Goodiepal

Goodiepal & Orchester in 2016 Brille Bjarke (Grøn), Nynne Roberta Pedersen Pedersen, Rosalinde Mynster, Daniel S Bøtcher, Goodiepal Fanny SIF.

Goodiepal or Gæoudjiparl van den Dobbelsteen, whose real name is Parl Kristian Bjørn Vester, is a controversial Danish/Faroese musician/composer. Goodiepal's work often involves lectures and performances on the future of computer music, his own compositional practices and resonance computing. His tours have included 150 universities internationally.^[1][2] From 2004 till 2008 he was the head of the electronic music department and a teacher at DIEM (Danish Institute for Electro-acoustic Music) at the Royal Academy of Music in Aarhus, Denmark. He is the author of two books, Radical Computer Music & Fantastisk Mediemanipulation and El Camino Del Hardcore - Rejsen Til Nordens Indre.

Goodiepal is also known for travelling over very long distances using only his home-made cabin bike Kommunal Klon Komputer 2 that, with the help of a top-of-the-line dynamo system, could provide all the electric power needed for the equipment he used during a concert (which often involves playing back and recording from his audio recorder).^[3]

Goodiepal has given away both money and most of his belongings; in 2011 he published an “album object” containing a 500 Danish Crowns note and sold it for 250 Danish Crowns.^[4] During the Transmediale 2012 festival Goodiepal shipped his belongings over to install and subsequently give them away one by one, dubbed as the 'MORT AUX VACHES EKSTRA EXTRA – THE GIVE AWAY!' performance.^[5][6] In 2014 an advertisement in the Wire hinted at Goodiepal looking for a new owner for his self made Mechanical Birds.^[7]

In 2014, Goodiepal sold Kommunal Klon Komputer 2 to the National Gallery of Denmark, where it is now on display.^[8][9] A new bike is in the making, Kommunal Klon Komputer 9.

It’s tempting to say that his theorising is more interesting than his music, but the two are merely parts of a bigger picture.

— "Review of Battlefleet Gothic", The Wire Magazine 2014.

Early Biography

Goodiepal went to the Rudolf Steiner school where electronics were prohibited.^[10] This led to Goodiepal's participation in secret demo groups releasing demos on floppy discs for Commodore and Amiga computers, as well as experiments with UNIX and general computer coding.^[11] Goodiepal departed from the Steiner school after eight years, due to experiments with explosives, and embarked on various activities with hacker groups in computer software programming and distribution. He began seriously making and performing music in the winter of 1986.^[12] Goodiepal's early mentors included artists Odd Bjertnes and Halfdan Larsen.

Teaching and Lecturing

In 2002, Goodiepal gave his first lectures in the USA, among other places at CalArts, Brown University and University of Iowa, on the subjects of radical computer music, radical software and other topics.^[13][14] In 2004 Goodiepal was hired as professor of History and Aesthetics of Electronic Music at DIEM (Danish Institute of Electro-acoustic Music), The Royal Danish Academy of Music in Aarhus, Denmark, and served as head of the electronic music department. Goodiepal also eventually taught Composition at DIEM.^[15][16] In 2008, Goodiepal left The Royal Danish Academy of Music. Upon his resignation, he produced the declaration Five steps in a Gentleman's War on the stupidity of modern computer music and media based art, released as a supplement to the audio piece The Official Mort Aux Vaches Ekstra Extra Walkthrough and the series of images called Snappidaggs explaining the methodology behind Goodiepal's concept of Radical Computer Music. In between releases, projects, and installations, Goodiepal lectures extensively all over the world.^[17]

Radical Computer Music

The term Radical Computer Music was coined by Goodiepal in relation to the Mort Aux Vaches Ekstra Extra compositional game scenario. It promotes an expanded dialogue between human beings and artificial and alternative intelligences as a way to transgress a condition of stagnation, according to Goodiepal prevailing in contemporary computer music and media art.^[18]

He received a huge amount of criticism for this work.^[19]

Selected Activities

Mort Aux Vaches Ekstra Extra

In 2002, Goodiepal created a brick based compositional musical language. This language was then developed into the Mort Aux Vaches Ekstra Extra compositional game scenario.^[20] Originally intended to be premiered around 2003, the game was not brought into action until 2007 when it was premiered at the gallery Andersen's Contemporary in Copenhagen, Denmark.^[21]

Goodiepal lecturing at Princeton University, 2003

Mort Aux Vaches Ekstra Extra was performed as a lecture at Gallery Andersen Contemporary, Copenhagen, Denmark in 2007 and the 5th Berlin Biennale for Contemporary Art, 2008.^[22][23] The game scenario of the lecture is an exercise in the creation of musical scores to challenge the mindset of "other" intelligences, considering issues such as utopia, time, notation techniques, language, unscannability, and the role of the composer.^[24][25]

In 2005 the live-album Mort Aux Vaches (Staalplaat) was released.

Hacker Pack

In 2004 Goodiepal produced and sold a library and sound archive called the Hacker Pack in an attempt to devalue recorded media. The content of the Hacker Pack was mainly what he described as "reclaimed sounds", in other words sounds that he had made for various jingles and advertisements. The discs also included various software and data on conspiracy theories and UFO activities.^[26]

Circus Pentium

Goodiepal went on to participate in the installation Circus Pentium by Danish artist Henrik Plenge Jakobsen opening at Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen, Denmark, also in 2004. The work comprised a circus installation with Goodiepal playing the lute alongside other actors and was also shown at Art Basel, Switzerland, and Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, Netherlands.^[27]

Communication & Selected Advertisements

• 

  Goodiepals Mechanical Bird advertisement in The Wire (UK), issue 370, Dec 2014, p. 11.

• 

  Goodiepals Sound File advertisement in The Wire (UK), issue 372, February 2015, p. 11.

Goodiepal has an unusual way of communicating with the world. Instead of using social media he takes advertisement space out in selected music and art magazines such as the Wire. Recent advertisements in the Wire suggest that the Goodiepal is again giving away more of his belongings, such as his two mechanical birds and the 'keys' to unlock the cypher of his book El Camino del Harcore.^[28]

The Autonomous Music School

In 2007, Goodiepal opened an autonomous school on the first floor of The Blue House in London, designed by FAT Architecture, for people interested in Radical Computer Music and other of his arts. The school, open from 9am to 10:10am every weekday, was free of charge.^[29]

Goodiepals Mechanical Birds

The Mechanical Birds

Goodiepal first premiered his self-built mechanical bird, wind-up music machine in 2004. The machine utilizes fabricated punch cards also made by Goodiepal. Goodiepal further commissioned experimental electronic composers Anthony Manning and Pure to record special wake-up calls for the mechanical birds.^[30] The mechanical birds were also Goodiepal's first adventure into what he later described as resonance computing.

Mainpal Inv. Brand-archive

Mainpal Inv. Brand-archive consists of a series of autonomously manipulated sound designs for a range of companies such as Sony, Nokia,^[31] Chupa Chups and Bang & Olufsen.

Kommunal Klon Komputer 2 installed at SMK in 2014

El Camino del Hardcore - Rejsen Til Nordens Indre installation at SMK

In 2014 the National Gallery of Denmark bought Kommunal Klon Komputer 2, which was installed as a mixed media installation, in between Goodiepal's old push scooter and his old Pedersen bicycle, surrounded by his entire art collection. All three vehicles used to be part of Goodiepal's "Battlefleet Gothic" and carry self-made plates to that effect. An overview of Goodiepal's Battlefleet can be seen on the 2014 LP Battlefleet Gothic picture discs^[32] and the accompanying four page 30x30cm inserts, released on FONAL.^[33]

The Goodiepal Equation

"The further a message has to travel over space and time, the more importance can you add to its content".

— "The Goodiepal Equation", Inscribed into side 4 of the vinyl.^[34]

In 2013 Goodiepal presented this equation for the first time, as an etching on one of the runout grooves of side 4 of his 2LP vinyl Red Man K's Bedrifter, which was released on Editions Mego in 2013.^[35] Since then he has presented the equation regularly, sometimes described as 'the only interesting thing he has ever said'. In a television interview with Tallinna TV, Goodiepal explains the equation further, saying "Anything written in ancient Egypt will be far more important than a book written by me, just because it has travelled so far over space and time."

Music

EMEGO 2011 Cover

0. Side == Intro

1. Side A Tilbage Til Havet

2. Side B Tilbage Til Havet

3. Side C Søsterhøj Mysteriet

4. Side D Hessdalen

9. Side I Where Is The Rapper

10. Side J Where Is The Instrumentals

11. Side K Vinter & vers

12. Side L Vinter & Vers

13. Side M Slet Dig Selv

14. Side M Slet Din Synth

15. Side M Zlet Dij selv Instrumental

16. Side N Helt Opløst Mand

17. Side O (e)vol My Robotic Skills Have Failed

18. Side P (e)vol My Robotic Skills Have Failed

19. Side Q (Mono) Music For A Film

20. Side Q (Stereo) Music For A Film

21. Side R (Stereo) Music For A Film

22. Side S Sun Jammer Baba Jögan

23. Side T Sun Jammer Baba Jögan

24 Side U Electrolux Jazzhouse

25. Side V Electrolux Jazzhouse

26. Side V Electrolux PRINCIPIUM

27. Side W (Political) Heikutronix

28. Side W (True) Heikutronix

29. Side X Eurabia

30. Side Y Red Man K's Bedrifter

31. Side Z Red Man K's Bedrifter

32. Side Æ Red Man K's Bedrifter

33. Side Ø Havet

34. Side Å Havet

In 2016, Goodiepal released an album on Editions Mego entitled EMEGO 211, using the Wikimedia Commons as the device of dissemination, which also thereby released the album into the public domain. The album is to the right – the tracks 5-8 are omitted on purpose:^[36]

Books

• Goodiepal & ALKU. El Camino del Hardcore - Rejsen Til Nordens Indre. 2012.^[37]
• Radical Computer Music & Fantastisk Medie Manipulation. Co-published with Pork Salad Press. 2009. ISBN 978-1-934399-12-5.^[38][39][40]

Honors

• Narc Beacon was awarded an honourable mention at the Ars Electronica Festival in Linz, Austria, in 2002.^[41]
• In 2005, Goodiepal was commissioned by the Nordic Council of Ministers to create a sound piece representing Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Iceland, and Greenland at the World Expo 2005 in Aichi, Japan. The result was a generative computer music program playing Goodiepal music through countless speakers in three exhibition spaces in the exhibition's Nordic pavilion.^[42]
• Mort Aux Vaches Ekstra Extra was presented at the 5th Berlin Biennale for Contemporary Art, 2008.
• On 27 October 2008, Goodiepal received a first class merit certificate at StoryTellerScotland. He is now officially allowed to call himself a Master Storyteller of the highest accord in the UK.^[43]
• In November 2010, Goodiepal received the Danish Heinrich Prize at Den Grå Hal, Christiania, for his war on the Royal Academy of Music.^[44]

Miscellaneous

Being a contemporary European music figure, Goodiepal has appeared as a modern folk legend in other artist's works. Among these the most notable might be:

• Momus, "Goodiepal" from the album Jeomus (Cherry Red Records, 2008)
• Scotter, "The Hardcore Massive" from the album Jumping All Over The World (Sheffield Tunes, 2007)
• Stephen Sharp & Roc Jiménez De Cisneros, "CONTINUUM, EXPANDED" (Museu d'Art Contemporani de Barcelona, 2011)
• Kevin Blechtum, "Get on Your Knees Boy" from the album Eat My Heart Out (Chicks on Speed, 2005)
• T.S. Høeg, "Nnooijjj, nu går det stærkt, men det skal nok gå alt sammen", piece for chamber ensemble 3 Betingelser for Liv (1999)
• T.S. Høeg, "Når galskaben først er sluppet løs" from the collection of poems Albue (Copenhagen: Borgen, 2008)
• Negativland, "You’re the sole reason we still take contemporary European music seriously"
• Jason Forrest-Donna Summer, "100% Goodiepal" (Ljud Records, 2004)
• Terese Bröchner Christensen & Sirid Bonderup "Kunstværket I Den Computionelle Værdsættelses Tidsalder" (IT Universitetet, København, 2012)
• V/Vm, numerous tracks on the mp3-file V/Vm 365 (V/Vm Test Records, 2006)
• Ascoltare, "Gaeouija"
• Mark von Schlegell, Mercury Station (Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press, 2009)
• Viola Thiele, "1+1=3, Auf der Suche nach dem gemeinsamen Dritten in Kunst und (Pop-) Musik" (Institut für Kunst im Kontext, Universität der Kunste, Berlin, 2008)
• Iben Langholz Carstensen, "Død over looped" (Institut for Kunst- og Kulturvidenskab, Litteraturvidenskab, Københavns Universitet, 2015)
• TR Kirstein, "Runyon, a boy who knows" (Performance, 2011)
• Rasmus Espenhain Nielsen, "Mort Aux Vaches Ekstra Extra: En Indledende Scanning" (Musikvidenskab, Institut for Kunst og Kulturvidenskab, Københavns Universitet, 2009)
• Maria Kjær Themsen, "Død over Køerne - kritiske strategier i dansk samtidskunst" (Institut for Kunst- og Kulturvidenskab, Litteraturvidenskab, Københavns Universitet, 2009)
• Gary Schultz: Negative Money: Care Of Editions, PDF 2012

External links

• Lecture by Goodiepal at Radical Software, W139, Amsterdam, August 27, 2014
• Mort Aux Vaches Ekstra Exstra and Radical Computer Music explained by Goodiepal, Portland, USA, 2009
• Goodiepal - A Day in the Mouth episode 5.
• Video of Goodiepal's talk on Radical Computer Music at reboot 11.
• Goodiepal profile on Discogs
• Gaeoudjiparl microsite on V/Vm Test Records
• The Official Mort Aux Vaches Ekstra Extra Walkthrough
• Snappidaggs as explained in the Official Mort Aux Vaches Ekstra Extra Walkthrough.
• Radical Computer Music group on Facebook
• Det Spekulative Øre - Danish blogpost by Torben Sangild about Radical Computer Music
• Video of the mechanical bird
• Maxgumtree web exhibition with sound by Goodiepal See also "The Sequencer Paradigm" by Alessandro Ludovico
• 'Letters of Recommendation'
• The Way Of The Hardcore
• Temporary audio discussion board where Goodiepal answers questions relating to the Official Mort Aux Vaches Ekstra Extra Walkthrough
• "Composing with process: perspectives on generative and systems music #7.2
• "Eurobot advanced music class" from goodiepal/gaeoudjiparl. DIEM - Danish institute for electroacustic music

References