Squarepusher & Z Machines

bluewolfse7en · 2014-02-13T22:47:43.000Z

Check this out!!!

http://warp.net/records/squarepusher/squarepusher-music-for-robots

Ihatederekreed · 2014-02-13T23:02:33.000Z

Wow.

xyzr_kx · 2014-02-13T23:34:34.000Z

Scanner is not a fan:

twitter.com

Robin Rimbaud - Scanner (robinrimbaud)

Squarepusher with a 78-finger guitar and 22 drum robot, yet why does it sound like white man jazz tv music to me? http://t.co/g8xTWlS2kq

11:38 AM - 13 Feb 2014 5 7

Personally I agree with him. It’s almost perverse that someone as insanely talented a hands-and-fingers musician as Squarepusher wants to eliminate the human element from his music.

bluewolfse7en · 2014-02-14T00:48:05.000Z

Well there will definitely be people sitting on both sides of the fence on this one, one of the reasons I posted it!
From a technical point of view it’s impressive IMO, but does he succeed in the goal?

“In this project the main question I’ve tried to answer is ‘can these robots play music that is emotionally engaging?’

I’m reserving my opinion until I hear the full release

Cocker · 2014-02-14T04:10:10.000Z

Z machines has been around for a while now. Think it’s a Japanaese thing.
Here Squarepusher has just composed some better music for it.

Here’s an older one

Cocker · 2014-02-14T04:14:34.000Z

God… that was terrible
This one gives a better idea of what it’s about

Accent · 2014-02-14T05:55:35.000Z

As a proof in concept, this is really interesting. I’ve read a lot of Ray Kurzweil, and am interested in seeing how robotics advance over the years.

The music, of course, depends on the programmer. The real marvel will come when the robots themselves are doing the composition.

bluewolfse7en · 2014-02-14T12:41:23.000Z

image.jpg2048×1536 239 KB

Interesting shot in there Cocker!

GovernorSilver · 2014-02-14T23:13:07.000Z

One of the articles I read about this project compared it to the Go Plastic album. I agree with the assessment therein that Squarepusher is revisitng the Go Plastic concepts (through-composed pieces, no live instruments) with this robot group.

Cocker · 2014-02-15T17:18:27.000Z

""GovernorSilver"":

One of the articles I read about this project compared it to the Go Plastic album. I agree with the assessment therein that Squarepusher is revisitng the Go Plastic concepts (through-composed pieces, no live instruments) with this robot group.

Go Plastic is unreal !

jonah · 2014-02-15T19:04:02.000Z

i’d probably just have them play so fast it became a drone…

i think it’s hard to make good “emotional” music. i mean you make music and that happens after?

but i like it alright from about 3:30 on. although if using “real” instruments it feels like a missed opportunity to experiment with the recording treatment, which sounds really bland to me. that makes it feel less human to me than the playing.

i mean, i like some of that black MIDI stuff because it messes up.

these are super cool sounds: