To speak of artistic currents outside the textbooks of art history seems anachronistic: everything that is posthumously the Fifties, for many is lost in the great cauldron of the contemporary. In this mare magnum, for about thirty years has emerged a different way of making art; a way of thinking about music above all, which is not limited to its own sound characteristics, but makes the musical event an essential component as the combination of sounds. This and much more is avant-pop.
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Defining what avant-pop is is not a simple exercise. For something so modern, an instrument like the artistic manifesto looks dusty, futurist stuff from the last century. Yet there is one, which tries to draw the limits and describe avant-pop: Mark Amerika, video artist and American Netartist, is the Tommaso Marinetti of the Avant-Pop manifesto, published in 1993 and available online.
Immersed in media culture, the avant-pop artist uses references and tools related to the world of cinema, television, video games, everything he can find on the net. If the reality story made on the internet is globalized and standard, then the avant-pop, "like a parasite" will use this material to suck "all the bad blood that is between the mainstream and the marginal".
Whether it is niche or hyper commercial, every culture can be a source of new creations; or to use the words of the manifesto: "We will rob your mother if she has something we find appropriate for our creations".
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The risk of falling into abstraction, reading the poster, is high. To understand the avant-pop in music, better open Spotify. The lowest common denominator in an avant-pop playlist is an electronic base, with more or less accentuated bass. On this, there are artists who engage classical instruments (virtuosity of strings, drum rolls, guitars, electric or acoustic), which is often joined by a use of synthesizer, the backbone of proto- electronic music. With regard to genre influences, avant-pop "robs mothers" music, giving form to a non-genre: there are those who prefer to refer to jazz or blues cues, who puts the emphasis on the verse rapping, who recalls subgenres such as ska, krautrock or cosmic music.
And the lyrics? Against all expectations, avant-pop does not repudiate the word, but in some cases it makes it dialogue with the pure beat. If the mainstream music scene has encouraged the monopoly of the English language, any folk choice becomes unconventional. It is therefore not unusual to find artists who sing in Arabic, Spanish, Italian, German.
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Playlists have made clear what avant-pop is, but they can go up to a certain point. This non-genre, to express itself entirely, needs tactile vibrations, light games, contact with a human network: what better place than a music festival? Which city but Turin, the Italian capital of electronic music? As famous as the Kappa FuturFestival, the Club To Club Festival is heading towards its 22nd edition. Urban spaces, suggestive performances, accompanied by the most innovative artists of the avant-pop panorama. From 31st October to 3rd November, internationally renowned artists will perform, such as Arca, Nala Sinephro, Sega Bodega, Kali Malone, Shabaka, Mabe Fratti.
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For those who can not resist until November, a taste of the C2C will be given on 11 April next in Milan, on the occasion of the launch of the new campaign Adidas Originals "1000 Back", homage to the models Gazelle, Samba and SPEZIAL, real icons of the German brand. At the District 272 in Milan, fashion and music will join in a unique event, which will see on stage Sega Bodega, DJ Python, Sister Effect and SPLENDORE.
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In short: a unique and unusual opportunity to approach the multifaceted world of avant-pop!
Illustration by Gloria Dozio - Acrimònia Studios
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