Spirit of Gravity
In 2001, Brighton saw the reawakening of the experimental music event. Several factors contributed to this result, such as eclectic music genre crossovers, new electronic music equipment encouraging experimentation and interaction from MPCs to MAX/MSP, cheaply available high quality devices for live performance, as well the fad for ‘anything goes’ anti commercial, anti elitist music venues such as squats and warehouses, as a platform for underground experimental artists to exhibit. The introduction of a 'late licence' to venues such as pubs and bars was also a factor, as even small venues now have the opportunity of increasing their profits by serving drinks longer, live music has become the tool with which to attract customers to their establishment. This increase in demand has made it possible for music groups which are not targeted at popular culture to stage events. With the advent of file sharing technologies on the internet, musicians can promote their music to a mass audience at no cost, and this has enabled experimental musicians to establish followings, where previously they were likely to struggle against the tide of big budget mass marketed corporations. In addition, product sale has plummeted due the accessibility of music files that can be downloaded instantly and free of charge, resulting in an increased budget for the promotion of the music event. The popular music industry now draws its largest profits from events or 'club culture', consequently genres have branched and fused, varying in relation to social subcultures to meet the demands of its target audiences, however, as the event is centred around a 'dance culture' the dominance of rhythmical structure renders 'club music' generic.
The musical collective 'Spirit of Gravity' is distinctive in its rebellion against the mass marketing of the clubbing industry and the repetitive structures of modern electronic music styles. Promoting an alternative, experimental approach to music, each event is unique and the encounterer leaves with an experience. All events are documented in a regularly updated online blog, with a description of the act and atmosphere of the performance. In addition to photographs, short videos of the live event are interspersed in the text alongside sound bytes. The artists' involved, experiment with sonic and visual technologies, and in the creation of their music often employ unconventional instruments, home-made modified synthesisers, or assortments of household objects manipulated to create sound. Their focus lies in improvised performance; concerts are theatrical and often interactive, always including unusual instrumentation and employing the element of chance.
An exemplary event took place at the Marlborough Theatre, Brighton, in March 2007. The venue consisted of a small stage with seats for fifty people, situated above a local pub. Bingo boards were placed on each seat and the performer, Hot Roddy, acted as both musician and ‘caller’. After each bingo number was randomly selected from a bag, Hot Roddy called the number and performed a piece which coincided with that number using a sampler to play a variety of recordings of calling nicknames for the numbers such as “number 10, Tony’s Den, Big Ben, cock and hen” whilst improvising on sitar to a loop of electronic noise music played from a laptop. This was a demonstration against the demise of light-hearted games when taken over by big business organisation such as Gala or Mecca Bingo, companies who have replaced a traditional game with another moneymaking ploy, devaluing the social aspect in favour of a new gambling market. Hot Roddy entertained, implicating the audience in his music and inviting them to interact in the game. The winner did not leave empty-handed, but was invited onstage to accept the reward of a bag of flour, eggs and milk – the ingredients for pancakes, as it was Shrove Tuesday. In such interactive music performances the encounterer is presented with an experience entirely different to the typical youth culture music event. The listener is connected to the composition process, which stimulates the creative sensibilities of the audience.
At the Phoenix Gallery, Brighton, in November 2008, Henry Collins, a member of the collective Spirit of Gravity, played his newly-invented instrument in a project dubbed 'Slash's Wormhole' (fig. 15): a stand-up vacuum cleaner with guitar strings strung to the neck, and an electronic pick-up on the body. Functioning as both electric bass guitar and household cleaning device, this gag demonstrates many ideals that Fluxus artists held dear. As the mechanical drone of a vacuum cleaner is usually perceived as an unpleasant sound, this project questions whether the sound is dismissed as noise only because of the situation we are used to hearing it in – whilst performing the mundane ritual of household cleaning. Collins encourages the listener to "pay attention to noises around you, by magnifying sound you usually block out"[1]. Once taken out of the household context and brought into a new environment, the sound of the hoover itself is focused on. The low growl of the motor and ‘whirr’ of the fan create an ominous bass line.
The Futurist Luigi Russolo affirms ‘every noise has a tone, and sometimes also a harmony that predominates over the body of its irregular vibrations’[2]. So as the sound of the vacuum cleaner is part of the piece, it is joined by the performer plucking the guitar strings on the body. Furthermore, it demonstrates that by viewing everyday objects in a new light, art can be found in the small experiences, which compose our lives. Fluxus chairman George Maciunas would have relished the dual function of the instrument, as usefulness and economy were essential in his art objects.
Henry Collins manipulates technologies to transform everyday objects into resonant instruments. In 'Kettle and Fridge Act' (fig. 16) clip on microphones are attached to the bodies of the devices, so as to pick up and amplify all the minute surface vibrations as current passes through their circuits. In the interactive game 'Midi ping-pong', piezo transducers are positioned on the table to generate a current, which in turn triggers a sound when the ball makes contact with the surface. 'House Music' (fig. 17) is an anthropomorphised multitude of domestic appliances, comically located similarly to the positions of the members of a rock band and their instruments. Each device produces a tone, the role of the drum kit incarnated by a food blender which keeps the tempo, punctually colliding with a cymbal once every rotation. When listened to individually, the distinct contrast in timbres between the machines is surprising to notice, particularly as we usually receive the sound as a uniform background noise. Interestingly, if we were to cover our eyes and challenge our hearing alone to distinguish one electrical household appliance from another, regardless of volume, we would struggle to guess which one was which, although these noises encircle us every day. Through the magnification of the fundamental noises surrounding us, Collins alerts us to the continuous, intricate operations of our subconscious mind, which filters the noise of our industrial surroundings.
Figure 18 shows an installation in the sculpture department of Brighton University in 2002, where the interactor listens to the sound of the environment through a pair of headphones. Microphones positioned in the empty room transmit all sounds occurring in the space. The participant is thus alerted to the impossibility of hearing silence. The installation is entitled ‘Now that’s what I call music’, as it focuses the encounterer’s sensitivity to all sound, and values the sensory experience of indeterminate noise.
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