Print: Gimme Action / Music: HAN LLEGADO LOS ROBOTS - H​é​ctor Hern​á​ndez & Miguel A​.​Ruiz

 

RTomens, 2024

Print I made today, mindful of the accusation that I may be 'objectifying' the female body...but...does that mean men are no longer able to present the female body in any art? Thus ending a tradition going back hundreds of years? 

Never mind that, what about the boiler?

Ours has been playing up for weeks but only got attended to this morning. A new part is needed. That's the domestic update, just to remind you that I don't spend a leisurely life of some privileged artist, you know, just making art all day, oh no; I vacuum the floor...I wash up...I cook...I'm a thoroughly modern man!

And I know what a woman is...(how controversial!!!).

Meanwhile, here's some music. I've had it burned to disc for years but only played it again this morning, then it occurred to me to see if it was available online and lo and behold, it was. Released, unbelievably, in 1989, this is the most authentic-sounding imaginary sci-fi soundtrack (circa 1958) I've ever heard. From the Bandcamp page: 

'Taking as a reference the book "Die Roboter sind unter uns" by Rolf Strehl, published in the late 1950s, Miguel A.Ruiz and Héctor Hernández, two electronic composers from Madrid, conceived the hypothetical soundtrack for a film dedicated to the advent of the "mechanical brains." In the summer of 1989 and after exhaustive multi-channel recording sessions, mixing was done at the Toracic Studios in Madrid.

Some of the machines used included, among others, the legendary British VCS3 synthesizer, the AEG modular system, the monstrous Korg PS3200 polyphonic synthesizer, compact synthesizers of the Korg MS series, analog sequencer, ring modulator, delay lines and archaic boxes of rhythm. The cassette of the same name was published at the end of that same year by the now defunct company IEP, directed by Luis Mesa, one of the most active Spanish audio creators in the 80s. At the beginning of 2003 the old tape reels were reviewed and remastered for this edition in digital format by Miguel A.Ruiz.'

Collecting old synths and setting out to sound like the BBC Radiophonic Workshop is nothing new, but H​é​ctor Hern​á​ndez & Miguel A​.​Ruiz created a masterpiece of the 'genre' with this 'soundtrack'. They exploit their armoury brilliantly. Mechanical brains taking control!