Cluster explores the new senses that cluster around musical currents of the past and present, their aesthetics and practices. Like the dissonant chord from which it takes its name, Cluster will highlight contrasts and chords in the relationship between sound and the communities built around it.
If the world of pop and the big majors daily demonstrates that they want to normalise the use of AI in mainstream productions – just think of the unreleased albums of defunct artists – the same cannot be said of EDM.
Techno and similar seem to resist the raging spread of the latest technologies, as if they wanted to preserve their human and ‘crafted’ side.
The experience of Algorythm must have aroused in the participants that uncanny feeling typical of the ‘uncanny valley’, where the almost perfect imitation of the human is disturbing.
It has to be said, however, that in other cultures the inclusion of robotic elements has never been a problem: the Japanese and Scandinavians have been dancing to the notes of vocaloids in total carefreeness for almost twenty years. For us, on the other hand, the subject is divisive: there are those who appreciate them, and those who see them as soulless. And what about EDM?
In an era when AI-generated contents are indistinguishable from human ones, no one would be surprised if a producer made use of samples produced by an algorithm and integrated them into his own productions. The technologies are already there, and samples can be created from textual prompts.
There is still not much discussion about it, but perhaps it is only a matter of time. Technological innovation first frightens, then seduces. The question now is: if AI enters EDM in the future, will it be able to maintain the emotional authenticity of techno and related?
Hatsune Miku – World is mine/ryo (supercell)
Atmospheric Dub Techno 2.0. An example of dub techno generated by Mubert, the same app used during the Algorythm party.
Pierluigi Fantozzi, 1995, is a musician. He graduated from the National Academy of Jazz in Siena and obtained his master’s degree at the Conservatory of Bologna. A clarinet player, he has played in jazz ensembles, but has cultivated an interest in electronic music, also collaborating with Tempo Reale. Since 2023, he has been part of the Controradio team, for which he has conducted interviews with important figures on the international music scene. As a radio speaker, he leads his own programme ‘Passabanda’.