KWA

Like the brave Dadaists of yesteryear, KWA sculpts and experiments with modern media to express his artistic and political philosophies. In fact, KWA’s commonality with Dada is, art as a kind of anti-art. In more words, a defiant affirmation of originality often posed as a question, in so being that the artistic tools used for creation are traditional, but the context in which the work is placed gives the idea of the art in question a new and sometimes unique meaning. In this way, the art of KWA resembles the visual work of Marcel Duchamp and Andy Warhol. In the case of Duchamp, works were created with found objects like a urinal or bicycle wheel. Likewise, KWA employs the mediums of modern media to communicate his critiques of certain media and philosophies. Both in his samples of orations by speakers and the ambient soundscapes that were created with everyday vehicles of transmission i.e. frequencies used in satellite, radio, and television communications. In the case of Warhol, the means and idea of the artwork are the art, not the work itself. In the way that Warhol evoked the commodification of art by commodifying his art, KWA communicates his work through the same vessels that the propagandists he opposes are communicated through i.e. the internet, CDs, Mp3s, speakers, stereos. All this of course, lends itself to be simultaneously analyzed, experienced, and judged by the listener in which the work is presented.

“Neurillogikal” serves as a general introduction to what the next 55 minutes will sonically contain. Droning low frequencies mixed with higher band sounds that swirl and oscillate within the stereo spectrum. The combined effect is like that of a Rothko painting, where shapes and colors, blend and fade into a cohesive and unified whole. Here, the blurry drone rotates, while crisp higher pitched sounds move in outer revolutions about a listener’s center. This track is a sound collage that has a sinister yet meditative effect, that perhaps alludes to the passivity needed on the part of the television viewer to effectively be communicated to. As a title, “Neurillogikal” is a curious portmanteau that implies divergent meanings within itself; neuro, as in relation to the brain, logic, illogic, illness, and a protrusive “k” used in the same hardline Germanic way that Kafka applied it.

As “Neurillogikal” tempers the listener’s senses, “AldouHux” rides within the same auditory channels as its predecessor, albeit with some added samples of humans speaking. In fact, the two pieces work in the same fashion that the latter’s namesake wrote of in Brave New World. Recall that, Aldous Huxley portrayed a utopian society that existed in passive happiness. The indoctrinated (Huxley termed it, hypnopaedically conditioned) population sought the dumbed-down passivity required to live, because life without passivity was no life to live. This, and Walter Lippmann’s phrase, “the manufacture of consent” come to mind when listening to this piece.

On “The 300”, KWA expounds on the notions of world government and generalized paranoia. This track is also an example of the way in which KWA evokes his message. Judiciously, as a cooperation between himself and the sampled speakers featured on the CD. KWA provides the backdrop and mood, and the speakers provide the content. He nobly credits all of them in the liner notes with additional sources cited for more information. The intended cumulative effect is to better communicate the topics in the sampled oratories with the aid of audio scores, in the same fashion that movie soundtracks enhance emotional responses from an audience.

By the time the listener finds their way to the beginning of the last track, “Venetian Casino”, they will have a general idea as to what they’ll experience. The track is essentially a continuation of the previous two. A sampled speaker talks of discontenting situations that are interposed and supported with musical renderings. “Venetian Casino” is the point in which the art either sells itself, or fails completely. If the audience is open minded to the kind of artistic expression KWA practices, then the polarizing nature of the work will either inspire or annoy. This is the bottom line when any kind of experimental art is put forth to be experienced.

KWA makes music in a world that will not recognize it as that. However, the discerning audience member and possible fan will understand that such an indictment of music is ridiculous, and hitherto realize the constrained notions of what music is. With all the sounds available to humanity, only a few small specialized groups of timbres are used to make, and in turn, experience musical expression. A shame for sure, but artists like KWA will always exist beyond the outskirts of orthodoxy, offering a welcome alternative to the accepted paradigms of thought and expression. This is music that will have to be doggedly pursued by avid connoisseurs of experimentation and will only succeed if the listener wants it to.