_BT

thisoldtech:

I’m not going to do a full review of BT’s new album, “These Hopeful Machines,” but I am going to dedicate a little blog post to it. I’ve been a BT fan (like think “fanatic” kind of fan) for somewhere around 7 or 8 years. I was first attracted to his work by albums “Emotional Technology” and “Movement in Still Life” and like so many others that I’ve met in the community of his fans, I owe my own venture into music production to him. If you read, or better yet watch, interviews with BT, it’s impossible to not be inspired by the sheer joy that he has simply being an artist able of thought and creation. It seems that he’s perpetually excited about technology, science, mathematics, philosophy, and all that stimulates that overclocked brain of his.

So here’s my best effort at describing his music. It has a very unique BTness to it. It always contains a lot of “space,” in that every voice is very well defined and purposeful, so much so that in the right listening environment you feel like you’re immersed in sound, transported to a new place that he’s created to show you something special.

“These Hopeful Machines” is no different. BT has created something special yet again, and it will surely grow with me for years to come.

tumblr | website | twitter | new album on Amazon | new album on iTunes

***On a related note, the idea of technology being used to create something timeless is the reason I chose “this old technology” to be the title of this blog. The juxtaposition of “old” and “technology” are meant to represent a unification of things new and old, scientific and heartfelt. In my opinion BT’s music has always represented that concept perfectly.***

djlepin:

So you’ve more than likely gathered that I’m a huge fan of the musical artist BT.  Today, February 2nd, 2010 marks the release of his latest studio album These Hopeful Machines.

Let me just put this in perspective for you.  Imagine you’re back in Renaissance Italy.  Michelangelo is about to unveil his latest work of art; two years in the making.  The proverbial sheet is pulled off and viola!, the Michelangelo Pieta is revealed.

It isn’t about how this album is important to the Electronica genre, it isn’t about Rock, Pop, or even Classical music.  It’s about Music as a whole.  In terms of technique, conceptualization, emotion, detail, and composition, These Hopeful Machines is very much the equivalent of a work of Renaissance art that has spent four years in the making.  Something that touches every level in the creation of music and elevates it to another level, and BT is a modern Renaissance master.

These two interviews: Sinning in LA, and SonicScoop provide some insight in to the conceptualization and technical mastery that went in to the creation of These Hopeful Machines.

If you typically wouldn’t call yourself a fan of electronica but you do consider yourself an appreciator of art and music as a whole, I highly suggest you take a half step outside of your comfort zone and at least listen to These Hopeful Machines.  The Sinning in LA interview has links to album previews.  However if you want the full experience you can invite me over and I’ll share a listen with you, or just buy a copy.  Quite literally, it’ll be like owning a Raphael painting.  Seriously.

By Langes

Published: February 3, 2010

Tags: Album Release, BT, reviews, These Hopeful Machines

The title says it all.. Let’s get started. ..::Buy Here::.. Enter rainbow text:

1. The Music – who buys an album and doesn’t want to hear the music? Right… Well this album took 4 years to make. I can’t remember the last time I put 4 years into 1 project…maybe learning how to get the hell out of highschool?

2. BT cares about his fans - Okay, so a lot of producers “care” about their fans. BT shows the hell out of it though. He’s always taking videos for his fans to keep them updated, talking to them on twitter, and this makes him come across as more down to Earth. His Washington, DC show was cancelled due to snow. So what did he do? We all know a few producers out there that can’t be arsed to talk to the people that support them, and are their biggest customers (their fans). BT can’t be arsed to NOT talk to his fans.

3. BT is a – badass/genius/dude/G/thug4lyfe (what?). BT Makes 50 Cent look like … 25 cent?

4. The artwork - Aaron Jasinski did the artwork for the album. But if you think the cover of BT’s face and some roses is all there is, you’re dead wrong. This beast is an 8 FT TALL oil painting.. Eight feet?! Holy bikini batman. You’ll have to buy the album to see it in detail (or here for a peek), but check out Jasinski’s site.. pretty wicked.

5. BT’s XBOX Live gamertag – is “BTLikesYourMom” – If this isn’t reason enough, then you should give up. Maybe i’ll move this to #1.

6.  Kaia – Kaia is BT’s  6 year old daughter, and as far as we know, the last song on CD1 (Forget Me) has Kaia singing the  chorus of the song… When we first listened to it (My whole family [mom, brother, me] listened to this album 3 times through in 1 sitting… shiiiiiiii…! yes it’s that good) we both stopped and went… “Wha? is that really?” It was the most amazing thing we’ve heard and it stopped us in our tracks. BT has been through a lot with his daughter Kaia and it’s amazing to hear this.

7. BT Feels – BT himself said, “This is the first album that I’ve made where I look at it and feelscomplete… like truly complete… both the music and the art.” When BT, the same guy that said ”I frequently face the fact that the tools I need to compose music simply don’t exist.“, says “this is the first complete album I’ve made”, you’d better buy the album, cause its going to be rock’n’sockin.

8. It’s 2 hours – and you will sit there with your mouth open the entire time asking yourself if this ismusic, or some sort of euphoric vision from Zeus himself.

9. Lasting Power – When you’re not home, it’s pure torture… Why? Because the entire time you’ll be counting the minutes until you can get back into your car, or get back home to your home sound system, and blast the crap out of this album. Don’t go and download the torrent for this album, and don’t send us links for the torrents to post up on our site. This is an album that you need to hold. This album will last you for years to come, and you will actually feel like a better person for spending money on it.

10. It took us 3 hours to write a list that we already had an outline for, because we we’re distracted by “These Hopeful Machines”

This album gets a 5/5 Stars from Trance Daily. Put a night aside, sit down with a friend, and let yourself go.

BT Twitter, BT Website

-Lange Brothers

BT Releases His Double-Disc Sixth Studio Album, These Hopeful Machines, as Two Individual Tracks on iTunes and Amazon

January 27, 2010, NEW YORK, NY - Internationally renowned artist, visionary producer, film composer and technologist BT has always been known for being unpredictably groundbreaking. From his artist albums to his film compositions to his production for superstars such as Sting, Madonna, and Britney Spears, platinum-selling artist BT is consistently looked to in the music community as an innovator and pioneer, constantly pushing the envelope of what is possible in both music production and innovation around the modality of his music.  In an unprecedented move, BT has chosen to release his new album, THESE HOPEFUL MACHINES (February 2, Nettwerk), as two individual tracks on iTunes: Disc 1 and Disc 2.

“I have always believed in the album experience,” recounts BT. “So much is lost by picking and choosing tracks and shuffling them together randomly. I strive to create an active, rather than a passive, listening experience. I am always opting to engage listeners in a meaningful way. The experience of music should be just that: an experience. Not a passive or secondary activity. These are my fondest memories of music, listening as an activity, and this is the experience that I wish to share with my audience.”

These Hopeful Machines is a double-disc opus that carries listeners through 2 hours of sweeping orchestral arrangements, pulsating electronic beats, heartfelt vocal melodies and even simple acoustic guitar. These Hopeful Machines embodies BT’s ability to weave both his technical prowess and compositional mastery that reminds listeners why he is the composer that all other composers and producers study.

This album is the follow up to 2006’s This Binary Universe, an album that created an entirely new genre of evocative electro-acoustic music. Keyboard Magazine wrote in a review, “In a hundred years, it could well be studied as the first major work of the new millennium. It’s that good.”  These Hopeful Machines continues to evolve BT’s distinct technical, lyrical and compositional vision and execution, but his usual melodic complexity and bleeding-edge electronic techniques permeate the album from start to finish.

From an early age, BT, born Brian Transeau, demonstrated a remarkable aptitude for playing and understanding classical music. He was heavily influenced by avant-garde and romantic composers such as Stravinsky, Bartok, Debussy and Rachmaninov. His biggest influences, however, were from everyday sounds that most would take for granted, from noticing the meter of the grandfather clock in the foyer to the micro-rhythms of crickets and cicadas to the ambience of passing trains at night.

“When examining my creation process, it makes perfect sense why I am a forced technologist,” he explains. ”I frequently face the fact that the tools I need to compose music simply don’t exist. It is like being an architect without bricks or mortar. I routinely create my own bricks and connective tissue as the diving off point to the compositional process.”  The drive to actualize the tools BT envisions has led to his evolution as one of the most cutting-edge programmers and technologists in music today. He has expanded this reach into a visionary software venture, Sonik Architects, which launched its critically- and commercially-acclaimed iPhone application, Sonifi™, last fall.

Says BT, “My ultimate goal is to keep the emotional counterpoint and the integrity of the song intact, even when pushing the envelope with style and technique. The faster things get, the less people are willing to take in a body of creative work. There are so few things now that will engage us. The intent of consuming music is usually to have an awareness or a feeling, to have a truly, empathic connection to others. My hope is to create something that makes people feel that they have consumed something that completes a void. I want to create something lasting.”

These Hopeful Machines track listing:

Disc 1

1. Suddenly

2. The Emergency

3. Every Other Way

4. The Light Of Things

5. Rose Of Jericho

6. Forget Me

Disc 2

1. A Million Stars

2. Love Can Kill You

3. Always

4. Le Nocturne De Lumiere

5. The Unbreakable

6. The Ghost In You

Stay tuned for more news from BT…

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