With the debut iteration of Innovation in Sound Manchester at Altogether Otherwise fast-approaching, we sit down with the final year students exhibiting their cutting-edge and often profound projects.
Lily Mumby AKA Lapalace has been using their time at dBs Manchester to the fullest. Releasing on Insult to Injury, creating Fossil Radio and DJing in cities across the UK; Lily has gone from strength to strength.
For Innovation in Sound 2025, which takes place from Thursday 29th May - Monday 9th June at Altogether Otherwise, Lily has created ‘Gender Identity, Dial Up and the Usenet’, a piece that explores life for queer people before the internet became what it is today.
“I was born in 2004, so I grew up with the internet already being fairly widespread - only becoming more so throughout my life. I read somewhere late last year about how revolutionary the telephone was for queer folk, my mind was a little blown. It sounds so silly but it isn’t something I had considered before and it made me realise what I had been taking for granted. The internet allowed me to explore my gender identity and I might not have become aware of it without having the free information provided by the internet.
“By using digital archival material, I’m unearthing these communications that would be otherwise lost due to the ephemeral nature of digital communications and internet protocols. These archives are displayed in my version of the average transgender person’s computer desk of the time. The music you can hear is sonified directly from these archived posts by using an algorithm to transform each letter into a MIDI note.
“This installation aims to bring to light the impact of the early internet on transgender and queer lives. At the time, this new tool allowed people to meet other queer individuals like themselves and explore their gender identity, all from the comfort of their living room, or wherever their machine may be - hidden away from spouses and parents or hidden in plain sight. This, in turn helped to shape the current transgender scene as we know it today and helped many trans individuals flourish. These archives demonstrate the power of decentralised, free, worldwide networks away from corporate greed. Simply, these archives are crucial pieces of information in the history of transgender lives.”
“If only one life is saved by the creation of this group, wouldn't it be worth it?”
- soc.support.transgendered user (1996)
“Something I found very interesting is that according to Avery Dame-Griff, the Usenet is where the terms cisgender and cis came to prominence within the trans community. He did some very interesting research exploring the trend of usage of the terms within the usenet.
“I also really enjoyed looking at people’s websites from back then, the internet was a very different place! No corporations (really) and just people being connected. It’s also very heartwarming to see these people’s websites - frozen in time from 1999 - 2004 ish - and then to look up their name now and see they’re living their lives happily.”
“We’ll have a desk with a period accurate computer, keyboard, etc. Alongside some ephemera and pieces like books about how to use the internet or the usenet - just to help place it and bring the whole thing together.
“It’ll be performed through a 2.1 stereo system - using PC speakers from around 1998.”
“Getting to grips with processing the data within Python, and parsing it in a way that's easily transportable to Max.”
“I think I’m hoping that people will enjoy being able to read these archived posts and understand a little more of the recent trans history. It feels a little odd calling this history when it was only a few years before I was born but the Usenet and its trans community truly has shaped the modern transgender community and I think it’s highly important that people understand that.”
FIND OUT MORE
https://www.instagram.com/lapalacemusic/
To check out Lily's project in-person and many others, visit Eventbrite to secure your free tickets.