Dev Blog June 2024

Hi there friends.

2024 is hurtling by, huh? The longest day already behind us. You can almost taste the winter of our continuing discontent on the breeze. Or is that the taste of 'change' finally coming to the UK?

No. It's definitely discontent.

But! The sun's out. Make it count. This month the technicians of 65LABS have been stumbling around as much as they are able to given the realities of their workplace being an obscure, experimental, mostly-aspirational research project living in the shared imagination of the members of a strange noisy band and you, their loyal fellow noise weirdos.

Here in the 65LABS Masterplan Bunker we are still trying to figure out this burgeoning project, trying to see if there's something more substantial here for us to get off the ground or not, and if there is how it can fit within the scope of a wider 65daysofstatic-continuing-to-exist meta-plan. Hyper-plan? Para-plan? Ultra-plan?

65LABS, tilted as it is toward new and untested modes of music-making continues to feel like a delicate and complicated area to work in. The looming tsunami wave of hypertrash that people keep insist on calling 'A.I.' has really put all the work we did for Wreckage Systems in a new light. As we have previously said, there is a crucial distinction to be made between generative or algorithmic art and artistic tools and the lowest common denominator A.I. world of junk, but unless you're tech-curious (and good for you if you are not, honestly), then all of this might just be tarred with the same computers-are-ruining-everything brush. Even though we here all know that it is not computers ruining everything, it is capitalism.

So it is tricky to know how best to continue pushing in that direction, or if we really ought to be. Then again, how to make a band like 65daysofstatic become more luddite? What might that mean? For a start, our computers are already smahed up enough!

And if we step away from exploring algorithmic or generative music, what else? A Year of Wreckage was a great project that we loved doing, but something of that scale can only really happen once.

But also, how could we possibly map 'just make a new record' onto a Patreon model? Is it even appropriate to try? Would we be putting unnecessary pressure on ourselves? It's hard to say. Further research is needed.

So in the meantime, the figuring out continues. And this month we are bringing you a video that really ought to be the kind of thing you stumble upon around 2am in a field somewhere in Europe, high on life or whatever, surrounded by happy dancers and adventure, but instead is being broadcast to you exclusively on this intimate backchannel - a secret techno tryst, a joyously utilitarian communique of elegantly sculpted electricity. From us to you. Turn it up and get dancing! (You can find it at the top of your email and also HERE if you can't see it for some reason.)

Like we explained last month (here), although this is a solo effort, this is very much Simon operating in 65LABS mode rather than NVLL mode, with all that that entails.

OTHER NEWS

Speaking of solo efforts outside 65LABS though, last week Polinski played his first live show in forever and it went well so he's put the whole set up on his Bandcamp.

Click through to have a listen and/or buy it. He has also written a rather exhaustive breakdown of how he put the set together, so if you miss that kind of thing from Wreckage Systems Season One then head over to The K.N.R.U. (The Komoy Noise Research Unit) to read more.

That's it for now. Once again, we really do appreciate you sticking around! Enjoy the video and see you next month! Research notes to follow.

65.x

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KICK DRUM FAN CLUB

65LABS RESEARCH NOTES:

Hardware used: Eurorack Modular Synth / Arturia Beatstep Pro / Deer

Software used: N/A

Tracks From the 65 Archive: N/A

Time Signatures: 4/4

Tempo: 132bpm

Technicians: Simon Wright

Generative Systems: N/A

Wreckage Systems: N/A

Other notes: Sometimes, no matter what the question, the answer is TECHNO. This is true in all disciplines, but especially so when you happen to be a technician conducting research at 65LABS. Here, it is often the answer to even questions like: 'but what if not techno?'

Historically 65daysofstatic lean towards drawing our kick drums from the kick drum crops we grow in the more non-Cartesian-focussed, anarcho-syndicalist Rhythm Biomes of 65LABS. These kick drums have a tendency for going off the grid, setting out alone as wayward adventurers, stumbling through temporality in confusing and melodramatic ways. They look out for each other, sure, and they often provide great examples of new ways of existing within wider song structures, but can be a bit... unpredictable.

Over time this led to a few more mercenary technicians starting a rival, more utilitarian Rhythm Biome. Like the anarcho-syndicalists, taking a strictly non-hierarchical approach to kick drum rearing was essential, though unlike the free-form dynamism used there, here they achieved it by taking care to grow the drums in a state of permanent revolution. The kick drums that emerged from this environment were steely-eyed, quick-witted, and steeped in mututal aid, but also excellent at organising. They did not turn into an anonymous crowd of brainwashed sine waves with uniform amplitude envelopes, far from it! These kick drums valued their individuality as much as any of us, but understood that rhythms are not made up of alienated drum samples, each moving through life alone but choosing to collaborate with each other. No! They posit that their individuality emerges through rhythm! For what kind of rhythm can a single kick drum ever hope to produce? It is also in their social relations with other kick drums that they are even able to percevie their own consciousness.

As you can imagine, the 65LABS Metaphor Wing tends to grab most of these kick drums for itself, so it can trade more easily with the Propaganda Wing, but whatever drums are left over for musical development are passed over to one of the How to Make People Dance? think tanks whose research we are currently funding. Without fail, these kick drums insist on the sharing of rhythmic duties entirely equally. And so: pounding 4/4 techno is what tends to emerge.

Inspired by these kick drums, this month's video takes a look at a more minimal live performance based entirely around these punchy, subby heroes of sine wave wrangling. What kind of scaffolding of excitement, clattery hope and adventure can we build upon their trusting shoulders? Together, how high can we climb? Techno!