I'd like to invite interested (and interesting) contributors for a new ongoing project I'm doing, to establish my ‘Fifteen Minutes of Anonymity’ as a small label / publisher of sonic arts and related ideas.
Something I often hear these days is that there is “nothing new” going on in the realm of the sonic arts. I disagree. This might be partially true when it comes to formal / technical aspects of this practice, but the fact is that an unprecedented number of people globally have access to the means for making distinct creations that can be filed under these contested categories like “experimental”, “avant-garde”, etc. Whether it is the hardware and software necessary to realize new audio works, or a support network of kindred spirits, I think it is hard to argue that there is not vast potential for new contexts and new vocabularies, which at the very least can reinvigorate into familiar forms. Let alone bring about things that are totally unexpected.
I’ve always identified the realm of the non-academic, autodidact sonic arts as one whose participants were more willing than the average person to seek out these aforementioned kindred spirits, in places far from our native geographic regions: this was not just for the cynical reasoning that we need “whatever audience we can find,” but because the expansion of our social sphere is complementary to the expansion of our art, and the variety of reactions within that sphere is essential to its further evolution / mutation.
With that in mind I’ve chosen a unique format - the humble postcard - as a vehicle for exclusive new sound works from individuals who are consistently strong exemplars of electronic music, acousmatic music, ‘non-conceptual’ sound (or maybe some combination of all these!) These will will feature exclusive visual artwork and will be combined with digital ‘albums’ of varying lengths.
Postcards, of course, have a rich history interwoven with the development of the sonic arts - from the Futurists’ “metal postcards” to the ways in which the “mail art” networks overlapped with the gradual emergence of self-released, handmade audio products. So this is a continuation of that “tradition”, in a sense, but also a way of providing fans and supporters with a tangible proof of their involvement in this scene. As we know, conventional playback formats are no longer needed to make audio works publicly available, but the demand for some sort of tactile point of reference seems to be a difficult thing for many to part with, and I’m not judgmental of people who require such a thing.
If you'd like to contribute, we'll need:
uncompressed (.aiff / .wav) audio files (it doesn't have to be a single piece) - a running time of around 20 minutes is ideal, but not mandatory. Shorter / longer durations are fine.
a 'front cover' artwork you'd like to use, in printable 300 dpi - or links to examples from an artist you'd like to work with (of course, please only use artwork that you have the rights or permission to reproduce).
brief artist biography (no more than 300 words) for reproduction on Bandcamp, Soundcloud and other related forums
inidication of collaboration status: would you like to work with me together on the audio portion, or 'solo'? Either way is welcome.
For submissions and for all other questions, please contact Thomas here.
Here also is a sample, the first entry in the series (page will be updated with images of the physical product when I have them).