Music
RELEASES:
Quantazelle: Coaster: [DOWNLOAD .zip] Read More
My updated interview is featured in the second edition of Andrew Hugill’s The Digital Musician. I’ve also contributed a classroom exercise called “Pop Song Substitution” that’s available for free under the advanced projects (aww!) on the book’s website.
Read MoreHooray! You’re in. Now, go on and save these links:
Quantazelle: “Unlawful Furniture” [320kbs MP3]
Quantazelle: “Braking (Broken)” [192kbs MP3]
Unlawfulfurniture6 by quantazelle
“Always / Never / Now” is a storytelling game adventure that’s somewhere between James Bond and William Gibson in its action and intrigue. There’s a the street samurai with the metal legs and the one-time-professional bodyguard with the metal arms to the the cat burglar with the reckless guile, in over his head. Always/Never/Now translates these characters into ready-to-play action heroes on a mission that stands to change their dystopian future forever.
The designer, Will Hindmarch, an old friend, asked me for a track to use for the promotional video that was kind of “something befitting international espionage, action-adventure, and slickly classy near-future dystopias,” so I recommended Unlawful Furniture.
When I wrote Liz, seeking music for this, my first Kickstarter video, I gave her just the barest rundown of the adventure’s atmosphere and subject matter and she immediately pointed me at “Unlawful Furniture,” the track you hear in the video. I totally thought ‘Unlawful Furniture’ would work when you mentioned spies,” Liz wrote. “[T]hat was the first piece I did where I mentally said “[Okay], let’s go minor chords and dark and not be so chipperty dippity.” That the lyrics for the song encourage listeners (and thus game players) to do “whatever you want to do” only made it feel more apt.
[UPDATE 12/17/11: Wow! A/K/N has majorly exceeded its original goal, and Will is not only taking it in stride but creating even more content to keep up with demand, while still keeping it under a Creative Commons license. I personally love to see projects like this take off, and I’m glad to be a part of it!]
You can download the track by subscribing to my mailing list below. Enjoy!
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I curated a Chicago-artists-only compilation of innovative electronic music for my label, subVariant called Frequencity, and contributed a track as well. Read more about it and download it here.
TRACKLIST:
01. Beanbake: “A Bicycle In Your Mind” [Melodic Electronica]
02. Belmont and Clark: “Dark Compression” [Analogue Electro]
03. Ella Laurence: “aaaAH” [Acid]
04. [esc]APE: “Square Fingers” [Dark Electro]
05. Polyfuse: “Blood on the Urinal” [Electro Industrial]
06. Foe Paw: “Dos Otros” [Prog Rock]
07. XYZR_KX: “Home” [Folk IDM]
08. Mike Gonsior: “Reflections” [Downtempo Electronica]
09. Quantazelle: “Polychromatic Tomatoes” [Melodic Electronica]
10. Lokua: “Hue” [Minimal Techno]
11. Drasla: “Moonlight Somnambula” [Neo-Classical IDM]
12. Elock: “Ari on Acid” [Chiptune]
See the resemblance? Cool. Cool, cool, cool.
I’ve always admired the artist Cindy Sherman for her self portraits in photography, and it’s great to see that her work has become so in-demand to this scale. I thought the action of staging photographs and then composing and shooting them herself was both liberating and resourceful.
Like Ms. Sherman, my creative process involves being alone, thinking, devising, mentally-sketching, tweaking, re-tweaking, re-thinking; sharing for feedback, and then re-tweaking some more. It’s emblematic of the contemporary, technology-enabled artist, in a way. Creative types have so many resources available: so many mediums to muck around in, so many visual sandboxes (like Adobe CSx–Photoshop, Illustrator, Premier); audio playgrounds (like Reaktor, Ableton, FL Studio) and platforms for interdisciplinary / cross-medium work (like Max/MSP, etc).
I, for one, am excited about the future.
In my music projects, as Quantazelle, which is my production alias, I try to always push sounds and expectations into a new place. I use “weird sounds” in place of traditional instruments, but with always a melodic and structured approach (using a sample of a plastic chopstick hitting a wine glass as an open hi-hat, with effects). But, I do like dancing and club culture, and sharing songs that I feel are really testing the boundaries. So I DJ as Liz Revision, and play those songs that I feel fit where I’m going.
So, I felt that to do an homage to Ms. Sherman, but with a circuit-bent Speak And Read and headphones would convey my direction. I play with sounds, I screw around with them, I share them. I play. But I know the context in which I present my work, just as Ms. Sherman does.
And the uber cool thing is that, for the average person, all the tools are available for getting it out there. It’s mega-DIY, FTW. If you have an idea, it’s considerably easier to get it out into the world than it was at any time before now. I can manipulate a photo, create a 3D mockup, and write the next hit pop song from an internally-complex, but user-friendly 15″ x 12″ box with pushable letters, a box that correlates to an arrow and a screen that gives me feedback.
When I applied to art colleges, I was so disheartened by the rampant insistence that I choose a medium. I didn’t like the feeling of being forced to create within an established “language” (medium) that could be critically evaluated (by critics who specialized in media). Then I found California Institute of the Arts, was accepted, and played and played and played and finally found my voice. A voice that was me, and not limited to choice of media, but one that used media to express the ideas I wanted to introduce to the world.
And that, I feel, is true contemporary artistry. Knowing that the clay of the world is yours to play with and yours to enjoy.
And screw the critics. 
PS: I have prints available of my version here.
You can see what I’m working on here.
And sign up for my mailing list so you stay in the know.
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