Artists

Alon Ilsar: Man, Body, Music, and Light as One

Australian-based drummer, composer, and instrument designer Alon Ilsar talks to us about his gestural instrument Airsticks. As a co-designer and SensiLab researcher (Monash University) of the innovative gestural instrument, Alon has dedicated his extensive PhD research to redefining what an instrument is and can be, whilst simultaneously making music creation more accessible to the broader community. Winner of the 2020 Melbourne Fringe SA Tour Ready Award, Dr. Ilsar recently showcased the next-generation musical journey of this research, where he commanded a holographic world with his custom-built AirSticks in the wholly unique two-man show Trigger Happy ‘Visualised’. The AirSticks combine the physicality of drumming with the unlimited possibilities of computer music, taking the practice of real-time electronic music to a new realm.

What do you attribute to your sound? How would you describe your sound and how has it evolved?

I deal with live performance through the use of live drums and custom gestural instrument that converts my movement to sound, I owe a lot of the attributes of my sound to physical gestures. I try to create electronic music that sounds like it’s being created through bodily movement, not through grids and timelines. Having said this, I love also utilising the humanly impossible elements of computer music; impossibly fast rhythms that turn into pitches, and polypolypolypolypolyrhythms that only a computer could coordinate. My sound evolves in reaction to these two approaches, what I call movement-led and sound-led, and gets inspired by whatever I listen to, from ambient drones to Moroccan Gwana music and math jazz.

What pieces of gear are essential to your sound? Do you gravitate towards single bits of gear for long periods of time?

My setup revolves around the creation of a new gestural instrument I designed, called the AirSticks. This instrument allows me to trigger and manipulate sounds and visuals in real-time through body movements, mostly using the metaphor of air-drumming but extending this metaphor to include twisting and throwing sounds in the sonic field. I’ve gravitated to using VSTs such as Wavetable and Operator in Ableton through the AirSticks, as those instruments allow me to map several parameters and create huge timbral shifts with small movements of the controllers.

How does your live set-up differ from what you use in the studio?

It’s all about my live setup. For me, the question is more about how my studio differs from my live set-up. I’ve actually not had a proper studio setup for a long time, focusing on creating pieces for the AirSticks, but when I do produce, it’s mostly on in the box.

Do you hoard gear, is there an emotional connection to some instruments or music technology?

I hoard cymbals, drums and bits of percussion, but this, combined with my gestural controllers, leaves me little money or headspace to explore hardware. I recently started plugging the AirSticks into outboard gear such as the Yamaha DX and Korg Minilogue and can’t wait to take the time to explore both digital and analogue synthesis more.

If you could create your ultimate instrument or piece of music gear, what would it be, what would it do, and how would it work?

Haha, great question! I really have created my ultimate instrument, or should I say started creating. I don’t think any instrument will ever be ultimate, but I’m working on improving the AirSticks every day, and it’s actually my job at Monash University’s SensiLab to do so, with a focus on making the instrument as accessible as possible for musicians with a physical disability.

Who would be one artist/producer you haven’t worked with (alive or dead) that you’d love to work with?

I would love to do a duo with Bjork, and work with Matmos or other producers she’s worked with on a live gestural show, with both of us playing AirSticks. One can only dream.

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