J. LeRoy Eugenics Music Project
Links to Eugenics
Links to MP3 artists
Project Rationale:
Eugenics is a major part of our history, but no one knows about it. Even the highly educated people with whom I have discussed this project have needed a eugenics primer. This is distressing, due to the severity of the impacts of Eugenics on all people that linger today and the vast potential we have with modern technology to do it all over again. Many books have been written about eugenics, but still there is no discussion. Therefore, I decided to launch a CD entirely based on Eugenics. One that hopefully would foment discussion and also have some enjoyable and compelling music. In the 1980s this would be called a "win-win". In the 1990s it would be called a "value proposition." In the 1970s it would be called "far out."
Project Overview:
The project has several elements. First, all the text used in the CD is taken from eugenics texts from the 1850s to the 1930s. They are surprisingly easy to come by.
Second, the CD is entirely based in a program called Audio Mulch. This is a nearly evolutionary music making program that allows one to grab pieces of music and various gizmos to alter those pieces and combine them in sometimes pleasing and sometimes ugly ways. The interface for this program is designed to be functional, but not to be pretty. Using the program allows one to slowly build a musical system that, I felt, was analagous to evolution. Controlled evolution = eugenics.
Third, the CD uses the combined talents of many artists from MP3.com. Not only do these musicians and vocalists create amazing sounds for me to work with, but they are part of MP3.com - a phenomenon inside a phenomenon. The Internet age has created an environment in which literally hundreds of thousands of artists from around the world have flocked. This has allowed them to work together and create amazing new things that never would have happened otherwise.
The eugenists would say that they are mixing their germ plasm. Which makes MP3.com a melting pot of sorts - or a caulderon. Like the RIAA, this cross polination was something the eugenicists feared.
The CD will cover several key aspects of Eugenics in the music, but will also have little histories of Eugenics and other commentary on the CD-Rom portion of the CD. It will be a multi-media experience.
Participating Artists
Thus far, I have been lucky enough to work with the following fine artists:
Mike Fijal -- Excellent Trumpet Player from Calgary Alberta
Rob Prince -- An academic from Denver who supplied much needed Eugenics materials
Muckworm -- A very pleasing speedmetal band from Phoenix, Arizona
Christopher Zorn -- A very reliable electronic musician and other things in Atlanta, Georgia
Digital Cutup Lounge -- Hong Kong's first family of digital mayhem
Plastic LSD -- Premier New York techno giant
Will Black -- Who gave me a book.