Blog Post #3

April 29th, 1992 (Miami) by Sublime shares their perspective of the Los Angeles riots that spilled into Long Beach. I was interested in Sublime’s use of sound bites from CNN reporters and LA officers who were conspirators in the beating of Rodney King. Apparently, it’s the only localized account of the riots in Long Beach. Sound bites are really powerful in contrast with vocals, ambient music or electronic sound. My group and I are thinking of using sound bites like this and taking it a step further by possibly distorting and manipulating the visuals linked to those sounds.  

Gil Scott-Heron's poem provides a contrast in ambience and language that I want to embody and work to create in collaboration with music. There is a certain power within saying crucially important words in a serious tone with upbeat, rhythmic bongos accompanying those words. Even though there is an element of seriousness in his voice, there is also a comedic nature about his delivery. Catching your audience off guard or granting an almost satirical, misleading tone in relation to the medium that's curating the environment around it draws listeners in. I also appreciate the succession of the anger and intensity in his voice and language as the spoken word draws to a close- this growing tension is something my group and I really want to create.

Discussion Recap: Collaborations and Conflict

Summary of our discussion on features of successful / unsuccessful collaborations:

Successful Collaborations	Unsuccessful Collaborations
Individual follow-through; doing what was agreed/planned	Too much ego
Clear expectations	Vagueness about expectations, plans, vision
Accountability; deciding what happens if someone doesn’t follow through	Too much focus on outcome and not enough on process
Taking responsibility	Distance / detachment
Communication: early & often	Imbalances of: workload, power, decision-making
Acknowledging feelings and emotions	hierarchies
Intentionality
Making space for others

Summary of our discussion on times we've handled friction well / poorly:

Handled Friction Well	Handled Friction Poorly
Look at yourself, too; even if you’re 90% right, there is still 10% you can fix	Ego explosion
Express yourself; feelings, ideas, misgivings	Righteous indignation
Forgiveness	Defensiveness
Owning your mistakes	Rushing to judgment, rushing to action
Managing emotions; acknowledge them but don’t let them rule your decision-making	Inertia; Fighting fire with fire; letting things escalate
Take time / space; don’t rush to say or do anything, especially if the moment is heated
Treat people as people, not their “label” or their perceived identity

Discussion Recap: Critique

Aspects of the performance we focused on:

• Staging
• Lighting
• Mix
• Form
• Arrangement, instrumentation
• Performativity / embodiment
• What is performed live, and what is automated or playback
• Texture, variety
• Making good use of live instruments
• Use of video
• Dynamics
• Audience experience, relationship to performers
• Rhythmic variety
• Harmony
• Tension

Best practices for giving critique:

• Let the people who presented their work guide the critique. Find out what they'd like to know. Let them ask questions of you.
• Ask questions!
• What was the intention behind a decision?
• Did you consider alternatives? Why did you reject them?
• What would you think about doing x?
• Frame your comments as opinion.
• Avoid focusing on obvious mistakes or obvious gaps.
• Avoid "you should..." They aren't obligated to follow your advice

Week 4 Christopher Walker

This first video is "Nattura" by Bjork. In our group we want to create a piece that sonically represents the impact of climate change on the environment. "Nattura" captures the feel we are going for near the end, as it is loud, rhythmic, and gritty. This is a good reference work for our climax feel.

This album by Beaver & Krouse incorporates natural soundscapes into the music, and "Spaced" in particular captures the natural, open, ambient feel we want to have at the start of our track.

Discussion Recap: Approaches of Protest Music

A summary of our discussion of approaches that artists have used in protest music:

• Lament, mourning, despair
• Positivity / inclusion -- rallying new people to the cause
• Alternative realities / imagining different futures
• Aggression, calling out individual bad actors
• Irony / juxtaposition
• Illustration / metaphor
• Subtlety, inviting exploration
• Storytelling; using personal experiences or stories as emblematic of a wider population
• Using simple or familiar musical forms to invite participation
• Targeting a specific audience
• Emotional resonances
• Using recordings of voices of heroes, victims, opponents...

Blog Post #2

While this is just one example of Beyonce performing this track at a live show, I chose this version specifically because of the formation (no pun intended) at the end presented by all the women she brought onstage with her. To me this track and this performance send important messages about how the roles of women in our society today are rapidly changing, and how these changes can be influenced by every single person who chooses whether or not to subscribe to the (hopefully) deteriorating system of gender-based power dynamics.

Blog Week 2: Protest Music (Steven Klingbiel)

This track is from Marvin Gaye's album What's Going On. The entire album serves as a protest of black inequality which I cannot really speak on; however this track has a poignant warning for the damage we have done to our Earth which speaks to our current existential trouble of climate change.  

Whoa, ah, mercy mercy me
Oh things ain't what they used to be, no no
Where did all the blue skies go?
Poison is the wind that blows from the north and south and east

Whoa mercy, mercy me,
Oh things ain't what they used to be, no no
Oil wasted on the oceans and upon our seas, fish full of mercury

Ah, oh mercy, mercy me
Ah things ain't what they used to be, no no
Radiation under ground and in the sky
Animals and birds who live nearby are dying

Oh mercy, mercy me
Oh things ain't what they used to be
What about this overcrowded land
How much more abuse from man can she stand?

Week 2- Hannah Marcus

This is Yoko Ono's Cut Piece from 1965. I consider it a form of protest performance art. Ever since I first watched this video a few years ago, I've been struck by the power in her passivity. I'm honestly not quite sure what specific stance she's taking in the piece, but I think she's commenting on the objectification of women, sexual aggression, and violence. And also perhaps making a statement about the artist's or audience's ego?

The premise of the work is that one performer sits onstage with a pair of scissors in front of them. It is announced by an outside voice that audience members can come onstage individually to cut a piece of the performer's clothing and take it with them. I read in a set of instructions she wrote for future iterations of this piece that the performer does not need to be a woman.

She's allowing her work to be the work of her audience. There are a lot of similarities to Marina Abramovic's work with this idea--that the audience is free to do whatever they want to the performer. I'm quite intrigued by this concept. Where does the line get drawn?

(The video is 8mins long; I recommend skipping around a bit to different parts.)

Ariel Vidrio Blog 2

"La Bamba Rebelde" by Las Cafeteras

"La Bamba" is a Mexican folk song originally from Veracruz. It gained international fame in 1958 in the movie adaptation starring Ritchie Valens.  Las Cafeteras, a Chicano band from East LA, reinterpreted the son jarocho song as "La Bamba Rebelde" to challenge the nativist, anti-immigrant racism, reimagining post-nationalist Chicano/a and Mexicano/a communities especially those near the US-Mexican borderlands.