A short talk with DJ Sabrina The Teenage DJ on Aesthetics, decontextualizing an Object, and The Simpsons.
Diogo: DJ Sabrina, do you consider your music to be somewhat of a reconstruction of Aesthetics? What captivates you in the sounds of the past?
DJ Sabrina: I do in a sense, although my investment in aesthetics is more often a byproduct of the fact my favorite music is from the past; I listen to so much stuff that uses production and arrangement techniques that at times have been considered "dated", but to me, it just sounds very regular!
Diogo: Can you really decontextualize something from its original context? Is it still the same object that it was before or does it suffer a transformation?
DJ Sabrina: It's definitely possible, although sometimes you may wish to bring some of that context with you into your own work, and at other times you might want the essence without the framing. Since I Left You did an amazing job of combining easy listening from the '60s and '70s, soundtrack scores and movie dialogue effortlessly with Electronica, Hip-Hop, and '80s Pop but nothing sounded out of place, rather it all seemed to flow together to work in the world they'd established. I think decontextualizing shouldn't be forced, but come more naturally.
Diogo: I find it curious that elements coming from different cultural contexts are able to merge in convincing ways. Artists like you have the ability to turn the time and space game upside down, breaking barriers and uniting realities along the way, don't you agree?
DJ Sabrina: Definitely. I was thinking about certain aspects of music that are culturally or historically significant that might be sampled; I would consider the photographer who captures a special moment, not wishing to trivialize the deep sentiment or steal anything from the originators, but merely pay respect to it by recording what it means to them in the most respectful way possible. I think samples from different contexts can be combined considerately and assembled in originally unintended ways that still recognize the underlying importance, while placing them in new and equally interesting contexts.
Diogo: You said your pentalogy of albums from Makin' Magick to Charmed represents "a part of a personal journey, similar to the five stages of grief: hope, elation, disillusionment, acceptance, and closure". It's interesting to see your discography as the soundtrack to a coming-of-age movie.
DJ Sabrina: I always wanted to make films but they're impossible to do alone, so I think some of the cinematic elements come from trying to project some of my storytelling interests into the music. I love deep lore and iceberg theories, and the reason many writers and filmmakers don't like to explicitly describe their meanings is to allow the audience to draw their own conclusions. I always have a lot of meaning and back-story intended already, it's fun to see if anyone else notices or figures it out!
Diogo: I was just wondering if you find any deep lore particularly captivating.
DJ Sabrina: I love iceberg conspiracies, they're unabashedly fabricated while simultaneously creating entirely new concepts and histories for the subject, and isn't that what art is about? It's not necessarily how we are meant to understand or believe it by either The Word Of God or its practical existence, but what it means to us as individuals.
Diogo: What about The Makin' Magick II Album and The Other Realm? Where do they fit in the narrative you've created?
DJ Sabrina: The Other Realm directly picks up where "End Of An Era" and the Charmed novelization finished. "End Of An Era" is the protagonist's death and transcendence as seen from the mortal realm, a beautifully tragic experience as witnessed through human perception. "Transcendence" is the exact same moment as viewed from the other realm, a much more cold, lifeless, and disassociated version of the events without the natural tendency to romanticize even the darkest of moments we face. The Other Realm ends with "The Promise", which is a time-inverted version of "Spirit" from Makin' Magick II, the end of "The Promise" aligns precisely in the time-scale with the very beginning of "Spirit". This is the moment our protagonist is reborn from the other realm into the mortal realm. Realms occur chronologically after she has been reborn, the sound of the other realm in our memories, vacant and void of a time-scale without her half-mortal soul, but still an echo of human warmth trails on as a fixed impression.
Diogo: Are you a fan of The Simpsons? There's a melancholic aura present in the night scenes, the purple and blue color palette. I found out that there are these online communities that show appreciation for Aesthetics, reacting to these types of scenarios in similar ways. What do you think about semantics in art?
DJ Sabrina: I LOVE early Simpsons, one of the first shows I remember watching! Simpsonwave is incredible, the show always had an amazing visual palette from the very first episodes and I'm endlessly inspired by the muted-yet-vibrant blues, pinks and de-saturated greens the show used. I probably put the most value into how art (aural or visual) is projected, I don't consciously try to make my music or art look "old" but rather from another place, timeless in a way. There's nothing specifically retro about pixel-art, color dithering, tape sound or film look but they all originate from a lack of technology that was subsequently developed or "improved upon". If you can render more colors or pixels, do you? If you can record closer to the source material, should you? Acting styles don't necessarily aim to capture a real-life experience, but rather the most engaging for an audience, just as direction isn't always about simulating the audience being in the room watching the events for themselves. Creativity doesn't have to always resolve itself to the most mundane, realistically boring experiences, it should be about being creative and I think aesthetics plays a huge part in setting the scene for art, especially in a time when we can observe almost every kind of possible technological advancement in art.
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