ABOUT
Not Applicable is a group of musicians, composers, visual artists and filmmakers collaboratively developing new approaches to their respective artistic pursuits. Not Applicable is an open-ended framework which encompasses both the realisation and documentation of these collaborations in the form of performances, installations, CDs, DVDs and on the web.
Background
Not Applicable started in 2002 when the electronic duo Icarus (Ollie Bown and Sam Britton) decided to temporarily take on the complete production and release of their own music, enabling themselves to draw a line as freely as possible under periods of musical experimentation by producing a publicly available document. The label itself served as a platform independent of industry dictated procedures, where it was possible to publish work simply and distribute it locally.
The first releases (2002’s ‘Misfits’, ‘Soviet Igloo’ and ‘8 minutes’) were predominantly experimental in nature and attempted different solutions at packaging in order to reduce overall costs. With the limited coverage they received, owing to vastly scaled down distribution and publicity, these releases could safely be described as underground, aiming primarily at delivering a form of continuity in Icarus’s constantly evolving sound world. The internet proved a useful ally to the cause and ‘Misfits’ gained a degree of classic status in electronic music circles, which ultimately resulted in the duo signing to the Leaf Label in 2003. Post ‘I Tweet The Birdy Electric’ (Leaf 2004) and its associated accolades, the Not Applicable theme was picked up again to present further sonic evolutions in the form of 2005’s ‘Carnivalesque’, whose packaging consisted of recycling discarded album art from old promo CDs.
The label and the list of cohorts has since expanded as the musical ideas pushed further. 2006 saw the duo working their way from the underground, independent, commercial music world in which they started working, into improvised, academic and research circles, offering different points of view on music and culture. The result of this exposure has led to a set of innovative electro-acoustic collaborations who’s documentation started with the Tom Arthurs and Ollie Bown ‘Electric Duo’ EP and has continued with ‘Five Loose Plans’ and ‘Nowhere’, releases which combined Isambard Khroustaliov with Maurizio Ravalico and Lothar Ohlmeier. Filmmakers Martin Hampton and Britt Hatzius also began working with Not Applicable on visual accompaniments to their performances and on a series of experimental short films exploring the combined possibilities of sound and image.
With the help of PRSF funding, 2007 saw the touring of the Not Applicable Artists as a whole group and the beginning of a London residency showcasing new collaborations: Appliances. The results of all this activity are documented on the compilation ‘N/A – An Intorduction to Not Applicable’ which was released in September 2008 as a free download.
