One of the increasing difficulties in experimental music is finding equipment that’s been seldom, if ever, used. But bless those musicians for continuing to uncover those gadgets. Take Andrea Taeggi, a Berlin-based musician who recently had the rare opportunity to incorporate the sounds of an analog computer (yeah, those things exist) over at the Willem-Twee synthesis studio in Holland. The Cold War contraption was apparently deployed for flight simulation and measurement, but in all those years somehow no one wondered if it could also make some sick beats.
The title of Taeggi’s SM-LL outing, Zimní Král, translates to “winter king.” which, while sounding like it was plucked straight from George R. R. Martin, actually refers to the former Bohemian king Frederick V Elector Palatine, a 17th-century ruler who advocated for alchemy as a way of understanding the world.
Are computers our modern alchemical objects? What connection do analog computers have with obscure historical figures? What does an analog computer even sound like? Listen to the album opener “Dinergy” down below to find out, and get your analog digits on the full album September 1 via SM-LL.
Zimní Král tracklisting:
01. Dinergy
02. Zeitlupe
03. Gylany
04. Qubit
05. Hygieia
06. Blazar
More about: Andrea Taeggi
