Household Appliances -as musical instruments-
Wasteland's take on music
Once more we find ourselves in Wasteland in search of strange and unique ways people living there use their items to make the most of the situation they live in. This time, we’re gonna take a look at the music produced there - and it’s just as strange as everything else that comes from there.
Unlike elsewhere in the world where a wide variety of instruments is readily available, people here have to get more creative with their music instruments. These could be as simple as pots and pans used as instruments, or something more elaborate and macabre, such as guitars made of ancient human skeletons. Here pretty much anything can be, and is used as a musical instrument, and some of more popular items to create music with here are kitchen and other household appliances.
Making music with kitchen appliances and Kitchencore
Old toasters, fridges, ovens, washing machines and more are frequently used in making music here - any sound they can produce can be used. As simple as it may seem at first, a few have mastered these appliances to create complex and unique music pieces played entirely on a washing machine, or a combination of appliances.
Everything from banging on the side of the appliance, opening and closing the doors and pressing buttons to produce different clicks and beeps are used to create different sounds and notes that can then be combined into entire songs. Creating music in this way gave birth to a new and unique music genre of Wasteland called kitchencore.
The drama between traditional and modern musicians
While everyone agrees that kitchen appliances are a good way of creating music, you’ll find two kinds of people with opposing views on the matter. First are the more old-school and somewhat elitist group, who believe that only genuine, unaltered appliances are a proper way to create "real" Wasteland kitchencore. These appliances would be the ones usually imported from other parts of the world, when they get broken or used up, and people here only fix them a bit if needed, to get them into working order. Other than small fixes, they leave them as they are. Some paint or decorate them to make them more aesthetically pleasing, but the most traditional ones won’t even do that.
On the other side, you have those who think the first group’s views are a bit outdated or even boring. They like to remodel the machines a bit to make them more like musical instruments, rather than just old appliances. In areas of T@Ö#Ä3 close to wasteland, you’ll even find washing machines, fridges and more, made specifically for this purpose - they won’t be any good for washing your clothes or keeping your food fresh. People here will add different add-ons, different textured materials, they’ll add and reprogram buttons to make a wider variety of sounds, that will be capable of creating even more impressive music pieces.
But what they see as an improvement, the first group sees as cheating. Only a true master can learn to create songs using only an old washing machine, you don’t need any special talent when your washing machine literally has a standard keyboard built into it.
Then again, even if it was just that, just playing a keyboard or similar instrument takes practice and talent, but making it work with other functions of a washing machine it’s a whole other skill on its own. But after all, why not improve your tools, if given a chance? Better and more advanced tools don’t make lesser art, quite the contrary - they more often than not provide more options to create better and more complex art.
The argument goes on with the first group claiming that this is betraying Wasteland's traditions of making the best of their environment and scarce materials, while others will argue that taking all these everyday defunct items and modifying them into something new and improved is in fact Wasteland tradition, and so the arguments continue on.
But what do fans think?
Not only the creators of this music, but its fans as well get into similar arguments. Is it real kitchencore if it’s made with modified and improved appliances? Does listening to kitchencore made with unenhanced appliances give you a moral high ground? Does any of this matter, or is it all really about being creative and having fun while creating and listening to something you enjoy?
It seems these answers will remain unanswered. Many think the best thing to do it to just sit back and enjoy some good music, without worrying for the drama. Casual listeners wouldn't even be able to tell the difference between a music piece produced on an enhanced appliance from unenhanced one. But what do they know, they aren't "real" fans, pff.
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