Maxime De La Rouchefoucauld

Okay, the first thing you see on the CD cover is a big announcement about the way the music is made. In this case by little robotic servo units pounding, stroking and playing strings cymbals and drums. Kind of like having BMW in big ass letters on your, well, BMW. It’s about the content, right? Right! Fortunately as charming as this concept is, the music on the disc sustains it quite well. While the pieces are somewhat reminiscent of gamelan music and its influences on Steve Reich, the music departs into the realm of the machine in a very beautiful and complete way. The composer has arranged the tones and rhythms of the percussion with horns and synths that allow for the machines to carry a mood of organic playfulness that could not have come from the depths of a sampler and sequencer. The funny thing is that it made me think of an unplugged version of Flanger. Very cool, ethereal music by a tribe of little metal things.