We have talked about the all-robot band Compressorhead before at the beginning of last year, and it seems that they have competition from another 3-piece robot band from Japan, known as Z-Machines. In fact, Z-Machines’ “guitarist” is unique in a sense where it features a whopping 78 fingers (!), while the drummer would perform at an insane level thanks to 22 arms attached to the body. The band’s creator worked alongside composer Squarepusher at first as an attempt to explore the creation of music using robots, but in the end, they ended up with a whole five track album.
Squarepusher shared, “In this project familiar instruments are used in ways which till now have been impossible.” The additional fingers and arms would clearly allow it to play in a superior manner to that of a human, but this does not mean they are able to make good music when you leave them alone. No sir, you still need a human element to get them to churn out music, which means added roadblocks when it comes to composition.
Squarepusher continued, “Each of the robotic devices involved in the performance of this music has its own specification which permits certain possibilities and excludes others. The robot guitar player, for example, can play much faster than a human ever could, but there is no amplitude control.”
The name of the album? Music For Robots, how apt. This album is set to launch this coming April 8.