The Premise

My name is Bendu and I’m starting a blog. Started a blog I guess. The one you’re reading now. This is the first post wherein I lay out all the reasons why the blog exists. Hopefully, it will also be a roadmap on how to avoid the pitfall of being a navel gazing bore. This blog is about experimental electronic music. Specifically my electronic experimental music.

This blog is in many ways an educational substitute. I am intensely interested in electronic music of all sorts. So much so that I looked into going to Cal-Arts to get a graduate degree in spite of my lack of formal training in music. I want to learn more about sound design (analog synthesis and MAX programming), music theory, and electronic live performance. I am not going to do that. It’s expensive and I don’t believe that it would be a very lucrative undertaking. I could spend the same money on gear, books, travel, and releasing recordings. I would be just as happy and learn the same things I think. It’s true that I would be missing out on the fellowship with other students and the deadlines that force a student to progress a certain pace. So I’m putting my progress out in public as a way of proving to myself that I put the time in and to perhaps enjoy some fellowship with other electronic musicians.

So what’s with that ‘proving to myself’ bit? Obviously I have a issue. Authenticity. This is a place to address it. What makes someone a musician or artist? Can you just take someone at their word or are there fakers? I generally take others at their word and feel like a poser when I call myself an artist or musician. Fuck that. I am what I say I am and I have a blog to prove it! That sounds like navel gazing…

I’ll be keeping notes about the hardware and software that I use and love. I use a mostly analog modular synthesizer in my work. It’s a very inspiring tool that constantly changes. I’ll also outline my strategies for utilizing this hardware in a live performance context. I’m going to recommend the recordings, books, films, and blogs that I find entertaining or inspirational.

This blog is also place to present my recordings, whether they be just sketches on soundcloud or finished pieces. I’m going to keep an archive here so that anyone who is interested can download and enjoy them.

I have some goals in mind. I’d like to find and/or build an audience. I’d like to participate in the community in a more significant way. I want to release an “album” in a more formal way. I’d also like to be able to perform my work for people. 2012 is going to be interesting! Thanks for reading.