Released on a circuit, that’s plugs into an 1/8 inch jack makes this performance piece somewhat hard to describe. It’s not a conventional sound recording because the oscillations are not reproductions of an original source, but are original performance in the sense that all of the synthesis happens live as you listen to the device. Unlike a synthesizer which you’d normally think of as an instrument, it lacks familiar plasticity or interactivity(when used as designed). Instead the musical ensemble itself is packaged for your enjoyment.
It’s like a postcard from the 1890s proclaiming wild visions of robot orchestras and lives of leisure for their human stewards. Although our interpretation is more subdued than this postcard– a few bits of wires in a white case– it still feels eccentric. Which is a good thing.
Here’s a demo video of the Fairlight IIL from the early eighties. A time when the word, “Digitize” still meant something and samplers presented a bold new world of possibilities. If someone can point to a draw your own waveform softsynth, like the one in the video, I would be quite greatful.
After seventy years of China’s opium-related subjugation by Queen
Victoria and her allies, a force of resistance fighters — termed
“Boxers” by the British — rose to the challenge in 1898. Calling
themselves “The Righteous Fists of Harmony,” this secret society of
martial artists felt they held magical powers: they believed
themselves bulletproof, able to fly, and capable of raising the dead
(who would then fight alongside them). And so began the brief Boxer
Rebellion; three years later 100,000 Boxers had fallen, their magic
helpless against the cutting-edge machinery of war. The British
prevailed only to face ultimate defeat, as their empire rapidly
declined.
Daedelus endeavors to compose a requiem for the end — of beliefs, of
lives, and of an era. This elegy for a bygone battle sheds light on
our own contemporary conundrum: will our faith in modernity be our
downfall? Are we blinded by this age of wonders, doomed to be
destroyed by our ingenious inventions? Although Daedelus’ music has
always juxtaposed organic and electronic elements, they war as never
before on “Righteous Fists of Harmony,” a portrait of a tumultuous era
that came crashing to a close.
DAEDELUS – “Righteous Fists of Harmony” Tracklist:
BF006
23 MARCH 2010
Heavy Weight Vinyl / Digital
1. An Armada Approaches
2. Tidal Waves Uprising
3. The Open Hand Avows
4. Order Of The Golden Dawn (featuring Laura Darling)
5. The Finishing of a Thing
6. Succumbing To (featuring Kid A)
7. Stampede Me (with Amir Yaghmai)
8. Fin De Siècle
This video provides a wonderful description of an early sampling based instrument. Every sound was recorded on a tape track and played in sync with the other track. The keys appear to control the tape heads. The instrument has since appeared on an impressive list of popular recordings for such a novel instrument.
Yes, what you see in this video is a violin, viola, cello, and bass glued together. It was created by Diego Stocco(twitter) and is featured in Guy Richie’s film Sherlock Holmes.
Enjoy.
http://www.paleofuture.com/blog/2010/5/2/jean-marc-cotes-visions-of-the-year-2000-1899.html
