APAtT
Encyclopedia
a.P.A.t.T. is an experimental organizational form best known for avant-garde
music
and multimedia
works. They are notable for compositional and organizational philosophies
that value purposive change, bricolage
, contradiction
, détournement
, dérive
, deterritorialization
, personal
challenge
and discomfort
to members of a.P.A.t.T. and audience
s, inclusiveness
, participatory action
, outwardness, and an imaginative
attention
to musical and social conventions
, and this is visible throughout all a.P.A.t.T. operations, public performances and releases. The letters a.P.A.t.T. seemingly stand for nothing fixed, but might be related to the compositional and organizational philosophies involved in a.P.A.t.T. Music composition by a.P.A.t.T. generally falls into two categories: deconstruction
s of Western popular music
, or complex conceptual pieces
, composed around a theme
, theory
, plot
, or event
. They are noted for surrealistic
lyrics
and sound
, strange and unsettling behaviour on stage, a disregard for conventional musical composition, and modes of music business, and an unflinching relationship to aesthetics
, often embodied in challenging musical pieces. Other work involves slap stick humour and might seek to annoy and frustrate just as much as entertain. Every a.P.A.t.T. performance involves the individual members seemingly attempting to disarm themselves in front of audiences through the use of a white uniform
dress code. Emerging in 1997/1998, a.P.A.t.T. spent the first four years largely stylizing their performance and developing a public front. From 2002, a.P.A.t.T. performed more regularly (running a.P.A.t.T. Island' upstairs in the Zanzibar Coffee House), and worked on releasing EPs and albums through various labels
and distributors. In more recent years a.P.A.t.T. has initiated and collaborated on a wide range of public performances and other multimedia works.
Album
s like 'Black & White Mass' released in 2008 and other formative releases involve
the collective
sampling
vigorously from popular culture
, everyday life
, and musical and social imagery
, often incorporating samples and re-compositions of common musical life in intricate webs of reference. 'Black and White Mass', an album described as a "Mad hatters tea party for avant-rock heads", was BBC Radio 1
DJ
Huw Stevens' 'Album of the Week' in 2008.
a.P.A.t.T. has been associated with the endurance of an alternative musical scene in Liverpool
, being named alongside bands such as Ladytron
, Clinic
, Hot Club de Paris
, and Kling Klang
. They tour about once a year, recently in France
, Germany
, and Switzerland
, and premiered at the opening of a performance based arts initiative in Lille
, France, in December 2010. A new album is rumoured to be nearing completion for release in 2011. The collective continues to compose new material, play live performances and stage public events, and members are deeply involved in North West England music.
The a.P.A.t.T. Orchestra, an orchestra
of no fixed size, style of performance, or mode of production, has recently experimented with participatory
musical experiences, and with spatiality
and musical composition.
, and North West England
. a.P.A.t.T. became a musical entity
in 1998 when General Midi
and Field Marshall Stack
wrote some words on a cassette tape they had recorded sounds upon after becoming disassociated with bands and 'songs'. Their intention
back then was to make, find, imagine, and create 'secret music', and to learn more about their instruments, constraints and possibilities experience
. For much of the early years, the members concentrated on developing their personal knowledge
and public
image, developing the performance
image/sound that endures today, learning new/old instruments and cutting edge technological systems
, and developing their organizational and compositional philosophy. Further down the road, a.P.A.t.T. felt comfortable enough to release music and ideas to the public, in the form of EPs
and albums. Around this time they began work on a feature film
, and a documentary
about a.P.A.t.T.; each of which seemingly embodies the compositional and organizational philosophies involved with a.P.A.t.T. They also performed much more, becoming well known in the U.K. music scene
. 'Members' have come and gone since a.P.A.t.T. emerged, and during this time the organizational form has been able to accommodate these changes and continue to diversify into new music and multi-media spaces. Today, the a.P.A.t.T. includes musical and non-musical members, and is involved in multiple projects and collaborations simultaneously, more or less musical in nature.
2006
2008
2009
2010
2011
Avant-garde
Avant-garde means "advance guard" or "vanguard". The adjective form is used in English to refer to people or works that are experimental or innovative, particularly with respect to art, culture, and politics....
music
Avant-garde music
Avant-garde music is a term used to characterize music which is thought to be ahead of its time, i.e. containing innovative elements or fusing different genres....
and multimedia
Multimedia
Multimedia is media and content that uses a combination of different content forms. The term can be used as a noun or as an adjective describing a medium as having multiple content forms. The term is used in contrast to media which use only rudimentary computer display such as text-only, or...
works. They are notable for compositional and organizational philosophies
Philosophy
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
that value purposive change, bricolage
Bricolage
Bricolage is a term used in several disciplines, among them the visual arts, to refer to the construction or creation of a work from a diverse range of things that happen to be available, or a work created by such a process...
, contradiction
Contradiction
In classical logic, a contradiction consists of a logical incompatibility between two or more propositions. It occurs when the propositions, taken together, yield two conclusions which form the logical, usually opposite inversions of each other...
, détournement
Detournement
A détournement is a technique developed in the 1950s by the Letterist International, and consist in "turning expressions of the capitalist system against itself." Détournement was prominently used to set up subversive political pranks, an influential tactic called situationist prank that was...
, dérive
Dérive
In psychogeography, a dérive is an unplanned journey through a landscape, usually urban, where an individual travels where the subtle aesthetic contours of the surrounding architecture and geography subconsciously direct them with the ultimate goal of encountering an entirely new and authentic...
, deterritorialization
Deterritorialization
Deterritorialization is a concept created by Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari in Anti-Oedipus , which, in accordance to Deleuze's desire and philosophy, quickly became used by others, for example in anthropology, and transformed in this reappropriation...
, personal
Self
The self is an individual person as the object of his or her own reflective consciousness. The self has been studied extensively by philosophers and psychologists and is central to many world religions.-Philosophy:...
challenge
Challenge
Challenge is a United Kingdom digital TV channel that mostly airs programmes dedicated to gameshows. It is owned by British Sky Broadcasting. The channel mostly transmits repeats of programmes acquired from UK terrestrial channel archives and a few from around the world Challenge is a United...
and discomfort
Discomfort
Discomfort may refer to:* Pain, an unpleasant sensation* Suffering, an experience of unpleasantness...
to members of a.P.A.t.T. and audience
Audience
An audience is a group of people who participate in a show or encounter a work of art, literature , theatre, music or academics in any medium...
s, inclusiveness
Inclusion (value and practice)
Miller and Katz presents a common definition of an inclusive value system where they say, “Inclusion is a sense of belonging: feeling respected, valued for who you are; feeling a level of supportive energy and commitment from others so than you can do your best work.” Inclusion is a shift in...
, participatory action
Participation (decision making)
Participation in social science refers to different mechanisms for the public to express opinions - and ideally exert influence - regarding political, economic, management or other social decisions. Participatory decision making can take place along any realm of human social activity, including...
, outwardness, and an imaginative
Imagination
Imagination, also called the faculty of imagining, is the ability of forming mental images, sensations and concepts, in a moment when they are not perceived through sight, hearing or other senses...
attention
Attention
Attention is the cognitive process of paying attention to one aspect of the environment while ignoring others. Attention is one of the most intensely studied topics within psychology and cognitive neuroscience....
to musical and social conventions
Convention (norm)
A convention is a set of agreed, stipulated or generally accepted standards, norms, social norms or criteria, often taking the form of a custom....
, and this is visible throughout all a.P.A.t.T. operations, public performances and releases. The letters a.P.A.t.T. seemingly stand for nothing fixed, but might be related to the compositional and organizational philosophies involved in a.P.A.t.T. Music composition by a.P.A.t.T. generally falls into two categories: deconstruction
Deconstruction
Deconstruction is a term introduced by French philosopher Jacques Derrida in his 1967 book Of Grammatology. Although he carefully avoided defining the term directly, he sought to apply Martin Heidegger's concept of Destruktion or Abbau, to textual reading...
s of Western popular music
Popular music
Popular music belongs to any of a number of musical genres "having wide appeal" and is typically distributed to large audiences through the music industry. It stands in contrast to both art music and traditional music, which are typically disseminated academically or orally to smaller, local...
, or complex conceptual pieces
Concept album
In music, a concept album is an album that is "unified by a theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, narrative, or lyrical." Commonly, concept albums tend to incorporate preconceived musical or lyrical ideas rather than being improvised or composed in the studio, with all songs contributing...
, composed around a theme
Theme (music)
In music, a theme is the material, usually a recognizable melody, upon which part or all of a composition is based.-Characteristics:A theme may be perceivable as a complete musical expression in itself, separate from the work in which it is found . In contrast to an idea or motif, a theme is...
, theory
Theory
The English word theory was derived from a technical term in Ancient Greek philosophy. The word theoria, , meant "a looking at, viewing, beholding", and referring to contemplation or speculation, as opposed to action...
, plot
Plot
Plot is a literary term defined as the events that make up a story, particularly as they relate to one another in a pattern, in a sequence, through cause and effect, or by coincidence. One is generally interested in how well this pattern of events accomplishes some artistic or emotional effect...
, or event
Event
Event can refer to many things such as:* An observable occurrence, phenomenon or an extraordinary occurrenceA type of gathering:* A ceremony, for example, a marriage* A competition, for example, a sports competition* A convention...
. They are noted for surrealistic
Surrealism
Surrealism is a cultural movement that began in the early 1920s, and is best known for the visual artworks and writings of the group members....
lyrics
Lyrics
Lyrics are a set of words that make up a song. The writer of lyrics is a lyricist or lyrist. The meaning of lyrics can either be explicit or implicit. Some lyrics are abstract, almost unintelligible, and, in such cases, their explication emphasizes form, articulation, meter, and symmetry of...
and sound
Sound
Sound is a mechanical wave that is an oscillation of pressure transmitted through a solid, liquid, or gas, composed of frequencies within the range of hearing and of a level sufficiently strong to be heard, or the sensation stimulated in organs of hearing by such vibrations.-Propagation of...
, strange and unsettling behaviour on stage, a disregard for conventional musical composition, and modes of music business, and an unflinching relationship to aesthetics
Aesthetics
Aesthetics is a branch of philosophy dealing with the nature of beauty, art, and taste, and with the creation and appreciation of beauty. It is more scientifically defined as the study of sensory or sensori-emotional values, sometimes called judgments of sentiment and taste...
, often embodied in challenging musical pieces. Other work involves slap stick humour and might seek to annoy and frustrate just as much as entertain. Every a.P.A.t.T. performance involves the individual members seemingly attempting to disarm themselves in front of audiences through the use of a white uniform
Uniform
A uniform is a set of standard clothing worn by members of an organization while participating in that organization's activity. Modern uniforms are worn by armed forces and paramilitary organizations such as police, emergency services, security guards, in some workplaces and schools and by inmates...
dress code. Emerging in 1997/1998, a.P.A.t.T. spent the first four years largely stylizing their performance and developing a public front. From 2002, a.P.A.t.T. performed more regularly (running a.P.A.t.T. Island' upstairs in the Zanzibar Coffee House), and worked on releasing EPs and albums through various labels
Record label
In the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion,...
and distributors. In more recent years a.P.A.t.T. has initiated and collaborated on a wide range of public performances and other multimedia works.
Album
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...
s like 'Black & White Mass' released in 2008 and other formative releases involve
Involve
- Organisations :* Involve , The Involve Foundation, a UK based organisation that focuses on public participation* INVOLVE , a UK national advisory Group that promotes public involvement in health and social care research...
the collective
Collective
A collective is a group of entities that share or are motivated by at least one common issue or interest, or work together on a specific project to achieve a common objective...
sampling
Sampling (music)
In music, sampling is the act of taking a portion, or sample, of one sound recording and reusing it as an instrument or a different sound recording of a song or piece. Sampling was originally developed by experimental musicians working with musique concrète and electroacoustic music, who physically...
vigorously from popular culture
Popular culture
Popular culture is the totality of ideas, perspectives, attitudes, memes, images and other phenomena that are deemed preferred per an informal consensus within the mainstream of a given culture, especially Western culture of the early to mid 20th century and the emerging global mainstream of the...
, everyday life
Everyday Life
Everyday Life is the first solo album made by Life MC of the British Hip Hop group Phi Life Cypher....
, and musical and social imagery
Imagery
Imagery is used in literature to refer to descriptive language that evokes emotional responses. It is useful as it allows an author to add depth and understanding to his work, like a sculptor adding layer and layer to his statue, building it up into a beautiful work of art.-Forms of imagery :Visual...
, often incorporating samples and re-compositions of common musical life in intricate webs of reference. 'Black and White Mass', an album described as a "Mad hatters tea party for avant-rock heads", was BBC Radio 1
BBC Radio 1
BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation which also broadcasts internationally, specialising in current popular music and chart hits throughout the day. Radio 1 provides alternative genres after 7:00pm including electronic dance, hip hop, rock...
DJ
Disc jockey
A disc jockey, also known as DJ, is a person who selects and plays recorded music for an audience. Originally, "disc" referred to phonograph records, not the later Compact Discs. Today, the term includes all forms of music playback, no matter the medium.There are several types of disc jockeys...
Huw Stevens' 'Album of the Week' in 2008.
a.P.A.t.T. has been associated with the endurance of an alternative musical scene in Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
, being named alongside bands such as Ladytron
Ladytron
Ladytron are an English electronic band formed in 1999 in Liverpool, Merseyside. The group consists of Helen Marnie , Mira Aroyo , Daniel Hunt and Reuben Wu .Their sound blends electropop with New Wave and shoegazing elements. Ladytron described their sound as "electronic pop"...
, Clinic
Clinic (band)
Clinic are a Liverpool based post-punk revival band noted for their often fast-paced, eclectic sound. Their sound is often distinguished by the prominent use of vintage keyboards/organs, most notably the Philips Philicorda, and peculiar off-scale chord progressions.-Formation and early...
, Hot Club de Paris
Hot Club De Paris
Hot Club de Paris are an English band from Liverpool. They are signed to the London-based Moshi Moshi Records and released their debut album Drop It 'Til It Pops in October 2006...
, and Kling Klang
Kling Klang (band)
Kling Klang are a five-piece experimental rock band from Liverpool consisting of four synth players and a drummer. The band formed in mid 1999 as a three-piece. They used cheap synths and old drum machines...
. They tour about once a year, recently in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, and Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
, and premiered at the opening of a performance based arts initiative in Lille
Lille
Lille is a city in northern France . It is the principal city of the Lille Métropole, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the country behind those of Paris, Lyon and Marseille. Lille is situated on the Deûle River, near France's border with Belgium...
, France, in December 2010. A new album is rumoured to be nearing completion for release in 2011. The collective continues to compose new material, play live performances and stage public events, and members are deeply involved in North West England music.
The a.P.A.t.T. Orchestra, an orchestra
Orchestra
An orchestra is a sizable instrumental ensemble that contains sections of string, brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. The term orchestra derives from the Greek ορχήστρα, the name for the area in front of an ancient Greek stage reserved for the Greek chorus...
of no fixed size, style of performance, or mode of production, has recently experimented with participatory
Participation (decision making)
Participation in social science refers to different mechanisms for the public to express opinions - and ideally exert influence - regarding political, economic, management or other social decisions. Participatory decision making can take place along any realm of human social activity, including...
musical experiences, and with spatiality
Space
Space is the boundless, three-dimensional extent in which objects and events occur and have relative position and direction. Physical space is often conceived in three linear dimensions, although modern physicists usually consider it, with time, to be part of a boundless four-dimensional continuum...
and musical composition.
Origins
The current members of a.P.A.t.T. originate from Liverpool, EnglandLiverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
, and North West England
North West England
North West England, informally known as The North West, is one of the nine official regions of England.North West England had a 2006 estimated population of 6,853,201 the third most populated region after London and the South East...
. a.P.A.t.T. became a musical entity
Entity
An entity is something that has a distinct, separate existence, although it need not be a material existence. In particular, abstractions and legal fictions are usually regarded as entities. In general, there is also no presumption that an entity is animate.An entity could be viewed as a set...
in 1998 when General Midi
General MIDI
General MIDI or GM is a standardized specification for music synthesizers that respond to MIDI messages. GM was developed by the MIDI Manufacturers Association and the Japan MIDI Standards Committee and first published in 1991...
and Field Marshall Stack
Marshall Amplification
Marshall Amplification is a British company, founded by drummer Jim Marshall, that designs and manufactures music amplifiers, brands personal headphones/earphones , and, after acquiring Natal Drums, drums and bongos. Marshall amplifiers, and specifically their guitar amplifiers, are among the most...
wrote some words on a cassette tape they had recorded sounds upon after becoming disassociated with bands and 'songs'. Their intention
Intention
Intention is an agent's specific purpose in performing an action or series of actions, the end or goal that is aimed at. Outcomes that are unanticipated or unforeseen are known as unintended consequences....
back then was to make, find, imagine, and create 'secret music', and to learn more about their instruments, constraints and possibilities experience
Experience
Experience as a general concept comprises knowledge of or skill in or observation of some thing or some event gained through involvement in or exposure to that thing or event....
. For much of the early years, the members concentrated on developing their personal knowledge
Knowledge
Knowledge is a familiarity with someone or something unknown, which can include information, facts, descriptions, or skills acquired through experience or education. It can refer to the theoretical or practical understanding of a subject...
and public
Public
In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individuals, and the public is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the Öffentlichkeit or public sphere. The concept of a public has also been defined in political science,...
image, developing the performance
Performance
A performance, in performing arts, generally comprises an event in which a performer or group of performers behave in a particular way for another group of people, the audience. Choral music and ballet are examples. Usually the performers participate in rehearsals beforehand. Afterwards audience...
image/sound that endures today, learning new/old instruments and cutting edge technological systems
Technology
Technology is the making, usage, and knowledge of tools, machines, techniques, crafts, systems or methods of organization in order to solve a problem or perform a specific function. It can also refer to the collection of such tools, machinery, and procedures. The word technology comes ;...
, and developing their organizational and compositional philosophy. Further down the road, a.P.A.t.T. felt comfortable enough to release music and ideas to the public, in the form of EPs
Extended play
An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...
and albums. Around this time they began work on a feature film
Feature film
In the film industry, a feature film is a film production made for initial distribution in theaters and being the main attraction of the screening, rather than a short film screened before it; a full length movie...
, and a documentary
Documentary
A documentary is a creative work of non-fiction, including:* Documentary film, including television* Radio documentary* Documentary photographyRelated terms include:...
about a.P.A.t.T.; each of which seemingly embodies the compositional and organizational philosophies involved with a.P.A.t.T. They also performed much more, becoming well known in the U.K. music scene
UK Music
Launched on September 26, 2008 UK Music is an umbrella organisation which represents the collective interests of the production side of UK's commercial music industry: artists, musicians, songwriters, composers, record labels, artist managers, music publishers, studio producers and music collecting...
. 'Members' have come and gone since a.P.A.t.T. emerged, and during this time the organizational form has been able to accommodate these changes and continue to diversify into new music and multi-media spaces. Today, the a.P.A.t.T. includes musical and non-musical members, and is involved in multiple projects and collaborations simultaneously, more or less musical in nature.
Singles, Eps
- (e.P.) -2002
- Fre(e.P.) -2005
- Split 12", CAA (2008)
- Paul the Record,Upset the Rhythm (2010)
Multi Media
2005- 'Quartet' - Large scale installation/performance conceptualized around notion of self-reference
- 'Nosferatu' - Live Improvised performance re-composing sound track to the film 'Nosferatu'
2006
- 'Nosferatu 2' - Live semi-improvised performance re-composing sound track to the film 'Nosferatu'
2008
- Nosferatu 3' Live score soundtrack, broadcast live for BBC Radio
2009
- 'Purgatory' Live dramatization of music
- 'In C' - Performance of composition by Terry Riley; 31 strong ensemble experiment with venue specific composition and performance
2010
- 'Variations I' - John Cage; performed with a.P.A.t.T. Orchestra at Walker Arts Gallery, Liverpool
- 'Pendulum Music' - Steve Reich; performed with a.P.A.t.T. Orchestra at Walker Arts Gallery, Liverpool
- 'Clapping Music' - Steve Reich; performed with a.P.A.t.T. Orchestra at Walker Arts Gallery, Liverpool
- 'Meeting Points' - Richard Harding; A 25-strong a.P.A.t.T. Orchestra constituted by undetermined instrumentation and involving the Liverpool Walker Art Gallery's historic architecture in musical composition and audience experience
- 'The Human Stain Part I' - a.P.A.t.T. Special
- 'The Human Stain Part II' - a.P.A.t.T. Special
- 'The Human Stain Part III' - a.P.A.t.T. Special
- 'Sound Relay' - a.P.A.t.T. Orchestra & Ensemble 10/10, Jennifer Watson; 50 plus ensemble exploring performance and audience spatial experience, and culminating at the Tate Gallery, Albert Dock, Liverpool
- January 2010 European Tour
2011
- 'The a.P.A.t.T. Orchestra presents... Musical Settings Part 1 - On the Earth' - Sefton Park Bandstand, June 2011.