Syntəl8

Algorave, live coding, or whatever you want to call it or whatever you're doing with computery creativity -

We haven't seen it become a genre, at most an umbrella of different genres.
It may end up becoming homogenised though. Its a possibility.

I think how this happens is through the logic of neoliberalism - the notion of there being 'top artists' - the concept of 'success' - the goal of 'making money'.
(can provide more detail on why I think that is)

So maybe the values of the scene as we know it, embodied in things like 'no headliners', 'bad code only', quality NO energy YES and general yay vibes, will help protect against it becoming 'one sound' or 'bland'?

What do you think?

I think we can go further and break down the notions of performer and audience, we've seen this begin to happen at AlgoRhythms.
next one btw is here: https://luma.com/1db23uki
I feel 'pushing back' against unhealthy norms even if gently is a powerful force.

AlgoRhythms · Luma

And we're back! For the second one of the year! Expect lovely vibes, hand coded sounds and visuals, dancing, chilling, and the unexpected 😆 From 6:30pm we…

Feb 20 at 11:51amWeb
Show threadSyntəl8Feb 20
Thoughts started while watching a youtube vid called "all my homies hate skrillex". Brostep started in the uk.
Are arena tours inherently <bad>?
Maybe skrillex introduced a lot of artists to a wider audience?
Can a heterogenous scene flourish alongside wider exposure?
Show threadSobri | Zoe (she/her)Feb 20
@synte i think me can resist contentification by making wilder more diverse tools to make algorave.
Show threadbornachFeb 20
@synte
Personally I'm hoping the #liveCoding #AlgoRave movement will demonstrate what Dr. Ethan Hein states here
https://www.ethanhein.com/wp/2025/ai-slop-and-musical-creativity/
"but what about lowering technical barriers to creativity? The thing is, those barriers are one inch tall...The obstacles to musical creativity have nothing to do with equipment or money or education or anything else, they are one hundred percent psychological."
AI slop and musical creativity

Next week, my NYU graduate seminar on technology in music education is supposed to start talking about AI: large language models, prompt-based generators, stem separation and so on. I am not feelin…

The Ethan Hein Blog
Show threadKat SFeb 20

@synte I think "culture eats strategy for breakfast" applies here.

If the scene's culture naturally produces mutual hostility with the mainstream scene and labels, it'll carry on being a diverse, underground scene.
However, that won't stop them co-opting the label and promoting a homogenised version anyway.

There's plenty of history to learn from: disco (yes, really), house, techno and hip-hop, to name a few off the top of my head.

Show threadSyntəl8Feb 21

@KatS absolutely - I guess what I'm saying is that can we do more to promote the idea that things can be local and vibes based and can exist in their own right as opposed to being a stepping stone on the way to fabulous wealth?

There are reasons why black and/or queer scenes die off - everything from burning disco records to police harassment of the grime scene.
Other more hegemony compliant scenes find it easier to bubble along out of the mainstream perhaps.

We all know pastagang will own a yacht before the decade is out but they will prob also crash it into an iceberg as a form of protest or something

I agree it starts and ends with disco 💞

Show threadSyntəl8Feb 21
which makes me wonder, did grime survive longer than garage because they consciously rejected 'bling' vibes?
Was grime the first anti-neoliberal genre?
Show threadAlex McLeanFeb 21
@synte I'd say breaking down notions of performer and audience was a central topic in early live coding that got lost a bit. I think many of the other values you mention are more unique to the current live coding generation, as is bringing them together and making them explicitly political, I'm here for it!
Show threadAlex McLeanFeb 21
@synte @julian and I went on about art without audience here in case you haven't seen it already https://iclc.toplap.org/2023/catalogue/paper/the-meaning-of-live-from-art-without-audience-to-programs-users.html
ICLC 2023 - Catalogue - The Meaning of Live: From Art Without Audience to Programs Without Users

ICLC 2023 Catalogue - International Conference on Live Coding