New Artist Highlight: r1xf’s ‘Unintended’ Indie Electronica ‘Music for Robots’

It’s wild, actually, that the 808 beatmaker, invented in over 40 years and solely manfactured for a small window from 1980-1983, nonetheless manages to encourage of musicians and producers. Even with all the fashionable strategies, programming, ease of entry, et al., the Roland 808 continues to be one in every of music’s most coveted items of substances. It’s not only for its rarity, both. The distinctive sounds of the 808 have merely not been replicated lo these 4 a long time, and the variety of methods it may be utilized in programming and manufacturing continues to be capturing the imaginations of many an artist.

The legend of the 808 is the place we discover Canadian indie artist, rx1f. As a composer, music tech fanatic and someday punk rocker, rx1f fell in love with the 808 and its capabilities by way of a documentary on the enduring programming package. He determined to re-vamp not solely his fashion and moniker, but in addition a complete album utilizing the 808, amongst different issues, to place a futuristic and decidedly digital spin on his earlier punk rock work.

This album is an end-to-end re-imagination of a maximalist indie punk album that I made with a buddy just a few years in the past, which I can not bear to take heed to…There are a variety of samples from NASA and different space-related sources on r8c180, you'll be able to hear planet sounds on just about each observe.

The complete album, r8c180, is due out in mid-November. The primary teaser observe, “Accidents,” delivers what the semi-reclusive artist guarantees, because it opens with a clip from an area launch and the 808-style starburst sound design everyone knows and love. As soon as the synths and supporting manufacturing are available in, it turns into clear to anybody who is aware of that package that just about all of this observe was programmed on an 808. It’s astonishing that artists are nonetheless capable of get a lot out of this one machine.

Fashion-wise, “Accidents” is, certainly, very spacey, with an apparent classic flare and, if we had been to place a style tag on it, it’s a mix of vitage electro-pop and publish punk. The publish punk, or “maximalist punk” bit comes primarily from the vocals, sung by rx1f himself. With a kind of smoky, Daniel Ash-from-Love-and-Rockets-and-Bauhaus high quality, we will see the publish punk/synth pop tie-in right here. With all that 80s classic fashion, “Accidents” nonetheless performs fairly trendy, nonetheless, and the juxtaposition of very human vocals and “music for robots,” because the artist himself places it, is probably going the rationale. There’s a soul and a contact of relatable ennui, because the vocals name out to the void of house, that’s fairly relatable for contemporary listeners.

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RtCj4Lv9rhU[/embed]

The video for “Accidents,” dropped on rx1f’s YouTube web page only a few days in the past, reinforces that human/machine interplay and lends much more substance to that want for connection epxressed within the vocals. It appears it’s not simply the 808 that fascinates rx1f, however the paradox between pondering and feeling, know-how and emotion. Is there a stability to strike? Will know-how facilitate humanity or is it sure to destroy us? It’s a query rx1f will doubtless discover extra within the upcoming r8c180, although the reply continues to elude most of us. At the least we all know the 808 will all the time be on our facet.

“Accidents” is out now and might be streamed on Spotify or bought on Bandcamp. Control these platforms and rx1f’s YouTube channel for the forthcoming r8c180.