People Like Us, the project of artist Vicki Bennet returns to Discrepant with a special vinyl release of "Copia". This album marks the first new musical material since 2018, delving into the profound realms of existential collage and sampling, celebrating these forms as expressions of timeless connectivity.
The title "Copia," meaning "abundance" and "copy," reflects the essence of collage and sampling — art crafted not in isolation, but as a connective thread through time and space, linking ideas across generations in a seamless
tapestry. By reconfiguring preexisting sounds and images, Bennett highlights the non-dual nature of creation — where distinctions between past, present, and future possibilities blur, revealing a shared foundation beneath. The album marks a return to not just solo works but collaborations with notable artists.
Drawing from the new People Like Us live AV performance, "The Library of Babel," sampling and edited sound collage, electronic music, combined with
Ergo Phizmiz's lyrics and melodies, "Copia" weaves and recombines a timeless blend of diverse elements that transcends traditional musical boundaries. This creative process unfolded through the exchange of multitracks across both water and ether. Collaborating with the voices, instruments and editing timelines of Matmos, Hearty White, Gwilly Edmondez, Lottie Bowater, Buttress O'Kneel, Douglas Benford, Irene Moon, Jon Leidecker, and Matt Warwick, the work evolved exquisite corpse-style.
People Like Us is the stage name of British DJ multimedia artist Vicki Bennett. Since 1991 Vicki Bennett has been working across the field of audio-visual collage, repurposing pre-existing footage to craft audio and video collages with an equally dark and witty take on popular culture. She sees collage as folk art sourced from the palette of contemporary media and technology, with all of the sharing and cross-referencing incumbent to a populist form. Using collage as a compositional tool, Vicki Bennett opens up endless opportunities to experience results that are more than the sum of the parts. Embedded in her work is the premise that all is interconnected and that claiming ownership of an "original" or isolated concept is both preposterous and redundant.
In 2006 she was the first artist to be given unrestricted access to the entire BBC Archive. People Like Us have previously shown work at Tate Modern, Whitechapel Gallery, The Barbican, Centro de Cultura Digital, V&A, Sydney Opera House, Royal Albert Hall, Pompidou Centre, Venice Biennale, Maxxi and Sonar, and performed radio sessions for John Peel and Mixing It.
