Fanny Chiarello’s Horizontal Project

I read that the book came, in part, out of a census you had been making of women, trans and non-binary artists in experimental music over about seven years. Can you tell me about why you started that list, and how you sought out the names?

I'm a late feminist and I embraced the cause just as I was discovering experimental music, so of course I quickly wondered where the women were. I like the great figures—you know, Pauline Oliveros, Éliane Radigue—but there had to be others. So I decided to make a census. Basically, what I do is, every time I add a name to my list, I pull as many threads as possible: Who has she played with? What festivals has she played at? I look at the lineups—sometimes I go through all the archives, all the lineups of each festival. What labels has she released records on? And I study the label catalogues. It's somehow a tree structure. I also visit several websites every morning to keep up with the latest releases and I listen to everything that FLINTA* artists have done, whether it's my thing or not.

How did that list become Basta Now? Why did you feel it needed to be a book? 

When I reached the first thousand names, I wondered what to do with them: it had become a treasure and I needed to share it. Friends of mine suggested that I start a website but I'm really bad at technology, and I find them so boring and unattractive. So instead, I started writing a book, which is what I can do, and then also started more actively searching for names.

It feels like a really critical aspect of the book is that it’s not academic, and it’s not particularly conventional in its approach. How did the form come about?

I'm not a musicologist, besides I can't stand elitism or lack of humour. I refused to have my book sound anything close to mansplaining. Some readers told me that Basta Now was like talking with me, I love that.  It's like I'm having a walk with the reader on a not very well-known path and we are looking around us and commenting on what we hear.

Basta Now is a lot like me. Since I didn't want to, and probably wouldn't have been able to, write a serious work on the subject – and since, actually, I didn't feel entitled to write about this subject at all – I decided to accept and even claim that it was a very personal book. So I play at scolding musicians whose practices are not vegan, I describe the visions that certain pieces raise in me, I make whimsical connections, and develop parodies of theories – like the one about the different kinds of field recordings.

The book was first published in 2024, and now you’re putting out an expanded version. I’m interested in this as a project that keeps growing - do you think you’ll continue to add to it? 

To this day, I never stopped updating the inventory. Today it has 4,397 names, and there will be more tomorrow. The whole inventory is available for free download on my blog – I update it from time to time, when I think of it and find time to, which is not so often. I also have an Instagram account called @basta_now; it started as a daily feature dedicated to a FLINTA* musician, but that took too much of my time, so now I post when I can. However, there will not be a third edition of the book.

You’ve also founded the micro press and label Permanent Draft, and this was its first release. Can you tell me a little about why you wanted your own publishing arm? And maybe some general plans you have for it? 

We founded Permanent Draft before I wrote Basta Now. We wanted to highlight womxn's work, so when I first contemplated writing a book, we thought it could be some kind of manifesto—hence the cover, which is quite a statement... Unfortunately, the label is currently on hold because we’ve been very busy this year, each working on our own projects.

What is your collaborative relationship like? 

Valentina and I have complementary strengths and dislikes. For instance, I can’t stand talking about money, although it’s necessary when you want to manufacture vinyls. Sending emails bothers me less. But we have always decided together whether or not to release a particular album; we’ve rarely disagreed on that. We also have strong ideas about visuals and, luckily, the same kind of tastes. Honestly, if running a label didn’t involve aspects beyond the artistic side, we would be much more active.

How has this project influenced the way you listen, and seek out music? 

The main effect is that I have almost no time left to listen to music made by men. That said, like many, I had devoted the better part of my time to it for many years without even realising it, so let's just say I’ve done my share of listening. I remain constantly on the lookout for names not yet in my inventory, mainly because I don't like the idea of ​​overlooking artists out of ignorance or a lack of rigour. But the moment I leave my house and put on my headphones, I have the same relationship to music as ever, listening to my favourites on loop until I can't stand them anymore—since of course, I do have preferences.

I see this project as being in lineage with artists like Kim Gordon, who took an explicitly feminist approach in their work, while also carving out very credible careers in male-dominated realms. I’m interested in artists or projects who might have influenced you? 

As I suggested earlier, the spirit of the project is actually to move beyond references to the usual key figures. In Basta Now, I practice horizontality, so there is no such thing as role models. I believe that the very concept of role models simply mirrors the patriarchal one of ‘great men’, and I rather wish for a paradigm shift. I didn't have a guiding figure or specific influence while writing this essay, and I think it shows. However, I did have allies—such as Feminatronic, Female:Pressure, or Audible Women. Even though our research areas don't overlap entirely, these websites highlight many FLINTA* artists. Right at the start of my research, I also read Tara Rodgers' Pink Noises: Women on Electronic Music and Sound. At the time, I knew only a few of the 24 artists featured in the book and it gave me a hint of the vast world that was left for me to explore. I remember finding this reading very exciting.

Is representation getting better in experimental music? What else might help it improve? 

Electronic music is probably the field I know least about. I make no secret of this in the book, in fact, I devote only a very short chapter to the genre (what I call an intermezzo). Based on my observations and what FLINTA* musicians tell me, the situation remains just as difficult as ever. Contrary to what one might imagine, the growing awareness regarding the lack of inclusivity in the experimental music scene has not led to greater curiosity among curators. Instead, most of them stick to inviting the same big names, which partly explains why I avoid talking about high-profile figures: enough, basta, ça suffit. Today, a handful of women stand out and everyone wants them in their festivals. It's a kind of ‘pinkwashing’ that allows people to claim they are inclusive while indulging in their usual intellectual laziness. 

What I believe is that we should build ever more networks—and I’m not just talking about hubs of artists, but also of venues, labels, and festivals. I believe in this especially as I’m not the only one who thinks it’s the best solution. I meet many artists who wish to start queer collectives for experimental musicians, for instance. Let's stop scratching at the doors of decision-makers to get a few crumbs. Let's invent our own world—and let it be horizontal.