Tom Ellard: "Random Does Not Mean Shuffle, it's Infinity."
Slide show and text of a presentation given by Tom Ellard on the occasion of the thirtieth anniversary of Severed Heads.
We’ve had 40 years of post everything. Stop with the passive language. Stop analysing. Publish and be damned. Progress is pornographic, but that’s not a bad thing.
Music is not research, it’s not measured in milligrams. I don’t want to told how many speakers you used, whether it was MaxMSP, whether you used a Wiimote. It’s not to be metricised. To hell with funding as the score and festivals as the new concept album. We need people to make music that’s intangible, loud, tiny, ridiculous and in every way metaphysical. Music that’s brave and foolish.
Stop seeking approval from the past, seek community, seek experience, seek humour. But the whole ‘golden age / end times’ argument has got to go. It belongs in the 1800′s.
I am not afraid of pop music, of pubs, of top 40. I make things. I make chairs, I make myself useful. Milton Babbit asked Who Cares If You Listen? I do.
Reclaim randomness. Randomness is an energy source, infinite opportunity. It is not shuffle, it’s not a nihilistic everything is the same as everything else. Difference is an energy that can lead us onward.
