Alex Bailey
Born in Bangor, North Wales in 1988, Alex Bailey is a composer and sound engineer/designer/artist, with particular interest in electronic music. Achieving his Master’s degree in Electroacoustic Composition and Sonic Art at Bangor University in 2015, Alex’s career has been heavily oriented towards the technology-side of musical praxis.
Alex’s predominant investigative focus is the crossbreeding of musical genres; namely modern digital music such as EDM (Electronic Dance Music), and Acousmatic Music. Through his research he aims to draw influence from various musical genres/sub-genres and EDM culture to generate a powerful and moving sonic hybridization.
As part of a busy academic and industry based career, Alex has been a Tutor in Music Technology at Bangor University, and a Sound Engineer for Sain Records and Cwmni Da. He has also had involvement in many exciting musical endeavours, such as composing music for circus performances and film projects, and running music technology workshops for events such as Festival No.6 and the National Eisteddfod.
Following a recent break from work to go travelling, Alex spends his time hacking audio components and composing experimental music in his home studio in Bethesda, North Wales, and is excited to be a father in Spring next year.
Defective
“The variety of noises is infinite. If today, when we have perhaps a thousand different machines, we can distinguish a thousand different noises, tomorrow, as new machines multiply, we will be able to distinguish ten, twenty, or thirty thousand different noises, not merely in a simply imitative way, but to combine them according to our imagination.”
Luigi Russolo (1913)
Scratched CDs, broken mp3 players, corrupt data files…all causes of erroneously fabricated sounds. Malfunctioning digital technology, especially when concerned with audio, often results in unintentional sonic artefacts, or ‘glitch’ sounds. The early 1990s saw the birth of a new musical genre – glitch music; a soundscape composed of the resonances of technological failure. Spawning from its more prominent counterparts of techno and house music, glitch boasts a wealth of notable artists such as Aphex Twin, Pan Sonic, and Autechre; all pioneers in modern electronic music.
Glitch music could be considered a direct by-product of a ‘post-digital’ movement. Without the abundance of technology that we use, see and hear every day of our lives; without access to the digital equipment that is now so affordable and readily available to the masses, a musical genre such as this simply wouldn’t exist.
Defective is a sonic amalgamation of FM synthesis, concrete sounds, and glitch noises. An exploration, as well as a celebration of the glitch aesthetic that has defined various art forms over the last three decades.