The Domestic Front (musician)

Infobox Musical artist

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Name = The Domestic Front
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Background = group_or_band
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Origin = Chicago
Genre = Experimental music, Electronic
Years_active = 2000-present
Label = Belsona Strategic, TIBprod., others
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URL = [http://www.belsona-strategic.com official website]
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The Domestic Front is a nomadic sound art project centering around Thomas Transparent (né Bailey, 1977-present). Transparent has lived and worked in the U.S. (primarily Chicago), Central Europe, and Japan, being an active participant in these cities’ respective sound art communities.

History

The Domestic Front began performing and recording in Japan in 2000, following stylistic breaks with no wave and abstract techno music. The “saturation society” of Japan radically altered Transparent's perceptions towards sound- as such, he instantly dispensed with beat-driven forms of music, relying more on layered drones, abrupt electro-shocks and recordings of natural phenomena –albeit heavily mutated by numerous sound design tools- to create an immersive environment intended for simulating experiences of synesthesia. Some influences included Angus MacLise, Merzbow, Vladimir Ussachevsky, and The Hafler Trio.

The Domestic Front’s output was divided between hallucinogenic soundscapes and sound installations / recordings which investigate a certain isolated phenomenon: for example, The Domestic Front may be the first recording artist to compose an album completely of manipulated asthmatic breathing sounds. Another example of the latter method was a contribution to the Swedish sound art exhibit Parasomnia, in which sounds of Transparent’s sleep-talking formed the basis for an hour-long performance. Yet another recent release, ‘Datenschutz’, uses the sounds of raw data, as scanned by sound editing software, in a meditation on privacy in the internet age.

Despite a busy past few years of activity, financial constraints and dealings with a corrupt Chicago employer forced the large back-catalog of Domestic Front material to be released only on CD-R, virtual / downloadable albums or compilations; but a proper ‘debut’ CD was released in May 2006 under the title “Having Achieved Balance, You Cannot Be Moved Sideways…So You Rise”. This is available from Transparent’s own ‘micro-label’, Belsona (meaning ‘beautiful sound’ in Esperanto.)

TDF was mostly apolitical in nature, encouraging the widespread use of raw sound as a kind of life-sustaining nourishment- but often the work of The Domestic Front questions the notions of anthropocentrism and unchecked human progress, and is influenced in this regard by thinkers as diverse as Chuang Tzu and John Gray (LSE). Life and history are seen by these thinkers as cyclical in nature, rather than headed towards an absolute end-point, as suggested by monotheistic religions and utopian thinkers.

The project was also critical of consumerism and celebrity- one live radio piece in Chicago was ‘dedicated’ to famed celebutante Paris Hilton, and featured a scathing telephone ‘voicemail message’ to Miss Hilton from Swedish sound artist Leif Elggren (Elggren is also one of the kings of the borderless state of Elgaland-Vargaland, of which Transparent is a passport-carrying citizen.)

The Domestic Front ceased activities in June 2008, also retiring the 'Transparent' pseudonym in the process. Thomas Bailey now focuses attention on recording under his own name, as well as multi-media installation work and writing- a beginner's guide to post-Industrial electronic music, "Micro Bionic: Radical Electronic Music and Sound Art in the 21st Century" is slated to be released concurrent with TDF's disbanding."Micro Bionic" is largely built up from interviews conducted with Peter Rehberg, Carl Michael von Hausswolff, John Duncan (artist), Peter Christopherson, William Bennett (of Whitehouse (band), and other artists operating on the peripheries of sound culture.

External links

* [http://www.belsona-strategic.com Domestic Front official website]
* [http://www.vitalweekly.net various Domestic Front reviews in Vital weekly magazine (issues 536,560,561)]