thoughts: in the light of machines

In the Light of Machines - veggieman - 2009
From September to November of 2009 I recorded and assembled the electronic experimental noise album In the Light of Machines. It was the follow-up to August's Modern Life, a lengthy guitar experiment and my first album under the name of veggieman, and will be followed by Apply to Forehead (title may change) in most likely 2011 (which will also sound completely different). I have written reviews/explanations for each track; here they are after the jump.




cinder bluebird                                              5/5
This song is the best on the album. It was worked on for the longest amount of time. The sounds come from a variety of sources. Some is from various computer games' audio folders (like Civilization III), some is just Sony ACID Music Studio loops. Much of it, though, is recorded by me with the digital voice recorder I own, even if I didn't make the noise myself. The Tetris theme is an example; it was recorded from a handheld system. An interesting part is the Paul McCartney guitar riff from "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heart Club Band". But my favorite part of the track is in the back of the mix: the simple symphony of birds that I assembled from Civilization III.

WYSIWYG (What You See is What You Get)                        2/5
The implied subtitle is intended to describe the album.  In the Light of Machines is a book you should judge by its cover. Like this song. This song is a piece of junk. There is no hidden meaning; what you see is what you get. It was one of the first sets of vocals I recorded with the computer mic. My uncreative self (along with my übercreative brother) morphed this song into "Spiral" on Wicked Lizard's eponymous debut.

Mosko Tel Espandere                                           1/5
That title is no foreign language. All but "espandere" come from my mind. "Espandere" is Spanish for "expand". Literally, "tel" means "of" and "Mosko" means "Moscow", but in this context it translates as "Moskow, to Expand", which does not fit this simple loop song at all. It starts electronic, but suddenly switches to rock. It is lacking structure and is overall a poor song. The song's "radio edit" was the first in my two song series mocking radio edits. It makes a two minute "song" into one minute of unfocused noise (and not the good kind). I layered the rock and electronic parts over one another.
(Note: The radio edit is only found on some In the Light of Machines CDs and a diskette single)


Query #11 [featuring cat7420]                                 5/5
I love this song. It was assembled well, and I am proud of my brother and I for accomplishing this masterpiece. It may be slow and repetitive, but what do you expect from a song that had the working title of "Dance Remix"? It has achieved its goal of being as pointless and annoying, and it's listenable too! I wonder why I didn't make a "radio edit" of this song. It would have been awesome. I should do that sometime...

Statik [Warning: Loud Noise]                                  2/5
Creative, but not worth it. This track has the awesome "America is Waiting"/"Sgt. Pepper" loop, but that's really the only highlight. Much of the track consists of statiky versions of digital voice recordings from 2007. The noise warning is because of a clip from "Man, It's So Loud In Here" by They Might Be Giants that is really loud and statiky. The worst part is the vacuum recording at the end from the 2007 xlead EP Doom.

Sound Wall Beat Type 3                      -10/5 (counts as 1/5)
There was no type 1. There was no type 2. And there shouldn't have been a type 3. Okay, maybe it's interesting for five seconds. But the sheer repetition for two freaking minutes is just too much. It's almost as bad as "Puding Theme" by Wicked Lizard from Hat (but not quite). Oh well. Nothing I can do about it now.

U.F.O. Theme                                                 3/5
Progressive rock? More like long and dragging on forever. It is just the 2007 keyboard riff surrounded by a jam. Two short riff pieces, and then the jam. Meh. It's okay. The radio edit is the most guitarish version of the riff sped up plus drums n' bass. At least it's better than the "Mosko Tel Espandere" radio edit.

In the Light of Machines                                     1/5
Ugh. So uncreative. The music is "Base and Apex" by Brian Eno & Cluster, ripped off unreasonably. It's bad. The lyrics are somewhat okay, but my voice on this track is both horrible and inaudible. It could have been much better with a different vocal recording and even a loop backing track, but it's just not worth the effort to go back and change it now. It is what it is, which is complete crap.

Out with a Bang                                              3/5
Hah. More like sputter. This isn't loud like "Statik", but it has some of its complexity. It's like a more serene "cinder bluebird", a sound collage that makes some sense. It includes sounds from many sources. I sang part of the Apples in stereo song "Energy", part is from a Dimension session, and other bits come from other places. A bang it may not be, but it is a very fitting ending for an odd electronic experiment that is mysterious, wonderful, and at times, utter crap. That is In the Light of Machines.

TOTAL SCORE                                         23/45 or 3/5
Hey, it's not a classic. Nowhere even close. But it has its charms. And one of them is that it is free. Free! There is an official free download! None of that torrent nonsense! And it's right here! With an exclusive album cover created specifically for CLLCT. So if my review hasn't scared you away or you want to listen to the album as you read the review to see if I'm right, go download it or at least stream it.