Music: Style, System and Process
CASSIEL projects are almost all associated with dance performances, and this influences the structure of the music, the manipulation of sound and the approach to composition.
Our style is probably grounded in the 1970's Berlin Scene, but leaning towards an aesthetic of sparseness and minimalism, prompted partly by pragmatic issues associated with live work. But the creative impetus comes from dance and performance, which provides a rich source of imagery and inspiration, in no small part because dance projects are artistic collaborations, yielding a cross-fertilisation of creative disciplines.

Modern electronic instruments and recording technology tend to impose a linear compositional and performance style, and reinforce the association of synthesisers with conventional keyboards. We have been moving against this market-driven trend, and developing software-based techniques for orchestrating and performing synthesised music in an organic, interactive manner.

Those interested in the construction of the scores should refer to the pages devoted to process, which also introduce the software components. Those interested in the music itself could always buy the album.

We have some editorial articles online; these should help give some feel for our aesthetic and notions of process.

For those interested in the product technology (hardware and software), the gear-head pages carry more than enough detail.


CASSIEL > Music: Style, System and Process last modified by nick@cassiel.com at 10:14am, Wed 9 Aug 2000