J Bagist, co-creator of Property Materials along with Deb Step not only maintain the staying power of the Boston DIY experimental electronic scene, but simultaneously, off the same label have doubled-down on the resurgence of the Boston DIY zine scene with Property Materials. Electronic music that is ahead of its time is finally matched with a moving visual art that is not only comparable to the music, but some may argue is a seminal part of this crew’s message.
From music videos, to live performance projections, to the visually epics zines that are the perfect length for one cigarette put out by Deb Step; this outsider contingent of highly talented artists is psychedelically stamping the city in multi-colored ways.
Boston Hassle: You’re an electronic musician, a visual artist & publish an independent collaborative zine with Deb Step. Is there anything you can’t do?
J Bagist: I work really hard to learn with each artwork or Property release and I feel like Deb Step and I are just finding our vision with the magazine now. We have been publishing since 2015 and the tapes, youtube videos, or magazines have become more sophisticated over time. Everything from page design to audio quality has changed. We do everything ourselves for better or worse.
Boston Hassle: Your music video for Untitled February 2018 is insane. Why do you think that form of visual art, glitch collage or images with augmentations is so present in your work & zines, as well as overall with many great artists turning towards that form of expression? Chris Konopka immediately comes to mind.
JB: Chris’ work is fantastic! We have been fortunate to get some video stills from Chris for the magazine in various issues. I came to video from painting and at first only had Final Cut circa 2009. Over the years my rig of video mixers and devices has grown to be almost as large as my live audio rig. Glitch and collage comes natural to the medium and I think people really respond to abstractions that feel performed in real time or show a human at the controls. You often can’t get that feel using video editing software alone.
BH: Would you say this form of expression is accessible to outsiders? I guess this question is really, how does one begin to learn to make DIY art with technology not only appealing, but provocative?
JB: Consistency and persistence is key. I think presenting ideas as a body of work can be very powerful to win over the curious.
BH: Whats next for Property Materials?
JB: Our summer issue will be out August 12th. The next batch of tapes will be out in September featuring a C60 collaborative album with Moondrawn.
BH: You have a show at DAP this Thursday w/ Moondrawn, any other shows or events you want to plug?
JB: We have an open call up for next summer issue. The prompt is ‘Conversation’ and I encourage anyone interested to send us an email. The deadline is July 4th.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCodcnAV04vXErad-a-5KFZg
https://propertytapes.bandcamp.com/
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Chris Hughes //// is a poet & writer from Boston, Ma & music section manager of bostonhassle.com. //// They can be reached at [email protected] or @crsjh_ via instagram & twitter.
