Selected Samples 2024

Thomas "Myles Veltenhill" Feltenberger

ECU Award Recipient

Basically Good Media Lab Student Research Award for New Media and Sound Arts – Winner

Rehearsal:

[Please note that this video is a rehearsal meant only for reference]

Artist Statement:

“Selected Samples 2024” is an audio/visual durational performance focusing on self-expression through sampling, lyricism, synthesis, and vocal performance. At the core of the project, Myles Veltenhill reconnects with their foundations in sample-based hip-hop music to express their frustrations with self, country, and the divine. Utilizing audio samples from music and field recordings, they craft beat-based music that resembles and pays homage to what inspired them to initially create art and music. This sonic collage is then fed into an audio-reactive visualizer compiled from their personal archive of cellular phone footage, and distorted through digital processing. Each piece, visually and sonically, is a base element of their life, alchemized into performance and movement. Sonically, influence is primarily drawn from hip-hop and electronic music genres. Notably, the song “GOD IS AN AMERICAN” directly samples David Bowie, Queen, and EL-P in the instrumental, and lyrically references Run The Jewels, JPEGMAFIA, as well as Kanye West. The song “TIL I DIE” also samples EL-P, as well as BOOTS (Jordan Asher Cruz), Neil Young, and a vocal snippet from Ame Bibabi. For the accompanying audio-reactive visualizer, source material of personal, recorded cell phone videos are collaged in a style inspired broadly by glitch art, as well as the visual collage stylings of video artist RUFFMERCY. Other artists who may be considered related to Veltenhill’s work include Dew From 2001, Ulises Valadez Contreras, and Connor De La Chrome. Myles Veltenhill initially ventured into music around 2015, starting with a MIDI controller for DJing and a veneration of music. As they moved through amateur DJing, they eventually found that making music in the digital audio workstation environment was their passion, especially in sample manipulation and collages of loops. Over time, Veltenhill started to develop a practice of using collage to create supporting visuals for their music. Whether audio or visual, their collages embrace aggression, abrasiveness, and juxtaposition.