but a few posts on the matter……wassup? I was one of the performers, and so my take on the whole shebang might be a bit skewed but I am interested to hear what anyone else who attended thought. I must say how impressed I was on the quality of the performances. It seems that since the Loopstock Festival of a couple of years ago the general level of performance quality has made (a few) quantum leaps. This most recent event, it seems that everyone played very well; the level of creativity and skills were very,very high. There were, of course, several performances which were exemplary, such as the sets by Bill Walker, Gareth Whittock, Ted Killian, and Amy X Neuberg. Prior to this event there was quite a debate here on the list as to the necessity of “Looping Festivals”, the title/genre/style of “Live Looping” and whether or not we are just being a tad pretentious in discussing looping as an “art form”, or in discussing this list as a “community”. There are certainly members of this list who hold these thoughts as noble truths and others who perhaps take some exception to them. I am not sure that looping constitutes a true "form", yet it is a technique, both of composition and performance, which transcends stylistic barriers. As such, it deeply affects the "style" which it is imposed on, often times elevating, or at very least, transforming and altering the genre-specific and stylistic definitions. In other words, it allows us to disavow or disallow a currently accepted paradigm. Does this give birth to new "art forms", or does it merely evolve existing forms? And does any of that really matter? It does something...it changes how we hear music. If we can accept the fact that looping is a "new" technique of both composition and performance, and there -fore rather unique, we can surmise that this technique(s) when applied to current musical techniques of both performance and composition, or style and genre, changes and alters the predetermined outcome of those. Loops applied to dance tracks forever changed the way dance music was produced. Loops applied to rock music have again altered the somewhat tangent-ized evolution of that genre. Looping "festivals" do not merely support music of loops..whatever that means (perhaps neo-ambient-post-fripp-noodlings?)....but give a platform for all styles and genres (and sub-styles and sub-genres) of music to embrace, and use, the techniques of looping, and thusly evolve beyond their current, and sometimes static, state of being. This was the point behind my "smooth jazz" piece (which is a composed piece, and thus involves very little improvisation): to show how looping can be applied to all sorts of music. (cut to ad banner: "Looping....it's not just for weirdos anymore") Is the term “Looping Festival” pretentious? Perhaps, yet it does give the press, in all of its’ guises, some morsel to bite on. Rick Walker hit on something quite true in as if you hype your act, show, event as something larger than life it becomes something of interest to the media. Barker-ism? Madison Ave. exploitation? You betcha, but in the music biz that is a tried and true method of manipulating and teasing the media (and thusly attracting a least a small percentage of “new” audience). And...Y2K3 ceratinly demonstrated the very far reaching possibilities of looping. The varied and most creative talents displayed possibilities for inducing loops into nearly every sub-set of music style and fashion. A great deal of wind has blown across LD about how we (all us loopists) would really like more companies to develop more, and deeper, hardware, and software, for looping applications. The only way big companies are going to that is if they see a public interest in this, from which profits can be made. As with all artistic "movements" , it begins with a small groundswell, usually made by the artists themselves (the cubists, Dadaists...heck even jazz musicians..who give aid and support to each other, and thus a forum from which the public can view/hear their works). The general public is fairly fickle and usually led around by their proverbial noses, but once something is placed in front of them enough times, they are willing to taste it. There is where these events are important to the looping community.....increases public awareness of this technology and these artistic techniques, which ARE changing the way music is made. Eons of our musical history are not marked by centuries, but rather by important changes made by musicians and composers in how they craft and use sound, rhythm, melody and harmony. Using loops, and in some of the very creative ways demonstrated at Y2K3, surely points to a new perception in all those elements. The more this is brought to the public's nose (eye or ears) the more aware we all become (This includes other musicians), and more possible the profits seem which can be generated by some company with designs of the much ballyhooed "Super Looper". I am bringing these thoughts to your attention partly in support of Rick’s efforts and partly to support and encourage others to do the same....’cos it is important. As I said, I am not sure it really constitutes and art form, or even and artistic movement (yet), but looping is changing how music is both composed and performed; which in and of itself is an event of historic proportions. Yet, being as it is quite technologically dependent, that "movement", of we are all part....even those who completely eschew the concept of "live-looping" and really want nothing to do with it, yet continue to explore uncharted sonic terrain via looping........could be easily squashed due to a lack of fiscal profitability. Let’s face it, kids, we can bellyache and rant all we want about lack of features, desired features of hardware, techniques and tricks, signal paths and setups..or how hard it is to get a gig doing loops (personally I don’t have this problem and gig out at least 10 times a month….doing looping!…and make pretty good $ doing it, too), or how the public is not aware of music made in this manner, yet, it is imperative that we all support each other. It is through out mutual support, admiration, and inspiration that we, looping artists, grow with our skills and craft. Kim has given us a great gift in this list, and without trying he has really given birth to this whole notion of “community”. He has alolowed us to share openly, our ideas, concepts and questions…….and even our most petty bickering….without fear or shame (a tip of the ol’ hat to you, Mr. Flint). One notion I was struck with at Y2K3, as I slept on Bill W’s floor and shared (tainted) food with a whole gaggle of other loopers, or conversed, re-kindled friendships and made new ones, was that this IS a community. A diverse, creative, colorful, sometimes competitive, sometimes arguing (yet always caring)…community. No matter how divergent our musics are, we share a common bond, and through that we continue to help and support each other…and view the artistic growth of each member of this community. I think all the performers at Y2K3 shared this feeling…….what about the rest of you? And…finally…….a big round of applause to Rick Walker, who spent countless hours organizing this event (and a bunch of previous ones too!) His energy, dedication, fortitude, conviction and creativity are an enormous source of inspiration to me. Max _________________________________________________________________ Want to check if your PC is virus-infected? Get a FREE computer virus scan online from McAfee. http://clinic.mcafee.com/clinic/ibuy/campaign.asp?cid=3963