interview excerpts head magazine

excerpts from an email interview with head magazine held in 1996 by head magazine with markus popp and sebastian oschatz

What does
music
mean to you ?

"In the simplest explanation, music is an effective compression technique for certain kinds of sound tracks" - Macintosh Music Architecture - Apple Confidential

music means:

not to engage with meaning, but with the analysis of technical standards and the materiality of sound hardware in order to define a margin for aesthetic intervention

organized acoustics

order from noise

algorithm-based sound design

one dispositive of man-machine-synergy

the inferior part of aesthetic presence

reduction of complexity

optimization of user-interface technology

a training camp for new perception

What are your thoughts
about
underground culture
as it is now?
The historical conceptions of any cultural deviance(subculture, underground, hedostic left, tribalisms) have been transformed into a diverse multiplicity, "a hegemony without hegemon", the famous patchwork of monorities. A simple dichotomy of overground / underground doesn´t clarify anything and conceals the relevant questions, like what kind of systems these contexts are artifacts of, how these contexts are percieved in other systems, how they evolve etc.

What does
experimentation
mean to you
and how do you
incorporate it
into your life ?
in computing: as the most interesting manuals never get written; experimentation is a basic strategy when using complex digital machines. it is also the only possibility to overcome the distinction between features and bugs and build an alternative semantic on top of this.

in music: experimentation is a "guided tour" through the OS´s of MIDI soft- & hardware and therefore is a nonrevolutionary, everyday practice.
most of the time it also frees you from the burden of remembering things.

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	excerpts from an email interview with head magazine held in 1996 by head magazine with markus popp and sebastian oschatz
What does music mean to you ?	"In the simplest explanation, music is an effective compression technique for certain kinds of sound tracks" - Macintosh Music Architecture - Apple Confidential music means: not to engage with meaning, but with the analysis of technical standards and the materiality of sound hardware in order to define a margin for aesthetic intervention organized acoustics order from noise algorithm-based sound design one dispositive of man-machine-synergy the inferior part of aesthetic presence reduction of complexity optimization of user-interface technology a training camp for new perception
What are your thoughts about underground culture as it is now?	The historical conceptions of any cultural deviance(subculture, underground, hedostic left, tribalisms) have been transformed into a diverse multiplicity, "a hegemony without hegemon", the famous patchwork of monorities. A simple dichotomy of overground / underground doesn´t clarify anything and conceals the relevant questions, like what kind of systems these contexts are artifacts of, how these contexts are percieved in other systems, how they evolve etc.
What does experimentation mean to you and how do you incorporate it into your life ?	in computing: as the most interesting manuals never get written; experimentation is a basic strategy when using complex digital machines. it is also the only possibility to overcome the distinction between features and bugs and build an alternative semantic on top of this. in music: experimentation is a "guided tour" through the OS´s of MIDI soft- & hardware and therefore is a nonrevolutionary, everyday practice. most of the time it also frees you from the burden of remembering things.