If you can’t get to a shoreline this week, I wholeheartedly endorse watching the waves crash behind none other than TM404, aka Andreas Tilliander. We had a sort of Roland meditation with him before, and I’m even more fond of this set.
Sit back and enjoy an hour of sound.
It’s worth reflecting on the resurgent hardware set, particularly with the Roland AIRA lineup some of the most talked-about, popular gear of 2014 (and volca beats still selling, and Rhythm Wolf in the wings).
The palette of sounds from conventional drum machine and bassline hardware is, it’s true, limited. But that’s why this is the sort of set fans of electronic music should demand. It’s live, improvisatory, rhythmically inventive – and here, full of cooled waves of sound and intensely focused. Andreas sets up a harmonious ensemble of tightly-concentrated timbres, then drives them with waves of interlocking polyrhythms. And the results have a wonderful flow.
To me, the importance of vintage hardware isn’t necessarily that it’s “authentic,” that the audience always know what’s happening (they still won’t), or even, at some point, that it have a certain sound. It’s that at some point, the artist is comfortable enough with those instruments to enjoy themselves, and the crowd with them.
So yes, now we have volca beats and re-emergent vintage Roland and clones and Maschine and Rhythm Wolf and AIRA and Ableton and Arturia BeatStep and everything out there likely to spread the availability of hardware control of beats all over again. Let’s hope that translates to more live sets. And a little healthy competition on YouTube and SoundCloud couldn’t hurt, either.
Historically, musicianship has managed to be democratic and accessible for centuries, and the best has risen to the top. It’d be wonderful to see the word LIVE behind more music sets – and for it to mean something. That’s a challenge we can all take personally to heart, artist or booker or fan.
I will now step down from the pulpit and get back to sharing information on Andreas. He’s up to so much, and has so many projects, I will do so by copying and pasting from his email signature. Here goes:
TM404 / Tilliander / Mokira / Lowfour / Kondens / Elektroniskt i P2 / Etc / Mm / Osv.
Whoa. And…
Now:
Tilliander – Mini LP 12″ (Börft) August 2013
Skum One 12″ (TM404, Skudge, Frak, MRSK) August 2013
TM404 – Svans 12″ (Kontra-Musik) September 2013Recent:
TM404 – TM404 CD/LP (Kontra-Musik) February 2013
TM404 – The Morphosis Korg Response 12″ (Kontra-Musik) November 2012
Hope we see more in 2014; we’ll be listening.