I didn't know you could do this...
rocktocycle.blogspot.com
That's where I'll post all Rocktocycle / Septocycle news, photos, videos from here on. WOW! Last night we had the one and only BOB LOG III on the Rocktocycle. He was great! He said, while pedaling, through his plugged-in mic on his helmet (cuz otherwise we just couldn't hear him), that it may have been the weirdest thing he's ever done. The video will be up (there) soon!
viernes, 14 de septiembre de 2007
martes, 11 de septiembre de 2007
Techno Ain't Music
This was written for the last issue of Piss Clear at Burning Man 2007, but they ran out of space and couldn't run it. (geez why don't my freakin tabs show up on this thing??!?
TECHNO AIN'T MUSIC
by Pete Stickerguy
First of all, I know that techno is only one of many types of electronic dance 'music' -- the stuff that you hear pounding out across the playa from all of those giant rave camps on the edges of Black Rock City [BRC], and from the sound systems of the majority of the theme camps and art cars of this godforsaken town -- but for simplicity's sake, I'll just use that term. What I'm referring to when I say "techno" is ALL forms of rave 'music' -- trance, house, breakbeat, jungle, drum&bass, happy hardcore, etc, ETC.
A friend of mine once hit the nail right on the proverbial head when I watched him argue to a raver that the stuff he was dancing to was, in fact, NOT MUSIC. He said:
“Okay then, hum your favorite trance 'song' for me.” The raver was stumped for a second. He was smart enough to realize that actually trying to hum a trance beat would have made him look the fool... and then he replied,
"If it has a beat that you can dance to, then it's music."
"No, it's NOT music, it's a BEAT. It's not a song, but a VIBE."
And it couldn't be better explained than that. Because since about 1996, the soundscape of BRC has increasingly become a chaotic clash of thumping vibes. Anyone who has been here a few years can attest to that. On paper, it sounds kind of cool -- chaos is a big part of what attracts me to the desert for this festival year after year. But the omnipresent techno beat can wear on a man, and might make him want to fight.
Last year was the closest I've come to fighting. Someone had the nerve to park their techno camp right behind ours, with the stated intention of having parties from 5AM until "?", so that each morning they could celebrate another sunrise by jouncing up and down to seemingly neverending prerecorded 'songs' on compact disc. For most of the week, I tolerated it, even though, I thought to myself,
"Shouldn't they have been placed on the edge of town like the rest of the big rave camps who have sunrise parties?" Of course they should have. But lucky for them, I was usually out and about during their pathetic, mindnumbing ritual, and by the time 9am rolled around and I was crashing, so were they.
Until one of the last mornings, after one of those restful, mellow nights of sitting around the fire and just chatting with campmates and new friends. I had gotten to bed 'early,' but just two hours later at 6am I was awoken by the thumping of their sound system. Not one to complain, I put my earplugs in and went back to sleep. When I awoke at 9am, I wanted to take my earplugs out, but I wasn't going to do so with their crap still blaring. So in good fun, I donned my gorilla suit and went over to them to ask them to cut it. They said they would, but fifteen minutes later when they hadn't, my friend stormed over there and pulled their plugs. A fight nearly ensued; the music never came back on; she became camp hero for the day.
mu·sic [myoo-zik]: the sounds produced by singers or musical instruments.
That's how one dictionary defines music. So now I can hate techno not only because it annoys the hell out of me and makes me want to fight, but because it is, by definition, NOT MUSIC! A techno DJ is not a musician, he's a turntablist, which one DJ Babu once defined as "One who uses the turntable in the spirit of a musical instrument." Noise artists like Merzbow or Masonna don't call the screeching, hypnotic, sonic distortions they make music -- they call it NOISE! (as an aside: the term 'DJ' was coined in 1934 in reference to radio announcer Martin Block, who played records over the airwaves between news flashes. The D and the J stand for 'disc jockey,' and if you see a DJ listed for a party, it does NOT mean that you should expect a rave party. I can't count the times that I've had to explain to people that I'm still a DJ even though my records feature things like guitars, vocals, horns and organs).
Don't get me wrong folks -- I do believe that there is a place for everything at Burning Man (and I'll admit that there are many different, debatable ways to define music). But that's exactly my problem -- if the vast majority of what you hear out here is techno, then what we'll essentially be left with is an 'arts festival' WITHOUT MUSIC! Instead of catchy tunes and killer riffs, all we get pummeled with is a barrage of conflicting beats, which leaves us with a big fuckin' headache. I would never advocate an outright ban on techno -- but I WOULD advocate the imposition, by the powers that be, of guidelines for musical diversity. The BRDMD (Black Rock Department of Musical Diversity) -- who wants to sign up!? We'll rove the playa distributing permits for all of the genres of music that our citizens deserve to be able to choose from, thereby preventing the same old techno crud from emanating from every camp.
Anyway, I'd be willing to bet one of my hairy nuts that the majority of theme campers and artcar drivers who bring techno out to the playa don't even really like it. Okay, so you danced for three hours to it while you were high on ecstasy, but was it because of the 'music,' or because of the vibe created by the entire situation around it: the intense volume that you feel in your organs; the quivering flesh surrounding you; and your intoxicated, pulsating neurons? Are you sure you REALLY like it, people? Wouldn't you prefer to hear some real music performed by some real, LIVE musicians amplified over those towering speaker stacks? You would dance, and you would get off harder. Because recorded music can be good, but it's nothing like a live band, with real instruments. It's like the difference between jerking off and a great fuck.
So we'd be welcome. People would be happy to have us snap their trance CDs in half and hand them a Nathaniel Mayer CD to help fulfill the Soul requirement. Or a Hasil Adkins CD to fill that Hillbilly Country gap, or a copy of the Fucking Champs 'IV', vital for providing our citizens with their Instrumental Metal fix! (I highly recommend seeking all of these artists out, it's well worth the trouble). Violators would simply have their plugs pulled. On the second offense, cords cut!
I, for one, am ready to go to work. If you are too, then stop by Jub Jub (2:00 & LANDFILL) Thursday just before sundown for our first meeting. Tuition is one bottle containing at least 16 ounces of the intoxicant of your choice. You'll be trained and suited up, and by midnight, you'll be ready to hit the field.
FOR THOSE ABOUT TO ROCK,
WE SALUTE YOU!
For those about to rave...
we're coming for you.
TECHNO AIN'T MUSIC
by Pete Stickerguy
First of all, I know that techno is only one of many types of electronic dance 'music' -- the stuff that you hear pounding out across the playa from all of those giant rave camps on the edges of Black Rock City [BRC], and from the sound systems of the majority of the theme camps and art cars of this godforsaken town -- but for simplicity's sake, I'll just use that term. What I'm referring to when I say "techno" is ALL forms of rave 'music' -- trance, house, breakbeat, jungle, drum&bass, happy hardcore, etc, ETC.
A friend of mine once hit the nail right on the proverbial head when I watched him argue to a raver that the stuff he was dancing to was, in fact, NOT MUSIC. He said:
“Okay then, hum your favorite trance 'song' for me.” The raver was stumped for a second. He was smart enough to realize that actually trying to hum a trance beat would have made him look the fool... and then he replied,
"If it has a beat that you can dance to, then it's music."
"No, it's NOT music, it's a BEAT. It's not a song, but a VIBE."
And it couldn't be better explained than that. Because since about 1996, the soundscape of BRC has increasingly become a chaotic clash of thumping vibes. Anyone who has been here a few years can attest to that. On paper, it sounds kind of cool -- chaos is a big part of what attracts me to the desert for this festival year after year. But the omnipresent techno beat can wear on a man, and might make him want to fight.
Last year was the closest I've come to fighting. Someone had the nerve to park their techno camp right behind ours, with the stated intention of having parties from 5AM until "?", so that each morning they could celebrate another sunrise by jouncing up and down to seemingly neverending prerecorded 'songs' on compact disc. For most of the week, I tolerated it, even though, I thought to myself,
"Shouldn't they have been placed on the edge of town like the rest of the big rave camps who have sunrise parties?" Of course they should have. But lucky for them, I was usually out and about during their pathetic, mindnumbing ritual, and by the time 9am rolled around and I was crashing, so were they.
Until one of the last mornings, after one of those restful, mellow nights of sitting around the fire and just chatting with campmates and new friends. I had gotten to bed 'early,' but just two hours later at 6am I was awoken by the thumping of their sound system. Not one to complain, I put my earplugs in and went back to sleep. When I awoke at 9am, I wanted to take my earplugs out, but I wasn't going to do so with their crap still blaring. So in good fun, I donned my gorilla suit and went over to them to ask them to cut it. They said they would, but fifteen minutes later when they hadn't, my friend stormed over there and pulled their plugs. A fight nearly ensued; the music never came back on; she became camp hero for the day.
mu·sic [myoo-zik]: the sounds produced by singers or musical instruments.
That's how one dictionary defines music. So now I can hate techno not only because it annoys the hell out of me and makes me want to fight, but because it is, by definition, NOT MUSIC! A techno DJ is not a musician, he's a turntablist, which one DJ Babu once defined as "One who uses the turntable in the spirit of a musical instrument." Noise artists like Merzbow or Masonna don't call the screeching, hypnotic, sonic distortions they make music -- they call it NOISE! (as an aside: the term 'DJ' was coined in 1934 in reference to radio announcer Martin Block, who played records over the airwaves between news flashes. The D and the J stand for 'disc jockey,' and if you see a DJ listed for a party, it does NOT mean that you should expect a rave party. I can't count the times that I've had to explain to people that I'm still a DJ even though my records feature things like guitars, vocals, horns and organs).
Don't get me wrong folks -- I do believe that there is a place for everything at Burning Man (and I'll admit that there are many different, debatable ways to define music). But that's exactly my problem -- if the vast majority of what you hear out here is techno, then what we'll essentially be left with is an 'arts festival' WITHOUT MUSIC! Instead of catchy tunes and killer riffs, all we get pummeled with is a barrage of conflicting beats, which leaves us with a big fuckin' headache. I would never advocate an outright ban on techno -- but I WOULD advocate the imposition, by the powers that be, of guidelines for musical diversity. The BRDMD (Black Rock Department of Musical Diversity) -- who wants to sign up!? We'll rove the playa distributing permits for all of the genres of music that our citizens deserve to be able to choose from, thereby preventing the same old techno crud from emanating from every camp.
Anyway, I'd be willing to bet one of my hairy nuts that the majority of theme campers and artcar drivers who bring techno out to the playa don't even really like it. Okay, so you danced for three hours to it while you were high on ecstasy, but was it because of the 'music,' or because of the vibe created by the entire situation around it: the intense volume that you feel in your organs; the quivering flesh surrounding you; and your intoxicated, pulsating neurons? Are you sure you REALLY like it, people? Wouldn't you prefer to hear some real music performed by some real, LIVE musicians amplified over those towering speaker stacks? You would dance, and you would get off harder. Because recorded music can be good, but it's nothing like a live band, with real instruments. It's like the difference between jerking off and a great fuck.
So we'd be welcome. People would be happy to have us snap their trance CDs in half and hand them a Nathaniel Mayer CD to help fulfill the Soul requirement. Or a Hasil Adkins CD to fill that Hillbilly Country gap, or a copy of the Fucking Champs 'IV', vital for providing our citizens with their Instrumental Metal fix! (I highly recommend seeking all of these artists out, it's well worth the trouble). Violators would simply have their plugs pulled. On the second offense, cords cut!
I, for one, am ready to go to work. If you are too, then stop by Jub Jub (2:00 & LANDFILL) Thursday just before sundown for our first meeting. Tuition is one bottle containing at least 16 ounces of the intoxicant of your choice. You'll be trained and suited up, and by midnight, you'll be ready to hit the field.
FOR THOSE ABOUT TO ROCK,
WE SALUTE YOU!
For those about to rave...
we're coming for you.
the SEPTOCYCLE
Ok so before the ROCKTOCYCLE was the SEPTOCYCLE... here are some videos of it. Here's a photo of us out in the desert:
And here is text from a flier that I handed out this year at Burning Man '07:
More accurately called a seven-seat quadricycle, this thing was built in Germany. It was dreamt up by Eric Staller, an New York artist based in Amsterdam who specializes in urban UFOs. If you’d like to know how much they cost, check out:
www.conferencebike.com
Please don’t ask me, I’m trying to forget how much I paid for it. Actually I have no regrets. It’s way more fun than a sports car!
The real name is Conference Bike, but that sounded a little too official so I started calling it the Septocycle. Then after mounting a kiddie drumset on the back I started calling it the Rocktocycle.
Unfortunately, I can’t answer your technical questions, because I didn’t build it! The bike is propelled entirely by pedaling. The music is powered by a little boat battery in the back. It was shipped from Germany to NJ on a boat, and then to Reno in a truck! more info:
menchetti.blogspot.com
www.ericstaller.com
And here is text from a flier that I handed out this year at Burning Man '07:
More accurately called a seven-seat quadricycle, this thing was built in Germany. It was dreamt up by Eric Staller, an New York artist based in Amsterdam who specializes in urban UFOs. If you’d like to know how much they cost, check out:
www.conferencebike.com
Please don’t ask me, I’m trying to forget how much I paid for it. Actually I have no regrets. It’s way more fun than a sports car!
The real name is Conference Bike, but that sounded a little too official so I started calling it the Septocycle. Then after mounting a kiddie drumset on the back I started calling it the Rocktocycle.
Unfortunately, I can’t answer your technical questions, because I didn’t build it! The bike is propelled entirely by pedaling. The music is powered by a little boat battery in the back. It was shipped from Germany to NJ on a boat, and then to Reno in a truck! more info:
menchetti.blogspot.com
www.ericstaller.com
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