Intergalactic Research Institute for Sound presents BANU - TransSoundScapes

CLOT Magazine

South-east Turkey-born DJ sound artist and producer, Banu is bringing the sounds for our next mixtape. The artist uses music as a political tool. For Banu, the strong message carried through sound is a vehicle to express emotions as well as a means of fighting against oppression. Coming from a conservative family, making music has been her lifelong dream. It was the moment she had the opportunity to work with the iconic Arp 2600 synthesiser (a younger sibling to Eliane Radigue's infamous 2500 machine) that all her interests came into place to create an empowering soundscape with the aid of analogue drum machines. In her artistic practice, Banu uses participation, social design, ecology, and feminist and queer theory to create multimedia installations with sound as the main element, making her practice closer to contemporary art and activist spaces than the club realm. Banu has also been exploring her approach to sound and composition through her PhD research, focused on how to include sound in the Urban Design process. As Urban Design and Architecture concentrate mainly on the visual aspect of the urban space, other senses have never thought of or given very little consideration. For Banu, listening and hearing are essential in our daily life to understand the urban space and our surroundings. She also told us how she took the challenge and included human perception with Pauline Oliveros' Deep Listening theories and what attentive listening can bring about. She proposes sound as a participatory tool which means not only measurements and acoustics play a role but how we as users hear or listen to the urban space. Banu has also very recently released her debut album 'TransSoundScapes' (Intergalactic Research Institute For Sound, 2022). The production is an exercise in female solidarity between her as a migrant woman (she's currently based in Berlin) and her sisters from the trans community, where an artist from one marginalised group showing support towards her trans sisters, using her platform to help them amplify their voices and building a bridge towards a mutual understanding of femininity. There is also a part where she proposes urban space as a music composition - she doesn't believe in improvisation. She thinks there are rhythms in life that everyone follows, but we still create a holistic composition; this is why life goes. There are ruptures, like accidents or pandemics... But we still find harmony. This mixtape, she says, it's a bunch of secret conversations with her Arp 2600 and everything influencing what she hears and listens to. It is about synths and drums. Tracklist: Banu - When the rain drops the lake - unreleased Banu - Transitioning (Part I) / TransSoundScapes - Intergalactic Research Institute for Sound Banu - Drama - unreleased Banu - Transit - unreleased Banu - Bianka / TransSoundScapes - Intergalactic Research Institute for Sound Banu - Say her name - unreleased Banu - Arp Cry - unreleased Banu - First Time (instrumental) - unreleased Mike Dean - Whales / 4: 22 - MWA Music Pearson Sound X Clara! - Mi Cuerpo Rastronaut - Pontinha Entrañas - OetapaZ Fearz - Tundra / Street Drumz (Vol​.​2) Fearz - Rosal​í​a - Motomami (Fearz Bootleg) Rosalía - A Palé (Overmono Edit) Dinemarca - Holy - Staycore Fatima Al Qadiri - Shaneera