The Electric Family is a supergroup that
comes together to execute brief driven recording projects. For this,
the first set of Electric Family releases, the brief was to compose
a 5 minute piece using only the Nintendo Super Famicom game
console, running the Mariopaint cartridge. Mariopaint
is, as you would suspect, a paint program. It also has a triphonic
sequencer that allows you to compose music on a stave.
Modern recording studios, and even those found in the bedrooms of
musicians the world over are full of equipment that affords the composer
a huge range of sonic possibilities. A single synthesizer / sequencer
combination of today can contain an almost inexhaustible palette of
polyphony, textures and rhythms to discover. Mariopaint strips
all of that away, and deliberately puts the artists in a straightjacket.
Each of the contributing artists was allowed only one audio effect,
and each piece was recorded directly onto master tape. Editing with
a razorblade was also made available. The results are proof that "less
is more", as each artists personality was forced to express
itself by the limitations imposed by the restrictive brief. This is
an inspirational project and release. The tool used to create it can
be deceptive since it is a cartridge for children; this is the most
serious of projects, experimentally addressing a real world problem
that is plaguing studios and methods of recording. The results are
entertaining, breathtaking, surprising and memorable. Music. |
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