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Looper's Delight
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Hey there Rick, Thanks so much for all your insightful commentary here (as well as in our off-list discussions). Let me try and address some of your thoughts, and let me also say that I absolutely DON'T feel like I have definitive answers to any of this stuff. I myself am constantly re-evaluating and clarifying my own relationship with looping, on an almost day-by-day basis. I would also HATE for you to feel as if your efforts aren't being appreciated or having an impact on people like myself, so I'll address that as well. > I've also noticed that the debate keeps coming up about whether LOOPING > should be considered a separate musical artform I think it's important here to draw a distinction between the term "art form" and "musical style." Is looping an art form? Absolutely, just like drumming, guitar playing, or any other musical craft is an art form. But to me, that's a completely different issue than a "musical style." You could put Bill Bruford, Bill Stewart, Terry Bozzio, and Virgil Donati in a room, and they'd probably have a lot to discuss and compare notes on. There are common threads between what they do with their craft, and many commonalities amongst the finer point of their approach to the art form of drumming. But would any of them say "I play drum music" in answer to the question of what "kind" of music they play? > or whether such festivals are "legitimate" or not. Well, I certainly hope I've never implied that a looping festival isn't "legitimate," because that absolutely is NOT the case in my mind. If I have given that impression, I profusely apologize, but I can't imagine that I have. (I sure HOPE not!) I thoroughly enjoyed Loopstock, as well as the LA Loop Fest that happened last year (strictly at YOUR instigation, I might add!) As I've told you, Rick, seeing the activity you've played a key role in cultivating was one of the things that got me back into the swing of performing again. Between the beginning of 2000 and the middle of 2001, there would be periods of literally months at a time when I wouldn't even turn my EDP on. Seeing that there were actually people taking this approach out into the world in a serious way was a profound wake-up call for me. And as I've told you before, the stuff I've done with the EDP over the last year WOULD NOT have happened if it wasn't for your work, and its effects, re-kindling an interest in the technology in my mind. So. With all of that said, why do I go off at such length on the whole "is looping a form of music or not" tangent? Here are some reasons. I personally feel that there are an AWFUL lot of preconceptions about how real-time loop-based music is SUPPOSED to sound in the minds of the musicians who actually use the tools. This happens both stylistically and technically, and I think it's potentially very problematic. In terms of style, there are still an awful lot of lingering stereotypes about looping=avante-garde, or looping=ambient, or looping=prog-rock Frippertronics. That doesn't have to be the case at all, and anyone who's been to a single looping festival knows that. But the fact that we're here, five and a half years after the formation of this list, and just in the last two days have gotten posts saying "looping is fundamentally geeky," or apologizing for inquiries into loopers like Jon Brion who don't happen to be avante-garde, speaks VOLUMES about the problems the craft has with its self-image within its OWN community. Things like looping festivals can and do help to counter-act that tendency, by showcasing the diversity of styles that make use of this technique. But when assumptions start being made about looping across the board, then I think it's time to step back and reconsider the way we're thinking about this stuff. Even your own comment that "making money with looping cannot be done much yet" is problematic to me, because it suggests that using a looping tool in one's music is somehow intrinsically tied to fringe music making. Hip-hop is loop music. Trance is loop music. House is loop music. Fela Kuti's Afrobeat is loop music. Alanis Morrisette singing over breakbeats is loop music. "Wild Thing" is loop music. The scads of third-rate major label bands whose parts are played once and then cut-and-pasted into Pro Tools is loop music. Looping ISN'T fundamentally geeky, or navel-gazing, or inward-looking, or abstract, or un-commercial, any more so than an electric guitar or any other instrument is. It's all what's done with it... and in the case of looping in particular, what's played INTO it. Do you know what I mean? The dominant point of reference for how looping tends to be approached as an instrumental craft, even today, is frequently (though certainly not always) rooted in the tape-loop or long-delay-line paradigms. But with the tools that are available today, it doesn't have to be that way. It doesn't have to be hypnotic, it doesn't have to be inward-looking, it doesn't have to be droney, and it doesn't even have to be repetitive. And once again, building a sense of community and commonality is a wonderful way of exploring these different approaches. I just get antsy when people start talking about looping as if the tools and the craft itself have built-in, fundamental limitations in terms of the type of audience it can reach, the sort of money it can earn, the way people respond to it, or any other sort of assumption. It strikes me as thinking that's being driven by preconceptions, which I think is hugely problematic for any art form that wants to develop. Anyway, Rick, I hope none of this comes across as being ungrateful towards what you've done, because nothing could be further from the truth. You've done utterly amazing things in bringing people together and helping to turn both players and listeners on to the notion of this craft as a viable performance-based art form. And I very much look forward to talking, and playing, with you in the near future. Very best wishes, --Andre LaFosse http://www.altruistmusic.com