by Samira Selod

As the rave era finally comes to a close, new styles of electronic music have found their way to the urban youth. Styles stretch from hip-hop, drum and bass, house, ambient, jungle, and the list, much like the music, goes on and on. Whatever title or sub-title is given, electronica in all its motifs has given rise to the exploration of repetition and trance.

Live instruments are a rarity, as the computer screen takes the lead. Bands no longer consist of a drummer, bassist, guitarist and vocalist. Instead the musicians are programmers, and, in essence, composers. The need for many players is gone as one man alone can turn knobs to manipulate sounds emitted from synthesizers, samplers and drum machines. Whatever it is these folks are doing behind their monitors is growing and has been for some time.

Within the past two years Austin has seen a subtle emergence of its own electronic movement. An attempt to capture it was made last spring by Face Records with the release of their compilation, Texas Electronica Volume I. Unfortunately their attempt failed. The records did not sell and Face Records eventually went under. Although the attraction to Austin electronica was faint, it managed to keep growing, producing several new acts.With these new acts another attempt, in the form of a new compilation, has been made to activate local electronica.

Robert Mace started Whirling Pool Records about four years ago with the intention of bringing credit to Austin's electronic outfits. The name Whirling Pool came from a tragic story about a local flood in '92 which created a massive whirling pool over a cave strong enough to actually suck in a victim. The irony of the story was as the police were searching for the victim in the cave hoping he was still breathing, firemen up top were throwing in huge logs in front of the news camera to show the strength of the pool. In any case, the story, for Mace, spawned a name and image for his label.

The latest project for Whirling Pool is Bloo, a new compilation of local electronic music. Already released on Whirling Pool are Self-Contained Unit, Flyover:, and Quaquaversal (now defunct). The compilation will include songs from the aforementioned as well as songs from Amnesia International, The Buddy System, Claude 9, DXM, Inkblot, Kitty, Lupe, L'usine, OMD 20/20, and Plastic. Although they will all be heard on Bloo, not all of these bands can be seen live. Those who do play live, such as Inkblot, OMD 20/20, and Plastic are booked in some cases as the main attraction, and in some cases as background music since the slow repetition of electronic music gives it that option. Much of it can be seen at coffee shops or art shows as well as at The Purgatory Lounge.

As Mace put it best, "Ambient music is interesting because it can be background music but still interesting enough to hold your attention if you choose to listen to it." As for these local bands, what they are doing is far from simple. In some cases the music is danceable, but for the most part the audience is there to just listen and nod their heads to odd noises and unexpected changes.

These bands, however, do range widely. Amnesia International, who is David Williams, from New York, takes the hip-hop angle filled with upbeat crackling sounds and guitar and bass samples. Inkblot, another solo act, is on the noisy, distorted side and uses a stomp box as a main effect, whereas Claude 9 has a smooth drum and bass tone. The foundation of the music is similar. Generally songs are programmed into sequences with manipulated drum patterns. MIDI, musical instrument digital interface, is used occasionally sending signals from a sequencer to an instrument in order to control the notes, volume, etc.

Jacob Boswell from OMD 20/20 finds it helpful because he says "it can control 128 things at once." Programs such as Cakewalk, Sound Edit, Cubase and Acid attained by these computer-junky musicians all sparked the sound.

As to which program suits whom is up to the musician. Mace prefers Acid, as he wittingly claims, "Acid changed my life." The ways these sounds are manipulated require not only a technological mind but an experimental one.

Samples are either taken from someone else or created, or as Lupe does it, they are musique concrete, which takes odd day to day sounds and arranges them together.

Since most of these bands have their song sequences already programmed on their computers, watching them live is not necessarily full of entertainment. What is, however, is listening to what is put on top of these sequences since most of that is done live and is often strictly improvisational. OMD 20/20, Kitty, and Flyover:, for example, all play live instruments over their sequences. Kitty, a trio who may or may not be seen in the future, uses live drums, guitar, and vocals. Those who are more attracted to electronic pop songs should check them out. OMD 20/20 uses live synthesizers, bass and guitar. They can be caught live around town for an evening of repetitious "head" music and psychedelic light projections.

Flyover: is a new project who will hopefully be easy to catch. They have live vocals and synths as well. As for how these bands were chosen, Mace claims it is at random. "Anything I got I stuck on there. It's all pretty good stuff though. The compilation is well done."

There is a possibility that Whirling Pool will record albums in the future for Self-Contained Unit and OMD 20/20. As for Bloo, the distribution initially will be limited to 100 copies, and if it sells, more will be pressed. The compilation will be sent out to local radio as well as state-wide college radio. It can be found May 21st at 33 Degrees, so be sure to check it out.