Spanning

Spanning the divide

the live coding scene is interesting in many respects, of course.
I’m going to talk about one thing in particular here.

commonalities

What I’ve seen at live coding events is people making music, often quite loud, alongside other people making visuals.
Which is probably quite common at many different events.

differences

• usually the music/visuals are improvised or performed in some kind of live way
• which makes it different from say, a straight up DJ set
• there are a few values embedded in the live coding scene

values

• there are many, and many ways to sum them up
• usual way is to give a list of mantras:
• bad code only
• no headliners
• show us your screens
• we love repetition
• good vibes only
• energy YES quality NO

Not

Now I’m not going to say that similar values don’t exist anywhere else

But I’ve seen that events may emphasise notions of ‘quality’, ‘curation’.

And in this way, the events I go to and enjoy stick out, like a sore thumb.

but wait

Don’t you want to go to an event with a high standard of production and music? Sounds like that would be good?

look

We’re not saying anyone has to make anything deliberately <bad>
and I see a lot of amazing performances that are made without gatekeeping.
Amazing artists who tell me they wouldn’t be performing at all without such a welcoming community.
When you set the vibes you get multiple other benefits too.

anyway

But is there a divide between what we do and the rest of clubbing culture?

Not exclusively. A big inspiration for AlgoRhythms was the legendary night No Edits. Which is ensconced in a fairly standard producer/dj culture - except that they’re building community and paying attention to diversity. Not enough are, but there are plenty of people out there doing the right thing!

So I guess you could say there’s a spectrum really

And we’re at the oooh yayy end of that?

the divide

Do the live coding events in London fit cleanly into clubbing/events culture here? I would say most of our audiences aren’t typical ravers.
Does it need to fit in? No, of course not

Some live coders do however make ‘proper’ club music?

But hang on we’re serving a community who otherwise might not have stuff that’s their kind of thing?

I’ve been wondering though

Can live coders be included in other kinds of events?
Or will we continue to build our special scene?
Will our values be diluted?
Can we spread our values?

I’m going to put this out there -
any scene which grew and became loved had similar values - driven by passion and community and openness
the rave scene
70s new york disco
grime and dubstep

I’m just putting this out there

food for thought

<3