V/A - Quantized Realities – Communication

A Closer Listen

This short follow-up to last year’s Quantized Realities – Technology continues to investigate the ways in which technology distorts human perception.  As Errorgrid leader Olivier Bernard Egli declares in the liner notes, human beings are exposed to “more data containing less meaning” than ever before, as “a lack of scrutiny” allows false narratives to proliferate.  Are the images we see “real” or altered?  Do the soundbites we hear come from the sources they claim?  If everything can be deep faked, can anything be trusted?

Collin Barr‘s “Psalm 9” refers to a prayer of bloodlust, thousands of years old, exposing the fact that humans have always demonized their enemies.  The stop-and-start introduction and dark industrial timbre make one think not only of war, but of the presentation of war: the dueling narratives that even the internet cannot untangle.  Thanks to bots and other technology, any truth can be called into question; an atrocity can be blamed on either side.

Industrial music has always had an ear to such topics, long before they entered the mainstream consciousness.  UXUI‘s dramatic “Delete Me” is a reminder of the damage that old files can do in the wrong hands, the inability to wipe anything completely off the internet, and the industry that has risen around attempts to purge information from the first page of Google.  The programmed percussion and synth frame it as a battle against seemingly unstoppable forces: patterns set in motion that take on lives of their own.  Even when a single pattern, like a single voice, finally emerges, it is drowned in the ensuing group response.

Christopher Lombardo‘s “Ascension” and Witch Eyes‘ “Souls” link the spiritual and robotic realms.  Is there a soul in the machine?  When will A.I.s achieve sentience?  In “Ascension,” the machine seems to be falling apart, rhythms splintering across the speakers into unrecognizable forms, while retaining tempo as an organizing principle.  “Souls” cements the association with filtered choirs, yet begs the question, “Are the choirs sampled or machine-made?”  If the machine has a soul, and produces its own religion, is it an imitation of humanity or an indication of truth?  Pontius Pilate’s question to Jesus, “What is truth?” becomes even more relevant.  The ground is shifting beneath us, while others are questioning the existence of ground.  (Richard Allen)