GROOVIING TO ALGO‘‘ RHYTHMS’’
A community of artists uses algorithms to make music that’s generated in real- time through live coding
You’re in a dimly lit room pulsating with beats. Bands of coloured light emanate from black light bracelets while a flurry of neon visuals fly across a huge screen. But what’s interesting about the screen is that it is peppered with an intriguing mix of text and numbers – computer codes – that’s instrumental in creating the music and visuals filling the room. The musician standing bent over a laptop is typing in code and continuously tweaks it to generate music and visuals based on the mood, energy level and ‘ vibe’ of the audience.
This is what an algorave, or an ‘ algorithmic rave ( party)’ feels like. It’s an event where music is generated in real- time through live coding. British musician Alex McLean, one of the first and most influential musicians in the space, coined the term in 2012 and also birthed TidalCycles, the program several live coders use to make music. Since then, the algorave movement has generated interest and a niche, and has a passionate following in the underground music scene, especially in the UK. The format is now making inroads into India as well, and yesterday’s two- hour long algorave performance at the Kala Ghoda, where about eight algorave artists live- coded music and invited the audiences to tweak their codes through phone apps, was a proof of the movement’s advancement into the country.
But, if you’re still wondering about the fuss around algorave music, your bewilderment is justified. After all, hasn’t electronic music, which is an important component of Hip Hop, Trance and several other genres of music, been around for ages? But Abhinay Khoparzi, one of the brains behind Algorave India, a collective of algoravers and the Indian counterpart of the global algorave movement, explains how the aspect of live coding, which is integral to algorave music, makes the genre stand apart. “Most electronic music is made by machines, and those machines run on an algorithm. However, what performers at algoraves do is open the hood of that machine and show the audience how things are being manipulated. The algorave movement majorly focuses on showing people exactly what we are doing. Everything we do on our screen can be seen by the audience,” he says. The musician goes on to point out how this transparency in the creation process encourages audiences to connect with the performer and his music, thereby adding a ‘ human’ component to electronically generated music. And this is possible even if one isn’t familiar with the grammar and syntax of programming languages, because, since the lines of code are projected and executed in real- time, one can easily spot the tweaks being made and sense the corresponding alterations in the sound and visuals. And this focus on human connection and interaction is at the heart of the algorave movement. That is why algorave artists have no qualms about their codes being copied. In fact, they encourage viewers to pull codes from their performances, experiment with
It is the aspect of live coding, which is integral to algorave music, that makes the genre stand apart
them and create music that speaks to the individual. Thirtytwo old Akash Sharma, the founder of Sound Codes, a lab that makes algorithms that create and manipulate sound and also captures sonic data, talks about how algorave programs, including his work, are mostly open- source, and therefore easily accessible to anyone. “The ‘ opensource’ philosophy is crucial to the algorave movement; it’s about sharing knowledge and information. If you don’t share knowledge, the community will die and so our motto is ‘ share what you know and through this, you know more’,” he says. This philosophy also contributes to the anti- commercial spirit of the movement, where the focus lies
on building a community rather than profits.
Another aspect of algorave music is that artists in the space adore is the improvisational capabilities it affords. Unlike pre- composed, recorded electronic beats, algorave music is created in real- time and this allows the artist to improvise freely and often, just by tweaking algorithms.
Algoraves are social events centered around performers/ artists who use various creative coding technologies to create music and visuals. The standard practice around algoraves around the world is to have the artist present their programming code in full view of the audience, while it is manipulated live to produce an artistic result. — DHANYA PILO, ALGORAVE INDIA