The “AM” that serves as the title of Justin Carter‘s Buddha Machine remix compilation isn’t related to the AM-radio quality that the device emanates, both in terms of cheap-plastic substance and rattly audio. It has to do with the opening hours of the day. Each of the nine tracks on Carter’s AM is named, in sequence, from “1AM” (modulating loops given to deep echo and frog-like gurgles, MP3) through “9AM” (a taut repetition that slowly veers into rich white noise, MP3). And while each takes as its starting point a droning, lo-fi loop from the Buddha Machine (the surprise-hit sound-art device by the China-based duo FM3), that’s not all that’s in Carter’s toolbox. He also brings electric guitar and, as he puts it, “various synths,” into the mix, though all for textural, rather than melodic, purposes.
Listened to in sequence here, the full length of AM is 25:44:
Get the full set, in compressions up to 320kbps, at archive.org. For reference, this album is based on version 1, not version 2 of the Buddha Machine.