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.
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…