Webspinna Battle

This was honestly the most enjoyable project I have done in this class up to date. Not only did it involve aspects of sound design that interest me, but it also introduced an element of live performance that was invigorating and also strengthening. By embracing this aspect of the life performance, my partner Max and I were able to create a work of art that was way better than what could have just been pre-recorded and turned in.

This project also opened a lot of conceptual windows for me as an artist. I really enjoyed Lethem’s ‘Ecstasy of Influence’ and the perspective he took on art. I have been so afraid of copying what other artists create in an effort to not plagiarize, that I have made myself unaware of the value of remixes, not to mention the fact that by the nature of the time I am living in, almost everything I make will be some sort of a remix. The realization that I came to through Lethem’s article is that there is a beauty in poaching. Before, I had always viewed it as a less refined art, but now I think it is beautiful and in a way almost more redeemable, that you can take things that already exist and place them in a new light to give them new meaning.

As Max and I looked more into musical themes that would inform our remix of disco and rock, I also became increasingly impressed with musical remixes. Fantastic groups like ‘The Avalanches’ and ‘Beck’ sample all the time, and when they do, we just accept it as music, and don’t complain. Not to mention fantastic mash ups like ‘Jaydiohead’, another Jay-Z mash up, but this time with Radiohead songs. The combination of tones and lyrics is fantastic! These groups have become a staple in my listening, and I love the idea of making unity out of things that originally are not harmonious.

Max and I really embraced the idea of live performance which was also key in the Webspinna Battle. We put in a good deal of time before the performance, creating a balance between songs and statements from movie and instructional videos. We used the words to act as transitions from one song to another, and as the performance goes on, the line between the two becomes much more blurred, eventually ending in a total mash-up between rock and disco. Once we had this basic skeleton established, we started brainstorming about what we would do to bring the performance to life. Costumes played a big role, and I felt that we were able to make ourselves visually interesting but not distracting. Our ‘battle moves’ were also fun to choreograph, and as I studied famous rockstar moves and Max studied disco dance moves, we were able to pull some fun stuff together, most noticeably the guitar smash. I was really happy with how the final performance turned out. Most exciting, is that I could see the art form continuing in my future, and I have a vision of kids coming together in back alleys and empty basketball courts to audio battle and spread remix across the world. It’s a medium I would love to explore more.