Rephlex Interview w/ Pierre Bastien, conductor of mechanical orchestras

Since the late 1970s, French composer and musician Pierre Bastien has been directing a totally mechanical orchestra consisting of self-playing sound sculptures. With a completely personal aesthetic influenced by Surrealism and Dada, Bastien builds his musical automata by manipulating household objects, acoustic instruments, Meccano pieces and recycled electric motors. His oeuvre also includes installations, collaborations with various artists and numerous releases on record labels like G3G and Rephlex.

Link: My link

MP3:

nice

great!

Thanks!

i like your link

  On 12/2/2010 at 7:17 PM, tidbit said:

i like your link

thanks for the feedback!!!

i heard he's doing another recording for rephlex & then i stumbled across this older interview.

pretty cool, tho odd to hear him talk so descriptive and plain about his projects.

the first time i saw him do a show he was using a very similar setup. i played at the same concert, and i barely knew his music. dude sat in the shadows and (i think) read french newspapers whilst smoking a pipe. his machinery looked unassuming and small scale. ofcourse, then when he played he did it lush like i now know only he does.

here's the most recent recording of a show of his i can find online, sept 2011 in the south of holland:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RyfHRVxn7f0