Steampunk Minus the Punk (MP3)

Listening to art. Playing with audio. Sounding out technology. Composing in code. Rewinding the soundscape.

Steampunk Minus the Punk (MP3)

[ September 20, 2010 / Department: downstream / Comments: 3 ]

C. Reider has recorded steampunk music, minus the punk — a single-track release of what he describes as “drones, drummachines and recorded sound” that has all the ambience of a dank tunnel and all the composure of a tape-music event, or perhaps it’s the other way around (MP3). Reider is a prolific and deeply curious (and curiosity-inducing) musician, some of whose most intriguing work involves employing drum machines for purposes other than beats. He announced the track’s availability via twitter.com/vuzhmusic last week. In it, recognizable pneumatic pounding shares space with insectoid chatter, whizzing burry sine waves, and sinuous droning. Any one of those items might, in fact, be sourced from the drum machines in question, but there’s even money that in fact it’s the least likely element — quite likely, it’s those drones that are, in fact, some standard issue drum machine tweaked far from its factory-preset comfort zone.

[audio:http://www.archive.org/download/JNN052-CReider-SteamInspector/JNN052-Steam_inspector_vbr.mp3|titles=”Steam Inspector”|artists=C Reider]

If the title summons up some Hayao Miyazaki vision of a homunculoid cartoon character making its way through a realm equal parts fantasy and dessication, you aren’t far off.

3 Trackbacks

By Readings 222 – 255 « Disruptive Platypus on September 25, 2010 at 10:49 am

[…] Girl via audiovoltaics 225: Review of Kemuzik One, a folk/pop compilation via Catching the Waves 226: Review of C. Reider’s Steam Inspector (Just Not Normal) via Disquiet 227: Hemmed and hawed […]
By Readings 222 —Â 255 | Acts of Silence on February 20, 2011 at 7:36 am

[…] Girl via audiovoltaics 225: Review of Kemuzik One, a folk/pop compilation via Catching the Waves 226: Review of C. Reider’s Steam Inspector (Just Not Normal) via Disquiet 227: Hemmed and hawed […]
By Multiple Functions | Acts of Silence on July 3, 2011 at 11:12 am

[…] Marc Weidenbaum wrote about C. Reider last year in the Disquiet review of SteamÂ Inspector (2009), Reider is a Â ”deeply curious (and curiosity-inducing) musician”. Maybe […]

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Marc Weidenbaum founded the website Disquiet.com in 1996 at the intersection of sound, art, and technology, and since 2012 has moderated the Disquiet Junto, an active online community of weekly music/sonic projects. He has written for Nature, Boing Boing, The Wire, Pitchfork, and NewMusicBox, among other periodicals. He is the author of the 33 1⁄3 book on Aphex Twin’s classic album Selected Ambient Works Volume II. Read more about his sonic consultancy, teaching, sound art, and work in film, comics, and other media
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Jicks on Fashion Victims: “Oh dear, very true. Gore is light-skinned but his father was black. ”

Marc Weidenbaum on Current Favorites: Raw Material, Black Samurai, Deft Esoterica: “Thanks so much. I have been listening to (and watching) these on repeat lately. ”

Mahlen S Morris on Current Favorites: Raw Material, Black Samurai, Deft Esoterica: “Flicking from point to point in that video, I’m pretty certain all of that is in-game sounds; it’s all quite… ”

Jochen on twitter.com/disquiet: The Skateboard and the Human Seismometer: “That was pretty magic, wasn’t it? https://media.tenor.com/images/1fb93e098589d31f5023b7d32418f013/tenor.gif Work is still blocked, though that is probably a feature and not a… ”

Marc Weidenbaum on twitter.com/disquiet: The Skateboard and the Human Seismometer: “Glad you got it working. ”

ambient/electronica