#Comatonse

[candont]

I've never been quite the same @keemeekaal

[logync]

Mensch Machine

from Die Roboter Rubato: Piano interpretations of Kraftwerk titles by Terre Thaemlitz

[filth-thezine]

Terre Thaemlitz - She's Hard (2007 Archive Of Silence Mix)

When was the last time you talked about AIDS in space?

[gender-space]

"[Music's] order simulates the social order, and its dissonances express marginalities." -Jacques Attali, Noise: A Political Economy of Music "While the development of Queer-positive imagery and graphics exploded with AIDS activism in the 1980's, sonically we have little more than, 'Hey-hey, ho-ho, Homophobia's got to go!'" -Dont Rhine, Ultra-red It has been suggested by myself and others that certain subgenres of what has come to be known as Contemporary Ambient music propose a complication of cultural processes by subverting the spectacle of melody and questioning the social functions of active and passive listening techniques. Similarly, while the genre remains dominated by male producers and cannot claim to transcend the conventional heterosexism and gender biases of the electronic music industry, it incorporates discourses which involve the active disclosure, inversion and convolution of sonic and experiential relationships. The result is a vehicle of layered contents and contradictions that extend to the very manner in which it allows for the generation of multiple political discourses while most forums for reception are despairingly a-political and Humanist in tone (an often frustrating passive-aggressive circumstance). To exemplify this concept of contingency upon the contradictory, the sounds developed for Couture Cosmetique emphasize residual noises produced by some of today's more popular digital synthesis techniques - including granular synthesis, pitch/time convolution and heterodyn filter analysis - bringing into focus those sounds which currently exist in a repressed state at the periphery of popular contemporary music production. In this manner, the limitations of such audio technologies are used to intimate new functionalities which remain excluded or omitted from popular development - a metaphor which may be applied to the construction and utilization of post-Industrial technologies in general. [....] I have found that this methodological framework for constructing audio has many similarities with non-essentialist factions of transgenderism [from gender confusion to Drag Kings and Queens] which also seek to complicate social processes. Transgenderism does this by actively questioning constructions of gender and sexuality, while its exploitation of essentialist constructs of femininity and masculinity reference social contextuality. It is this referentiality which I feel makes non-essentialist transgenderism a more viable platform for gender analysis than methodologies which propose a transcendental breach from those cultural influences they critique. However, as with a-politicism within the Contemporary Ambient genre, transgenderism's ability to develop such analyses is largely overwritten by larger factions and popular discourses which embrace essentialist concepts of sexual and gender identities. (released July 1, 1997) Originally released under license from Comatonse Recordings in 1997 as a CD (US: Caipirinha Productions, 1997) CAI-2002-2; and (Japan: Daisyworld Records, 1997) SYDW-0005D. Contracts have since expired and all rights reverted. Recorded at Meow, New York. Produced, mixed and arranged by T. Thaemlitz (BMI). Design by Terre. all rights reserved Footnote1 …Keep in mind that this text was the liner notes to a commercially distributed album in a genre typically represented by cheap 3D computer graphics, holograms and P. L. U. R. (Peace, Love, Unity, Respect) spiritual jargon. So, on the one hand, the heavy-handed pseudo-academic flavor of this text was a reaction against the shallowness of the commercial audio marketplace. On the other hand, this injection of thematic content into a commercial CD was also a rejection of the notion that academia was the sole site of production for critical minded or “culturally important” computer music.…

https://comatonse.bandcamp.com/album/couture-cosmetique-transgendered-electroacoustique-sympotomatic-of-the-need-for-a-cultural-makeover-or-whats-behind-all-that-foundation

[inframince-inc]

Lovebomb / Ai No Bakudan _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

"......Events such as the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in New York, Washington D.C. and (lest we've already forgotten) Pennsylvania seem to divide the music industry into two groups. Most people claim we need music and entertainment now more than ever to bring people love and joy. But to others, including myself, such events seem to point out how unimportant and irrelevant so much music and entertainment is. Worse yet, in a wake of patriotic pandering, they show how many people fail to see the dangers of nationalist profiteering.......'

- Terre Thaemlitz

_ _ _ _ _

「......２００１年９月１１日にニューヨーク、ワシントンD.C.、そして（既に記憶の彼方に埋没している）ペンシルバニアで起きたテロリストによる襲撃事件のような出来事は音楽業界を２つに分割するようだ。ほとんどの人々は、愛と喜びを呼び戻すために前以上に音楽や娯楽が必要だと主張する。しかし、私を含むその他の人々は、音楽と娯楽の大部分が取るに足らない筋違いのものだということを、こういった出来事が指摘すると主張する。更には、愛国心いっぱいの仲介を行なっている間、どれだけ多くの人が愛国主義者だけが暴利を貪る危険性を見誤っているのかを明らかにするのだ。......」

テーリ・テムリッツ

[nacrre]

Promotional poster for Deeperama by DJ Sprinkles & Mitsuki, art by yusuke_f

https://www.instagram.com/yusuke_f/

http://www.comatonse.com/

http://www.mole-music.com/

[2257ad]

[posi-pan]

30 pansexual quotes for 30 days of pride

1970s

“With an open-ended attitude of genuinely caring for each other but I-don’t-care-what-you-call-me, polymorphous perverse, anything-that-feels-good-goes pansexuality.” —Ramparts, 1973

“I actually prefer the concept of pansexuality. The prefix ‘pan’ means that you're open to all kinds of sexual experiences, with all kinds of people. It means an end to restrictions, it means you could relate sexually to any human being, it means an end to unreal limits.” —SPEC Magazine, 1974

“Whether you call a person who is able to have sex with a male or female bisexual, AC-DC, switch-hitter, ambisexual, pansexual, omnisexual, or, in Freud’s words, a ‘polymorphous perverse,’ his or her sexual persuasion is certainly nothing new.” —New York Magazine, 1974

“David Bowie and other painted persons are happy to be asexual, bisexual, polysexual, pansexual, whatever works.” —Stereo Review, 1974

“If I must have a label call me pansexual, ambisexual, antisexual, androgynous, neutral, undecided...just don't make me into something I’m not!” —View from Another Closet, 1976

“Others did consider and still consider themselves bisexual. Here are some stories of bisexual or pansexual women.” —The Gay Report, 1979

1980s

“Kinsey supported an ideology that might be called pansexuality; ‘anything goes’ that provides excitement and pleasure.” —Fidelity, 1988

“A number of self-defined ‘pansexual’ were sitting there.” —Bi Women Quarterly, 1989

1990s

“Alternative lifestyles are also almost nonexistent in sci-fi. I do not speak only of homosexuality. I speak of pansexuality, polyfidelity, bisexuality, and even asexuality.” —Anything That Moves, 1992

“Pansexual could convey the unfortunate impression that we are obsessed with sex or that we sleep with anything that moves, but should be understood to mean that we open ourselves up to all sexual possibilities.” —Closer to Home, 1992

“I guess I think of bisexuality, omnisexuality, pansexuality as being more ‘anarchist’ that strict homosexuality or heterosexuality.” —A Bisexual Feminist Perspective, 1993

“I’m personally happy I’m bisexual/pansexual because I don’t like to discriminate on the basis of gender.” —Reactionary Queers? Queers React, 1993

“My approach to the presence of all women in the trades, whether they be lesbian, bi-sexual, transexual, straight, asexual or pansexual is simple: WE’RE HERE! WE’RE THERE! WE’RE EVERYWHERE! GET USED TO IT!” —Tradeswomen Magazine, 1994

“I am a femme to my genderfucked butch girlfriend. I am pansexual. I can relate to both the masculine and feminine.” —Sinister Wisdom, 1994

“Broughton describes himself as a pansexual androgyne, not a bisexual nor a homosexual nor a heterosexual.” —Gay & Lesbian Literature, 1994

“For some, ‘queer’ encompasses this broader vision, but others prefer newer labels with less baggage, such as pansexual, polysexual, or omnisexual.” —Anarchy: A Journal of Desire Armed, 1994

“Actual self-identification of the women I interviewed included lesbian, bisexual, pansexual, dyke, and queer.” —Lavender, Lipstick, Labryses and Leather, 1994

“I do not directly address other sexual identities, such as pansexual or omnisexual, sadomasochistic, ‘self-sexual,’ or radically celibate.” —Dyke Ideas, 1994

“Bisexual, pansexual, omnisexual, multisexual, ‘just sexual,’ androgynous, genderfucked, bi-gendered, non-gendered, gender-indifferent, or ‘don’t label me’ human beings seeking to create communities with those with whom we find common cause, even (or maybe especially!) if our labels don’t happen to coincide.” —Bisexual Politics, 1995

“ATM is particularly interested in work by bi/pan/or-similar-sexuals.” —Anything That Moves, 1996

“Pansexual and transgendered communities who reject the Heterosexual/Homosexual paradigm in favor of a multiplicity of identities, and for whom concepts of identity are more openly related to the complication and/or subversion of cultural norms.” —Comatonse, 1997

“Bisexuals never shut up and went away. Omnisexuals and pansexuals began to dot the landscape.” —PoMoSexuals, 1997

“The term pansexual attractions is a liberating and newly coined reference to individuals who are primarily attracted to all individuals and all sexes.” —Transgender Care, 1997

“Express yourself: About your life as a lesbian, gay, two-spirited, bisexual, intersexed, transgendered, queer of color, queer with a disability, pansexual. The possibilities are infinite.” —The Emily, 1997

“What intrigues Haynes about the era is its full-out embracing of nonconformity, its willingness to be bisexual, pansexual, to shock with lipstick, eye shadow, or attitude.” —The Advocate, 1998

“What about bisexual-, omnisexual-, and pansexual-identified people?” —The Catalyst, 1999

“Regarding sexual identity, researchers can interview those identifying as bisexual, pansexual, asexual, and so forth.” —Journal of Women and Social Work, 1999

“Pansexual: having sexual desires, interests, and behavior with all genders, sexual orientations, and persuasions. Many people embrace this term in an attempt to broaden the categories of gay and straight, man and woman, S/M and vanilla.” —The Survivor's Guide to Sex, 1999

“The majority of us are not only bisexual or pansexual, but the majority of us change over time.” —Journal of Lesbian Studies, 1999

“Whether you call yourself bisexual, polysexual, multisexual, pansexual, me-sexual or refuse to be labeled altogether, if you are like me and find people attractive regardless of their sex or gender, then we need you.” —Anything That Moves, 1999

(twitter thread version of this post)

[theparanoid]

Terre Thaemlitz - Facilitator

Album: Couture Cosmetique (1997)

[Abstract, Experimental]

[ballroomhistory]

From this era of ball culture was birthed two important exposures for the community that made ballroom more well-known.

Paris is Burning directed by Jennie Livingston

One of the most seminal documentaries surrounding the New York ballroom culture in the 1980s was Paris is Burning, directed by Jennie Livingston and was voguing cultures’ breakthrough to the big screen. Titled Paris Is Burning after a ball staged by Paris Dupree and the House of Dupree in 1986, it started to win awards at film festivals of the time. The documentary was one of the first insights into black and Latino drag balls between the years of 1986 and 1989. It provided a mix of ballroom footage, everyday life of the certain members of the community and interviews with ballroom elders including Pepper LaBeija, Dorian Corey and Angie Xtravaganza. The film gave insight into the hopes of many transgender ballroom members of earning money, sex reassignment surgery and assimilating into the wider culture as well as showing the harsh realities of many house members. Venus Xtravaganza, a member of the House of Xtravaganza, describes her anticipation for sex reassignment surgery while working as a prostitute and that one day she might live as a ‘spoiled, rich, white girl living in the suburbs’. However, Venus was subsequently by the end of the film found murdered in a hotel room, strangled with her body left under a bed (Lawrence 2011).

Although the film certainly received praise, it also came with its fair share of criticism. Judith Butler, queer theorist, responded to the film by asking whether ‘the depicted drag queens undermine dominant values around gender and sexuality, showing them to be based on performance rather than some form of essential identity, or whether they effectively reinforce them by placing a high value on the lifestyle and material values of dominant white culture’ (Lawrence 2011). Butler argues that ‘Venus, and Paris Is Burning more generally, calls into question whether parodying the dominant norms is enough to displace them[..] When Venus speaks her desire to become a whole woman, to find a man and have a house in the suburbs with a washing machine, we may well question whether the denaturalisation of gender and sexuality that she performs, and performs well, culminates in a reworking of the normative framework of heterosexuality.’ (Butler 1993:125)

In other responses, critics like Bell Hook argued that Livingston’s power as a white, educated woman over the drag queens she was interviewing was the only reason that this film could be made and have to go to have success. Even saying that, ‘the whiteness celebrated in Paris is Burning is not just any old brand of whiteness, but rather that brutal imperial ruling-class capitalist patriarchal whiteness that presents itself—its way of life—as the only meaningful life there is’ (1992:149).

Vogue by Madonna

In 1990, popular singer Madonna released the single ‘Vogue’ which included many voguers from the New York ballroom scene of the time and became the best-selling single of 1990. The singer released a black and white video for the song that drew on art deco aesthetics and the Golden Age of Hollywood, and featured two Xtravaganza house members, Luis and José, voguing with the star in between shots of Madonna posing in the manner of some of the name-checked movie icons (Lawrence 2011).

Madonna arrived into the voguing scene in order to piece together a cast for the video. David DePino, a DJ for the balls of the time, recounts that ‘[Madonna’s team] set up a meeting with me and Madonna, who came to Tracks when the club was closed to meet and watch some voguers. I had a group of kids there to vogue for her, including some kids from other houses. She picked out who she liked for the video’ (Lawrence 2011). She frequently visited many of the clubs that held balls at the time and went on to hire José and Luis as backing dancers for her critically acclaimed ‘Blond Ambition’ tour; featured in Madonna’s behind-the-scenes documentary of the tour; and continued to take voguing around the world.

However, Lawrence notes that ‘although they reaped very different rewards, both Madonna and Livingston were accused of ransacking drag ball culture for their own ends, and for benefiting from their engagements with ball culture and voguing in a much more explicit way than the participants they maintained they had helped’ (2011). After the tour, Madonna didn’t return to the clubs that she had become frequent to. Terre Thaemlitz, who was part of the ball scene, explained the effect the single left on the community: ‘when Madonna came out with [‘Vogue’] you knew it was over. She had taken a very specifically queer, transgendered, Latino and African-American phenomenon and totally erased that context with her lyrics, [..] Madonna was taking in tons of money, while the Queen who actually taught her how to vogue sat before me in the club, strung out, depressed and broke’ (2008).

Queens who had also worked with Livingston also started to criticise Livingston after the release of the documentary. Pepper LaBeija saying that ‘when Jennie first came, we were at a ball, in our fantasy, and she threw papers at us[..] We didn’t read them, because we wanted the attention. We loved being filmed. Later, when she did the interviews, she gave us a couple hundred dollars. But she told us that when the film came out we would be all right. There would be more coming. [..] But then the film came out and—nothing. They all got rich, and we got nothing’ (Green 1993). LaBeija did later go on to praise the film, however, crediting it as her rise to fame.

Despite the criticism both medias received, they also received a lot of support and love from the community and are often considered seminal to the history of New York ballroom. 

Butler, Judith (1993) Gender is Burning: Questions of Appropriation and Subversion. In Bodies That Matter, ed. Judith Butler, London: Routledge, pp. 121 - 140.

Green, Jesse (1993) Paris Has Burned. New York Times. 

Hooks, Bell (1992) Is Paris Burning? In Black Looks: Race and Representation, ed. Bell Hooks, New York: Routledge, pp. 145-156.

Lawrence, Tim (2011). ‘Listen, and You Will Hear all the Houses that Walked There Before’: A History of Drag Balls, Houses and the Culture of Voguing. London: Soul Jazz.

Thaemlitz, Terre (2008) Ball’r (Madonna-Free Zone). Comatonse Recordings.

Photo 1: Unknown n.d. Photograph of Madonna, Willi Ninja and Jennie Livingston at a showing of Paris is Burning. Image courtesy of medium.com.

Photo 2: Livingston, Jennie (1986) Venus Xtravaganza, Brooklyn ball. Courtesy of Jennie Livingston.

Photo 3: Unknown n.d. Madonna performing on her ‘Blond Ambition’ tour. Image courtesy of GettyImages.

Photo 4: Still from Madonna’s music video of ‘Vogue’ including young voguers José Gutierez and Luis Xtravaganza. Can be found at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GuJQSAiODqI 

[deep-dive]

Terre Thaemlitz – Trucker

[one-track-daily]

SImon Fisher Turner Shishapangma (2015)

From the single: Shishapangma (Comatonse Recordings)

[water-shape]

Terre Thaemlitz - Untitled (AV/M 8)

[something-higher]

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A Parade, In The Place I Sit, The Floating World (& All Its Pleasures) by Loidis

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Rezzett LP by REZZETT

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O$VMV$M ‎– O$VMV$M (Idle Hands)

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Devotion by Tirzah featuring Coby Sey & Coby Sey

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2 Sim by Duval Timothy

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Limpid As The Solitudes by Felicia Atkinson / Jefre Cantu-Ledesma

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Tess Roby - Beacon (Italians Do It Better)

[djemerald]

〈ラジオアーカイヴ〉dublab.jp “In Every Second Dream” - テーマ：白（WHITE）ゲスト：Will Long

▶︎▶︎アーカイヴはこちら

2020年1月29日の放送は、毎回ひとつのテーマに沿ってお送りする、DJ Emeraldによる番組『In Every Second Dream』の第6回目。 今回のテーマは、『白（White）』。 DJ Emeraldによる「白」をモチーフにした選曲とエピソードに加え、2005年よりCeler名義でアンビエント・ミュージックの制作を行い、近年では、Terre Thaemlitzが主宰するレーベル《Comatonse》や、ノルウェーのインディー・ダンスレーベル《Smalltown Supersound》から楽��をリリースしているアメリカ出身、東京在住の音楽家・Will Longによる「白」をイメージしたDJ Mixをお届けしました。

dublab.jp Radio Collective #217 “In Every Second Dream" 日時：2020年1月29日（水曜日）20:30～22:30 labrat DJ : DJ Emerald Guest DJ : Will Long Design : Shinya Sato