Difference between revisions of "Innaturale Digitale"

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title	Innaturale Digitale
author	Ugo Malatacca/Tatiana Bazzichelli
publication	Il Mucchio
date	2002/06
issue	491
pages	12-14

Innaturale Digitale was an interview (in Italian) by Ugo Malatacca/Tatiana Bazzichelli originally published June 2002 in Il Mucchio magazine Number 491 pp. 12-14.

Original Text

Innaturale Digitale

Per anni, la musica elettronica è stata associata alla fantascienza, alla tecnologia, al futuro, al virtuale, alla perfezione, all'alta fedeltà, al mondo dei computer e dei robot. Il mondo è cambiato. Organicità, natura, nostalgia, imperfezione ed emozioni a bassa fedeltà sono invece i tratti somatici di un "altro" cmodo di sentire il digitale. Le macchine di ventano uno strumento come un altro per tracciare percorsi che esplorano il sogno, la visione, il mondo che è (ed era) intorno. E creare paradossi naturali

Boards Of Canada

Due ragazzi per metà scozzesi e per metà canadesi, chiusi in uno studio fatto di pareti di vetro e immerso nella campagna, regi strano i loro synth su nastro per poi danneggiarlo. Ci miscelano frammenti polverosi di strumenti in carne e ossa ed effetti sonori dai documentari televisivi sulla natura. Si chiamano Boards Of Canada e hanno 8 e 14 anni ... almeno, cosi loro dicono. Della fama o del successo non vogliono neanche sentir parlare, agli articoli o alle recensioni dei loro dischi sono totalmente disinteressati. I Boards Of Canada sono comunque un forte punto di riferimen to per la nuova scena elettronica che si è costruita dopo l'era dei rave. Il loro primo album, Music Has The Right To Children (1998) è un classico. Geogaddy (n. 476) , il nuovo lavoro pubblicato da Warp, ha tutte le carte in regola per diventarlo.

Umano tecnologico

Nella copertina di Music Has The Right To Children un gruppo familiare in gita, sul ciglio di un belvedere, si taceva ritrarre in una foto ricordo . Abbigliamento e look anni '70, immagine sfocata e impolverata. Un particolare: i volti sono tutti vuoti, non hanno lineamenti, nè dettagli. Sono in bianco. Non servono altre parole per trovare il link con i pezzi deÌl'album, musica che cerca continuamente una verosimiglianza con il naturale e con l'organicità; ma nasconde consape volmente, ad ogni angolo, uno stretto legame con l'artificio digitale. Music Has The Right To Children rimane, a distanza di anni, una chiave di svolta della scena elettronica che, dopo l'illusione del "futuro"; ha perso fiducia per le potenzialità infinite della tecnologia e si avvicina a una umanizzazione dei suoni e della narrazione. Come?

La maggior parte dei suoni che usiamo sono campioni che abbiamo creato noi stessi. A volte inseriamo del materiale preso altrove nelle nostre composizioni, ma per lo più tutti i suoni con cui costruiamo le melodie sono fatti con strumenti reali o sintetizzatori che noi suoniamo nel nostro campionatore e poi processiarno. Spesso campioniamo noi stessi mentre suoniamo la chitarra, la batteria, il flauto o altri strumenti, quindi ne distruggiamo il suono attraverso il campionatore, oppure attraverso registrazioni su nastro analogico. In questo modo, il suono risulta antico e danneggiato e irriconoscibile dal lo strumento originale.

È Mike Sandison , uno dei due Boards Of Canada, a spiegarci nel dettaglio come è possibile mettere la tecnologia su un piano completamente differente. E il socio Marcus Eoin continua:

Per quello che possiamo, creiamo i campionamenti da soli. La gente pensa che ci limitiamo a prendere suoni dalle colonne sonore dei documentari televisivi e da questo genere di cose. Ma sa rebbe troppo facile. Noi siamo pesantemente influenzati da suoni del genere ma ci limitiamo a emularli. Suoniamo tutto noi e distruggiamo quello che facciamo attraverso strumenti analogici, aggiungendo effetti che evochino il suono delle vecchie cassette registrate trent'anni fa. Non ci piace il suono pulito, perfetto. Nella musica elettronica è troppo facile far si che le cose suonino pulite, moderne e perfettamente intonate. Per cui noi ce la mettiamo tutta per fare in modo che il suono sia grezzo, per aggiungergli carattere, perché cosi gli diamo un senso di tempo e di spazio.

Verso il passato

Ritorno al passato, ai momenti della propria vita che la gran parte di noi vede (sia nel bene che ne male) come un momento felice, pieno di speranze per il futuro, certezze e semplicità misteriosa delle cose. L'infanzia è uno degli ambienti spazio/temporali (per dirla alla Marcus) che i Boards Of Canada preferiscono. Si tratta di una visione che parla contemporaneamente del "fanciullino" capace di meravigliarsi di fronte alle scoperte di tutto ciò che lo circonda, ma anche del fascino per l'ignoto che genera incertezza, paura, perdita di coscienza. È la stessa contraddizione del canto di un bambino: può essere la melodia più soave, ma anche il suono più tetro e angosciante che si possa ascoltare.

Sentiamo musica fin da quando eravamo bambini, anche attraverso la tv, per cui molto spesso da quello che facciamo adesso emerge un gusto tipico della tv e della cultura pop della metà degli anni '70. È sempre stata una caratteristica dei Boards Of Canada fare riferimento allo stile degli anni '70 e '80 perché è una fonte infinita di ispirazione per noi. In quegli anni ci siamo entrambi spostati di posto in posto. Questo vuol dire che ci siamo inzuppati di molte musiche differenti e di materiale visivo a cui facciamo ancora riferimento

Psichedelica naturale

Per i due Boards Of Canada, che fin da piccoli hanno giocato con la musica, l'evocazione del passato combacia con uno sguardo incantato e impaurito sulle cose. In Geogaddy tutto ciò si fa immagine caleidoscopica. Del resto, quella del caleidoscopio (da cui le immagini di copertina e i recenti gadget) è una metafora perfetta per sfiora re alcuni dei significati della loro musica. Il caleidoscopio trasforma ciò che vediamo in qualcosa di meraviglioso, infinito, indistinguibile, perpetuo. Allo stesso tempo il mondo visto da un caleidoscopio si trasforma, diventa irrico noscibile, assume nuove relazioni, dà vertigine, smarrimento. E soprattutto svela analogie impreviste tra le cose. È questo il gioco delle immagini che si affettano, spezzano, distruggono, ma continuano a rimanere insieme strette da un forte legame geometrico. Non a caso uno dei pezzi di Geogaddy ha il titolo di Music ls Math e un altro The Devii /s In The Details. A tal proposito:

The Devil ls In The Details ha un doppio significato. Da una parte ci sono molte influenze scure che scorrono sotto la musica, dall'altra si tratta di un'affermazione ironica, un po' per dire che più ti fai ossessionare dalla ricerca dei dettagli nella musica e più realmente perdi la musica stessa ...non si può vedere il legno e non gli alberi.

Le venature scure della musica a cui si riferisce Mike sono quella continua ambiguità di suoni, spesso apparentemente soavi ma pieni di sfaccettature.

Il video

Le colonne sonore consumate e la qualità grezza dei film in 16mm. Queste cose mi ricordano periodi in cui la tv e il cinema sembravano essere ossessionati dalla scienza e dalla fiction scientifica, un po' un'influenza scura che ha generato paranoie e paure sotterranee, come nella guerra fredda. Penso addirittura nei documentari educativi.

Il nome Boards Of Canada viene da una serie di documentari sulla natura degli anni '70 appunto nominati The National Boards Of Canada. Questo tipo di documentari mettono in scena una natura in continua mutazione, che affascina, ma che in fondo fa sempre paura, perché è più grande di noi, perché sappiamo di appartenerle anche nei suoi cicli di evoluzione. In più, la visione della realtà attraverso il tubo catodico si arricchisce di ulteriori paranoie (avete mai visto, in proposito, le opere di Cristiano Pintaldi?).

Il pixel dei video, quelli televisivi che filtrano le immagini, ha lo stesso effetto di certi tipi di grana sulla pellicola di un film, dà alle immagini un vissuto in cui vivere e immaginare ... Noi stessi non abbiamo un live come band ma un live prevalentemente visual, in cui proiettiamo i nostri video con la musica. Questo dà un'altra dimensione al nostro progetto. E ogni volta lo facciamo in modo diverso, per mantenerlo sempre sorprendente.

Translated text

Note: Translated by ChatGPT-4o

Unnatural Digital

For years, electronic music has been associated with science fiction, technology, the future, the virtual, perfection, high fidelity, and the world of computers and robots. The world has changed. Organicity, nature, nostalgia, imperfection, and low-fidelity emotions are now the hallmark traits of another way of feeling the digital. Machines become just another tool to trace paths that explore dreams, visions, and the world around (and past). And to create natural paradoxes.'

Boards Of Canada

Two boys, half Scottish and half Canadian, secluded in a studio with glass walls and immersed in the countryside, record their synths on tape only to damage it. They mix in dusty fragments of real instruments and sound effects from nature documentaries. They are called Boards Of Canada and claim to be 8 and 14 years old... at least, that’s what they say. They don't want to hear about fame or success and are completely disinterested in articles or reviews of their records. Nevertheless, Boards Of Canada are a significant reference point for the new electronic scene that emerged after the rave era. Their first album, Music Has The Right To Children (1998), is a classic. Geogaddi (No. 476), their new work released by Warp, has all the qualities to become one too.

Technological Human

On the cover of Music Has The Right To Children, a family group on an outing, on the edge of a viewpoint, is captured in a souvenir photo. 70s attire and look, blurred and dusty image. One detail: the faces are all blank, without features or details. They are white. No more words are needed to find the link with the album tracks, music that continuously seeks a resemblance to the natural and organic but consciously hides, at every corner, a close connection with digital artifice. Music Has The Right To Children remains, years later, a turning point in the electronic scene, which, after the illusion of the "future" lost faith in the infinite potentials of technology and moved towards a humanization of sounds and narration. How?

Mike: "Most of the sounds we use are samples we've created ourselves. Sometimes we incorporate material taken from elsewhere into our compositions, but mostly all the sounds we build our melodies with are made with real instruments or synthesizers that we play into our sampler and then process. Often we sample ourselves playing guitar, drums, flute, or other instruments, then destroy the sound through the sampler or analog tape recordings. In this way, the sound becomes old and damaged and unrecognizable from the original instrument."

Mike Sandison, one of the two Boards Of Canada, explains in detail how it is possible to put technology on a completely different level. And partner Marcus Eoin continues:

Marcus: "As much as possible, we create the samples ourselves. People think we just take sounds from TV documentaries and that sort of thing. But that would be too easy. We are heavily influenced by such sounds but we only emulate them. We play everything ourselves and then destroy what we do through analog equipment, adding effects that evoke the sound of old tapes recorded thirty years ago. We don't like clean, perfect sound. In electronic music, it is too easy to make things sound clean, modern, and perfectly tuned. So we try our best to make the sound raw, to add character to it, because this way we give it a sense of time and space."

Towards the Past

Return to the past, to moments in life that most of us see (for better or worse) as a happy time, full of hopes for the future, certainties, and the mysterious simplicity of things. Childhood is one of the space/time environments (to use Marcus' term) that Boards Of Canada prefer. It is a vision that simultaneously speaks of the "child" capable of marveling at the discoveries of everything around him, but also of the fascination for the unknown that generates uncertainty, fear, and loss of consciousness. It is the same contradiction as a child's song: it can be the sweetest melody, but also the most dark and distressing sound one can hear.

We have been listening to music since we were children, even through TV, so very often what we do now reflects a taste typical of mid-70s TV and pop culture. It has always been a characteristic of Boards Of Canada to refer to the style of the 70s and 80s because it is an endless source of inspiration for us. In those years, we both moved from place to place. This means we soaked up many different music and visual materials that we still reference.

Natural Psychedelia

For the two Boards Of Canada, who have played with music since they were kids, evoking the past matches with an enchanted and fearful gaze at things. In Geogaddi all this becomes a kaleidoscopic image. After all, the kaleidoscope (from which the cover images and recent gadgets come) is a perfect metaphor for touching on some of the meanings of their music. The kaleidoscope transforms what we see into something wonderful, infinite, indistinguishable, perpetual. At the same time, the world seen through a kaleidoscope is transformed, becomes unrecognizable, assumes new relationships, gives vertigo, and disorientation. And above all, reveals unexpected analogies between things. This is the game of images that slice, break, and destroy but remain together, bound by a strong geometric connection. It is no coincidence that one of the tracks on Geogaddi is titled "Music Is Math" and another "The Devil Is In The Details". On this subject:

"The Devil Is In The Details" has a double meaning. On one hand, there are many dark influences running through the music; on the other, it's an ironic statement, a bit like saying that the more you obsess over finding details in music, the more you lose the music itself... you can't see the wood for the trees.

The dark veins of music Mike refers to are that continuous ambiguity of sounds, often seemingly sweet but full of facets.

The Video

Worn soundtracks and the raw quality of 16mm films. These things remind me of times when TV and cinema seemed obsessed with science and science fiction, a kind of dark influence that generated paranoia and underlying fears, like in the Cold War. I even think of educational documentaries.

The name Boards Of Canada comes from a series of nature documentaries from the 70s, specifically named The National Film Board of Canada. These types of documentaries depict a continuously changing nature that fascinates but is ultimately frightening because it is bigger than us, because we know we belong to it even in its cycles of evolution. Additionally, the view of reality through the cathode tube is enriched with further paranoia (have you ever seen Cristiano Pintaldi's works on this topic?).

"The pixel in videos, those that filter images on TV, has the same effect as certain types of grain on a film's frame, giving the images a life to live and imagine... We ourselves don't have a live performance as a band but a predominantly visual live show, in which we project our videos with music. This gives another dimension to our project. And every time we do it differently, to always keep it surprising."

Scans

Highlights

External Links

References

@@ Line 59: / Line 59: @@
 == Translated text  ==
 <onlyinclude>
-{{translation-needed}}
+'''Note''': Translated by ChatGPT-4o
 '''Unnatural Digital'''
+'''For years, electronic music has been associated with science fiction, technology, the future, the virtual, perfection, high fidelity, and the world of computers and robots. The world has changed. Organicity, nature, nostalgia, imperfection, and low-fidelity emotions are now the hallmark traits of another way of feeling the digital. Machines become just another tool to trace paths that explore dreams, visions, and the world around (and past). And to create natural paradoxes.''''
+'''Boards Of Canada'''
+Two boys, half Scottish and half Canadian, secluded in a studio with glass walls and immersed in the countryside, record their synths on tape only to damage it. They mix in dusty fragments of real instruments and sound effects from nature documentaries. They are called [[Boards Of Canada]] and claim to be 8 and 14 years old... at least, that’s what they say. They don't want to hear about fame or success and are completely disinterested in articles or reviews of their records. Nevertheless, [[Boards Of Canada]] are a significant reference point for the new electronic scene that emerged after the rave era. Their first album, ''[[Music Has The Right To Children]]'' (1998), is a classic. ''[[Geogaddi]]'' (No. 476), their new work released by [[Warp]], has all the qualities to become one too.
+'''Technological Human'''
+On the cover of ''[[Music Has The Right To Children]]'', a family group on an outing, on the edge of a viewpoint, is captured in a souvenir photo. 70s attire and look, blurred and dusty image. One detail: the faces are all blank, without features or details. They are white. No more words are needed to find the link with the album tracks, music that continuously seeks a resemblance to the natural and organic but consciously hides, at every corner, a close connection with digital artifice. ''[[Music Has The Right To Children]]'' remains, years later, a turning point in the electronic scene, which, after the illusion of the "future" lost faith in the infinite potentials of technology and moved towards a humanization of sounds and narration. How?
+{{boc|[[Mike]]: "Most of the sounds we use are samples we've created ourselves. Sometimes we incorporate material taken from elsewhere into our compositions, but mostly all the sounds we build our melodies with are made with real instruments or synthesizers that we play into our sampler and then process. Often we sample ourselves playing guitar, drums, flute, or other instruments, then destroy the sound through the sampler or analog tape recordings. In this way, the sound becomes old and damaged and unrecognizable from the original instrument."}}
+[[Mike Sandison]], one of the two [[Boards Of Canada]], explains in detail how it is possible to put technology on a completely different level. And partner [[Marcus Eoin]] continues:
+{{boc|[[Marcus]]: "As much as possible, we create the samples ourselves. People think we just take sounds from TV documentaries and that sort of thing. But that would be too easy. We are heavily influenced by such sounds but we only emulate them. We play everything ourselves and then destroy what we do through analog equipment, adding effects that evoke the sound of old tapes recorded thirty years ago. We don't like clean, perfect sound. In electronic music, it is too easy to make things sound clean, modern, and perfectly tuned. So we try our best to make the sound raw, to add character to it, because this way we give it a sense of time and space."}}
+'''Towards the Past'''
+Return to the past, to moments in life that most of us see (for better or worse) as a happy time, full of hopes for the future, certainties, and the mysterious simplicity of things. Childhood is one of the space/time environments (to use [[Marcus]]' term) that [[Boards Of Canada]] prefer. It is a vision that simultaneously speaks of the "child" capable of marveling at the discoveries of everything around him, but also of the fascination for the unknown that generates uncertainty, fear, and loss of consciousness. It is the same contradiction as a child's song: it can be the sweetest melody, but also the most dark and distressing sound one can hear.
+{{boc|We have been listening to music since we were children, even through TV, so very often what we do now reflects a taste typical of mid-70s TV and pop culture. It has always been a characteristic of [[Boards Of Canada]] to refer to the style of the 70s and 80s because it is an endless source of inspiration for us. In those years, we both moved from place to place. This means we soaked up many different music and visual materials that we still reference.}}
+'''Natural Psychedelia'''
+For the two [[Boards Of Canada]], who have played with music since they were kids, evoking the past matches with an enchanted and fearful gaze at things. In ''[[Geogaddi]]'' all this becomes a kaleidoscopic image. After all, the kaleidoscope (from which the cover images and recent gadgets come) is a perfect metaphor for touching on some of the meanings of their music. The kaleidoscope transforms what we see into something wonderful, infinite, indistinguishable, perpetual. At the same time, the world seen through a kaleidoscope is transformed, becomes unrecognizable, assumes new relationships, gives vertigo, and disorientation. And above all, reveals unexpected analogies between things. This is the game of images that slice, break, and destroy but remain together, bound by a strong geometric connection. It is no coincidence that one of the tracks on ''[[Geogaddi]]'' is titled "[[Music Is Math]]" and another "[[The Devil Is In The Details]]". On this subject:
+{{boc| "[[The Devil Is In The Details]]" has a double meaning. On one hand, there are many dark influences running through the music; on the other, it's an ironic statement, a bit like saying that the more you obsess over finding details in music, the more you lose the music itself... you can't see the wood for the trees.}}
+The dark veins of music [[Mike]] refers to are that continuous ambiguity of sounds, often seemingly sweet but full of facets.
+'''The Video'''
+Worn soundtracks and the raw quality of 16mm films. These things remind me of times when TV and cinema seemed obsessed with science and science fiction, a kind of dark influence that generated paranoia and underlying fears, like in the Cold War. I even think of educational documentaries.
+The name [[Boards Of Canada]] comes from a series of nature documentaries from the 70s, specifically named [[wikipedia:The National Film Board of Canada|The National Film Board of Canada]]. These types of documentaries depict a continuously changing nature that fascinates but is ultimately frightening because it is bigger than us, because we know we belong to it even in its cycles of evolution. Additionally, the view of reality through the cathode tube is enriched with further paranoia (have you ever seen [https://mucciaccia.com/en/cristiano-pintaldi/ Cristiano Pintaldi]'s works on this topic?).
+{{boc|"The pixel in videos, those that filter images on TV, has the same effect as certain types of grain on a film's frame, giving the images a life to live and imagine... We ourselves don't have a live performance as a band but a predominantly visual live show, in which we project our videos with music. This gives another dimension to our project. And every time we do it differently, to always keep it surprising."}}
 </onlyinclude>