Garton, Brad & Dave Solder: The Brainwave Music Project

Being a reviewer has opened up a vast array of musical forms and has shaped much of my listening habits as an avid consumer of music. Much of the music I review would not have been made available to me if I hadn't been afforded this opportunity. Sometimes the music works, other times not so much but one thing is for certain, there is as much creativity out there as there as ever been. Take The Brainwave Music Project as an example of using technology to push the boundaries of musical form. To quote from the inside jacket of the CD,c "Since 2008, we have developed the use of inexpensive EEG (electroencephalograph) sensors that could measure the electrical output of the brain (brainwaves) to develop a set of software tools that could generate music using brainwave data."It reads like something from a medical journal. The entire process is further explained and if I get the just of it correctly the idea is to use the brainwaves of, in this case four guest musicians soloing on a particular instrument, to create the accompanying piece of music.

So, the big question is how does it come together as a musical piece? While I give the artists full credit for imagination and ingenuity I just cannot wrap my head around these compositions. For me, there are not enough tangible melodies to latch on to, thus making this an incredibly challenging and difficult listen. Each piece features a main instrument; mandolin (Terry Pender), hardanger fiddle (Dan Trueman), solo flute (Margaret Lancaster) and trap drums (William Hooker). Around each solo instrument sound collages are built but the results are too haphazard and chaotic to derive much enjoyment.

Please keep in mind your opinion may be much different. If you regularly listen to avant-garde music perhaps you should give this a try. For everyone else this will be a tough sell.

Track Listing:
1. Bible School Vacation
2. Taco Tuesday
3. Harajuku Hiccup
4. Serotonin
5. Adrenaline
6. Dopamine
7. Histamine
8. Amygdala
9. Insula
10. Cerebellum
11. The Wheels
12. Initiates
13. Rational Entities
14. The Wild

Added: March 12th 2018
Reviewer: Jon Neudorf
Score:
Related Link: Label's Official Site
Hits: 1264
Language: english

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