"I'd like it to do the opposite": Music-Making Between Recommendation and Obstruction

To build new and rethink existing interfaces for producing and working creatively with electronic music, we are engaged in an ongoing conversation with professional musicians. With regard to getting suggestions on musical material and progression by the machine on, e.g., samples, loops, rhythmic patterns, or musical structure, we find evidence that the notion of an algorithmic recommendation system should be extended through the use of artistic obstruction. We propose the concept of “strangeness” as an addition to recommendation systems to allow the adjustment of the degree of desired otherness in the suggestions made. This marks an important difference to existing consumer-centred recommendation approaches, going even beyond the notion of serendipity.