On a seemingly ordinary and uninspiring Wednesday night, Joe Seul, also known as RaeF, stimulated the sound junkies of Gainesville with his trance-inducing, mind-melting audio and visual expertise. The event took place at the Civic Media Center downtown and if you’re asking yourself “What the hell is that?” it is an independent library of alternative press that serves as a resource for grassroots activism and public awareness. The CMC often hosts documentary screenings, slam poetry, musicians, and sells pretty good coffee to boot.
As an enthusiast of the offbeat contemporary, even I was unprepared for the impression RaeF’s progressive project would leave on my musical perceptions.
Cultivating a standard of interactive and ever-changing independent performance, RaeF hails from Sarasota, FL, the place where I first discovered the existence of fire poi, PCPs, and a small community of eccentric and diverse artists.
As defined by a random cybernaut on Urban Dictionary, RaeF apparently stands for “the art of being able to excel in almost everything simply by being yourself.” More fitting than most virtual definitions, RaeF’s musical aptitude and distinct flair is undoubtedly all his own, stemming from a very intimate place of creative genius. But it is in the principle of being true to thyself that I see the most value, and RaeF’s musical aspirations are a prime example of that.
Joe Seul, who has been working with music since 2004, is the single member of RaeF, producing vocals, guitar, and bass, synthesizing and composing beats and melodies, and utilizing interface hardware and software (notably Ableton Live) in order to control and create the most authentic of psychedelic music experiences. RaeF, which ironically spells FEAR backwards, takes a dynamic, no-holds-barred philosophy when it comes to music production. Described as “heavy glitch-psych-pop,” RaeF employs an innovative mindset to allow him to take an avant-garde approach.
He refuses to pirate any pre-recorded samples or use simulated instruments, and if he himself does not generate each sound, he seeks out another virtuoso and diligently records their work until it is painstakingly perfect.
Rejecting the foundation of a traditional DJ, RaeF does not premeditate, pre-mix, or stack, but instead transforms the tracks on his most recent album, “Existential Hive Mind Blues,” during his live performance so that not one song is the same each time.
He incorporates an elaborate visual set-up, or, “the part of RaeF that goes in your eyeholes.” By manipulating multiple laser panels and LEDs at whatever speed and direction he sees fit, RaeF is able to penetrate your senses and soul by connecting colors with moments. He utilizes a hazy fog to create depth of space and alter visibility to enhance laser augmentation. By using a projector, he is able to flash .gif images of himself as well as other hilarious and bizarre memes. This technique favors the peculiar sense of humor found on sites like Reddit, as well as being similar in style to Adult Swim’s Tim and Eric Show.
“I recorded the first ever RaeF show at a Sarasota relay for life event in 2008. Seeing RaeF evolve from that to where he is today is unreal. For me, the fact that he is putting out art that involves using multiple senses to enjoy the piece is what makes him unique,” said Jared Glosser, after attending RaeF’s most recent performance.
Based on a real-time evolution of sound that refuses to be limited to any finalized form of a track, the improvisational tactic is what makes RaeF raw and real, and truly exposes creation at its core.
According to Joe, “It’s not RaeF if you haven’t been. You have to go to the show- I design and control experiences, and relying on recordings and images online is not going to give you what I can give you in a room.”
Regardless of whether you’d put “psychedelic ambient shoegaze” on your playlist, it is undeniable that this concept is revolutionary in that it brings electronic music back to it’s roots, before everything was pre-recoded and the toughest part about a performance was pressing play. By refusing to compromise his vision, he repels the generic, mundane repetition that has taken over mainstream music, developing his own formula instead of plugging himself into a Mike Will Made It type applet.
Herein lies the truth; a majority of musicians in today’s day and age are shoving stinking garbage down the throats of anyone willing to open their mouths.
That is why this particular evolution in the industry of music production and entertainment is both relevant and radical in the idea that each individual is not only performing their work, but also becoming it in the most expressive and technologically modern way. No longer is the only accompaniment to your favorite track a poorly choreographed backup dance number or a cheesy egoist motorcycle scene, but instead, a full-blown psychedelic experience.
Joe believes that “most mainstream music is ‘entertainment’ that is designed to maintain the status quo and allow people to escape comfortably or whatever…money almost destroyed the music business, but I think that with technology, we’ve been able to suck a lot of that money out of the system…I think there is a bright future ahead of us in terms of a shift in the power-pyramid of pop music and beyond.”
Although it is not clear-cut where this live multimedia revolution will take the industry, it undoubtedly establishes a truly experimental underground syndicate.
Photos courtesy of: Facebook
