radical raves reclaim and liberate space in many dimentions

The in your face politics of punk rebellion put a circle a on millions of badges and graffiti walls. People not only bought the symbol, they also read and thought about it. The power and anger of punk's NO! was a reactive first step. But a culture of dissent and alternatives needs positive energy to fuel its further development. Where was YES?

is this r@ve olution ?

Techno's seismic shift cracked the conservative mono-cultural concrete, bringing back the sunlight to the age old spores of freedom. Well-mulched ideas from the fifties beatniks and sixties hippies have provided rich compost for ever resiliant strains of under culture. New genes, old flairs. With each generation of dn@ becoming wiser and more hardy. Aimless anger and itchy agit energy has mutated into the liberation of spaces in which to nurture resistance.

The radical rave reclaims and liberates space in many dimentions. It's a refusal to be subjected to what the beer barons and mainstream culture cabal dole out as entertainment. When a festive gathering is created by and for those attending it, empowerment is generated. The do it yourself/ourself (DIY/DIO) spirit brings out people's subversive strength motivating a move beyond passive consumption.

Just as the festive headspace is reclaimed from the profiteers of the spectacle, underculture raves are quite often held in reclaimed physical spaces; commons, parks, squats. Community groups are denied access to "legal" rave venues by huge rents. These colosseums for mass distraction are controlled by the emperors of the spectacle. Squatted spaces like the one used for the Visions of Freedom rave give local activist groups vital fun(d) and awareness raising opportunities. Check out Hakim Bey's book TAZ, for more on the temporary autonomous zones these events can create. 1

Techno music with its highly energised rhythmic pulses brings life to a dancefloor. The combined wiggling of bodies lets the revellers feel and see their kinaesthetic unity. The friendly party energy created helps find common bonds across diversities of cultural sub genres, sexuality, class and race. One world consciousness in part generated by monomassmedia can also be used to build bridges of resistance and common struggle. Collectives and travelling circus groups are organising events globally that bring people together to dance and be free. From Europe to India, Thailand, the Americas and here in Australia people have emitted various forms of repetitive rhythms in clubs, warehouses, forests, beaches and fields.This has created social change, bringing new expressions to the face of club culture, and a new fluoro glow to the summer music festival-happening. Festivals have re-emerged with self organised groups and individuals gathering autonomously. Human interaction working in an anarchic way without the need for a hierarchical law enforcement or an external power dictating conformity.

The community itself fills the space that hierarchical structures have colonised. This is not without its problems. Oppressive group control mechanisms can easily be inherited. Within the increased freedom to express individuality (through personal dress, etc) the community can apply peer pressure to be visibly individual or freaky. A good critique can be found in Hip Culture. 2

The music itself is often criticised for being faceless by it's detractors. But do we need popcult lure leaders? At an inclusive rave everyone's a star. Attention is focused more on the whole gathering of people...and the sounds. Music is the massage. Pulseing freakquencies swirl about the revvelers Power is diffused. Prioritising participation over performance, dance music moves the mind to the body. The limited vocal content allows the listener to develop their own free ideas whilst in a TAZ safe space. Self conscious dance styles have given way to faceless people going off to the mind-body rhythms. See Techno: Psycho Social Tumult for a more in depth exploration of these issues. 3

Trance formation of linear time scales is also an important part of the radical rave project. Dancing in the endless metronumbic beat is a liberation from the tyrrany of human imposed chronologic. Allowing a similtaneous experience of milliseconds and hours. Eventually the suns slow rays bring the night to a close and the dancers feel the wheels of the universe turning. Many rave festivals are held at the special times of full moon, solstice and equinox. This is a concious attempt to return dance celebration to natural cycles of the moon and sun.

Cultural and tec know logical shifts have opened up dance music to polymorphous cross fertilisation. When people stopped dancing and fell down laughing at a mix of techno and the Skippy theme tune it wasn't because they didn't like it. The human mind loves well-crafted contradictory sensory stimulation. Unifing diversity, DJ's freely mix tracks from a broad selection. The only limits to their stylistic border crossing are dexterity and imagination.

The cut and paste mentality of techno musicians is partly due to their use of the sound sampler. This type of instrument gives the ability to easily record and replay small samples of sound in flexible and fluxable ways. Sounds themselves can now be liberated. A lively bleep once held prisoner by an oppressive track is free to dance to a different beat. Evil lyrics of consumption, fear and greed can be detourned and mutated into statements of joyful resistance.

The techno/rave underculture is far from all positive, it displays as much variety as the rest of society. Many partys are purely commercial, failing to create the magical safe space that a mutually energised event creates. So DIY! Expanded E-scapeism