Blueblut / The Totally Mechanized MIDI Orchestra - Garden of Robotic Unkraut CD
SKU
JI 001
Chris Janka – guitar + ‘MIDI Orchestra’ creator
Pamelia Stickney – theremin
Mark Holub - drums
“Emerging from Vienna’s thriving underground music scene, Blueblut is arguably one of its most intriguing combos. The trio, founded by three musical powerhouses, famous in their respective spheres of jazz, electronic and avant-rock music, have the intensity of rock, the space and openness of electronica and the razor sharp precision and wild improvisation of jazz.
When Blueblut guitarist Chris Janka began working on his ‘Totally Mechanized MIDI Orchestra’ (www.midi- orchestra.net), it was clear that the trio wanted to find a way to collaborate with the robots, but how? Thus began the trio’s challenge, to work with the orchestra as a sort of ‘backing band’, creating programmed tracks that the trio could then played both composed and improvised material around. Blueblut first premiered this music live at one of the homes of Vienna’s underground scene, FLUC during the first COVID summer in 2020.
The trio continued to both refine the material and their way of working with the MIDI Orchestra, and this material makes up the first 6 tracks of this collection. They developed this project further in 2021 and drafted in AI master and guitar supremo Nicola Hein. Nicola had created a software that enabled robots to improvise alongside live musicians, and he was able to customize this software to work with the robots that Janka created for his Orchestra.
The session was basically split into two parts, one full day improvising with the orchestra and Nicola Hein, and one full day playing the songs that Blueblut composed for the session. What you hear on track 7-11 is what happened on that day of improvising, there were no rehearsals for improvising with the robots, the band was in at the deep end from the start. The question remains, can robots actually improvise? Well, clearly yes, because they are doing it, but it’s different than a human-to-human relationship. The band needed to learn in real time how best to work with machines that they couldn’t ask questions to, so they learned to listen and respond. The resulting improvisations have that distinctive Blueblut mix of groove, soundscapes and noise, but the orchestra also moves the band into new directions.”
- LabelJanka
- UPC9008798472338