Not time to panic quite yet
Rene Kita
out of myself:
Lumo-klubi 27 Feb at 6 pm (program starts at about 7 pm), tickets 2 euros
Unioninkatu 45 (http://www.kokoteatteri.fi/yhteystiedot)
On Sunday, 27 Feb, the Lumo-klubi convenes once again at Kokoteatteri.
Our program presents the taming of electronic junk, Finland's national
folk instrument, the kantele, meeting modern technology and primitive
vocal acrobatics to the beat of tap dancing on sheet metal.
Rene Kita -
At present, Rene Kita is probably best known as an eccentric member of
the audience at experimental music happenings in Helsinki. His performance
at the Lumo-klubi will consist of psychotic tap dancing on sheet metal
and extended torturing of vocal chords, galloping through various states
of panic, rage and desolation.
Kokeellisen elektroniikan seura -
Kokeellisen elektroniikan seura - the society for experimental electronics -
is a group focused on idiosyncratic audio electronics. The society
approaches sound production by starting with the basics - the construction
of sound emitting machines from electronic junk and the adaptation of
existing devices to new purposes. The aim is to balance between chaos and
order, at the mercy of unpredictable instruments and surprising sounds.
The Kokeellisen elektroniikan seura is a reformist movement created as a
counterweight to the laptop genre, with the aim to encourage listeners to
examine their own relationship to technology.
Memnon -
Memnon investigates interfaces and collisions between traditional
instruments and modern design, classical playing techniques and
modern electronics, academic and experimental music, composed music
and the creation of living soundscapes. The classical tradition and
timbres of kantele playing are brought into new territories by
combining its characteristic sound with Nordic electronic minimalism.
Eva Alkula has graduated with a Master of Music degree in performing
arts at the Sibelius Academy. During 1999-2000, she studied Japanese
Music and koto playing in Japan. As a kantele player, Eva ventures into
many areas of music; from modern Finnish music to Japanese folk music
an onwards to ambient electronic music. Her 39 string electric kantele
has been designed by Hannu Koistinen.
Ville Hyvönen works as a sound designer and producer. He has a wide
repertoire, which covers the theatrical stage and various musical
genres such as pop, rock and modern electronic music. Ville manipulates
Eva's playing in real time with his laptop to produce an electronic
soundscape that will be mixed and combined with the sounds of her
kantele.
tausyn
it sounds interesting - good press, too
--
tausyn
Rene Kita
> you'll be fine
>
> it sounds interesting - good press, too
Well, I helped Tommi, the organizer, write it.
He just cut out the less complimentary parts. ;)
And it's my translation.
It's going to be hilarious.
I slept like a baby tonight - woke up screaming every two hours.
Clips from last Sunday's horrible rehearsal:
http://www.sumutia.com/Tap1-02.mp3
http://www.sumutia.com/Tap1-03.mp3
Hehe.
Oh, and 'panic' is the name of the band Ibro and I have started.
We played an ad hoc gig at Livingroom in Turku and decided to
make it permanent since it worked so well. It's going to be
brilliant: My manic intensity and his sharp-edged computer
processing skills.
This might turn into sort of a career, yet.
Leo Herranen
> Clips from last Sunday's horrible rehearsal:
>
> http://www.sumutia.com/Tap1-02.mp3
> http://www.sumutia.com/Tap1-03.mp3
You, sir, are insane.
I mean that. Like.
--
(
-
Rene Kita
No, I'm not. Most definitely.
This is a consciously chosen artistic strategy.
I do not break into involuntary screaming fits.
See, that's why the man on the street likes Dali
more than Picasso. Dali paints silly jokes, but
he takes the time to cover up his brush strokes
like any carpenter painting a table, hiding any
traces of emotion. For some reason, people regard
that as a sign of sanity.
Picasso had a forceful personality and made no effort
to hide it. The petit bourgeois reacts allergically
to that, since maintaining an unemotional facade is
essential to success in the office and peace in the
family, he thinks. So openly expressed emotions are
to him a sign of clumsiness, since in his experience,
only socially inept people betray their emotions.
Music production is still widely concerned with
hiding personality and emotion. Only once you have
learned to play like a machine, you are permitted
to put a thin veneer of personality and emotion on
top of that dead mechanism of conventional rhythm
and harmony.
I happen to believe that in art, emotions should be
served raw, with all the force necessary to shake
loose the inhibitions of the audience. Emotion is
the palette I paint with.
Leo Herranen
>> You, sir, are insane.
>
> No, I'm not. Most definitely.
OK then.
> This is a consciously chosen artistic strategy.
So you're a run-of-the-mill artist taken by poetic madness? Damn.
> I do not break into involuntary screaming fits.
That's hardly surprising, seeing as you write in a very controlled way.
(I've always sort of wondered about that.)
> See, that's why the man on the street likes Dali more than Picasso.
(I wasn't strictly serious when I said that thing about Dali.)
> unemotional facade is essential to success in the office and peace in
> the family, he thinks. So openly expressed emotions are to him a sign of
> clumsiness, since in his experience, only socially inept people betray
> their emotions.
That's just failing to make a distinction between art and everything else.
Or something like that. More like failing to make a distinction between
intentional & unintentional expressions of emotion. Or something.
Not making any sense and writing completely idiotic stuff again, but
that's just the way I am at the moment. I know that's stupid.
--
(
-
Rene Kita
> On Sun, 27 Feb 2005 16:44:47 +0200, Rene Kita wrote:
>
>>This is a consciously chosen artistic strategy.
>
> So you're a run-of-the-mill artist taken by poetic madness? Damn.
Nope. Still wrong.
Extreme emotions are the colors I paint with.
I perform emotional surgery on the audience.
I throw out these bits of fear, anger, madness
to cause reactions in you, to shake things loose,
to have you experience an artistic emotional reaction.
It's not that different from classical drama, in a way.
Shakespeare had no inhibitions to wade through seas of blood
and extremes of emotion.
>>I do not break into involuntary screaming fits.
>
> That's hardly surprising, seeing as you write in a very controlled way.
> (I've always sort of wondered about that.)
I'm a control freak in love with chaos.
Yes, it's an impossible conundrum, but I rather like the tension
between these two. It's very inspiring.
Completely controlled art is boring, since it leaves no room
for subconscious and random richness.
Completely random art is boring, too, because it lacks the tension
that control brings.
>>See, that's why the man on the street likes Dali more than Picasso.
>
> (I wasn't strictly serious when I said that thing about Dali.)
I know. I don't consider you the man on the street, either.
>>unemotional facade is essential to success in the office and peace in
>>the family, he thinks. So openly expressed emotions are to him a sign of
>>clumsiness, since in his experience, only socially inept people betray
>>their emotions.
>
> That's just failing to make a distinction between art and everything else.
> Or something like that. More like failing to make a distinction between
> intentional & unintentional expressions of emotion. Or something.
Look at the culture that the petit bourgeois consumes.
It's extremely safe. Little emotion, no experiments, nothing surprising.
Celine Dion, floral decorations and landscape paintings...
> Not making any sense and writing completely idiotic stuff again, but
> that's just the way I am at the moment. I know that's stupid.
Hey, you made me think about art and its structure. So thanks!
Mungojelly
> Clips from last Sunday's horrible rehearsal:
>
> http://www.sumutia.com/Tap1-02.mp3
> http://www.sumutia.com/Tap1-03.mp3
what's horrible? sounds good to me
<3
Mungojelly
> Shakespeare had no inhibitions to wade through seas of blood
> and extremes of emotion.
hmm
my impression of shakespeare has always been that the melodrama was just
to fit into the genre & entertain the audience
& provided a sort of stage for the more complex emotions of the plays to
play upon
you know what i mean?
<3
Rene Kita
>
> my impression of shakespeare has always been that the melodrama was just
> to fit into the genre & entertain the audience
>
> & provided a sort of stage for the more complex emotions of the plays to
> play upon
>
> you know what i mean?
It's not primitive, no, but aren't many of the more complex emotions
still concerned with murder most foul?
I haven't read much Shakespeare, though.
It's hard enough for a foreigner to keep the word order straight in
English without some free form Elizabethan author messing with one's
mind.
In Finnish, you can order a sentence pretty much in any order
with only slight changes in emphasis resulting. It's a Yoda language.
Leo Herranen
> In Finnish, you can order a sentence pretty much in any order
> with only slight changes in emphasis resulting. It's a Yoda language.
And imagine the problems you get when you're used to writing language with
word orders intentionally perverseน in your diary and then have to write
school stuff in boring formal language. (And imagine the problems when
you're used to thinking in a language like that and have to translate a
sentence like that into proper English... lovely.)
น ok, not all that perverse, but in a more poetic sense, like
--
(
-
Leo Herranen
> I throw out these bits of fear, anger, madness
> to cause reactions in you, to shake things loose,
> to have you experience an artistic emotional reaction.
So you're trying to make the same effect as what I started listening to
Ligeti for? In a different way, but still.
I actually discussed this with a friend some time ago... It's sad that a
lot of music never explores anything much in rhythm or harmony. It's the
particular kind of harmony that Ligeti uses that makes this particular
feeling in me, even more so with the harpsichord tuned off (that's what I
primarily hear it as) in Passacaglia ungherese (what obsession?). I like
dissonant music, stuff that sounds broken. Besides everything else, that
is. :)
what I'm going for is that you're making the same effect in a more
concrete way, in ways of performance or particular sounds. like. it seems
this isn't getting anywhere again, but any way.
> It's not that different from classical drama, in a way. Shakespeare had
> no inhibitions to wade through seas of blood and extremes of emotion.
katharsis! sand-blasting the brain! (I just read this thing about heart
attacks and epileptic seizures being caused more by unnatural _regularity_
in place of the normal kind of chaos in heartbeats and stuff... from a
nice, big picture book about fractals. Interesting, kind of. Like a
standing wave. Just meaning, like, the brain to be sand-blasted is, like,
stuck in a pattern, like, like a standing wave, like, you know? ...)
> I'm a control freak in love with chaos.
Hm, I thought _I_ was. You're not confusing yourself with me, are you?
> Yes, it's an impossible conundrum, but I rather like the tension
> between these two. It's very inspiring.
I seem to be in dire need of inspiration for some reason. I haven't really
managed to get anything out of my head since 2003. But then again, I was
a mad poet back then, more so than now, at least. Now I'm just a mad
control freak. That's hardly constructive if you want to create art, I
think. Unless you have someone to collaborate with, and I don't, most of
the time.
Not that not having anywhere to go would help much. My music making seems
to lack a general direction, sort of. And I don't mean any kind of sudden
coagulation into a given direction or style, just ... well, here's the
word again. I haven't managed to come up with a translation for "pyrkimys"
(what I'm lacking at the moment) that doesn't sound all John McLaughlin
overly pretentious, like. Just kind of like that I'm all lost with nowhere
to go. But that's nothing. Like.
> Completely controlled art is boring, since it leaves no room for
> subconscious and random richness.
>
> Completely random art is boring, too, because it lacks the tension that
> control brings.
Aren't things usually quite boring if there's only one side to them? Ie.
that they're _completely_ something?
>>>See, that's why the man on the street likes Dali more than Picasso.
>>
>> (I wasn't strictly serious when I said that thing about Dali.)
>
> I know. I don't consider you the man on the street, either.
You don't? ...
>> That's just failing to make a distinction between art and everything else.
>> Or something like that. More like failing to make a distinction between
>> intentional & unintentional expressions of emotion. Or something.
>
> Look at the culture that the petit bourgeois consumes.
> It's extremely safe. Little emotion, no experiments, nothing surprising.
> Celine Dion, floral decorations and landscape paintings...
That's why I said they're failing to make a distinction between art and
everything else. Safe and unemotional art fails to recognize a basic
property of art... something such as "distinct from usual social
discourse", no? (That might explain some of the stuff I wrote about in the
clown essay. Or then again, it might not. But that's something I might
describe art by, all ad hoc, right now. Like.)
> Hey, you made me think about art and its structure. So thanks!
Should I study aesthetics?
--
(
-
Rene Kita
>
> And imagine the problems you get when you're used to writing language with
> word orders intentionally perverseน in your diary and then have to write
> school stuff in boring formal language. (And imagine the problems when
> you're used to thinking in a language like that and have to translate a
> sentence like that into proper English... lovely.)
>
> น ok, not all that perverse, but in a more poetic sense, like
Yeah, restrictive it feels in the extreme.
But ordered properly, English does certain beauty rhythmic gain.
Rene Kita
>
> That's why I said they're failing to make a distinction between art and
> everything else. Safe and unemotional art fails to recognize a basic
> property of art... something such as "distinct from usual social
> discourse", no? (That might explain some of the stuff I wrote about in the
> clown essay. Or then again, it might not. But that's something I might
> describe art by, all ad hoc, right now. Like.)
Yes, and that's why they feel threatened by art that explores
'forbidden' things.
Murder and such is only permitted in highly categorized genres,
in which the murderer always gets his due punishment. If he doesn't,
civilization is crumbling and the end of the world is nigh.
> Should I study aesthetics?
Go ahead. It's a funny field, in many ways.
I've only dipped into it. I'm happy with the conclusion that
everything is beautiful. Ugly things are just a decision away
from appreciation.
Leo Herranen
>>[aesthetics]
> I've only dipped into it. I'm happy with the conclusion that
> everything is beautiful. Ugly things are just a decision away
> from appreciation.
Now that I think of it, I seem to be interested in the many ways things
can be (rather arbitrarily) classified or described... that's more or
less what language is, in a sense. That's where my sudden interest in
maths is coming from. It all converges on AI, though. I think it'll be
cognition science after all, but I'll study a lot of stuff on the side
either way. Maths, aesthetics and such. The only problem, then, is going
to be what I'm going to _do_ with all this useless theoretical knowledge.
I really wish I knew. I'll probably end up doing boring stuff with
computers, since that's what I know best.
(Mentioning maths and aesthetics together probably brings up _combining_
them to most people, but I see them as opposites. Mathematical aesthetics
is more or less just sick. :)
--
(
-
Rene Kita
>
> Now that I think of it, I seem to be interested in the many ways things
> can be (rather arbitrarily) classified or described... that's more or
> less what language is, in a sense. That's where my sudden interest in
> maths is coming from. It all converges on AI, though. I think it'll be
> cognition science after all, but I'll study a lot of stuff on the side
> either way. Maths, aesthetics and such. The only problem, then, is going
> to be what I'm going to _do_ with all this useless theoretical knowledge.
> I really wish I knew. I'll probably end up doing boring stuff with
> computers, since that's what I know best.
Plenty of things you can do with piles of knowledge. Magazine columnist
is one. Besides, there is a joy in accumulating knowledge.
Don't sweat too much about your study subject. Once you're in university,
you can pretty much switch around as you like or take the odd course in
almost any subject.
> (Mentioning maths and aesthetics together probably brings up _combining_
> them to most people, but I see them as opposites. Mathematical aesthetics
> is more or less just sick. :)
Johann Sebastian Bach is sick? Hm.
Leo Herranen
>> to be what I'm going to _do_ with all this useless theoretical knowledge.
>> I really wish I knew. I'll probably end up doing boring stuff with
>> computers, since that's what I know best.
>
> Plenty of things you can do with piles of knowledge. Magazine columnist
> is one.
Right-o. What with my abysmal writing skills. Hah.
(well I dunno, most of my writing style comes from newsgroups...)
> Besides, there is a joy in accumulating knowledge.
Like I wouldn't know that at this point... if it weren't for school, I'd
be doing that all the time (cue the hysterical burst-into-tears thingy).
> Don't sweat too much about your study subject. Once you're in
> university, you can pretty much switch around as you like or take the
> odd course in almost any subject.
Well duh, but what am I going to do with all those studies? You can't get
any money from studying, can you? (Damn Arsniva & co., they've got me all
fidgety about stuff like that. And my counselor's all like "there's plenty
of opportunities open for you if you choose linguistics". ...)
(one of the things she says I might do if I study linguistics is,
incidentally, translation stuff. any opinions, Rene darling?)
>> (Mentioning maths and aesthetics together probably brings up
>> _combining_ them to most people, but I see them as opposites.
>> Mathematical aesthetics is more or less just sick. :)
>
> Johann Sebastian Bach is sick? Hm.
He's not?
--
(
-
Rene Kita
> On Mon, 28 Feb 2005 19:08:47 +0200, Rene Kita wrote:
>>
>>Plenty of things you can do with piles of knowledge. Magazine columnist
>>is one.
>
> Right-o. What with my abysmal writing skills. Hah.
Those will improve, if someone bothers to teach you writing skills.
Not inevitable in Finnish education systems, admittedly.
If you ask a prof how to write a good essay, he's likely to
shove you roughly in the direction of Umberto Eco's book
about the subject, the name of which escapes me right now.
> (well I dunno, most of my writing style comes from newsgroups...)
>
>>Besides, there is a joy in accumulating knowledge.
>
> Like I wouldn't know that at this point... if it weren't for school, I'd
> be doing that all the time (cue the hysterical burst-into-tears thingy).
One of my next records may be named "The Zen of Hysteria".
> Well duh, but what am I going to do with all those studies? You can't get
> any money from studying, can you? (Damn Arsniva & co., they've got me all
> fidgety about stuff like that. And my counselor's all like "there's plenty
> of opportunities open for you if you choose linguistics". ...)
Oh blah. Fuggedaboutit!
My last girlfriend was studying Persian, Tibetan and Central-Asian cultures
when we met. Then she did a six month course in web design and now she's
quality control engineer at Finland's largest web design company, one of
those that did not go under when the web bubble burst.
University teaches you how to learn efficiently (mostly by shoving tall
piles of books in your face and giving you very little time to memorize
all of them). After that, picking up a paying profession is easy.
Besides, you'll be more grown up by then and might actually know what you
enjoy doing. Nailing down the rest of your life too soon can cause major
suffering later on.
> (one of the things she says I might do if I study linguistics is,
> incidentally, translation stuff. any opinions, Rene darling?)
Grrrrraaah! EEEEEEeerrrrrk! Shnnnnnnnyurfff!
<drool>
Leo Herranen
>> Right-o. What with my abysmal writing skills. Hah.
>
> Those will improve, if someone bothers to teach you writing skills.
I thought my education in the Finnish language was supposed to be all
about writing skills? ...
The only real problem is that I can't really concentrate on stuff and
control structures large enough. And, of course, the way I'm used to
writing in a rambling way, obfuscating stuff on purpose because I like
doing various silly language games (nothing that's obviously a game
though). You might say I like the language too much to write anything that
makes sense in it.
Of course it's frustrating as well if I can't do any of the
double-entendre stuff I like to do. Or, rather, trying to write stuff in
a formal way feels a _bit_ weird if you just can't help writing stuff that
sounds like it isn't just as innocent as it seems. Or seeing stuff like
that in what you're writing. (Can it really be that there isn't a word any
less strange in English for "monimerkityksellisyys" than "polysemy"?
Weird. (Nice sentence again. Just didn't bother.))
> Not inevitable in Finnish education systems, admittedly. If you ask a
> prof how to write a good essay, he's likely to shove you roughly in the
> direction of Umberto Eco's book about the subject, the name of which
> escapes me right now.
Woohoo! More books to read! Gimme gimme gimme!!!!½!!!11
Is it BIG? Is it so big it HURTS? *hysterical laughter*
> One of my next records may be named "The Zen of Hysteria".
Why?
> University teaches you how to learn efficiently (mostly by shoving tall
> piles of books in your face and giving you very little time to memorize
> all of them). After that, picking up a paying profession is easy.
Nice. Now I just wonder where all these types reminding me about academic
unemployment are coming from. But, ok, let's forget about it.
I can start playing bass in pubs, you know.
(right, like I'd care about employment, the only job I've had was this
two-week stint at the recycling center on ninth grade)
> Besides, you'll be more grown up by then
What? I'll be more grown-up than this? You ain't kidding? Why, I feel as
grown-up as I could die tomorrow! Whoo-ee! I've seen it all, I know it
all! Nothing can harm me! Whee! ...
> and might actually know what you enjoy doing.
I'd enjoy a decent vacation right now. I've thought that way since sixth
grade. Still no vacation in sight. Sad.
> Nailing down the rest of your life too soon can cause major suffering
> later on.
So it looks like I'm doing that way right now, does it? Hardly.
>> (one of the things she says I might do if I study linguistics is,
>> incidentally, translation stuff. any opinions, Rene darling?)
>
> Grrrrraaah! EEEEEEeerrrrrk! Shnnnnnnnyurfff!
>
> <drool>
my, that sounds fascinating! care to elaborate a bit?
(you haven't studied any tibetan lately, have you?)
--
(
-
Mungojelly
> It's not primitive, no, but aren't many of the more complex emotions
> still concerned with murder most foul?
What I'm saying is I think there are (at least) two layers to it: a
superficial layer at which the stories are about events & are very
"dramatic" in the sense of extreme situations & emotions (often to the
degree of being comical).. and then another layer at which the story is
about the "actual" emotions of the characters, which are much more
complicated (like real emotions).
> I haven't read much Shakespeare, though.
> It's hard enough for a foreigner to keep the word order straight in
> English without some free form Elizabethan author messing with one's
> mind.
I find them very hard to read unless I've seen a production of the play
first. They really are supposed to be performed live.
> In Finnish, you can order a sentence pretty much in any order
> with only slight changes in emphasis resulting. It's a Yoda language.
order sentences you can order any english also in, just get will readers
confused quickly but more well oh!!
<3
Mungojelly
> (Mentioning maths and aesthetics together probably brings up _combining_
> them to most people, but I see them as opposites. Mathematical aesthetics
> is more or less just sick. :)
oh man come on, you should see this fractal flame program i d/led today..
<3
Leo Herranen
I love fractals for what they are, but I seem to dislike defining beauty
in a sterilized way. Fractals _are_ a bit sterile, in my experience, even
though they _are_ beautiful.
Or, hm, that doesn't make any sense, does it? ...
And how does defining stuff like this work with written language? If you
leave out all the possible variation besides the text itself (as in, only
have a clean digital message left), how can it, in a sense, be "not
sterile", just having been sterilized? (Of course texts are never
understood as themselves, in this restricted sense. I'm just wondering
about the text itself, because seen in the restricted sense, it has some
curiously sterile properties, compared to a piece of visual art, for
example.) ...
hm. right.
I hate defining beauty like that. I like nice definitions for stuff for
which definitions make sense, but beauty is intuitive. (Actually, beauty
is what I started with when I developed a formal theory of interpretation
based on set theory (mostly as a joke)... if "cute" ("nätti") is
something similar to "beautiful". I really should write all of it down in
a coherent way though, it's all in pieces in my diary. Any way it's just
an ideal version that only works for ideal scientific theories, if I
bothered I could study some fuzzy logic & statistics to make it fit less
discrete stuff.)
And regarding Bach, I think Bach's, again, nice as what he is, but where I
like looking for beauty is somewhere between & outside of the accepted
tones - either way rather not thinking about them. Of course you can
define these excursions mathematically, too (etc. ad inf.), if you see it
fit. Being constrained by a notion like that is kind of like getting stuck
with natural numbers and not being able to accept anything irrational...
And stuff as simple as bells and tuning forks has harmonics completely
unrelated to what most string & wind instruments have.
(Nice theory. I'm still the silly control freak I've always been.)
--
(
-