when i sat down with my website designer, he snickered a little, good-naturedly, at my station’s catch phrase: “from Twang to anti-Twang”.
“my music would fall under the ‘anti-Twang’ category,” Sky explained.
Sky is the mastermind behind the band-tribe-project-operation Hipnautica. Hipnautica is an ever-evolving musical project that regularly incorporates different musicians, instruments, and performers-- but it all starts at Sky’s keys, meaning his computer’s keyboard. he’s a composer of electronic music. he likes to borrow from various genres and host guest musicians playing a range of instruments. (i get the feeling no 2 shows are the same!)
so i headed out to the Red River music district with the feeling i was in for something different, and boy did i feel silly in my jeans and hippie halter top once i entered the venue. i was supposed to have danced Michael Jackson’s Thriller with hundreds of other Austinites earlier that evening-- i ended up not doing that, but if i had, my long black zombie dress would have blended right in. Hipnautica was filming a video shoot that night, and it was like entering an alternative universe.
the music genre being embraced was totally new to me: steampunk. and what’s more, steampunk is more than just music- it is also a genre of literary fiction, a clothing style, and aesthetic. it blends 1800’s Victorian romance with elements of fantasy with steam -powered technology (used frequently in the 1800’s).. whether the technology is real or fictional. in the room i saw an interesting blend of fashion: gloves, stockings, vests, long skirts, military coats, corsets.. mixed with black eyeliner, metallic jewelry, and laced-up high heeled boots.. While top-hatted Sky was setting the musical framework--an electronic backdrop that i can only best describe as industrial--electric guitars and a drummer ornamented with chains filled out the sound while dancers dreamily pulsed amidst the steam onstage. it was part guitar fuzz, part ambient-- industrial rock with a fittingly hypnotic electronic pull to it. the crowd swayed in time together and seemed more an extension of the band than an audience. Sky also sang with a strong deep voice, and although there were lyrics, his vocals were more instrumental than a medium for conveying a specific message. the music was the message. when the shoot was over-- music stopped, dancers stopped, steam stopped, applause stopped-- we all kinda stood there for a moment, in a daze. what had we all just experienced?
i have a strong suspicion it’s a little different each time, or maybe very different each time… Hipnautica is more than a band.. it is in fact a three-dimensional experience. they create what they call soundscapes. and as Sky had originally mused , these soundscapes fall under the category of.. anti-Twang. ;)
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