- Live from Rewire Festival, Planet Mu affiliate Jana Rush and sound researcher Caroline Claus discuss gender politics, audio equipment and urban landscapes.
- At this year's instalment of Rewire Festival, which took place in The Hague from April 8th to 10th, artists were paired with sociologists and anthropologists for a series of stimulating conversations. One discussion between Chicago's Jana Rush and Caroline Claus, a Brussels-based sound researcher, stood out for its interconnections between dance music and urban environments as well as gender and technology. For this week's Exchange, we're presenting their chat.
Rush, known for her experimental forays into footwork and juke, incorporates a range of textures into her albums. From industrial to funky, her tracks frequently enter the realm of sound art but no matter how avant-garde she gets, her city remains a constant source of inspiration. Whether evoking the groove of house vocalists or the Windy City's politically-charged jazz movement, she's been a pillar of Chicago's club community for years. Claus, meanwhile, focuses on a topic known as "sonic urbanism," or how noise and vibrations impact city spaces such as railways and parks. Whether using field recordings for urban planning or engaging with the concept of sonic warfare, her studies explore interactions between individuals and spaces through sound. It can be said that both Rush and Claus are rooted in a sense of place—albeit in different ways. Rush, for instance, explained how she draws inspiration from music played in passing cars during summertime in Chicago.
The two also tackle how gender influences their respective equipment. Claus mentioned how her identity shapes the intentions of her recordings while Rush described how she felt compelled to master technical equipment because "if you don't know what you don't know, people are gonna capitalise off that and they're not gonna let it go because you're a female." During their 25-minute long talk, Rush also explained how she uses binary code. Listen on for the full details.
TracklistJana Rush - Clown [Planet Mu]