Listening To A Lost Brian Eno Album

Look, I gotta hand it to ~The Algorithm~ once again! Credit where credit's due, it served up a fine specimen for me today that I'd like to share with you. It's a 2024 recording of a "lost" Brian Eno album from Year of My Birth, 1996. How does that work? I'll let my new hero and artist behind the project Soft Automaton explain more (via the video description):

"Each 'song' is only a file that contains rules, variables, and instructions that it sends to a computer's sound card. The sound card (a SoundBlaster AWE32 or SB32, or a TDK Music card) contains what is called a wavetable synthesis chip which, put simply, is a library of sound samples that can be played back or manipulated. The GM1 album calls upon this wavetable to generate a new version of each song every time you play it."

"GM1 is obsolete. Yes, it is possible to get this working in software emulators but it wouldn't include its key ingredient, the EMU8000 synthesis chip, nor would it pass through the original digital to audio converter (DAC) and signal path. SSEYO KOAN, the generative playback software, has long ceased development... After an exhaustive search for an original copy of GM1, I spent the time to build a full-featured early 1990s computer that just about met the album's requirements."

Historically interesting, and very nice to listen to! I spent the day exhausted and struggling to cut through the fog; listening to this a bit ago helped me get some of the feeling back. I particularly enjoyed Seed Reflector and Klee 4.2.

Nicky Flowers - 02/07/25 - I haven't done a big link sharing post in a while; I figure it's better to share links as I go! - (send any comments/questions to hello at nickyflowers dot com)