“Bleeding through the cables, living through the cables, breathing through the cables”, Pascal Cretain emerged through the cables to deliver sonic transformations of plain, harsh and lifeless computer code. His work betrays an unmistakable urge to repudiate traditional ways of expression and create fresh and challenging, transient concepts rather than conventional, artistic forms. Armed with an imaginative, sharp mind and a dissident heart, Pascal fuses together the aesthetics and the mentality of two different, yet similar on many grounds, communities. An online discussion on the result follows.
- Who is Pascal Cretain?
+ Greetings George. Pascal Cretain is my somewhat uninhibited, somewhat dark, wannabe artistic alter ego. Pascal comes from the land of Compromise and emerges through the cables. Pascal does not have any friends, besides the lost souls who got trapped in his Personal Online Web of distrust.
- Why am I asking you all these questions anyway? You must have done something. Elaborate.
+ Indeed. I converted Network Security Binaries and Exploit Source Code into sounds using a simple technique called Pulse Code Modulation (PCM). I did modify and manipulate the waveforms to produce an aesthetically satisfactory result (to my ears). I did not, however, introduce any alien elements to it - in essence everything you hear is code, Computer Security code in various forms.
Besides working on this recent audio project of mine, I have been gallivanting in various misty corners of the Web armed with TOR and a bunch of Russian Proxy Servers. I have also produced written articles in reputable online publications, such as www.phrack.org and www.cipher.org.uk.
- You’ve named your first project “the sound of exploitation”. Is this the sound of you exploiting and manipulating or is it the sound of you being exploited and fighting back?
+ I like the way you think but the answer is a bit less exciting. I named the project "The Sound of Exploitation" because the main ingredient used to produce the sound is Exploit Code. In Information Security, an "Exploit" is a short piece of code designed to grant access to a computer system by taking advantage (exploiting) of a security bug. It’s the weapon of choice to break and enter, basically.
- What was your sonic experiment made for primarily? Dancing, thinking, reading, eating, discussing, smelling, viewing etc? Does is speak more to the senses or the intellect?
+ Communicating. My main motivation is to bridge the hackers and the noise/grind freaks, I’m sure there is huge potential in getting the two communities in touch. I would like to see the noise freaks being interested in Polymorphic Shellcode, and the hackers buying Masonna CDs. To use some of your verbs, I would say thinking and reading, which I guess answers the other leg of your question, the project speaks more to the intellect than it does to the senses.
- Is there any place for emotion in what you do?
+ I’d like to think that there is, perhaps not in the sound itself but its projections, granted that there is not much space for emotion (in the traditional sense) neither in the noise scene nor in technology. One thing I can tell you is that the creative part of the experiment surely was charged emotionally. I worked almost non-stop for about 48 hours and got totally absorbed into the sounds, the images that came to mind when listening to the sounds, and the potential that came along. I was thrilled.
- Would “the sound of exploitation” mean anything once you deprive it of its reasoning, of the “instructions” that come along with it? How do you feel about that?
+ No, it would mean nothing without its building blocks. It would be plain noise with no soul, like the blow-dryer, the washing machine and Christina Aguilera. This is the essence of the entire experiment; it’s what is inside that makes my noise stand out. People who are familiar with the ingredients I used might recognise some patterns in the end result. For instance, I converted a password cracker called Hydra into sound, and found out that its representation on the pentagram is very repetitive and stubborn. It makes sense as this tool does a very tedious job, it attempts several thousand combinations of usernames and passwords against a given device every second.
I love this characteristic of the project, the ties between the ingredients and their manifestation, the contradiction between the harsh sound and the (sometimes not so) delicate substance within. A saxophone is a saxophone, but a saxophone played by Woody Allen is not just a saxophone.
- “In an ideal world”, “the sound of exploitation” could “constitute a starting point for a new generation of computer hackers and underground musicians to combine forces; it would inspire people, overthrow governments and cause great emotional turmoil.” In this fucked up place on the other hand, what does this really constitute and what are its limits?
+ It aims to constitute a bridge between the two communities, that’s what it was primarily created for. As I explained in a previous question, I firmly believe there is great potential in introducing the two. There are some bright people working in these communities. My experiment aims to get people thinking, it aims to slightly modify their often stale / one-sided perspective on life, and introduce fresh concepts. I can see some practical limitations such as the fact that the end result, the noise itself is not easy to digest. This could put off people coming from the Technology Communities, as well as the general public. The important thing to state here, though, is that I did not mean to create noise, all I did was mapping. The binaries did the talking. Obviously, I would have been slightly surprised if the end result was R ‘n’ b.
- If this is how hacking sounds like, then how would grindcore appear as code?
+ I, too, would be *very* interested to find out. This would take some re-programming of the present mapping techniques (such as PCM) to do the opposite. It is not as straightforward as mapping code, though. Sound does not need to follow any rules, whereas code is a strictly defined set of instructions in a specific order. Messy Code not only would not compile, it would not make any sense at all. What you suggest is roughly the equivalent of turning an omelette back to an egg. It is a fine example of real-life reverse engineering, and I hail you for coming up with the idea. I’m positive it can be done though; it would take a talented programmer, a couple of days, and this interview.
- What’s the feedback you’ve been getting so far? Who seems more interested in what you do? The music freaks or the computer geeks?
+ I would say the Music people have been a bit more enthusiastic, which makes sense as the end result is, well, music. I received very good feedback from various people in the Noise and Grind Scenes, including the well-respected band Bastard Noise.
I received feedback from some of the Technologists too, who were very intrigued by the methodology and the end result. One person was inspired by my work to create his own "Packedelic" Tool; in essence, a Packet Sniffer that generates sounds according to the traffic it sees on the network, based on port numbers. This is a free Java Based tool that you can download from www.cipher.org.uk
- Where would Pascal Cretain fit better, in a music magazine or in a computer publication?
+ Both! Pascal has elements that appeal to people of both worlds.
- What is it that excites and inspires you more when it comes to underground music genres such as grindcore?
+ I’ll use someone else’s words. Nick from Noisesquatch records told me in an interview a few years back: “Grindcore is an atmosphere, not a product. I think this is an important mindset to keep”. MkM from Antaeus put it right too: “Nothing to praise musik wise, but concept wise, yez, that is what it should be”.
The music underground is a fascinating place to be in, with its own aesthetic rules and a general anti-attitude. It is a genuine, inclusive community with strong bonds and literally no geographic limits or other idiotic restrictions such as race, religious beliefs or gender. I consider that the stubborn, non-pretentious, non-commercial, monotonous music subgenres that collectively make up the underground have plenty to share. Even when they don’t have much to say, you can be sure that they will never fucking lie to you.
- What is it that excites and inspires you more when it comes to the hacking community and the online world?
+ Hopefully, most of the general public should know by now that hackers are not 16-year old computer vandals as the media portrays them to be. If your readers are interested in the topic of hackers and the new online collectivism, I’d like to point at one of the articles I wrote a while ago, which can be found at: http://www.cipher.org.uk/index.php?p=news/Hacking_A_very_brief_Introduction.news
This passage contains some of the reasons that drew my interest in the Hacking community in the first place. If you do read it, keep in mind that there are some inaccuracies in the text; try not to swallow everything you read. Keep also in mind that it is extremely important to have the right mentality if you want to join us. After a few years in the Information Security community, I realised that I am much more interested in the ethics and the philosophy of the community than I am in the purely technical side of things. I have ‘met’ some truly brilliant people in the scene, some bright spirits with interests ranging from Binary Analysis and HoneyNets to Kick Boxing and Veganism.
- How do you view the net? Is it a parallel universe or just the online face of an offline life?
+ A bit of both. The Net is a place where people feel, behave and speak in a different manner. Consequently, you can argue that people are truly different in there. Surely, there are degrees of just how involved one becomes with the Net. Some use it as a tool, others totally live in it. As one of my huge influences, the outstanding Techno-anarchist noisemongers Creation is Crucifixion, said, "bleeding through the cables, living through the cables, breathing through the cables emergence through the cables".
- Is the online world still the “spectacular neighbourhood” it once was or is it becoming steadily more and more centralized and controlled?
+ It still is a spectacular neighbourhood, even more so I’d say. There is an amazing wealth of information, of which most is totally unregulated. There are increased levels of monitoring on the web when compared to ten or fifteen years ago, but this should not put you off from exploring it, just be careful and wear the appropriate “clothing” when you travel. There are countless ways to hide your personal identity when surfing online. TOR (Transparent Onion Routing) is a popular technique to provide anonymity. Learn how to use cryptography (GnuPG), explore anonymous decentralised networks such as Freenet, get lost in the Odyssey of Newsgroups, absorb as much as you can while it’s there, but don’t forget to filter it.
- Shout outs, inspirations, things worth reading, listening, being interested in.
+ Richard Thieme’s “The geometry of the Near”. Sunn O))) & Boris. Bizarre Magazine. ORC+’s Reverse Engineering Tutorials. Anything by Fravia. Schopenhauer’s “The suffering of the World”. Merzbow & Gore Beyond Necropsy. Distant, unexplored Countries. Gaspar Noe’s “I Stand Alone”. Hellnation. CiC’s “Child As Audience”. The City of London . Lavinia Greenlaw’s “To persevere in the face of adversity”. Integrity.
For a longer (but still incomplete) list of my influences please take a look at www.myspace.com/pascalcretain.
- Future plans, ideas? Any new projects coming up?
+ My short-term plan is to get “the Sound of Exploitation” out there in a different format. I’d like to release the material in a USB flash drive. If any of your readers run or have contacts with noise / avant-garde labels and find my work and the accompanying concept interesting, please get in touch. Needless to say, get in touch regardless of any contacts you might have with labels etc. I’m also investigating the prospect of a live performance at some point in the city of London - the most beautiful mess I have seen to date.
Thanks so much to morethansounds.net for your interest and support. You have done a great job in promoting good music and alternative culture whilst maintaining the right ethics. Well done.
Pascal Cretain's website / email