For those readers who are unfamiliar with the term “meta,” it is a word used, chiefly in art or the humanities, to describe something that is self-referential or introspective in nature. This idea may also be referred to as “breaking the fourth wall,” which involves a character “speaking directly to or otherwise acknowledging the audience” through a camera in a film or television program or more directly, in person, like during a play.
Many of you may remember a classic Shakespearian technique we all learned in school known as the “aside,” in which a character would turn to the audience, address them directly, and reveal a bit more information about themselves that the other characters may not be aware of. This is a classic example of “Breaking the fourth wall.” However nowadays, an aside might be more eloquently referred to as something that is “so meta, bro”.
After understanding the meaning behind this next artist’s moniker, we can’t help but curiously wonder how self-referential abstraction will reflect in our favorite art form, electronic dance music. Taking into mind the word’s use in other artistic endeavors, and the infinite spectrum of sounds and thus, moods, that can be created in an electronic music production, “meta music” might just be a formation of sounds that, when amalgamated, animate themselves into a living, breathing, self-aware musical landscape, capable of acknowledging the listener’s existence and drawing them in, much like the Sirens of Greek Mythology would.
We are not speaking for August & Andrew of Meta when we hypothesize in regard to the meaning behind this group’s name, we are merely projecting our experiences when listening to their music with instances in which we have seen the word “meta” used in other forms of art. Who knows, maybe after this post the two might just be appreciative lucky enough to conduct an interview with us here at Rager Onions (*hint, hint*), where we can get to the bottom of this philosophical debacle.
In the meantime, we hope that you can amuse and immerse yourselves in the musical beauty produced by this next electronic artist and producer duo with “composer-like tendencies,” who hails from both Seattle, Washington and Reykjavík, Iceland. Spanning the globe and expanding your own self-awareness, Meta music is the kind we can truly dig. Please enjoy the abundance of auricle abstraction below.
Rager Onions 