Son[i]a #273
Violence
Olin Caprison uses the Violence moniker in order to, as he puts it, “force conversations”. And despite his staging – a visceral assemblage of shades and nuances of darkness, understood from multiple perspectives – Caprison is not necessarily out to provoke. Rather, the idea is to explore the limits of the divergence between different sources, cultural references, music subgenres, and rhythmic structures, often linked to fully codified standard genres such as death metal and hip hop.
In his work, Violence takes and changes their essences and implications regarding aspects such as gender and what he calls “hypermasculinity”. A jigsaw puzzle and mix of references that does not only speak of violence but also, and above all, of certain monomyths of human behaviour.
We talk to Olin Caprison about limits, archetypes, connections, scenes, violence, rhythm, and freedom. Or what that catch-all word means beyond the clichés and neoliberal fantasies.
Aho Ssan
Aho Ssan is a French musician of Ivorian and Ghanaian descent who has been involved in graphic design and film works under his given name, Desiré Niamké. These practices, like his multiple identity, resonate in his music. In this podcast we talk to Aho Ssan about his grandfather’s lost trumpet and about an Ivory Coast jazz band that’s impossible to track down. Along the way, we share the cinematic tension of his debut LP Simulacrum and the various routes that led him there. Techno’s cultural appropriation, Black Bandcamp, and the glaring lack of representation of black artists in global electronica are part of the road he has travelled and the lessons learnt along the way.
Faka
Desire Marea and Fela Gucci talk about performing masculinity and self-policing, vulnerability, Siyakaka feminism, South African pop culture in the 90s, racialised queer bodies, music as a medium and dealing with contradictions.
DeForrest Brown, Jr. | Speaker Music
DeForrest Brown’s work includes music released under the moniker Speaker Music, but largely revolves around research and writing. He looks back at the complex roots of black American culture and at phenomena like techno, in order to expose this systematic obliteration. And above all, to draw attention to the neglected creativity of its pioneers and the rich sonic universe they created from the rubble of a crumbling Detroit. Against the tide of the prevailing narrative, Brown’s work seeks to contextualize these episodes by highlighting key economic and political factors of the time, intertwined with personal anecdotes and a sincere love for the music. We talk to Deforrest Brown about Detroit veterans, broken futures, Reaganomics, screams, government sanctioned murder, and Disco Demolition in the post-truth era.