Anton Nikkilä (FI): Electromechanical Sound Project

For Nikkilä industrial sounds are an endless source of inspiration, a a deus ex machina in those moments when ossified forms of traditional man-made music seem to be capable of nothing more than self-replication. Technology is our second nature and it’s not hard to see the nearly religious, metaphysical emotions aroused by it. The awe caused by new technological gadgets and the deep respect for them are their most common forms, but due to their uncommodifiability many others are seldom discussed, like hearing otherworldly voices in the middle of radiowave noise or experiencing heavy traffic as music.

In addition to this superstructure it’s crucial to see the base structure – that computers are miniature factories and that the internet, for example, is a “workers’ club” for the global class of micro-serfs. Laptop music can, and often does, “explore the medium itself”, sing about itself and its technology, but it could also act as an electrical scheme, where the abstract, transcendent superstructure and the level of material conditions are interconnected.