An algorave (from an algorithm and

rave A rave (from the verb: '' to rave'') is a dance party at a warehouse, club, or other public or private venue, typically featuring performances by DJs playing electronic dance music. The style is most associated with the early 1990s dance mus ...

) is an event where people dance to music generated from algorithms, often using live coding techniques. Alex McLean of Slub and Nick Collins coined the word "algorave" in 2011, and the first event under such a name was organised in London, UK. It has since become a movement, with algoraves taking place around the world.

Description

Algoraves can include a range of styles, including a complex form of minimal techno, and the movement has been described as a meeting point of hacker philosophy, geek culture, and clubbing. Although live coding is commonplace, any algorithmic music is welcome which is "wholly or predominantly characterised by the emission of a succession of repetitive conditionals", which is a corruption of the definition of rave music (“wholly or predominantly characterised by the emission of a succession of repetitive beats”) in the UK's Criminal Justice Act. Although algorave musicians have been compared with DJs, they are in fact live musicians or improvisers, creating music live, usually by writing or modifying code, rather than mixing recorded music. At an algorave the computer musician may not be the main point of focus for the audience and instead attention may be centered on a screen that displays live coding, that is the process of writing source code, so the audience can not just dance or listen to the music generated by the source code but also to see the process of programming.

History

Algorithmic approaches have long been applied in electronic dance music from the 1970s when

Brian Eno Brian Peter George St John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno (; born Brian Peter George Eno, 15 May 1948) is a British musician, composer, record producer and visual artist best known for his contributions to ambient music and work in rock, pop an ...

established randomised musical practises which evolved into generative music over the course of his long career. This, in turn, influenced rave culture and techno of the 1990s by Farmers Manual, Autechre, and

Aphex Twin Richard David James (born 18 August 1971), best known as Aphex Twin, is an Irish-born British musician, composer and DJ. He is known for his idiosyncratic work in electronic music, electronic styles such as techno, ambient music, ambient, and jun ...

. The ''

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'' was an explicit response to the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 - specifically the track "Flutter" as a means of creating "non-repetitive beats" at raves which had been outlawed by the wording of the Act. The snare rush famously featured on the ''

Girl/Boy EP ''Girl/Boy EP'' is a 1996 EP by Richard D. James under the alias Aphex Twin. It was released through Warp on 19 August 1996. It peaked at number 64 on the UK Singles Chart. Artwork The sleeve cover features a photograph of a memorial for James' o ...

'' of 1996 is an earlier form of digital algorithmic coding and featured in

drum and bass Drum and bass (also written as drum & bass or drum'n'bass and commonly abbreviated as D&B, DnB, or D'n'B) is a genre of electronic dance music characterized by fast breakbeats (typically 165–185 beats per minute) with heavy bass and sub-ba ...

influenced electronic music of the early to mid 1990s, this approach later evolving into glitch music. Traditional use of algorithms include

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dancing, where they are applied to the dance itself as a form of

Algorithmic Choreography Computer-generated choreography is the technique of using algorithms to create dance. It is commonly described as using computers for choreographing dances, creating computer animations, studying or teaching aspects of human movement, illustrating d ...

and

bell-ringing Campanology () is the scientific and musical study of bells. It encompasses the technology of bells – how they are founded, tuned and rung – as well as the history, methods, and traditions of bellringing as an art. It is common to collect ...

. The first self-proclaimed "algorave" was held in London as a warmup concert for the

SuperCollider A particle accelerator is a machine that uses electromagnetic fields to propel charged particles to very high speeds and energies, and to contain them in well-defined beams. Large accelerators are used for fundamental research in particle ...

Symposium 2012. However, the name was first coined in 2011, after live coders Nick Collins and Alex McLean tuned into a happy hardcore pirate radio station on the way to a performance in the UK. Since then, algorave has been growing into an international movement, with algoraves having been held mainly in Europe and Asia; and few events in Australia and

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

Community

Algorave can also be considered an international music movement with a community of electronic musicians, visual artists and developing technologies. See the Algorave category page.

References

External links

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Algorave.com
{{Music festivals Live coding Experimental music Live music Digital art Computer programming Computer music Rave Electronic dance music Digital artworks