Intelligent Toys 3 (Sutemos014)

A while back I downloaded the Intelligent Toys 3 (update: that link seems mess up blogger... here is the direct download) collection, I don't even remember how I got to the Sutemos site, but I was in the mood to try something new. I gave it a listen and enjoyed it, and I've kept it in my short list of files that I play regularly.

One song in particular really stands out, its "Siux Eight Piano Feb2k5" by Tim Koch. Its quite straightforward, assembled from some disparate elements. It starts and ends with a simple rhythm played by a very digital click. New layers come in bit by bit, some electronic and ambient, some more instrumental, and one woman's voice floating on top of and through all of the intermixed layers. When it comes down to it, almost all of these layers are quite simple and repetitive, but the magic lies in how they interleave, especially as the voice occasionally steps aside by singing notes that are outside of the floating cycles.

The whole construction feels very natural, almost as if you were watching a meadow scene, with each layer representing an aspect of the view: some butterflies floating around on rapidly beating wings, a burbling creek, wind gently blowing thru the trees. But you never lose touch of that feeling that this is a very digital creation. It is an unusual sensation, its almost as if a very hyperreal computer generated world felt just as homey as a park that you walk through everyday.