“it is our destiny to explore new forms of data”
Delving deep into the medium of avant-garde eBook composition pioneered by James Ferraro, librarian and part-time digital frontiersman Steve Kemple scribbles discoveries/prophecies in the college-ruled lines of a MIDI interface. Artificial woodwinds and watery marimba intone with the sort of gentle impetus that brings cogs in the machinery to creeping life — they invoke the humanist ambition of an orchestral performance sans orchestra, sans live audience.
m a c h i n e l e a r n i n g is timbrally similar to Ferraro’s Human Story 3, but it’s a noticeable atmospheric departure from its inspirations. HS3’s urgent braids of melody represented the bustle of urban life, while Kemple’s folksy arrangements border on pastoral. Opener “v 1 . 1” especially invokes the tranquil vibe suggested by its Windows XP-sampling cover art, layering cozy clarinet drones and a tendon of synth onto his aural canvas.
“dreams and reality are interchangeable” plays like the commercial for a fully-immersive online university, constantly building towards its post-rock crescendo as text-to-speech software trades verses with a borrowed human voice. Its constant flow of regenerative energy is the call to productivity — to add value; to boost one’s search engine optimization. Is your surge of optimism you feel sincere? Ironic? Is there a difference?
“i’ve seen companies try to sell posts on their own site”