The Domestic Front (musician)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| The Domestic Front | |
|---|---|
| Origin | Chicago |
| Genre(s) | Experimental music, Electronic |
| Years active | 2000-present |
| Label(s) | Belsona Strategic, TIBprod., others |
| Website | official website |
The Domestic Front is a nomadic sound art project centering around Thomas Transparent (né Bailey, 1977-present). Transparent has lived and worked in the U.S. (primarily Chicago), Central Europe, and Japan, being an active participant in these cities’ respective sound art communities.
[edit] History
The Domestic Front began performing and recording in Japan in 2000, following stylistic breaks with no wave and abstract techno music. The “saturation society” of Japan radically altered Transaprent's perceptions towards sound- he claims to be very contrarian in nature, and as such instantly dispensed with beat-driven forms of music, relying more on layered drones, abrupt electro-shocks and recordings of natural phenomena –albeit heavily mutated by numerous sound design tools- to create an immersive environment intended for synaesthetic experiences. Some influences include Peter Rehberg, Merzbow, Vladimir Ussachevsky, and The Hafler Trio.
The Domestic Front’s output is divided between hallucinogenic soundscapes and sound installations / recordings which investigate a certain isolated phenomenon: for example, The Domestic Front may be the first recording artist to compose an album completely of manipulated asthmatic breathing sounds. Another example of the latter method was a contribution to the Swedish sound art exhibit Parasomnia, in which sounds of Transparent’s sleep-talking formed the basis for an hour-long performance. Yet another recent release, ‘Datenschutz’, uses the sounds of raw data, as scanned by sound editing software, in a meditation on privacy in the internet age.
Despite a busy past few years of activity, financial constraints and dealings with a corrupt Chicago employer forced the large back-catalog of Domestic Front material to be released only on CD-R, virtual / downloadable albums or compilations; but a proper ‘debut’ CD was released in May of 2006 under the title “Having Achieved Balance, You Cannot Be Moved Sideways…So You Rise”. This is available from Transparent’s own ‘micro-label’, Belsona (meaning ‘beautiful sound’ in Esperanto.)
The project is mostly apolitical in nature, encouraging the widespread use of raw sound as a kind of life-sustaining nourishment- but often the work of The Domestic Front questions the notions of anthropocentrism and unchecked human progress, and is influenced in this regard by thinkers as diverse as Chuang Tzu and John Gray (LSE). Life and history are seen by these thinkers as cyclical in nature, rather than headed towards an absolute end-point, as suggested by monotheistic religions and utopian thinkers.
The project is also critical of consumerism and celebrity- one live radio piece in Chicago was ‘dedicated’ to famed celebutante Paris Hilton, and featured a scathing telephone ‘voicemail message’ to Miss Hilton from Swedish sound artist Leif Elggren (Elggren is also one of the kings of the borderless state of Elgaland-Vargaland, of which Transparent is a passport-carrying citizen.)
[edit] Future projects
The Domestic Front, on the strength of ambitious networking and the aforementioned world travel, has earned the support of several like-minded collaborators. Collaborative audio works for 2007 include a split 12" record with prolific Norwegian noise artist Lasse Marhaug, manipulations of sound poetry by Japanese author Kenji Shiratori, a split CD with Osaka computer musician Kazuya Ishigami and a re-built version of the Elggren 'voicemail' piece, to be included on a record with Stilluppsteypa of Iceland. Some more mischievous planned projects include a coloring book centering around extreme music, and a CD-R which will completely bypass traditional modes of distribution, and be distributed only on commuter and subway trains throughout various cities in the world.
