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E L E _ M E N T A L
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the funda_mentals ele_mental is a loosely-defined affiliation between a group of creative, technologically-oriented people centered primarily in columbus, ohio. as a simple group project, ele_mental represents an important part of our multifaceted local electronic music scene, and promotes ele_mental artists, DJs, and events. ele_mental also exists as a resource for many individual projects; promoting diversity, technology, experimentalism, minimalism, various kinds of electronic music, and other artistic mediums. as a wider concept, ele_mental also represents the deeper connections between technology and humanity, and our place in it all. ele_mental grew from friendships that were established in the early '90s among a small, diverse group of artists and musicians. after discovering some of the basic, simple connections between electronic music and electronic art, we decided to integrate these forms through an all-night event called ELE MENTAL (saturday 18 may 1993), which brought music and art together in the loose, open-ended environment of a university parking garage. several months later, we named ourselves after this event, and kept the arbitrary spacing, which highlighted the mental aspect of our mission (the space would eventually become a dash or an underscore). two years later, on 17 august 1995 (promoting the first ele_ment concert event, called (H): HYDROGEN), the hydrogen atom made its debut as our unofficial logo, and has come to symbolize our back-to-basics approach. the tactics the most visible part of the project has been our wide variety of electronic dance music events: from cafe gatherings, to gallery openings, to experimental house parties, club events, and warehouse-style raves. our events always emphasize detroit-style hard techno, deep melodic techno, dark drum'n'bass, experimental electro, hard chicago trax, underground house, noise, and the live performance of electronic music. these events also frequently include art-oriented elements such as avant-garde flyer design, abstract lighting and visuals, music history, and underground venues. at the same time, every effort has been made to keep most of these events simple, affordable, accessible, exploratory, and fun. as part of this overall effort, ele_mental has also promoted electronic music and music events to a wider audience, by mediating between underground and mainstream cultures, and offering ourselves as a resource to new listeners or performers who seek to understand these new electronic forms. as a collective of performers and DJs, ele_mental represents a similar unity. our performance fees are always low, determined by the nature of the event. the music we play often leans towards the abstract, minimal, and experimental, without forgetting that dance music is intended to make people dance. most of us feel a certain obligation to our audiences, not only to keep them dancing, but also to convey the depth of electronic music (and its history), and the depth of our involvement in it. finally, we are well-known for our willingness to perform live, and to test the boundaries of what is expected. ele_mental has also existed as a resource for electronic musicians, providing each other with feedback, advice, technical support, and opportunites to contribute music. this collaborative and helpful atmosphere has resulted in several local electronic music releases, most notably those of our parallel project, the 21/22 corporation. as a conceptual entity, ele_mental has also promoted a deeper undestanding of art, through our own explorations of computer-aided design, experimental sculpture, installation environments (such as the kind created by the (23) media collective), and all forms of electronic music; while eluna's ongoing project entitled think promotes a deeper understanding of electronic and experimental music history. in the simplest sense, ele_mental is what we all do as individuals, unified by our mutual optimism about the growth and development of technology in our daily lives; taking the best of the new, while re-using the old. this website is a manifestation of this simple idea, and an incomplete documentation of our activites thus far. |
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