Level Up: Current Value has just announced a brand-new performance concept.
CVAV: Current Value Audio Visual Mechanism
The aim: to create a sense-blurring experience that viscerally enhances what he’s been doing with his music all along… Reflecting and subverting established sounds and ideas and generally bossing the shit out of the game with head-bending production and those signature loose, rattling grooves.
CVAV will exclusively comprise his own material with bespoke visuals (created by these guys). Improvisation-optimised, via Lemur virtual controllers with full A/V sync, the thematic vapour waves will be laced throughout the performance both musically and visually creating a whole new way to experience Current Value’s unique vision.
The experience launches this autumn – as a stand alone show and also as part of the Methlab AV Tour where CVAV is joined by Billain, Datacode and Zan Lyons for a full night of carefully curated cutting-edge audio visual content…
The tour will follow yet another high profile year for the Berlin producer. Maintaining momentum from the last two years, in which he rose to the very apex of the drum & bass tech motherland by way of releases on the likes of Invisible, Critical, RAM, Blackout, Bad Taste, MethLab, Cyberfunk, and Terminal.
2017 is set to be more focussed, with carefully picked releases on a few key labels – brushing off the dust of his Starfleet ruinations on Blackout with an EP on Doc Scott’s legendary 31, a few key collaborative tracks with Optiv, CZA & The Jam Thieves, a single on MethLab tied to the CVAV project and an album on a hugely respected imprint later this year, also intimately tied to the AV content.
But first, get acquainted with CVAV. Here’s what we know so far…
CVAV: How long has this been in the making and what inspired it?
De-identification is a central part of my ethos: Current Value represents more of an idea than an individual. The project’s core fundamental objective is constant adaptation and invention, a metaphorical transformative algorithm taking inspiration from current ideas and transforming them and engineering new forms. This is why the project output is not sub-genre specific and more like its own thing that draws influences from multiple sources from tech-deep-neuro-jump-up and more. CVAV is a way of illustrating these forms and working with creators who understand the visual language of what I’m aiming for with my sonic aesthetic and to create a complete piece that works in harmony and delivers the complete vision these ideas represent.
How will CVAV shows differ from a Current Value DJ set?
In a typical CV set I cover a lot of ground with many tracks included, and come up with a new concept for each and every performance. CVAV differs because it will be focussed on a limited pool of fresh material, much of which will be tied into a very significant release. All of the musical content is mine and it’s manipulated using the many possibilities of Ableton Live with virtual lemur controllers.
There will also be fresh material for each performance, because that flexibility is important to me, but the main focus is the many different possibly journeys through a pool of what I believe is some of my most advanced work to date along with the evolving visual narrative.
Tell us about the visual side of things: who’s created the graphics? Do they have any themes or messages?
The visual creators and collaborators for CVAV are Greenaway & Greenaway, they possess a real mastery of aesthetics and their technological concepts are completely intertwined with the audio for this project. The video teaser shows a few moments from the overall show – it’s thematically exactly in line with the CV concept that I explained previously.
How do the visuals work with the music and do they allow you free creative control to improvise?
The visuals are exactly synced to the audio, with the technology being used giving the freedom to manipulate both elements simultaneously, including both the journey taken through the music and visuals, and live manipulation of both. CVAV is also adaptable to all club or party environments and existing visual systems. The bigger the screens – the more people will get from the experience.
CVAV tour will run from Autumn onwards both as an independent show and as part of MethLab AV showcase featuring CVAV alongside three other audiovisual acts – below are trailers for 2 more of the artists, with a 3rd available upon request with enquiries…
BILLAIN
