Bob Belden's Animation - Machine Language

[GA Russell]

Did anyone get this?  Recommended?

 

RARE NOISE RECORDS PROUDLY PRESENTS     Machine Language THE LAST ALBUM BY   Bob Belden's Animation   FEATURING   Bill Laswell on electric bass &   Kurt Elling on spoken word   AVAILABLE IN STORES AND ONLINE TODAY AND THROUGH WWW.RARENOISERECORDS.COM AS CD DIGIPACK, DOUBLE VINYL 180 GRAMS AND MULTIPLE DIGITAL FORMATS.              Bob Belden Sax / Flute Peter Clagett Trumpet Roberto Verastegui Keyboards Bill Laswell Electric Bass Matt Young Drums Kurt Elling Narrator                     ABOUT THE LABEL - RareNoiseRecords was founded in late 2008 by two Italians, guitarist/arranger/ producer Eraldo Bernocchi and all-round music nut Giacomo Bruzzo. Located in London, the label was created to present a platform to musicians and listeners alike who think beyond musical boundaries of genre. For further information and to listen please go to www.rarenoiserecords.com.   New York - Recorded over three days in the autumn of 2014 at Bill Laswell's Orange Studios in New Jersey, mixed by James Dellatacoma and mastered by Mike Fossenkemper, Machine Language is the last and possibly most ambitious work by American composer, orchestrator, arranger, saxophonist and all-round conceptualizer Bob Belden with his historical group Animation. Belden died on May 20th this year.   Machine Language is a cyberpunk "opera," an attempt to answer the question:   "Can a machine have an imagination?"   In order to realize his vision, Bob Belden enlisted Bill Laswell on electric bass and renowned jazz singer Kurt Elling, who acts as narrator. As for the previous album by Animation, Transparent Heart, also released on RareNoiseRecords in 2012, the lineup also comprises Peter Clagett on electrified trumpet, Roberto Verastegui on keyboards and Matt Young on drums.   Machine Language draws inspiration from multiple literary sources (e.g. Philip K. Dick, Iain M. Banks), visual sources (Kubrick's "2001 Space Odyssey") and musical sources (Miles Davis' "Get Up With It," "Big Fun" and "In A Silent Way"). Belden's work translates them into a musical weave - electric Jazz, ambient sound, drum'n bass grooves, accompanied with a text addressing the evolution and relationship between the human mind ("The Human Machine") and the emergent artificial mind ("The Pure Machine"). The arc of the album is developed over 12 compositions, beginning with "Child's Dream" and ending with  "Machine's Dream." The dialectic remains unresolved; in Belden's world, the only constant is the universal power of imagination, which transcends all distinctions. TRACKS 1. A Child's Dream  2. Machine Language  3. Eternality  4. Consistent Imperfection  5. Soul Of A Machine   6. Genesis Code  7. Evolved Virtual Entity  8. DisappearAnnihilation  9. The Evolution Of Machine Culture  10. Dark Matter  11. TechnoMelancolia  12. A Machine's Dream   Bob Belden's Animation performed in Tehran, Iran, this year as the first U.S. band since 1979. Among other distinguished publications, the CHICAGO TRIBUNE and NEW YORK TIMES reported extensively.

R.I.P. Bob Belden.

[rostasi]

Cyber-Miles. I like it because of the sources it draws from (though I'm not that familiar with the literary ones).
I can't shake the young Leonard Nimoy/Zachary Quinto-like narration from Kurt Elling. It works, but is a bit disorientating.
Maybe I don't really need to shake it. If you're a fan of the 70's style Miles ambient-like "moods," this could easily draw you inside it's chambers.