Notes from Almost Spring

Heady days here at Studio Komoy. The exciting, undisclosed and all-consuming project that I have mentioned here once or twice remains undisclosed and continues to consume. More on that some day. Combined with the glacial endurance test known as trying to make a new 65daysofstatic album, it doesn't leave much time for the Komoy Noise Research Unit to do much in the way of any actual noise research. But here's some things anyway.

POLINSKI LIVE SHOW

New show! I'm doing an A/V set for the evening concert at the Soundtrack_Cologne 22 conference, 9th July. I'll be debuting a very-much-still-getting-built new live system. Do you remember how the other month I mentioned that I'd been experimenting with the idea of rebuilding Wreckage Systems in Max? Of course you do. Well that project has taken a curious detour into a more hands-on kind of system that is semi-generative, semi-me-messing-about-on-a-computer. Is it sensible to use Polinski as a kind of avant-garde, high stakes testing ground for such things instead of playing it safe with an Ableton Live set? Who knows! Come for the bangers, stay for the car crash. Feel free to talk amongst yourselves during any awkward computer reboots.

In addition to the show I've been bumped up to speak at the conference itself. As far as I understand things I'll be doing a short talk (it'll be an evolution of the Wreckage Systems talk I did in Sheffield the other month), and also be on a panel discussion of video game composers. Tickets and more info available HERE.

If you click through to that link you'll see my face on a list with the other speakers that is entirely made up of white guys in their 30s and 40s. I don't do very many conferences, so it didn't occur to me to ask whether there was any kind of diversity policy or effort being put it to making sure a range of voices were heard. It's not that I think that better representation on conference panels is gonna bring down the patriarchy/colonialism/capitalism by itself, but still... ought to be a low bar to clear in 2025. In any case, something for me to try harder to pay attention to in the future.

REMIXING THE CURE

Talk about burying the lede! A couple of months ago 65daysofstatic were lucky enough to be invited to do a remix for The Cure. Yes, the actual The Cure.

It has been a while since I worked on a remix either alone or with the band. I used to have lots of thoughts about them.

As an art form I thought that they held a glimmer of utopia, emerging from an intentional clash between different perspectives on the same idea. Done well they could be a conversation between the listener and the remixer where they could share their appreciation for the original song. 'Hey - what about this bit!' the remixer would say, 'Yes, I love that bit — you can hear it too?' the listener would respond. 'Yes, I do hear it too, and by highlighting that bit in particular what I am really trying to say is that we exist together on this planet, we are not alone, and shared experiences and solidarity are made possible by bringing our knowledge of the original song to this new interpretation of it and letting it all get tangled up in our heads and hearts!'

I guess this is also true of both cover versions and bootleg cut-ups of songs to some extent, but a remix is given an extra kind of validation through its proximity to (and release by) the original artist.

But often, (mostly?) I don't think remixes are like that at all. Mostly they end up as these curious artifacts that have been blugeoned into existence so record labels can bulk out special edition releases, PR agencies can give exclusive tracks to the music press in return for coverage, or so a band can grab a bit of social clout through being associated with a hot remixer of the moment. These remixes have commercial utility, but it doesn't really matter what they sound like and often nobody involved along the way particularly cares.

Anyway, our remix of The Cure is hopefully the former, more utopian kind of remix. (Don't worry, utopian can still be goth.)

As I wrote over on the 65 site when we announced it, this actually isn't our first time remixing The Cure. A long time ago, after touring with them around Europe and the States, we ended up remixing four of their tracks. Back when that happened I wrote an essay for The Quietus about it, although it ended up mostly being about cut-ups and bootlegs.

I just revisited it and... it holds up ok? Or some of it does. Some of it does not. But I like this bit about remixes:

For a remix to be any good, in my opinion, it needs to take on the identity of the remixer for a start (which is why 65 ones always end up well-noisy), but what’s more important is that it should play to the strengths of the uniqueness of what a remix is – a song that is all about its context. A remix should exist as a standalone piece of music of course. But it also needs to understand how the listener’s knowledge of the original will directly affect how they hear this new version. As a remixer, you get to reward the listener by taking the familiar, hiding it from them, and then throwing it back at them when they least expect it. Or taking the best, loudest hook and playing it over and over and building melody after melody on top of it and beats on top of beats and taking the whole thing louder and louder until the thing you always wished would explode on the original actually does!

which, I dunno, could be explored more? Probably. Maybe. But for now I am just going to go and make some more coffee.