The sound of the ages

January 20, 2012 1:50 PM

Years by Bartholomäus Traubek: a record player that plays slices of wood.
posted by functionequalsform (18 comments total)

Further proof that anything will sound good if you give it a selection of pre-harmonized notes.
posted by spitefulcrow at 1:58 PM on January 20, 2012 [6 favorites]

... aaaaaaand here comes the knotSHTHROOOM!
posted by Kabanos at 2:02 PM on January 20, 2012 [2 favorites]

daaaaaaaaaaamn

another good idea snatched out of the ether by someone other than myself
posted by nathancaswell at 2:13 PM on January 20, 2012 [1 favorite]

That tree is definitely influenced by early mid-period, Holy Money, Holy Love era $WANS.

Awesome.
posted by Skygazer at 2:18 PM on January 20, 2012 [3 favorites]

I prefer its early stuff.
posted by You Should See the Other Guy at 2:19 PM on January 20, 2012 [2 favorites]

Now, that's what I call a Long-Player.
posted by Skygazer at 2:34 PM on January 20, 2012

I was listening to them when they were only saplings.
posted by etc. at 2:50 PM on January 20, 2012 [5 favorites]

Who knew that inside every tree was a piano?
posted by crunchland at 2:51 PM on January 20, 2012 [2 favorites]

I prefer something more hardwood.
posted by Kabanos at 2:51 PM on January 20, 2012

Wait...let me try that again:

I prefer listening to the music of a tree's roots because, you know, it's still underground.
posted by etc. at 2:52 PM on January 20, 2012 [4 favorites]

This music is inherently discriminatory against trees that do not have a circular cross-section. Down with the white pine hegemony!
posted by zomg at 2:55 PM on January 20, 2012

Talk about crate digging!
posted by dontoine at 3:28 PM on January 20, 2012

Should've used a xylophone or log drum or something. You know, so it'd sound like wood.
posted by Sys Rq at 3:29 PM on January 20, 2012

(It'd probably also sound like 1985, but whatever.)
posted by Sys Rq at 3:30 PM on January 20, 2012

I pine for a collaboration with µ-Ziq.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 3:47 PM on January 20, 2012 [3 favorites]

I was disappointed that he just mapped it to piano. Kind of vanilla.

Sonically, I would check out Tivon Rice's piece where he makes a sort of optical record.

Conceptually, Mungo Thompson's piece where "one side of b/w speeds up whole albums of humpback whalesong 16x until they resemble birdsong; the other side slows down tracks from birdsong albums 16x until they resemble whalesong. The “birdsong” plays outside onto 27th Street, the “whalesong” plays inside the gallery."
posted by victory_laser at 3:54 PM on January 20, 2012

I pine for a collaboration with µ-Ziq .

No, seriously.
posted by functionequalsform at 8:31 PM on January 20, 2012

Seriously.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 6:29 AM on January 21, 2012