virtual musicians: bringing back musical personalities from the dead

From Wired... this is a little neat and a little creepy – re-creations of a dead musician's distinctive performance style through computer technology:

Virtual Musicians, Real Performances: How Artificial Intelligence Is Changing Music

My tech geek side likes the idea of re-performances, the possibilities for hearing things that should have been performed and recorded, and so on. But the cynic (and paranoiac) in me cringes at the use of dead musicians' style as a cheesy gimmick or advertising hook, and the idea of copyrighting and licensing a performance flavour is really distasteful. If you read the Wired story, you'll see I'm not alone here. On top of it all, the dystopian sf fan in me imagines musicians being kept semi-/digitally alive like Dixie Flatline in Neuromancer and feels a little ill at the prospect.

So how do we use this technological potential without turning it into another tool for corporate control over creativity? Or use it respectfully without turning dead artists into caricatures of themselves? Any ideas?

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side note: If you share your life with a pet or six, unless it's as long-lived as a tortoise, you're going to have to deal with animal mortality sooner or later – preferably later. I was hoping our next encounter with later was still a long ways away, but these things always loom sooner than you'd ever want.

If this blog is inspired, in part, by the seven cats I have shared my life with – four living with us now, two passed on, and one moved on to another family – this post is dedicated to one sick little cat who is very close to my heart. This AI stuff makes me wonder, would I hang onto him as a virtual kitty if I could? And I think no, that wouldn't be hanging on but starting a new relationship with a new different kind of cat, however closely he was related to the furry critter that was.

music and technology to feed the tech junkie habit

I saw Nine Inch Nails for the second time last night, the first time in an arena setting. I wasn't especially pumped. I love a few NIN songs and appreciate many more, but I haven't really been following them lately and the Kool Haus show I saw a few years back (despite my relatively enthusiastic review) was nowhere near mindblowing. Not that I didn't want to go, but $80 seemed a bit expensive for a night out with a good friend. The openers from Georgia, whose name I failed to catch, didn't do much to increase my excitement.

Apparently it doesn't take that much to captivate me if you've got the right tools: a few synths and samplers, digital projection, computer graphics, fancy lights, good songs, and a strong performance. The integration of lights, graphics and music was beyond remarkable. It was also ultra-contemporary (and I'm sure, very expensive), making old school light and stage shows look just plain lame. At times the effects were subtle, creating space for the band to literally take the spotlight and rock out. Other songs pushed synthesized sound and digital image to the foreground, presenting Nine Inch Nails as an artistic entity rather than a man and his hired musical guns. Some of these pictures from the appropriately named Lights In the Sky: Over North America tour should give you an idea what this all looked like. If only you could see how well these visuals meshed with what I heard...
(I think I need to re-evaluate my knowledge of NIN. Reznor's recent activities in free music offerings only underline that even further.)

Since I'm talking about technology and music (and free music) it seems like a good time to bring up some recent D-Trash Records activities. [actually, it seems like a good opportunity to talk about Death to Music Productions as well, but I'll save that for another day] Keith Carman beat me to the punch reviewing Matamachete for exclaim!; while I take issue with his slur against Mindless Self Indulgence, I support his appreciation for Tanin No Kao. I also recommend checking out some D-Trash artist videos and investing in the label's first DVD compilation.