Fwonk* Monday

Greetings, my friend.

We are all interested in the future, for that is where you and I are going to spend the rest of our lives.

And remember my friend, future events such as these will affect you in the future. You are interested in the unknown... the mysterious. The unexplainable. That is why you are here.

And now, for the first time, we are bringing to you, the full story of what happened on that fateful day. We are bringing you all the evidence, based only on the secret testimony, of the miserable souls, who survived this terrifying ordeal. The incidents, the places.

My friend, we cannot keep this a secret any longer. Let us punish the guilty. Let us reward the innocent. My friend, can your heart stand the shocking facts of Bachelor Machines?



Sounding like an explosion inside Ed Wood's head, the Bachelor Machines' future-retro techno horror breaks burst onto Fwonk* earlier this year with 'It Is Nice To Finally Meet You'.

Fizzing with electronic blips, robotic vocal snippets and abused percussion, the EP is a collaboration between songwriter Clint Hoagland and the machines he found in a dusty basement in a remote part of Lansing, Michigan.

He told us what it was like to work with his benevolent robot overlords.

Your name / names on Fwonk*?

Artist name: Bachelor Machines
Forum name: BeigeBeigeBeigeBeige


How would you describe the your music?

The music is whatever the Bachelors feel like doing this week. At one point they became fascinated with the prospect of dance music and so they started spitting out electro breaks... I think they eventually found that to be a drag (since, ultimately, they're plugged in in my basement and cannot get out to clubs) and they moved on to music that aims to create moods in individuals rather than groups.


When and where do you make music?

The Bachelor Machines are set up in a little room in the corner of my basement. I try to get down there and work with them for an hour or so most evenings, it works out to maybe 3-4 evenings a week, and a weekend session of a few hours probably once a month. I'm not sure what they do when I'm not down there. I'm gonna try to forget that I even just thought about that.


What inspires you?

One technique that's been fairly successful, in terms of helping us decide what to work on next, has been to work from a particular image, whether that's a photograph or a painting.


How does your creative process work?

Typically, Bachelor #1 will somehow indicate to me what kind of raw material he wants to work with. I supply that material to him and he sits on it for a while... anywhere from a couple of minutes to a couple of years.

I don't know everything that is going on under the hood but he is processing the raw material during that time. By raw material, I mean raw sonic information, in the form of movie soundtracks, LPs, whatever. More recently he has been requesting that I play nylon-string guitar in front of a microphone.

Then, at some future date, what ends up happening is that Bachelor #2 and I will be talking or messing around with some kind of synth pop or something (which is what we do when Bachelor #1 is busy working on his parts) and Bachelor #1 will start displaying all these different images and playing some recombined version of the sounds I gave him. At that point the three of us work out a tune.


What hardware / software / instruments do you use to make music?

Bachelor #1 and Bachelor #2 could, I guess, be referred to as hardware... in terms of software, we use Live and Renoise to arrange the tunes.


Who are your favourite bands / producers / DJs?

The Books, Solvent, Adult., Caribou, Venetian Snares, Squarepusher, Juan Garcia Esquivel, Henry Mancini, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Joao Gilberto, Paulo Bellinati, Plastikman, Magnetic Fields


Whereabouts in the world do you come from?

Lansing, MI, USA.


What's your favourite noise?

Hard to put my finger on, but I guess "one sound juxtaposed with another sound in an expressive way."


What's your least favourite noise?

The way guys in alternative rock bands sing.

_______________________

Until next week, why not strap yourself in, download 'It Is Nice To Finally Meet You' and enjoy the ride.