11/23/2008

stocking stuffer album review : 1-bit music

back from the blogworld deadlands. consulting with utanapishtim and hunting for the boxthorn, i came up empty handed. but serious: blog time has shrunk, the master distraction, the important piece of procrastination in a stacked pancake of delicious duties, this once weekly blog has become a petrified tree.

so now i'll live vicariously through belated intentions with a present tense child post. vicar of the ghost of blogging past. that means i get to experience what it would be like posting as if i posted regularly, and this was an 'active' blog.

in that spirit, i always intened to write about tristan perich's release on cantaloupe records, 1 bit music.

i met tristan orignally through his rag tag projector martha stewarty audio IC cooking show, the loud objects, when alias pail shared the performance night at bent festival 2007. For anyone never exposed to loud objects, hmm. how to describe. not a band, a performance installation? education by example? man and machine sharing the same paris spleen? their performance content varies, but here's a taste when we played together opening up for lullatone.[ watch video]

going back to being a vicar, i'd say the same about tristan perich. i do have a level of envy for his works. myself having an electrical engineering background, i always debate about what i could have done with that career path if it was more related with my passion for music, rather then defense contracting. music for me, now serves more as an escape from that world. in tristan, it feels like the alternate path in which those two worlds are fused. i mean, sure, i circuit bend, but i don't think it can compare to the level of intellectual involvement in his music/art pieces. i romantically view circuit bending as a caveman curiosity with electronics and found sound. curiously strong.

the sheer concept of programming some IC's from assembly code scratch and putting them in a cd jewel case is mind boggling. originally i thought he must have written the music first in some software, and found a way to translate it to assembly. tristan said, nope, everything is written originally in assembly. that's insane. now i'm scared. very scared. for loops and shit in assembly to create compositions? i don't even wanna think about it. i've met tristan alot, through shows and parties, all good intentions to rap, but haven't really dive chatted. you know: kicked brewskies, confessed to the pope, unraveled the shrek onion. his head is always spinning, and he's in a rush to get to the next place. in favor to his mystique, i wonder if he's an insomniac.

so, this is like the concept album of all concept albums? i guess, the next question is what is the greater form, a conceptual presence or a emotional impact. i'm not gonna get into that. it's a matter of preference. listening to the whole album straight through is intense though. on the brains and on the ears. some songs a little more melodic, others very noise or rythmic. for his live shows, he humanizes it a little more by playing live drums to it.

it's just a great art piece too. something amazing to behold. thinking about all the kinky collectable electronic toys for christmas gifts this year, it's perfect for any gearhead. it used to be really expensive, because it's something hand made, but now it's alot more affordable at the bang on a can store.

posted by Unknown @ Sunday, November 23, 2008

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