After a brief chat post-algorave, Lu(ke) asked me to write this blog post. So here I am.
Pastagang is a electronic music jam collecting that anybody can join. We make music and visuals in our browsers using a variety of "live-coding" tools. "Live-coding" in this case is using code to make dynamic art. We make our music in a space called nudel, and you can join us!
A session is when a group of amateur musicians regularly get together at some pub, order drinks and play a variety of songs and tunes on acoustic instruments.
Sometimes they all play the same thing, something they all know. This will be drawn from some tradition. Other times only one or two will play something that only they know. Sometimes, they will start off slow and play over and over so people have a chance to learn by ear and join in, and it will turn into a playing like the first. Other times people will simply watch and listen.
This is similar to pastagang because it regularly happens in a place (nudel), features an ever-changing cast of amateur artists, and produces a music which is not to everybody's taste, but is enjoyed primarily by the people making it.
The music within some tradition or another have a limited set of forms (instruments, time signatures, keys, feels), and are easy to pick up if you already know other things from within the tradition. This makes it easy to join in, once you've gotten past the initial hurdle.
Each time pastagang get together, we play something different, but everything we play sounds similar in certain ways. Whether that's a "lick", or because certain people like certain sounds, or because we're all using the same musical language (uzu). Different groups will prefer different things within a broader tradition, but it is usually always possible to join in by listening and making sounds similar to those you hear.
Pastagang music exists in a (mostly) unrecorded tradition, that only exists as part of the encounter of musicians within nudel.
What's more, it feels similar when I take part in pastagang as when I take part in a session. I'm trying to contribute in my own way to the temporary, musical, project of the group; negotiating with the (musical and other) personalities and limitations of my own skills and the tradition we play within.
The biggest similarity is the idea of "you become part of it by joining in, and that's it". It's kinda how Quaker meetings work here in the UK. You sit in the circle at 10:30 on a Sunday and that's it. You're part of it now. It all feels very similar to me.
For some reason, people don't really dance at algoraves. Ha! That depends what kind of algorave you go to. Despite the music being full of sounds to move your body around to. Usually people stand and watch and talk to each other. People don't really dance at sessions either, and certainly not the musicians, but they do at least tap their feet and sometimes the music is played by the same people, but standing up, just for other people to dance to!
I think live-coders can be quite self-conscious about our performance and art and constantly analysing it and trying to innovate. I don't think this is necessary, and sometimes I think we should slow down and let it breathe. Sessions haven't changed, for a long time (excepting recently trying to be more inclusive -- at last!!), because they are fun, and they work! Sometimes that's all you need.
A session is not like a pastagang jam because everybody knows in advance what role they will be playing. This is the greatest dissimilarity. Some sessions (like one of the ones I frequent) incorporate jam elements some weeks to try and be even more accessible to people who don't know the tradition.
One big difference is that a lot of sessions are not particular accomodating to beginners, whereas pastagang is. Usually tunes are played quickly, and if you struggle to keep up little accomodation will be made. Some sessions will try to play things slowly as well as quickly, but many view quickly as the "correct" way for many tunes to be played (despite the fact that this often blurs the rhythms). Sessions can be full of people who all look and sound the same, and this excludes many people as well.
That what I think. What do you think?