Dreams Of Robots

Very old, very lame, very interesting, if you’re as nerdy as I am. This was based on a few simple audio recordings by Mr. Firechild a very long time ago. The discussion must have circulated around analog vs digital, Eurythmics vs Kraftwerk, nobody remembers now. But it all turned into a refill of sorts. Mainly a song demo refill I guess, where the motifs were “We are the robots” by Kraftwerk and “Sweet dreams” by Eurythmics. This was sampled from a Roland Jupiter 8 equipped synth nerd’s home jam on a rainy day, mounted together in different ways using Reason another rainy day, and it might be fun to play with some futuristic rainy day. Nobody knows. This has to be rediscovered and understood. Not possible on a day without rain. Completely free stuff anyway, no copyright disturbance was ever intended; it was rather a nerdy event of trying to understand how motifs were put together, and what the point was. And perhaps, somehow, we found out what the secrets were behind these tracks. But that’s all forgotten now. If you download it, your challenge is trying to understand it. Create discussions, create waves on the internet, make people argue again. It must have a point. Somewhere.

Somewhere in the archives of forgotten experiments there lies this curious little contrivance.

Long ago, upon a wet and otherwise uneventful day, a certain Mr. Firechild did set about his Jupiter-8 and record a handful of sounds. What followed is less readily explained.

There were machines involved. There were samples. There was Reason. There may have been an argument concerning the virtues of analogue contrivances against the cold precision of digital ones. Perhaps Kraftwerk entered the matter. Perhaps the Eurythmics did likewise.

The evidence is inconclusive.

The recordings were later taken apart and assembled anew, with little regard for conventional wisdom and considerably more regard for curiosity. Melodic fragments were borrowed, twisted, layered and made to converse with one another in manners which, at the time, seemed perfectly reasonable.

Whether this constitutes a song, a study, a Refill, or merely an afternoon gone astray is left entirely to the investigator.

No grand purpose is claimed.

Indeed, the purpose may have been lost before the work itself was finished.

Yet therein lies the amusement.

Shouldst thou download this curious relic, thou art hereby invited to determine what manner of thing it is. Examine the sounds. Follow the fragments. Consider why certain patterns endure, why some machines sound strangely human, and why two entirely different musical worlds may sometimes appear to be speaking the same language.

Argue amongst yourselves, if need be.

Bring forth theories. Revive old quarrels. Decide whether the whole affair is ingenious, ridiculous, or both.

The material is offered freely, for this was never conceived as a commercial enterprise nor as an attempt to trespass upon anyone’s work. It was, rather, the sort of peculiar experiment undertaken by people who ought perhaps to have been doing something more sensible.

And should rain be falling whilst thou art investigating it, so much the better.

There may be a reason for that.

We simply cannot remember what it was.