numbers_rmx

liquid space 02: numbers-rmx

authors: Chris Burke aka Glomag [ usa ] LAb[au]

A grid of sound objects is made navigable with hidden layers that are accessed in real time performance. Time is experienced through the relationship of the grid to the music and voices. At one set of coordinates "Ein, zwei, drei..." is prominent. A few virtual steps away, the counting continues but in Japanese, the German decreasing in loudness with each step. The beat delineates time from one point to the next. Lab[au] have also implemented a time-warp effect, that jumps the user to a far outpost with a unique sound mix, looking back on and hearing the grid from a distance. With every movement, music maps out time as it relates to space. Kraftwerk's original was enormously influential and has been referenced in music many times over.

In addition to my translation and fragmentation of the original, I worked in as many of these as I could find. Afrika Bambaata and Arthur Baker's "Planet Rock" lifted the melody from an earlier Kraftwerk song and the live version includes the japanese counting from Numbers as a call and response with the crowd. It was a short hop from that to Run DMC's "It's Like That" the beat of which owes a bit to Kraftwerk via Bambaata.