variousing

Personally, I'd like to figure some kind of identity for our little combo - however initial, rudimentary -by discussing what we all want from it; see if it has cohesion and sounds like a goer, fun. I think if we just leave it to the 'turn up, plug in, see what happens' thing, we'll fall on fairly predictable improv ground. It is, I feel, capable of being more than that. How's that sound to you? I'm still vague on who's involved, too; so it's hard for me to get a shape for the thing. From my perspective, I know enough about you and about * to want to try to work with the two of you - loosely in one sense, as we all have busy lives and commitments elsewhere, but with enough drive and input to make the thing into a thing; not just an affiliation, like, I assume, * is. * already provides that open-ended collective thing, and there's no point duplicating it, I feel. Call it * - though I'm not bothered what it gets called! I see it as however many individual artists/musicians - all of whom have identities and developed practises - using their work as their work but in collaboration under one banner. Thus, * is still * / * / * et al - like, in Fluxus, Joseph Beuys was still Joseph Beuys. It was, though, nonetheless Fluxus - a Fluxus event, whatever - and added to that pile, as well as the Beuys pile. In the same way, I intend to add to my own work, on the one hand, and to add to * the art-group, on the other - at the same time. There's strength in this idea, I believe. It allows participants to work on their own stuff as they wish. There's no need to get into an either/or situation: * offers/uses what is suitable from his work; you do the same - still playing drums etc. with * and with *; I do the same, working on my stuff. . No conflict. We agree to come together and offer a collaborative entity pooled from our individual efforts. The glue holding this together, as ever, is whether we all click - artistically, socially. Again personally, I feel encouraged by what I've seen in this way with yourself and with *. We have a strong art thing between us all; and, crucially, we all have energy, and are not seemingly jaded, middle-aged, and wanting the spurious warmth of the mainstream! Good! * has experience of agit prop strategies; and he's strong on ideas. I like his dedication and seriousness. Art's important to him. That all chimes with my own feelings. It bodes well, in my opinion - certainly worth discussing. I'm up for it, and hope you are, too.***************************There it is, mate! No point being shy! I want to get something going, and I like the idea of your staunch, intelligent minimalism, if you will, combined with * edgey percussion/circuit-bending, and my, say, surrealist takes and approach to playing. One snapshot might be: your laptronics - there, with its own identity; * and I offering seismic industrial stabs of synchopation, then breaking off into our own minimalistic flights. As I said to you, I have in mind something seemingly small, seemingly motionless, but - on a micro-level and episodically - something frenetic, frantic even, with other episodes where a kind of Hammer Horror invades - a feeling of menace, harmonic complexity; all in a decidedly non-rock manner. Morton Feldman / Rat Scabies / Derek Bailey! - if you get my references...! It could be original; the collision, if you like, being a major, defining factor in being so, too.******************