Re: Why I produce LOOPING FESTIVALS: is looping a valid musical artform?

[Andre LaFosse <altruist@earthlink.net>]

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