Though admittedly, the event has now passed, I thought I would repost this material in an extra place to keep a hold upon it. I might have grabbed 4 additional
Nightlife copies today, as the new issue hit the stands in advance of Makandafest. I should note, however, that I had not done this for any achievement previously, whether it's that neat art award or being named a Presidential Scholar back in my Illinois Wesleyan days, and only ended up with copies through other people's means (Mr. Crook tried to give me one, but I assured him that I had one at the time [which didn't prevent me from stocking up on copies that were going to be of no use to anyone else]).
What it contained was this:
Art of Noise
Experimental-sound artist Karthik Kakarala will play live Saturday, April 26 at 4 a.m. on the WDBX 91.1 FM program It's Too Damn Early. "As composer and conductor of the Karthik Kakarala Ensemble, Kakarala brings elements of Glenn Branca's cacophonous guitar-based works into a more personally focused light, often with other elements of noise art," says host DaveX, who notes that this show celebrates his birthday. "Listeners are encouraged to awaken sleeping roommates and neighbors with the resulting din.
To describe how hilarious the accident (if it was intentional, I am convinced it would be even MORE hilarious) of typing the name of the band
Art of Noise was in the midst of trying to frame what I was going to do in the right light would easily take another entry entirely and would take me more off-topic than even usual.
Dave X wouldn't stop there... insistent upon getting more listenership (or perhaps alienating some of it when it came down to my particular incendiary wording on certain matters), Dave interviewed me (and is actually the first person to do so in an official manner). It is contained
here, but I shall go ahead and reprint it here, counting on Dave's good nature and hopeful understanding that I am still trying to push more readers toward his delightful
blog in order to not get sued (or at least scolded) (for the sake of a lack of vanity, I will not reproduce his links [with the exception of a video, the links were all inserted by him] toward this MySpace page):
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Karthik Kakarala, currently a Carbondale-based student and musician, will be this week's live guest on "It's Too Damn Early." Naturally, I'm encouraging everyone to tune in. In the meantime, here's a short e-mail interview in which Kakarala spills the beans about the habits of underground artists, the relationship of noise to Peking opera, and future recordings.
STARTLING MONIKER: How do you approach explaining noise to an interested (but otherwise uninvolved) party?
KARTHIK KAKARALA: This is the ongoing trick, isn't it? Well, I'm not going to trivialize it by suggesting I've solved how to do so, nor insist that it's impossible due to how many different ways there need to be in order to fit with the types of listeners that exist. Of course, these explanations depend entirely upon the listening experiences of the individual(s) in the conversation, and that must be determined first.
Rock 'n roll: I'd say this is perhaps easiest, in terms of an inherent thirst for excitement that is obviously there, even in the oldest fossil who's still into rock music. Old-school rock music (the popular edge of which is actually far less controlled in sheer percentages due to the advent of sophisticated compressors that can, with a couple of clicks, successfully steal all heart out of a track now) flagrantly is reachable via blues, and in any case blatantly points to Hendrix. Anyone worth their salt knows that it's more than the basic "note" sounds that make him so damned interesting in his time, and focusing the person's attention on the compositional possibilities of those non-note sounds for expressing fuzzier, more abstract concepts. I go back that far because not everyone gets into Radiohead (as a band that has almost always required multiple listens to form an opinion of, whether or not the particular album was up to snuff), not everyone ends up listening to the ambitious steps of The Who or Pink Floyd, and most people don't hear
Sonic Youth's "Confusion is Sex" when they're eleven years old, even though the latter's not the end-all reason as to why I'm here typing this.
Blues/folk: These recordings are often crackly and fuzzy as hell, and at the very least, a certain respectful understanding can be derived from explaining how the nature o f those can be appealing.
Classical: Beethoven, Stravinsky, etc., etc.. There's plenty of dissonance that gets thrown in when a classical composer starts stretching the wings, and that implementation of tension is shown to obviously not need electricity to derive.
Various Eastern music types: Drone. Also,
Peking opera has some of the best traditions of abrasive sounds to draw attention at the right times and wake up the tryptophan-addled viewer that decided to have Peking duck before the hours-long performance.
Electronic(s): I suppose this really depends on how long a line of reasoning one wants to draw. Synthesizer music nuts will eventually see why making insane sounds on a Moog requires intention and skill. Analog electronics goons will easily see why
Peter J. Woods is losing his mind during
Anthony Ptak's NoiseFeSTL '06 theremin performance:
And so on? Basically, I posit that, the more time there is to make a proper explanation, and the more sonic history you have splashing about in your noggin', the easier noise is to explain to someone. It's best to not even USE "noise" in any manner within the first 3-4 sentences, and if you can pull off using the word "experimental" without sounding wishy-washy, all the better.
SM: You're all over the place, and I've heard it said that there might be more than one Karthik to handle the load. I'm betting you have a good bird's-eye view of the Midwestern noise and experimental scene. Are there any cohesive qualities to our region that you've noticed?
KK: I laughed so hard that I might have woken someone up when reading this. If I have a bird's-eye view, it's probably because of my impressive height.
Chicago and St. Louis are more prone to having instrumentalists (read: jazz and classical musicians) employing skillfully combinations of "wrong" tones. While other Midwest cities have good instrumentalists doing so, the former two are mentioned for stronger jazz traditions that extend before any of these post-industrial attacks became treated like a new kind of Punk Rock.
Every single college town has at least two noise musicians. There is a high possibility that they, even in this information age, might not even have the slightest idea that they are tapping into any of it. Their beer-drinking, pot smoking friends will be "open" to their amp-loops, pedal-generated fuzz explosions, and occasionally will be quiet long enough to hear the scratchy attacks on an unsuspecting instrument. At least once in every 5 of these, no matter how many, one will stumble upon the idea of circuit bending (whether due to a strange relationship with electronics or perusing the Internet). If there are only two, it is most likely that they will never be friends, by the very propensity toward reclusiveness that some of this confers. If they become friends, there's an even lower chance that they're collaborate beyond the occasional experimental jam during a kegger. If there are performances, they will occur in art galleries or basements most of the time, and it should be assured that they will usually be in the background, rather than foreground. Only by being in the background of something will such audio experimentalists ever play a bar more than once, and even that may never happen.
Ex-pats of slightly rough-edged bands end up making good converts in this situation: Finally, ¡they get to do what they want! While there are individuals striving towards an intentionality in their work, they are few and far between (a.k.a. people who have even SOME idea of what they're doing, so that it's not a complete improv). There are very few conservatives in the ranks, an even lower percentage than in overall rock music. Noise is the new punk, for now and having been increasing to this point for 35+ years, with even less specific action all too often, although there are many that seek such employ to shatter the few restrictions left in their original focus. There are almost (I cannot cite any, personally) noise/experimental artists/musicians who did not try to learn a conventional instrument at least once before in life.
It's a good thing you didn't ask whether I was a noise artist (as opposed to experimental) specifically, because I wouldn't really know what to tell you, there.
SM: Musically speaking, what do you hope to accomplish in the next year?
KK: At present, an overdue scale-down has occurred in order to sharpen and attempt to more frequently realize my visions. It's the limits that make a piece, and having "endless freedom" to "jam" does not result in anything new, as nearly every jam band will demonstrate. I am writing down (as in, typing AND writing to paper) work to be played with other individuals (long overdue as well), adjusting the 4-movement piece that I first debuted in full when opening for
Rhys Chatham, and finishing a quartet piece. I actually have other projects which are serving as pressure release valves:
My "noise" project is different than the material under my own name mostly due to its near-total rejection of the guitar, and currently is obsessed with a typewriter. This may also be where I incorporate the violin that I've been building. I intend on having two pieces out in the fall for that. My singer-songwriter identity allows for short bursts of hooks and, occasionally, catchy rhythms.
All of this comprises my solo work.
By the end of this calendar year, I will have a recording of my 4-movement work of pride, and will be working closely with
Benelli. I will also hopefully have finished writing my 51-guitar piece as well, and as those matters are wrapping up, I will be consistently playing shows with ensembles and bandmates again.
Don't miss Karthik Kakarala this Saturday, April 26th on "It's Too Damn Early!"
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