What is Circuit Bending?

[greaseenvelope]

Greaseenvelope - I saw your clip on the "let's year it" sticky.....and expressed my confusion there. One question......are drugs a prerequisite for understanding this, as I certainly don't get it. I think the guy on this youtube video with the spoon makes some pretty groovy beats though.......

My set was 12 minutes long, so one minute really doesn't tell much of a story. There are indeed beats and so forth at times, although that generally evolves out of more chaotic material.

 

Plenty of sober and stoned people doing this music, although there are a LOT of stoners. If you don't get it, don't worry about it. I don't get most classical music, it's like sonic wallpaper to me. Think about it as an extension of Cage's idea of making ones experience of the world as it is a musical one, taking those sounds gathered through a "new ear", and applying them to music. If you have more rigid definitions of music, try thinking of it as time-based sculpture masquerading as a musical performance. Or don't think about it at all, it's clearly an acquired taste.

 

It's also very difficult to relate the appeal without experiencing it live. Wielding power over an enormous sound system with people expecting you to make the most ridiculous noises possible is a real kick in the pants. Similar to the "lead singer in a punk band" kick in the pants, but you can do noise solo, and more artfully.

 

If you want a better sense of my work: here, and here have downloadable clips from albums people have put out, or what some blogger thought of one of my cdrs, so maybe you can see what others see in it. My brain has been so altered by my musical experiences I can't judge what others might think about it anymore.

[liveli_hood]

A group of kids with their first instruments, enjoying the moment, plays cover tunes as an opening act for a name band (One of the bandmate's step father owns the club). There's an enthusiastic crowd of punk rock patrons filing around the block waiting for the club to open. They have named their group the baroque brothers. This woman is selling their cds outside the club. You go over to strike up some chat. She offers you her number, but has written it on the cover of the recording. You offer her a twenty and she gives you their 'Best of Baroque Bros' recording. She asks if you dig her and can you hang out together. Poor sap, you have to collect your sister who had strayed for a few days, and she sounds in rough shape. You go to your car and pop in the cd. Before you can say 'the most horrendous music on earth, I'll never play music written before the nineteenth century', you have the cd and flip it out the window.

 

The sister is sitting on the curbside and closes up her cell phone. Seeing her brother looking dejected she regales him with a story her girlfriend had told her of this gullible putz being such a the big spender, dropped a twenty on a crap cd to meet adorable little her. The woman of your dreams is a Julliard grad student and said he had her wrapped around his finger until he started in with a story about v-drums as his fav for the best baroque sound, he recited his cherished days in the mosh pit to celebrate an old baroque custom, and he couldn't start his day without the latest mtv video, and does any show really surpass it for true baroque fans.

 

He felt bad hearing this, and told his sister he did have bass lines come to him as though he was used to channel this information for the figures seem to represent more then the time numbers first appeared as though he was in a trance. In this way he almost saved face.

(nevermind)

[Synthoid]

uh huh.....

[Markyboard]

 

weirdness project track, although that is one of my greatest frustrations with KSS: someone posts some demo they think is so weird and crazy and I hope to hear some good noise from all these expensive toys, and it ends up being really pedestrian directionless ho-hum slightly wacky synth timbres.

 

 

 

This is where I was seeing your point of view. I check out these "noise" MP3 and with some of them I think cool sound - but then I wonder how do you use it? Alone it seems out of context and it doesn't make sense to me. I get bored really fast with it. As part of a bigger framework inside a more traditional musical context - maybe. I certainly screw with my synths in this fashion at times and really enjoy the creation process and exploration. But I don't think it's worth a listen (even by myself) the next day. I AM NOT however dissing anyone who enjoys doing this and choses to spend big bucks on equipment to do it. To each his own.

 

 

If you don't get it, don't worry about it. I don't get most classical music, it's like sonic wallpaper to me. Think about it as an extension of Cage's idea of making ones experience of the world as it is a musical one, taking those sounds gathered through a "new ear", and applying them to music. If you have more rigid definitions of music, try thinking of it as time-based sculpture masquerading as a musical performance. Or don't think about it at all, it's clearly an acquired taste.

 

 

 

It reminds me of going to a museum - seeing an all red canvas with a single yellow circle in the corner and being told "well if you don't get it don't worry about it" or "it's an acquired taste". See my previous sarcasm on Vocal Bending - which was meant to say where do you draw the line?

 

 

 

It's also very difficult to relate the appeal without experiencing it live. Wielding power over an enormous sound system with people expecting you to make the most ridiculous noises possible is a real kick in the pants. Similar to the "lead singer in a punk band" kick in the pants, but you can do noise solo, and more artfully.

 

 

Sorry - but I don't buy having to listen to it at mind blowing levels to appreciate it (I know...you don't care).

 

If you want a better sense of my work: here, and here have downloadable clips from albums people have put out, or what some blogger thought of one of my cdrs, so maybe you can see what others see in it. My brain has been so altered by my musical experiences I can't judge what others might think about it anymore.

 

 

You must be on a higher evolutionary plain of existance then me

[greaseenvelope]

This is where I was seeing your point of view. I check out these "noise" MP3 and with some of them I think cool sound - but then I wonder how do you use it? Alone it seems out of context and it doesn't make sense to me. I get bored really fast with it. As part of a bigger framework inside a more traditional musical context - maybe. I certainly screw with my synths in this fashion at times and really enjoy the creation process and exploration. But I don't think it's worth a listen (even by myself) the next day. I AM NOT however dissing anyone who enjoys doing this and choses to spend big bucks on equipment to do it. To each his own.

 

I hear that, but, if you can't hear how these kind of sounds might be used in a musical context, maybe you're just not into it.

 

It reminds me of going to a museum - seeing an all red canvas with a single yellow circle in the corner and being told "well if you don't get it don't worry about it" or "it's an acquired taste". See my previous sarcasm on Vocal Bending - which was meant to say where do you draw the line?

 

Well, modern art museums are some of the places that we play, so you caught us there. Again, maybe you're just not into it. I don't think I have to be some kind of pretentious prick to believe that people have different tastes. I share your dislike of empty minimalism, and scepticism for the values of modern art. The atmosphere at these shows is quite different, it's really honestly hard to explain. I mean, most of the people that go are performers themselves, we're not talking about a lot of people here. Biggest gathering of this kind is No Fun Fest in NYC and that only draws a few hundred people (from all over the world). Biggest show I've ever played was at a mini-fest in seattle with around 75-90 people there. This is a hobbyist scene, one that is being paid undue attention by the "hip music industry" for some reason right now, but that imo doesn't possess the capacity for popular appeal in order to "make it big".

 

Sorry - but I don't buy having to listen to it at mind blowing levels to appreciate it (I know...you don't care).

 

Not mind-blowing, but it's nice to feel the bass. I guess what I was reacting to was my dislike of the mp3 compression on the tracks I posted. And my eternal dissatisfaction with my own material. Also, the social atmosphere at good noise shows is hard to describe, and is definately part of the experience. Volume for volume's sake is, of course, an empty masterbation tactic. The essentially masterbatory nature of this music is, however, definately still up for debate. A point I will happily concede. Thus it's limited appeal. I like to think I am trying to hold a higher standard personally, but then again I'm just some pretentious artfag, aren't I?

 

You must be on a higher evolutionary plain of existance then me

 

Well, whatever. I am expressing myself honestly here. I have had enough conversations with people about my own music to know that I am NOT the best judge of it and what's going on with it. How about a comment on the clips I posted, since you're so curious? Do you hear any sense of composition there beyond typical weirdness project wankery? Be honest. You won't hurt my feelings. I myself am fairly on the fence about most of this music at times, but later people tell me they like a track I would have deleted and so forth. So really, what do I know?

 

And since I know you've mentioned having kids and so forth, I imagine I am HIGHER than you in one sense. I work less, pay cheap rent to live in sketchy neighborhoods, and therefore have more free time on my hands to smoke the oregon chronic and watch the lights blinky blink on my little boxes. Does this make me more evolutionarily advanced than you? Quite the opposite, I'd say. Almost by definition.

 

 

PS: I forgot to answer this: "which was meant to say where do you draw the line?" That's the point. You draw it. I can't draw it for you, and you can't draw it for me. If you don't like it you walk away, or turn it off, or tell everyone its garbage, or whatever you want to do. We'd usually give you your money back too, which is better than I can say for most venues.

[vanillawafer]

I am glad the people in the video have found a way to entertain themselves. I am also glad that (as far as I know) none of them live next door to me.

 

My thoughts exactly. I think we should use that video in schools to show our children the effect of drugs

[Markyboard]

I hear that, but, if you can't hear how these kind of sounds might be used in a musical context, maybe you're just not into it.

 

 

But I can hear it - I just don't see it being done. I hear these clips and I think why isn't this an intro or a vamp or a background to something bigger instead of "look what I can do with keyboard x" or this $2 toy guitar ( I saw that mytee)

 

Well, modern art museums....

 

Good points- I was not aware of these festivals but think that's sounds cool.

 

The essentially masterbatory nature of this music is, however, definately still up for debate. A point I will happily concede. Thus it's limited appeal. I like to think I am trying to hold a higher standard personally, but then again I'm just some pretentious artfag, aren't I?

 

 

Not at all ( well maybe - what do I know:p ). When it comes to the "keepers" verses throwing it away that's what differentiates us as artist - good for you

 

 

Well, whatever. I am expressing myself honestly here. I have had enough conversations with people about my own music to know that I am NOT the best judge of it and what's going on with it. How about a comment on the clips I posted, since you're so curious? Do you hear any sense of composition there beyond typical weirdness project wankery? Be honest. You won't hurt my feelings. I myself am fairly on the fence about most of this music at times, but later people tell me they like a track I would have deleted and so forth. So really, what do I know?

 

 

Well once again you give me little to argue with. I came across harsh in my last post and apologize. You present yourself very well and I respect where you are coming from. I did listen to a couple of your clips and admit I don't get it. I'm sure I made similar arguments to yours with my dad (who's strictly classical music only) when I played some Doors and Pink Floyd for him many yearas ago. In thius case I was hoping to say that although this is not my thing I can appreciate it's merits as a worthy form of music. I like to believe I'm some what opened minded when it comes to music. But since I do this type of masturbation at times (or at least I think it's similar), I'm drawing my line.

 

 

And since I know you've mentioned having kids and so forth, I imagine I am HIGHER than you in one sense. I work less, pay cheap rent to live in sketchy neighborhoods, and therefore have more free time on my hands to smoke the oregon chronic and watch the lights blinky blink on my little boxes. Does this make me more evolutionarily advanced than you? Quite the opposite, I'd say. Almost by definition.

 

 

 

Been there-done that.

 

Good discussion.

[Allerian]

For what it's worth, I think you have to be on drugs to enjoy most pop, rap, or country music. There is a lot of noise music in my repitore, it was all made as my normal self, and I find it quite rewarding and enjoyable as such. That said, there is a lot of noise music out there that is just plan terrible. I mastered a 2 CD compilation of noise music and there were tracks that left me scratching my head as to why anyone would have done it, but that in itself is the nature of art appreciation: If you haven't found something that you don't enjoy, then you aren't seing (or hearing) enough art.

 

Or: Defining yourself by what you don't enjoy misses the point of enjoyment in the first place.

[Diametro]

 

i live in san francisco, blocks away from one of the biggest tranny clubs in the city, but that photo still fooled me.

 

 

Asian queens can be quite wily ...

[kooki_sf]

not all of em.

 

both a couple blocks away from my apt:

http://www.asiasf.com/

http://www.heklina.com/

[Punktkerbe]

Why is everyone looking at these guys as being stoners as a bad thing? That it somehow invalidates them? These guys are all doing something new and exciting, making new music that no one has done before, and somehow thats a bad thing?

 

I would think that any true musician would welcome any type of new sound, making the limitless dimension of music more and more accessible. Why make the same sort of music as everyone else? Whats the point in that? You think that Hendrix sat down and said "well, I think I'm just going to do blues covers the rest of my life"? Hell I'd much rather listen to random noise than any of the cheesy techno beats that everyone has heard before and is for some reason still being made today. Just because someone is doing something that you don't understand doesn't mean that they should be put down for it.

[vanillawafer]

I've got a question. In all seriousness, say that you come up with a really cool "song" using this technique (you had tape rolling) and it becomes a hit. Is there any way to perform it again live? To me it seems like you better be recording because if you like what you hear if you don't have the tape rolling you're not going to be able to create it again.

 

The thing that is amazing about this is that it's so easy even a worm can do it:

[greaseenvelope]

 

That said, there is a lot of noise music out there that is just plan terrible.

 

 

More than most genres as the DIY nature of it causes everyone to make these cdr/cassette labels on the cheap and take less care with their releases. Instead of making just one album and spending a long time culling the wheat from the chaff they release 13 10 minute tapes in special painted boxes, call it limited edition, and try to make a collectors market with it. Only its flooded!! Whose to say what is good and what is crap? You have to get immersed in it and see what you like and what you don't if you care to find out. That, again, is part of the appeal for many people. And why vinyl sales are such an important economic lynchpin in the whole scene.

[XorAxAx]

Wow. Some of you are taking this way too seriously.

 

 

It's fun. Go make some freaking noise. If you get music, too, then wonderful. If not, well at least you had fun.

[Allerian]

I've got a question. In all seriousness' date=' say that you come up with a really cool "song" using this technique (you had tape rolling) and it becomes a hit. Is there any way to perform it again live? To me it seems like you better be recording because if you like what you hear if you don't have the tape rolling you're not going to be able to create it again.

 

In most cases no. Some however, strive to create instruments or setups where the chaos can be controlled and repeated. I have been pretty successful in this, not so much for the imaginary case where I would be famous, but because I wish to persue the journey of artistic manipulation and discovery.

 

For the same reasons greaseenvelope points out, there is also a gigantic number of really poor, uncontrollable "bent instruments" out there. Flooded is definately the right word.

[bieke]

THE ORIGIN OF CIRCUIT BENDING

 

There's no written record of Grandma's first circuitbent device, however, a couple transcription discs and a few wire recordings are said to exist - along with some blurry rumors and ancient rural folk tales. So, how did a teenage girl discover circuit bending back in the 1930's ?

 

In 1933, "Grandma" was typical of most 11 to 13 year old girls. She lived in a small midwest town and was part of a poor rural family. Like most, she struggled during the Great Depression. Money was scarce, jobs almost nonexistent, and an overall feeling of hopelessness prevailed especially in what was then known as the "dustbowl". And, yet, from this impoverished setting, would come a form of entertainment that was decades ahead of its time.

 

Although the stories are sketchy, it seems that around 1933, a young girl, we'll call "Grandma" comes across a discarded radio on the side of a dirt road - probably the victim of a pothole which dislodged it from its baggage carrier. It's a strong possibility, as many families back then packed up everything they owned and drove to California to find work. The radio was typical of that era, a wood enclosure with rudimentary tube electronics that enabled it to receive and amplify AM and shortwave signals. This was a significant find as Grandma's family didn't have a radio. The legend then says that Grandma made her way home to the tin roofed shack that her family of 10 shared. She plugs in the radio only to find that it doesn't work. No sound comes from it at all, but she notices that the tuning dial lights up, so she believes that it "sort of" works. She decides that she'll fix it and then her family will be able to listen to radio shows and get the news.

 

Grandma opens up the radio. She's looking at a complete mystery. Wires, tubes, strange metal objects, and other stuff, for lack of a better term, inhabit this wooden box. Bewildered by this proto-electronic maze, she shakes her head. What's Grandma to do? Well, folklore describes her poking around in the radio for hours, then days. First with sticks and twigs, then with metal, possibly bicycle wheel spokes or something similar. Remember, this is "depression era" rural USA, tools and supplies are very hard to come by.

 

Not one to be discouraged, Grandma worked intensely. She stopped at nothing to get her radio working, bridging connections with wheel spokes and other found objects. She connected things that she thought needed to be connected. It's even said that Grandma got her hands on a crank phone and other trashed radios and then added their parts to her prized device.

 

Weeks went by as Grandma became even more obsessed with fixing her radio. Finally, all her efforts paid off. The results of pure luck, crude experimentation, childhood curiosity, and home-grown American ingenuity were heard by Grandma as a blistering noise spewed from the partially functioning radio's speaker. She turned the tuning knob which unveiled a deep palate of noise flavors from a shearing wash to gurgles and static pops. Keep in mind that this is 1933, and Grandma has essentially circuit bent a radio some 34 years before Reed Ghazala - or so the legend has it.

 

Grandma had turned a broken radio into a radical noisemaker and although that wasn't her goal, she was proud nonetheless. She would lose herself for hours on end playing with her new noisemaker. She was constantly filling her family's small shack with all kinds of distressful noise. Later, she began to "entertain" her family by putting on Vaudeville inspired shows where she would pretend to be all kinds of new and wonderful characters. These "characters" would touch the insides of the radio which belted out all kinds of different flavors of noise as they sang and danced, sometimes in a seizure like fashion. After a few shows, her family would have no more of this mess. They pressured Grandma to dismantle her creation and go back to school, but it was too late. Grandma had been bitten by the "noise bug" and there was no going back. Grandma took her noisemaking radio and ran away.

 

Legend has it that she made her way to Chicago, playing gigs wherever she could. Sometimes at general stores or bars. Sometimes outside on street corners. Though she did generate quite a bit of attention, her shows were never that well received. One story tells of a small crowd in Kansas City that is seen throwing rotting vegetables at a teenage girl who carried a loud radio. Other similar tales crop up in parts of Nebraska, Missouri, Kentucky and Illinois during the mid and late 1930's. There was even talk of Alan Lomax types of field recordings being made of a young woman who "played" a radio back in 1937. Then, nothing.

 

Information about Grandma and her noise band stops around 1941. Is she still living among us? We may never know. But, we do know this, Grandma had a noise band in the 1930's and she is said to have spewed out a noise of such wholesome goodness that only a Grandma could make.

[greaseenvelope]

That was the best thread ever. Although bending any tube era gear could result in fatal electricution. DONT TRY THIS AT HOME KIDDIES!

[bieke]

thanks !

here's a link to that thread for those interested

[BonsoWonderDog]

My set was 12 minutes long, so one minute really doesn't tell much of a story. There are indeed beats and so forth at times, although that generally evolves out of more chaotic material. Plenty of sober and stoned people doing this music, although there are a LOT of stoners. If you don't get it, don't worry about it. I don't get most classical music, it's like sonic wallpaper to me. Think about it as an extension of Cage's idea of making ones experience of the world as it is a musical one, taking those sounds gathered through a "new ear", and applying them to music. If you have more rigid definitions of music, try thinking of it as time-based sculpture masquerading as a musical performance. Or don't think about it at all, it's clearly an acquired taste. It's also very difficult to relate the appeal without experiencing it live. Wielding power over an enormous sound system with people expecting you to make the most ridiculous noises possible is a real kick in the pants. Similar to the "lead singer in a punk band" kick in the pants, but you can do noise solo, and more artfully. If you want a better sense of my work: here , and here have downloadable clips from albums people have put out, or what some blogger thought of one of my cdrs, so maybe you can see what others see in it. My brain has been so altered by my musical experiences I can't judge what others might think about it anymore.

 

Thank you for your civil response....if only more people could agree to disagree and not be childish about it, this forum may be a little less abusive.

[Khazul]

THE ORIGIN OF CIRCUIT BENDING ....

 

 

I am fully synpathetic to the locals lobbing crap at her iof the racket is anything like metasonix noises

[80zclubkid]

Ciruit bending is an unconventional method of transforming noise from sources other than normal musicical instruments, into cool electronic rock music, i think. The Blue Man Group ( the 3 bald headed blue guys) are a prime example of circuit benders. I got the B.M.G. Complex tour in Houston,TX on DVD. The female quest singer Tracy Chapman sounds & looks good doing a D.Summer/G.Moroder classic cover song called " i feel love". cheers:

[CardioGram]

i enjoy noise if its done right...

 

someone said, they can enjoy melody-less sonic exploration when its part of a larger song writing process BUT it doesn't sound good the next day?

 

see that's where i differ; i really like recording random 'construction' sessions and listening to them a while later (preferably a week or more) once you have forgotten enough that it doesn't sound like 'you' it can be very interesting, a fun journey.

 

the other weekend i went on a little wine tasting trip-- i was thinking, see, if my friends are willing to try 30 versions of the same thing and discuss the subtle differences-- how much more do i personally enjoy doing the same thing with different sounds and timbres! but most of my friends would not 'get' that.

 

you have to quit waiting for the beat or melody and appreciate the 'sound',

the comparison to abstract art is real--

image if someone said: boy you've got all these nice lines and shapes, can't you combine them into a drawing of a pear and a milk jug or something??

 

could but don't want to, i guess

 

the sculpture comparison is even better, perhaps.

 

definitely i'm not trying to convince anyone you should enjoy it, but my point is that for me it's definitely a whole other state of mind, so don't discount the possibility you just haven't 'heard it the right way' yet.

[LesMizzell]

THIS is circuit bending:

 

Emperor George II

 

Heh....

[pighood]

Wait until Her Highness ascends the throne.

 

Watch your thoughts, kids!