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When I first heard of The Creators Project, I was instantly hooked. The grey area between art and technology had always been an interest, and now that there was a collaborative between two fairly affluent companies (Intel and Vice), I was more fascinated than ever. You can imagine when I heard they were having a convention at DUMBO (Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass) in Brooklyn, just a short ride on the “A” train for me, I had to attend. The easiest part of going was the fact the tickets were 100%, no strings attached, free.
After I got the confirmation email that was I was in, I started reading up on what I would be seeing. Along with interactive art exhibits like “Soil” by the Brazilian natives Cantoni + Crescenti, there were a multitude of high-profile musical acts. Due to over-sleeping, I was only able to catch six of these acts: A$AP Rocky, Nic Thorburn (Lead singer of Islands and The Unicorns) DJ set, Yuksek, Atlas Sound, Company Flow, and, my highlight of the day, a Justice DJ set.
The set up was spread out, DUMBO is a couple blocks of the west Brooklyn area and the creators project utilized that. I felt like I was in a metropolitan version of a music festival, with buildings housing the venues and art projects instead of tents.
The Music
Since I wanted a prime position for Justice, I missed out on Florence + The Machine, but to try to sum up their set in a quote from an attending audience member:
“Although she looked slightly possessed, the set was true and spectacular”
Although Justice’s set got cut short while still in its early stages of blowing the audience’s minds, it was spectacular. First of all, their setup was four Pioneer CDJ’s with a mixer in between (using my basic knowledge from the Metrojolt Progression of DJ Technology article) and they tore the roof of with it. The were dropping beats left and right, but there were doing it consistently on the fourth beat of the last bar in a 16-bar phrase, a quarter note behind what most would consider ‘conventional.’ It worked. They had the crowd at their fingertips and they played with it. Gaspard Augé, one half of this electronic duo, would lean back and lift his palms slowly in the air during the build ups, hyping the fans up, then let his partner in crime, Xavier de Rosnay, engineer the drop while he threw his hands, and the house, down. Much to my surprise, they had no vocal samples like they do in their recorded songs, but it worked. They didn’t need them for the more-than-willing crowd. Augé and Rosnay killed their painfully short 30 minute set, which ended with Augé throwing his half-full bottle of Kettle One out to the audience. They spun all new tracks (soon to be hits when Audio, Video, Disco is released on the 24th of this month) and, for now, enjoy the “Civilization” music video.
Never seeing a video of Atlas Sound live, I imagined Bradford Cox’s (Deerhunter) solo project to be accompanied by a few other musicians on stage. I was both shocked and intrigued when Cox came on stage with him, his acoustic guitar, and a suitcase full of pedals. Cox didn’t need bass, drums, a rhythm guitar or back-up singers. Instead, he solo-engineered the best live looping performance I’ve ever seen. He would usually start with the rhythm guitar loop, then strum intricate patters and hit the guitar for the drums, then loop some ambient noises for the backing “vocals.” After that, he would head into the song with all the pain of the music shown on his face and play both the bass and lead parts on the guitar while he sang. What took his show to the next level was the switching, adding, and dropping the effects on the loops. Cox did it so seamlessly. It all seemed natural, like there weren’t any pedals underneath his feet, just his mind controlling and switching parts. Atlas Sound’s music isn’t necessarily danceable, but it definitely was impressive and beautiful.
When a group gains their popularity from the internet (blogs, newsletters, rap sites, etc.) they have to prove themselves live. The entire set A$AP Rocky, the moniker for Harlem-native Rakim (no last name given on his Facebook page), was just trying to prove himself. For example, him and his friends, the A$AP Mob, would end every song by saying “A-sap, A-sap, A-sap” eventually getting the audience to join with them. The set started with a kid behind a computer, no other DJ materials, playing a couple tracks without vocals. After about 10 minutes of that, the A$AP Mob came out, one at a time and rapped the same lyrics as the track that was playing. It was like bad karaoke and the distinct lack of bass didn’t help their already floundering set. They did have some crazy shenanigans, like passing blunts to the audience or attempting stage dives that only ended in them falling hard on the cobblestone ground, but even with their attempts to hype up the crowd, they were a joke and consequently my least favorite part of The Creators Project.
Company Flow, the multi-ethnic old school hip-hop/rap trio from Brooklyn, New York, was faced with the daunting task of playing immediately before Justice. Luckily for them, the audience was riddled with loyal fans (the show was in Brooklyn after all) a majority of who knew every word of every song they spun. Both of the rappers (El-P, Bigg Jus) had great flow but the most impressive part of this crew was their DJ, Mr. Len. First of all, he’s been doing this forever (since ’93) and second, he’s a master. He was at his CDJs all set long, effortlessly scratching, switching and producing the sounds his trio needed. The crowd was into it, they loved the antics that ranged from inviting friends from Brooklyn on stage to guest rap, to El-P picking up a mic stand he’d been dancing around with the whole set and hurling it towards the ground. They’re set wasn’t spectacular or awful, they just ended up being classified as the band that played before Justice.
Yuksek (moniker for the French DJ/producer Pierre Alexandre Busson) might have been my favorite performance the entire day due to the contrast of coming directly after the A$AP Mob. They had a chillwave, pop feel while maintaining an electro drive, like Chromeo but with fewer discernable lyrics. Aside from one small computer that Busson touched very rarely, the Yuksek crew, made up of an auxiliary drummer and synth player, used all analog materials. Yuksek proved why they were part The Creators Project in the first place in that single action, but their set showed why they were asked to play for its festival. There was so much passion and energy coursing through Busson and his band members, showing the audience their art was just as personal to them as it was relatable and enjoyable to the fans. Unfortunately for the audience, Yuksek started during twilight, so their light show only got really good right at the end of their set. Regardless, this French pop group set the bar high for the rest of the bands that night, and yes, they gave Justice a run for their money.
A Physical Manifestation of “Ladies and Gentleman, We Are Floating in Space”
Photo by James Medcraft
Notable art exhibits
Even though there was a guide, most people were wandering around, venturing into buildings unknowing of the art they contained. This was the case when I strolled into the 30 Washington Street building. On display was the interactive art piece “Soil” by Cantoni + Crescenti, two Brazilian artists. I was instantly struck by the shimmering light and in it, silhouetted figures dancing on the canvassed walls. Then, looking down, I saw the reflective panels, bolted together with hydraulics underneath where each panel met, giving them the ability to move up and down when the patrons stepped on them. To get a better understanding of Cantoni + Crescenti’s mind warping and soothing piece “Soil” visit their website here
When someone is truly struck by a piece of music (especially an artist) they can’t get their mind off it. They might even go as far as making an exhibit out of it. That was the relationship between Jonathan Glazer, the UK Filmmaker, and Spiritualized’s song “Ladies and Gentleman, We Are Floating in Space.” J. Spaceman, a member of Spiritualized, was the collaborator on this amazing project, the end goal of which, quoted from the video on The Creators Project website, was to “conjure a cathedral of light and sound.”
Walking in to the main showroom for this ‘gallery,’ all you hear (and feel) is the song, wafting through the air and vibrating under your feet. Then you turn the corner and five windows of light appear 20-30 feet above your head. There is no notion of where the light is coming from and many of the onlookers were lying on the ground. Naturally, I followed suit and was instantly consumed by the gentle beam that filled my eyes, accompanying the sound that was rising from the floor. These two British artist completed their mission and went beyond, embodying what The Creators Project was all about.
This is just a taste of how many amazing exhibits there were in Brooklyn this past Saturday. I suggest you check out The Creators Project website as they are continuously updating it with poignant art, music, and technology interviews of the most radical innovators in their respective fields.
Here’s my some of my favorite tracks from the artists that played this past Saturday (Purple Swag is just for context, not pleasure. Trust me)
End to End Burners – Company Flow
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