Wilf Rake

Biography

I am a disabled musician, composer and improviser, working with a mixture of traditional instruments, electronics and live coding. I grew up playing jazz, which gave me a love of improvisation and spontaneous collaboration. My performances highlight how interactive working with audio and visuals is, for both performer and audience, by exposing the guts of the processes behind their creation. By offering an audience both knowledge of and control over the elements of the performance, I aim to create a dynamic and accessible environment that engages people in new ways.

I am currently working on a generative composition tool based on Optimality Theory (Prince & Smolensky 1993). This project has three projected outcomes - a usable version of the tool (as a Max for Live device, Norns script, or similar), a collection of works generated by the tool, and resources explaining the workings of the tool. Find me on Instagram to follow along with development!



I release music under my own name, as well as one half of downtempo outfit Artemis the Moon Man. I also co-run Local Network Records, an independent record label based in Birmingham, UK.