For this season's theme of Minted Chaos, Refraction collaborated with Pure Rave on an audio experiment: inviting the extended Refraction community to dive into Abstract Turntablism and apply some of the derived techniques developed by the collective to create Chance Dance audio pieces in Pure Rave style.
Our goals were to open a creative dialogue around this sonic art form in an approachable and tangible way, to give the opportunity and provide the tools to explore, and, finally, to commit the results of these experiments onto the blockchain.
We partnered with Nina, as it seemed like the most aligned protocol to publish on, considering their fine curation of experimental-leaning sounds and artists.
A huge thank you to Pure Rave, the Nina team, and all participants: Big Lake Clyde, Church Shuttle, Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman, Friends Of Alan, gavcloud, Ost inato, PERLEX, rTchAd, Shadowsweat, split iris, The Sovereign Individuals.
- Pauline Le Mell, Refraction Music Curator
Can limitations open up infinitely? Can order produce chaos? These are some of the animating ideas behind Refraction's collaboration with Detroit's Pure Rave collective. Pure Rave are deeply invested in restructuring what we think of as the limitations and possibilities of creating dance music through the logic of the loop. Setting out a series of parameters and rules for how to create what they call Chance Dance—tracks built around "indeterminate loops"—we invited submissions from Refraction’s extended community to hear what it sounds like when they replicated some of these techniques.
Central to this project is a democratization of the principles of dance music. This is true both in terms of the technology used to create loops, whether that's a turntable, a smartphone, or just YouTube, as well as the resulting music, which sounds like dance tracks smashed apart and glued back together from memory. The results are uncanny reflections, mirroring conventional dance music while subverting its ideas at the same time.
Some of the tracks here used vinyl records with ceramic objects placed on them to induce skipping, or feature random YouTube videos synced up with iPhone microphones. Others were created with complex randomization processes applied to sequencers. Pulling recordings from sources as wide-ranging as drywall screws in a metal pipe and a Heidelberg offset printing press, "UV Reaper" is like listening to a breakbeat track from inside the middle of a tornado. "Chaos Garden Of The Crate," on the other hand, is a staggering downtempo serenade with seemingly random drum hits. Taken together, this collection provides a kaleidoscopic view of future forms of electronic music chaos.
Head over to Refraction’s Minted Chaos hub on Nina Protocol to purchase the tracks, or check the playlist at the end of the article.
How to purchase music on Nina?
Nina is built on the Solana blockchain and requires a Solana wallet to make a purchase. We recommend using Phantom Wallet. You can find step by step instructions on Phantom’s site.
In your Phantom wallet you can purchase SOL using a credit card by clicking on ‘Deposit’ and then ‘Buy with MoonPay’. You can also buy SOL on an exchange like FTX, Coinbase, Blockfolio, or Binance and send it to your Phantom wallet.
All releases on Nina are denominated in USDC which is a cryptocurrency pegged to the US dollar, so that 1 USDC always equals $1. Your transactions automatically swap SOL for USDC when you make a purchase. Make sure to keep some SOL in your wallet so that you can pay the network fees when buying releases or swapping between USDC and SOL.
Artist info and links:
Big Lake Clyde
TW: @clydemoop
IG: @clydemoop
https://clydemoop.bandcamp.com
https://soundcloud.com/clydemoop
Church Shuttle
IG: @quiltboy
https://churchshuttle.bandcamp.com
https://allgonelabel.bandcamp.com
Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman
Cleveland DJ\Synth enthusiast\\\Thursday Club\Dead Peasant Insurance\Hot Air Balloon Ride\Perfect World etc
TW: @Jimchickenshaq
http://drquinnmedicinewoman.bandcamp.com
Friends Of Alan
Friends Of Alan is an initiative of Alas DAO to promote the OpenGuitar ecosystem. Our creative credo is to integrate computers but do not depend on them.
Our artwork is published under the brand “Friends Of Alan”. We blend electronic music with guitar playing and include commercial off-the-shelf as well as obsolete, broken and SDIY instruments, circuit-bent toys and music hardware into our performance setup.
TW: @TorstenGoerke
https://friendsofalan.bandcamp.com
gavcloud
TW: @gavcloud
IG: @gavcloud
Ost inato
TW: @AlexDurlak
IG: @alexdurlak
https://hubs.ninaprotocol.com/perish
PERLEX
TW:@PERLEX_
IG: @gallons_
https://soundcloud.com/humanresourcesgroup
rTchAd
rTchAd is a project from Richard Strada focused on sonic and compositional experiences, sometimes danceable
TW: @rTchAd_
IG: @rtchadd
https://soundcloud.com/rtchadd
Shadowsweat
Shadowsweat is here to bend your Mind as well as your Body. Balancing on the barbed wire fence between Experimental, Dance, and Pop, his music plows through genres with wild abandon, combining textural sound design with an indomitable sense of groove. Tight percussion, riveting vocals, and throbbing bass all add up to a sound that is radical and unique without sacrificing accessibility.
TW: @shadowsweat
IG: @shadowsweat
https://tell.ie/shadowsweat/0oeODrvhcMwv
https://soundcloud.com/shadowsweatsounds
https://rhythmicity.bandcamp.com
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2d-ebpQGowKiSzUBS2qu8A
https://open.spotify.com/artist/7ucMxtpSonwDoR82JpNhS2?si=V3efnFdGR1CgnSz5hVjxhA
split iris
Melissa Aliz (b. 1993, Detroit, Michigan) is a performance artist and experimental composer working with sound, video, poetry, and movement. She grew up as a dancer and studied media, graphic printing sciences + textiles. Their work contends with dissonant and unsettling themes of devotion, tranquility, affliction, negligence, discomfort, body horror and is informed through chronic pain + disability.
IG: @_0093m
https://soundcloud.com/split-iris
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC46Jg4z_mXuBeSsAdHJLV1A
The Sovereign Individuals
TW: @rerum_
IG: @michaelpollard1
https://hubs.ninaprotocol.com/tsi
Listen on the Refraction Nina Hub
Refraction and The Department of Decentralization are presenting the art programming at this year’s ETHBerlin from May 24-26. The exhibition is curated through an Open Call. Interested artists can submit their artwork from April 10th to May 10th.
We asked Brazilian-American artist Rick Silva a few questions ahead of his Refraction artwork drop—a reflection on the solar eclipse. The work is available exclusively for Refract Pass holders and exhibited for the first time at our New York event at Public Records on April 4th.
