2004-08-12

The Rise and Fall of Technical Whale

Technical Whale is the collaboration between JohnAnthony Gastaldo and myself. It was conceived some time ago by JA as the next wave in music: combining electronic-influenced music with whale sounds. The idea was brought up on a number of occassions, and in a creative burst a few months ago, some depth was added to the idea.

In the current Technical Whale concept, we follow the story of a young whale. He is captured (anguish) and made subject to experiments to read his mind (pain). In the process, he is connected to the global computer network. As a tribute to recent discussions, let just say this has a surprise ending.

Musically, this new concept expands upon the original musical notion. However, the whale sounds are not real, but created through chaotic electric and bass guitar feedback and cheap electronic gadgets and manipulation. This is married to sythesized beats of the techo and jungle variety, created by a number of contributors.

The story develops over an arc of nine or ten songs. However, in the latest incarnation, the songs alternate between the perspective of the whale and his captors. The whale represented by the aforementioned mostly instrumental music, with occassional abstract vocals, and the captors represented by proto-punk-metal insanity.

However, with various DVD projects in the works, a deadline of completion of the TMINM album in sight, a technical book due in a few months, and other project too numerous to detail here, Technical Whale will sit on shelf until a future time.

5 comments:

Jeremy said...

It is sad to see Technical Whale get put on hiatus, but I'm definitely biased towards TMINM's debut album, "Jeffrey L. Allen." I should really write a piece on this album to give my perspective on the story, themes, lyrics, music, artwork, etc. Put it on my to-do list.

Technical Whale held a soft spot in my heart. Its reliance on a story told through music is probably what I connected with. Of course, it probably wouldn't have lived up to the likes of "Jeffrey L. Allen," "William Donovan Junior," "The Schoolyard," or "12 Brothers." Such a thing is hard to do. However, it almost certainly would have excelled over "Leonard Gardner," which to my knowledge is really three songs surrounded by a garbage truck.

Long live the whales!

Joshua Provost said...

JLA song titles average 6.5 works per title. Impressive.

Jeremy said...

I think you'll see that this statistic decreases on William Donovan Junior. Not sure about Leonard Gardner, though. Can you run some numbers for me?

Joshua Provost said...

WDJ=4.1 words/title
LG=5.1 words/title

All very solid!

Jeremy said...

In WDJ, how did you count the so-called $545.38?

Because I was seriously considering having it state the fully intended spoken word: Five Hundred and Forty-Five Dollars and Thirty-Eight Cents. That would definitely bump up the count.