New York, NY (Top40 Charts/ DedeLand Music) -
Music that ranges from ambient to contemporary, from acid fusion to minimalist.
Bizarre and experimental yet melodic and cinematic.Performed using acoustic instruments and "non-musical" objects such as trash lids, knives, lamps, etc... absolutely no synthesizers or samplers used. Real time treatments and creative use of delay and echo units give this collection a strong personality, between counterpoint and repetitive music. The use of filters (most notably wah-wah pedals) applied to acoustic instruments (such as classical guitar and upright piano) adds a touch of electronica or electro-acoustic music.
produced and composed by daniel di;az
performed & recorded by daniel di;az in paris and buenos aires during 2008-2009.
artwork: [email protected], paris.
- instruments & objects used: acoustic piano, upright bass (bowed and pizz); acoustic and electric guitars and basses; hand percussion, bamboo flutes, harmonica;
knives, knife sharpener, bamboo drums, metal trash lid, thermos, wine glasses and other objects.
- fx, processing & treatments:
digital and analog delays, echo, filters, reverb, wah-wah pedal, distorition pedal.
- Musique Mecanique / liner notes
Musique mecanique is the result of two types of research I have been pursuing during the last few years.
First , while working on some "drone" based tracks for another project, I got tired of the usual synth sustained low note as a drone, and all the tweaking, processing and morphing required to give some life to those dull plastic twangs. Being a bassist, it was a natural alternative to pick up my upright bass and try some bowed sustained notes. How much easier was now to add life to that! Not just by means of dynamics and playing techniques, but also manipulating and processing that acoustic "live" sound. So I started building some basic tracks that I called "organic drones", they were just drones performed in acoustic instruments and even objects, noises and sounds, then processing and morphing those mixed tracks to achieve an original, unreal yet warm and lively sound. Those organic drones started to get more and more complex and weird as I kept pushing the limits of my postulate: "Just noises produced by mechanical means".
In the bonus CD of the Special Edition of Musique Mecanique you'll find the very first track I recorded for this project using this concept: "Recitativo", is one of my complex organic drones going on for more than 8 minutes, mutating and evolving as I just solo on top of it my with my electric guitar. Some other tracks using this drone techniques made it to the final cut of Musique Mecanique, most notably "Metallic Drone" and "Drone Mecanique" and "Solstice", but glimpses of these methods impregnated the whole project in the background of each track.
Then I started a second type of research, exploring the possibilities (and fun) of playing around with delays and echoes. The random counterpoints, brilliant accidents and unexpected harmonies provided by these delayed signals (usually with particularly high decay/feedback times) proved to be quite addictive, and it took the best part of the album, its bonus tracks and extended to many other projects like "larmkunst". The bonus CD includes some compositions I recorded for other projects using the very same "Delays Mecaniques" concept.
The culmination of this echo-drenched research and the idea of using delays as a composition technique, ended up in a collection called "Auto-Counterpoints", but that will be a different project, as those tracks are more focused, rigorously planned, standard compositions.
Musique Mecanique shows the research process, its unexpected results and delightful accidents. In a way this is the ultimate "experimental" album for me: a recording of my experimentations with sound and composition, a pure "research" project, where I found the charm of starting a track without knowing exactly where it would lead me, without any plot or plan. Then, in post production the composition process continued, giving these recordings a more coherent, achieved structure and sound.
Hopefully some of you will appreciate the results of this process that took 2 years of passionate work. Thanks for making it happen, thanks for listening.
Love:
dd, Paris October 2010
This experimental new album is on its final production phase.
To be released by December 10, 2010 @ DedeLand Music's Web Shop.
Standard edition (CD & Download) should be available worldwide a couple of weeks later (Amazon, cdbaby, itunes, etc)
Two editions, both eco-friendly (no plastic) available:
+ Standard Edition:
- 14 tracks, Musique Mecanique "Vinyl Style" CD, Cardboard wallet, 4 page booklet.
- 320 kbps Download
+ Limited Edition:
Triple Vinyl style CD + bonus content.
(packed on a beautiful signed and numbered box created by sergio pittaluga and d.d).
Box Set content:
-Musique Mecanique 14 track CD
-Musique Mecanique Bonus Tracks CD (13 tracks)
-Larmkunst 20 track CD (music&noise)
-Poster by Sergio Pittaluga, with full information and liner notes. 372x248 mm
-Poster "Musique Mecanique architectonics "by Arq. Gustav O. Zepol.372x248mm
-Musique Mecanique's useless trinkets: 4 stickers, 2 badges, 2 guitar picks.
