The Coolest New CD Release of the Year: Tristan Perich 1-Bit Symphony

I honestly can’t recall the last time I specifically ordered a new release CD, and was excited about the arrival of the physical product. Sure I’ve been sent a few and won some others and have grabbed a couple of special releases over the past several years. In those cases either someone else made the choice or there were pack-ins that made getting the music in physical form necessary. But in general all I care about is the music and I am happy to get it in digital form through either iTunes or Amazon.

But this week we have what has to be the coolest release of the year. A CD case that is itself the music! Composer Tristan Perich has a fascination with so-called Lo-Fi compositions, and has created a small scale 1-bit system that actually plays his composition in five movements. You simply plug your headphones into the CD case and flip the switch and the music plays!

Here is a cool shot of the artist with his creation:

Here is a description:

A return to the format of Perich’s lauded 1-Bit Music (described by the Village Voice as “technology and aesthetic rolled into one”), 1-Bit Symphony further reduces the hardware involved while simultaneously expanding its musical ideas. 1-Bit Symphony utilizes on and off electrical pulses, synthesized by assembly code and routed from microchip to speaker, to manifest data as sound. The device treats electricity as a sonic medium, making an intimate connection between the materiality of hardware and the abstract logic of software.

And here is a video with some music as the backdrop:

You can also get the music itself from iTunes or Amazon, but honestly the coolest way is to get the full product from Cantaloupe Music! At $29 it isn’t cheap, but it is the most innovative musical experience of the year!

Source: 1-bit Symphony