Unsound Talks

This is the first in a talks series originally broadcast on dublab radio featuring conversations between contributors to the Unsound 'Intermission' book and album, created as part of the 2020 festival.
Here, Chris Watson and Jana Winderen – two of the world's best known field recordists – engage with writer, artist and curator Kristen Gallerneaux. 

The 'Intermission' album features tracks by Chris and Jana, whilst the book opens with an essay by Kristen. More info on the Unsound Bandcamp page and website:

https://unsoundfestival.bandcamp.com/
https://unsound.pl

Unsound Talk 08: Chris Watson, Jana Winderen, Kristen Gallerneaux

This second in a series originally broadcast on dublab radio featuring conversations between contributors to the Unsound 'Intermission' book and album, created as part of the 2020 festival.
Musicians Ben Frost and Tim Hecker speak with writer Andy Battaglia. The recording was made earlier this year.
The 'Intermission' album features tracks from Ben and Tim, while the book includes an essay by Andy. They discuss Ben and Tim's contributions to the album, impacts of Covid-19, performing, scoring for film and TV and more.
The following tracks also feature on the podcast:

Ben Frost, Trevor Tweeten & Richard Mosse - Fire Front near Humaitá 
Tim Hecker, Agata Harz & Katarzyna Smoluk - Demeter & Johannes' Song of Pandemia
Weavings - mixed by Nicolás Jaar, featuring Aho Ssan, Angel Bat Dawid, Dirar Kalash, Ellen Fullman, Księżyc, Laraaji, Nicolás Jaar, Paweł Szamburski, Resina, Rolando Hernandez and Wukir Suryadi 

More info on the Unsound Bandcamp page and website:

unsoundfestival.bandcamp.com/
unsound.pl

dublab.com

Unsound Talk 09: Andy Battaglia, Tim Hecker, Ben Frost

The future of sex as we know it is already here, lurking in VR pornography, hormone biohacking, teledildonics and other pleasure technologies. The ‘60s sexual revolution, while proving itself vital in addressing gender and sexual inequalities, has been televised, compromised and recaptured by the very system it tried to oppose. Patricia Reed from Laboria Cuboniks, co-author of the Xenofeminism Manifesto, and Lou Drago from the XenoEntities Network will give us a glimpse into a radical body politics for the future. 

This talk took place on 23th October 2017 and was moderated by Ewa Drygalska.

Unsound Talk 02: Xenofeminist Politics

Algorithms can compose music, write poetry and generate art. Artificial intelligence wins literature contests and has work exhibited in galleries, but experts contend we’ve only scratched the surface of what is possible. Aleksandra Przegalińska is an academic, working in the field of AI philosophy, affective data and machine learning. She explores the question of how AI can accelerate the human potential for producing art. In conversation with Ewa Drygalska.

Unsound Talk 01: Non-Human Aesthetics - Rethinking Creativity in the Age of AI

Emile Frankel appeared at Unsound 2018 ahead of the publication of Hearing The Cloud by Zero Books. In this talk, the causal nature of making music about the future becomes a platform to consider the act of composing, one note over another, as an act of resistance and an act of prophecy. In spite of narrowing images of tech-dystopias and flooded worlds, experimental sound and club culture attempts to open up spaces for alternate and vital imaginings. Play, honesty, and the maxim "this music changed me" were discussed in the world-building of former and current Unsound participants.

Unsound Talk 03: Hearing The Cloud

In 2016, Matmos performed “Perfect Lives”, the idiosyncratic opera for television that forged a big part of Robert Ashley’s reputation in the early 1980s. M.C. Schmidt, Drew Daniel and Max Eilbacher discuss their affinity for the composer, writer and multimedia artist as well as the process of reviving the piece in their own idiom. In conversation with Philip Sherburne. Matmos are coming back to Unsound this year to present their new album Plastic Anniversary.

Unsound Talk 04: Matmos on Robert Ashley

Cultural commentator and stylist Ayishat Akanbi presented a key talk at Unsound Krakow 2019, including ten practical steps to help navigate the linguistic landmine of social media. As Ayishat explained: “The digital discourse that shapes our cultural landscape is a hotbed of conflict, shaming, one-upmanship, and misunderstanding. It’s hard to be an avid online user, without becoming disillusioned by the eagerness to see the worst in people. But I do believe we can use the Internet to further our understanding, and create multiple avenues for empathy if we are disciplined in our use."

Unsound Talk 05: How To Respond Instead of React in the Digital Age

Our counterculture is deeply rooted in the status quo it proclaims to oppose. Concerns around inclusion, economics and “cancel culture” occupy our attention and fuel the compromises we make. Meanwhile, institutions co-opt once progressive concepts and our scenes may be dominated by brands, opaque funding models and celebrity culture. Through being open about the systems we are complicit in, this discussion explores what our communities stand to lose and how much more we have to gain. Moderated by Tayyab Amin, with Frankie Hutchinson of Discwoman, Mat Dryhurst, Teto Preto's Laura Diaz and DeForrest Brown Jr.

A transcript is available at @truants:
https://truantsblog.com/2020/unsound-2019-complicity-accountability-agency-counterculture/

Unsound Talk 06: Complicity and Accountability: Our Agency in Counterculture

In this talk recorded at Unsound 2019, New York writer and musician DeForrest Brown Jr. discusses the state of Black representation across the music industry, covering a general history of Black music (with a focus on techno) as it relates to the general development of on-the-ground music cultures. A book related to this talk will be published by DeForrest Brown Jr. with Primary Information later in 2020.

Here's a tracklist for the music running beneath the talk:
Urban Tribe - Social Theorist
Underground Resistance - Acid Africa (Roots Electric Mix)
Galaxy 2 Galaxy - The Theory (Mind Mix)
Underground Resistance - The Illuminator
Juan Atkins - Techno City
The Martian - Wardance
Drexciya - Aquatacizem
The Deacon - Multi-Dimensional Drama
Underground Resistance - Hunting the Program Director
Dark Energy - Black Strategy
Mad Mike - Hi-Tech Dreams

Unsound Talk 07: Assembling a Black Counter Culture

An amorphous global-minded festival and creative platform dealing with music, sound, words and related visual arts. Founded in Krakow in 2003, Unsound has taken place in 30 cities around the world.