Felix Thorn is a British tinkerer who makes electronic music out of found objects with incredible results. Made from bits and pieces of old instruments, randomly found stuff and a mountain of LEDs these are less instruments and more sculptures, pieces of art that play music. Watching this video and seeing all the random things he creates I was totally baffled how you’d even begin to think of creations like this. I love that he leaves all of the sculptures in their somewhat natural state, so you can see bit of a piano, a clock, a metal cone or what have you. But the real excitement comes when he plays them all together, creating actual songs and melodies. As someone in the comments of the video wrote, in 20 years his home is going to look like something out of Wallace & Gromit.

Bobby

Like any decent Australian I have an INXS CD in my collection. I don’t really listen to it anymore, but it possesses a certain inelegant nostalgia for my youth and dancing around my room to “New Sensation.” Lately I have been keeping up with the INXS covers performed by Beck’s Record Club, whereby Beck and his co-conspirators have taken INXS’ rock songs and given them a pared back and dreamy interpretation. The collaboration features a diverse mix of Beck’s musician friends and observes the following concept:

Record Club is an informal meeting of various musicians to record an album in a day. The album chosen to be reinterpreted is used as a framework. Nothing is rehearsed or arranged ahead of time. A track is put up here once a week. The songs are rough renditions, often first takes that document what happened over the course of a day as opposed to a polished rendering. There is no intention to ‘add to’ the original work or attempt to recreate the power of the original recording. Only to play music and document what happens.

Given my childhood love for “New Sensation”, I thought it highly appropriate that I share the Record Club’s version. With its substitution of acoustic guitars, violin and backing vocals by St. Vincent for INXS’ original hard rocking sound, I think it is pretty lovely. Plus, I am also quite smitten with Beck’s cardigan/scarf combination.

Danica