Pierre Bastien
Pierre Bastien (born Paris, 1953) post-graduated in eighteenth-century French literature at University Paris-Sorbonne. In 1977 he built his first musical machinery. For the next ten years he has been composing for dance companies and playing with Pascal Comelade. In the meantime he was constantly developing his mechanical orchestra. Since 1987 he concentrates on it through solo performances, sound installations, recordings and collaborations with such artists as Pierrick Sorin, Karel Doing, Jean Weinfeld, Robert Wyatt or Issey Miyake.
Pierre Bastien (born Paris, 1953) post-graduated in eighteenth-century French literature at University Paris-Sorbonne. In 1977 he built his first musical machinery. For the next ten years he has been composing for dance companies and playing with Pascal Comelade. In the meantime he was constantly developing his mechanical orchestra. Since 1987 he concentrates on it through solo performances, sound installations, recordings and collaborations with such artists as Pierrick Sorin, Karel Doing, Jean Weinfeld, Robert Wyatt or Issey Miyake.
Dialogues and Shadows
Among its many qualities, music relies on a special force: transcendence. When we listen, we are placed in a different reality, where sound is a vehicle for a much higher meaning. Naturally, not all music is capable of such a thing. But a few musicians clearly stand above as special – as soon as we hear them, we know that their music flows, floats and transcends. Dialogues and Shadows, the second recording by the duo of Gonçalo Almeida and Pierre Bastien emanates a distinct and intriguing sound …
Aquapelagos Vol.2: Índico
Presenting the second thematic volume on the »Aquapelagos« series - a collection of split LPs where selected artists offer their own take into water surrounded cultures and communities. After the initial release of the Anthology compilation Aquapelago in 2022 (Discrepant ,CREP91) and the split LP Atlantico by Lagoss & Banha da Cobra (Keroxen, KRXN027) we proudly introduce an unique collaboration in the series in the shape of no other than two improvising giants, Mike Cooper and Pierre Bastien.
T…
Baba Soirée
Two visionary maestros, Pierre Bastien and Michel Banabila, unite in their first collaborative album, Baba Soirée. The veterans of electronic music bring their unique expertise to the table, resulting in a captivating fusion of experimental styles. Bastien’s mechanical loops and fantastic instrumental setups merge seamlessly with Banabila's sound design and impeccable skills of sampling collages. It's not a dance party, nor is it an avant-garde intervention. It's a soirée: a cultivated evening o…
NEN (feat. Pierre Bastien)
*100 copies limited edition* Inspired by the work of Arte Povera, NEN achieves a high level of perceptual density with a limited sonic palette, combining remnants of musical instruments and electronics between fragments of samples and field recordings. A wonderfully bizarre piece that is both continuously disorienting and thoroughly engaging.
Suspicious Moon
A collection of Elvis Presley covers recorded by the duet David Fenech & Pierre Bastien
Sonic Folkways
By now counting more than four decades of constant activity, Pierre Bastien erected such a towering and influential body of work that any blurb attempt regarding his music could easily fall into redundancy. Not that his revolving soundworld, deeply personal and unique, has ever stalled into gimmick or self mimicry, being Bastien the tireless explorer whose vision can never be complete, only continuously redefined in a process of discovery equally playful and challenging. So, completely in touch …
Phantoms LP
Eddie Ladoire, composer and plastic artist, meets Pierre Bastien, an emblematic figure of the french experimental music scene to compose the soundtrack of an original choregraphy made of edited old movies of dancers from all times and spaces.
Bandiera di Carta
Bandiera di Carta represents the ongoing collaboration between instrument builder and composer Pierre Bastien and the London based experimental duo Tomaga (Valentina Magaletti and Tom Relleen).Bastien has been called a “mad musical scientist with a celebrity following” by The Guardian (UK) having collaborated with the likes of filmmaker Pierrick Sorin, fashion designer Issey Miyake, singer and composer Robert Wyatt as well as Aphex Twin, who released three of his albums on his label Rephlex.Toma…
Impressions de Meccano
**numbered edition of 40 copies** This Album is a Unicum in the Œuvre of Pierre Bastien... He has always played together with the Meccano Orchestra, in these Pieces however, the Music contains the mechanical Sounds by the Meccano Orchestra only, with the Artist only observing the Orchestra as the sole Spectator in a vast and empty Circus Arena… A wonderful Collection of automated music, pure Poetry of a tiny mechanical Orchestra, fragile and touching in it’s primitive Mechanics... An absolute Hi…
Tinkle Twang ‘n Tootle
Pierre Bastien orchestrates his meccano marionettes on Tinkle Twang 'n Tootle to form the charming imaginative ensemble that he’s been known for since the late '80s. Equal parts composer, inventor, mechanic, and performer, Bastien translates his imagination into instruments and compositions that defy any musical categories. Whether it’s preparing instruments like playing a trumpet underwater or through a kazoo, using belt-driven motors and mechanical components to perform cumbersome yet surprisi…
The Mecanoncentric Worlds of Pierre Bastien
Discrepant present a magical live recording from the legend that is Pierre Bastien, showcasing his mecanoid orchestra at its intricate best during a performance at Studio M, the historical studio-concert hall of Radio-Television of Vojvodina, Serbia. Around 1986, French composer and multi-instrumentalist Pierre Bastien started creating and building his own orchestra called Mecanium: an ensemble of musical automatons constructed from meccano parts and activated by electro-motors, that "play" on a…
Blue As An Orange
French composer and multi-instrumentalist Pierre Bastien delivers another entry in Morphine's increasingly diverse catalog. Active since the mid-'70s, Bastien is best known for building automated orchestras. His previous album, Machinations, was released on Aphex Twin's Rephlex label in 2012 (REPH 215CD). For this work, Bastien recycled components of his Silent Motors live set and assembled mechanical organisms -- using amplified Meccano parts, motors, fans, rattles, paper, and nails -- to gener…
Entomology
A threesome of coloured vinyl by WORM Records. These records are extraordinary not just because of their appearance (bright yellow, blue and pink vinyl), but also because of their unique origins. The a-sides of the records were recorded for Soundpiece, a soundinstallation under the floor of the Schouwburgplein in Rotterdam. WORM invited the composers Machinefabriek, Pierre Bastien and Dyane Donck/Daisy Bell to compose a piece for this. The results are three soundartworks/tape compositions that a…
Visions of Doing
Pierre Bastien is well known for his orchestra of musically gifted robots. Driven by electric motors, the machines deliver stuttering rhythmic loops. These unsteady tempos constantly fluctuate, imbuing the songs with an emotional and honest quality not found in much of today's loop-based music. The nine tracks on Visions of Doing have been selected from Pierre Bastien's soundtracks to Karel Doing's films. Pierre Bastien on Visions of Doing: 'The compositions presented here in homage to Karel Doi…
Musiques Machinales
1 copy only, long out of print - for many years, Pierre BASTIEN has developed his personal music based on musical machines made with Mecano. His orchestra MECANIUM is his backing band both on album and on stage. All this creates a tender, delicate and emotive machine music that seduced Pascal DOMELADE from the beginning. A terrific mixture of J. Dubuffet and John Cage
Eggs air sister steel
A homage to Ray Monk Eno and to his Exercices in Style. 13 versions of the same musical theme, some interpreted on the Mecano musical machines built by Pierre Bastien. Musically mechanical.
Les Premières Machines 1968 - 1988
Manipulating and experimenting in all directions, Pierre Bastien gets help from a lot of human-being (Percussions, piano, cello & accordion) but also from machines: toy robots play percussion, xylophone or even the guitar. The result is surprising, varied, funny, crazy but always very interesting. Part of the now famous collection Les Zut-O-Pistes, 'Les Premières machines - 1968-1988' includes the artist's debut works. Starting with the simple 'Sans Titre', recorded in May 1968 during his school…