Musique Mécanique
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Musique
Mécanique
liner notes
Musique Mécanique 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 Mécanique
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 Mécanique, most notably “Metallic Drone” and “Drone Mécanique” 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 “lärmkunst”. The bonus CD includes some
compositions I recorded for other projects using the very same “Delays
Mécaniques” 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 Mécanique 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 |
Musique
Mécanique:
“electronic”
sounding music (and music inspired by electronica) performed using instruments
and objects that produce sounds by mechanical means.
absolutely no synthesizers or samplers used.
produced and composed by daniel diaz.
performed & recorded by daniel diaz
in paris, villa gessel
and buenos aires during 2008-2009. mixed and edited in paris 2009-2010.
artwork:
sergio@sur.sud.studio, paris.
instruments &
objects used:
acoustic piano,
upright bass (bowed and pizz),
acoustic and electric guitars and basses,
hand percussion,
bamboo flutes,
harmonica,
knives,
bamboo drums,
metal trash lid,
stainless steel
thermos,
wine glasses
and other objects.
fx, processing
& treatments:
digital and analogue delays, echo, filters, reverb, wah-wah pedal, distortion
pedal.
Release made possible thanks of Cezame Music
Agency's support.
thanks:
françoise marchesseau, frédéric leibovitz, vicoria+paloma+alexis, sergio
“pittbull” pittaluga, karlheinz stockhausen, ryuichi sakamoto, gustavo lopez,
glenn krieg, and steve reich.
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musique mécanique standard edition
cover:
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Track list:
CD Musique Mecanique Standard Edition
01/
solo piano 1
/
3:48
acoustic
piano performance, recorded live to stereo d.a.t. in buenos aires, and
then transferred to computer multi-track in paris, chopped down to several
tracks with different echoes and delays. these delayed signals have been
passed through wah-wah and filter pedals. Some bites from the original
recording have been reversed.
02/
metallic drone
/
3:36
knives &
metallic thermos (drone), Stratocaster distorted guitar, trash lid, bowed
contrabass effects.
03/
duo 1
/
3:07
acoustic
piano + upright bass. Delays and filters.
04/
drone mecanique
/
6:03
upright
bass (pizz), 7 different bowed contrabasses, harmonica x2, electric bass
drone, knives & metallic thermos (drone).
05/ bamboos
/
3:19
three different bamboo drums (Teponaztle or tun), Delays and WahWah.
06/
jesse (al arco)
/
2:50
three electric guitars (Stratocaster/tapping), 3x acoustic bass guitar
harmonics, four bowed (rhythmic) contrabasses.
07/
duo 2
/
3:28
acoustic guitar + upright bass
08/
guitars tappin’
/
4:05
four hi pitch bowed contrabasses (nappe), electric guitars
(Stratocaster/tapping), solo epiphone el.guitar, contrabass, trash lid hit
(mallet) w/infinite decayed delay.
09/
solo piano 2
/
4:55
acoustic
piano performance, same procedures as solo piano 1 (track 1)
10/
tension (part I 1:10 part II 0:59)
/
2:08
acoustic
piano, pizz. contrabass, wine glasses, metallic thermos, trash lid
(fingered and hit with brushes), talking drum, bowed contrabass effects.
11/
frantic prelude (sirènes)
/
1:53
seven bowed contrabasses.
12/
frantic (techno)
/
3:03
eight bowed contrabasses.
13/
fierros
/
3:58
knives,
metallic thermos, fingered and sticks hit trash lid (inox), el.bass,
epiphone casino el.guitar (w/volume pedal)
14/
solstice
/
4:16
charango, pizz. contrabass, two harmonicas, five bowed contrabasses
Total length 50:35
all tracks composed by daniel diaz (c)&(p) 2010 by DedeLand Music Co./BMI
limited edition (box set) track list
here
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Me asombra que una llave pueda abrir una puerta,
me asombra que mi mano sea una cosa cierta,
me asombra que del griego la eleática saeta
instantánea no alcance la inalcanzable meta,
me asombra que la espada cruel pueda ser hermosa,
y que la rosa tenga el olor de la rosa.
J.L.B.
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