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Machine Language

by Bob Belden's Animation

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  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
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      £9 GBP  or more

     

  • Full Digital Discography

    Get all 4 Bob Belden's Animation releases available on Bandcamp and save 20%.

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Machine Language, Transparent Heart, Agemo, and Asiento. , and , .

    Purchasable with gift card

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  • 12" Gatefold Double Vinyl
    Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    Artwork and Design by Petulia Mattioli

    Orders will be fulfilled by RareNoiseRecords.
    Orders will ship from the United Kingdom.

    Includes unlimited streaming of Machine Language via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

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  • 4 Panel CD Digipack
    Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    Artwork and Design by Petulia Mattioli

    Orders will be fulfilled by RareNoiseRecords.
    Orders will ship from the United Kingdom.

    Includes unlimited streaming of Machine Language via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

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1.
A Child's Dream 03:27
2.
Machine Language 07:01
3.
Eternality 03:13
4.
Consistent Imperfection 06:32
5.
Soul Of A Machine 03:19
6.
Genesis Code 08:46
7.
Evolved Virtual Entity 02:59
8.
Disappear/Annihilation 03:58
9.
The Evolution Of Machine Culture 05:50
buy track
10.
Dark Matter 08:28
11.
TechnoMelancholia 02:37
12.
A Machine's Dream 02:43

about

Tragically, this was Bob Belden’s last recording before his premature passing May 20th 2015. Listening to this darkly dystopian concept album makes one wonder:

What would Miles Davis have done had he lived long enough to create the soundtrack to Matrix?

To help Belden realize his futuristic 2001: A Space Odyssey-inspired vision for Machine Language, he enlisted vocalist Kurt Elling as narrator for this cyberpunk opera:

“My own memory of any conversations regarding the piece is that there was minimal discussion before making the voice over,” said Elling, who had previously appeared on Belden’s 1996 project, Shades of Blue. “The only real direction I received was to ‘sound like a sad, well-spoken computer.’ I did the actual recording by myself at a studio in St Louis, with Belden occasionally commenting via ISDN. I did a cold read once down, without music, and expected Bob to make whatever edits and adjustments he wanted. I was in and out of the studio in an hour.”

Belden’s text for Elling reads like an excerpt from Philip K. Dick’s 1968 novel “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?,” which later became the literary source for the 1982 Ridley Scott movie Blade Runner. And the darkly foreboding music, performed by Pete Claggett on muted trumpet, Roberto Verastegui on electric keyboard, Matt Young on drums, Belden on soprano sax and Bill Laswell on electric bass guitar, takes part of its inspiration from Miles Davis’ 32-minute ambient requiem for the recently-deceased Duke Ellington, “He Loved Him Madly” (from 1974’s Get Up With It).

Can a machine dream?
What would a machine’s dream be?
Can a machine dream like a child?
Can a machine have an imagination?
Or does a machine dream of conformity, of accomodation, of servitude?

Will a machine’s dream be inspired by a human model?
Or can a machine create and develop a unique dream into a reality?
Or would the machine’s dream be to create a new human machine,
a virtual existence gestated and nurtured by the pure machines?

credits

released September 25, 2015

Pete Clagett : electric trumpet
Bob Belden : soprano sax and electric alto flute
Roberto Verastegui : synthesizers and electric organs
Bill Laswell : electric bass
Matt Young : drums
Kurt Elling : narrator

1. A Child’s Dream
2. Machine Language
3. Eternality
4. Consistent Imperfection
5. Soul of a Machine
6. Genesis Code
7. Evolved Virtual Entity
8. Disappearannihilation
9. The Evolution of Machine Culture
10. Dark Matter
11. Technomelancholia
12. A Machine’s Dream

Compositions, arrangements and sound design by Bob Belden
Published by RareNoisePublishing (PRS)

Recorded Orange Studios, East Orange, NJ, October 31 and November 1, 2014
Recorded by James Dellatacoma
Mixed by James Dellatacoma
Mastered by Mike Fossenkemper at Turtletone Studio, NYC

Executive Producer : Giacomo Bruzzo

Artwork and Design : Petulia Mattioli

© + ℗ RareNoiseRecords 2015

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Bob Belden's Animation New York, New York

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