FIBER Podcast 030 Convextion

FIBER Podcast

As commanding officer of Radion, Convextion stood behind the controls and watched how the audience, immersed in DEFRAME’s stage design, wandered above a sea of fog and danced under a grid of red lasers shooting into space. Convextion’s music complemented the stage design perfectly and guided the audience through a one-and-a-half hour-long excavation of subterranean rhythms and atmospheres. The 30th podcast is the recording of his sleek deliverance of futuristic techno and electro and takes you back to FIBER Festival’s club night.

Convextion aka Gerard Hanson perfectly fits the theme of the The Subterranean. Apart from his music, not much is known about the Dallas-based American. Under his Convextion moniker he releases his (dub)techno productions, while many electro fans will know him by his E.R.P. alias. He has released on labels such as Time to Express, Down Low Music, Echospace, Semantica, and Frustrated Funk among others. There is not much information available about him online. As such, Convextion perfectly knows how to apply the subterranean tactics of obscurity.

The Subterranean made up this year’s festival theme and referred to the hidden processes and mechanisms that govern our contemporary digitally mediated lives. Following a rare interview with Convextion at Subsekt, it seems that Hanson also gets inspired by this line of thinking. In relation to synths he notes that: “Someone put thought not only into its sound but the appearance and overall interface. I like an attractive interface. It makes me want to understand what’s below while it’s fun to explore.”

Hanson also mentions that he likes to imagine a near future with antiquated machines, that have become timeless by serving a different purpose. “I like spaceships, other imaginary mechanical things, and the sounds they would make. I sometimes think about a factory or generator or whatever that would make beautiful sounds as a by-product of its work.” This sounds like a familiar motive celebrated by the Italian Futurists a century ago.

Following the Manifesto of Futurist Painting artists combined new technologies such as film and photography to depict light and the movement of cars, planes and people. While in Futurist Theatre the noises of machines and modern city took central stage. The accompanied artwork for this podcast is made by Italian Futurist Giacomo Balla and is called Scienza contra obscurantism (1920). It portrays the abstract movement of imaginary mechanical things. It is a depiction of a retro future with the aesthetics that fit the obscure vibes of the set.