Published
Wed, Apr 22, 2015, 13:00
- The album, due out in June, gathers recordings made on the Tandy DeskMate computer from 1992 through 2002.
Software will release a collection of Tandy recordings made by Ben Zimmerman in the '90s.
CalArts alumnus Zimmerman made a staggering amount of music on the Tandy DeskMate computer, which was an early competitor to Microsoft Windows. The operating system had a crude music program that could make songs out of samples, and Zimmerman used it to make tracks "that sit comfortably alongside today's cropping of electronic music within the machine's severely limited capabilities," according to the label.
Zimmerman sent the recordings to Software boss Dan Lopatin—AKA Oneohtrix Point Never—in 2013, and the producer was taken aback by Zimmerman's "impressionistic sort of monochromatism that is both sentimental and mechanistic," as he says in a foreword published alongside the album.
Lopatin whittled the recordings down to a double-vinyl package of music that spans 1992 through 2002. The first side comprises the lengthy "Phyllis," which represents the earliest, most barebones Tandy music, while the For Mimi tracks were made out of samples of Zimmerman's own guitar and an old Yamaha keyboard. Side three, Extended Techniques For Computer, covers the mid-'90s and includes a solo piano piece, and then Pausebreak, inspired by drum & bass, showcases a more rhythmic side of Zimmerman's work.
Check out a video of "Pausebreak Pt. 1" below.
Tracklist
01. Phyllis
02. For Mimi Pt. 1
03. For Mimi Pt. 2
04. For Mimi Pt. 3
05. For Mimi Pt. 4
06. For Mimi Pt. 5
07. The Scream
08. Housed!
09. Tropical Den
10. 99th Street
11. The Space Jack Hummer
12. Grumble Grumble
13. Reverse Me
14. 75000multicolouredorgasmaticballoons
15. Crystal Lake
16. Redecorated Proto-Computations
17. Da Chopp
18. Yellow Daffodil (Burning) Against A Grey Sidewalk
19. Chants
20. Reso
21. Mazer
23. One-Liter Plastic Bottle
24. F-Trip
25. Now I Am Num
26. Pausebreak Pt. 1
27. Pausebreak Pt. 2
28. Pausebreak Pt. 3
29. Pausebreak Pt. 4
30. Pausebreak Pt. 5
30. Pausebreak Pt. 6
Software will release The Baltika Years on June 8th, 2015.