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Matt Wand, "PUBLIC.EXE"
After some research I've learned that someone, or perhaps several nerds, working simultaneously in different countries (as these things usually occur), has developed software for turning Gameboys into sophisticated electronica machines. Ever one to outdo his peers, Matt Wand, former half of genre-defying, genre-destroying electronic duo Stock, Hausen, & Walkman and current Hot Air label head, has taken to eschewing the software altogether and doing live shows with nothing but the hand-held gaming devices and effects pedals in tow.Dekorder
PUBLIC.EXE is a 10", gathering a half-hour's worth of live nerdery from events in Manchester, Utrecht, and Paris at Felix Kubin's Nuit Blanche event. My guess is that this kind of thing has been done many times before, but never done this well. Forget whether he's using the pocket-sizes of today's youth or the VHS-sized machines of yesteryear; it's hard to believe Wand is using Gameboys at all. He produces an energetic, fiercely pulsing brew of darkened electro with only the scattered stair-step breakdown or faint bleep to remind of its origins. Some of the noise squalls and nauseous loops produced make me wonder if Wand specifically chose the most "mature" Nintendo titles for manipulation, or if he opted instead to abuse the machines' innards directly. Several pieces approach the caustic minimalism of early Suicide, while others mine more abstract terrains in the style of people like Pimmon; part of the Nuit Blanche performance even plays on a jazz-ist bent, with twisted gaming noises reaching brass-like pitch in a mind-boggling exchange that somehow avoids repetition. Of the multitude of sounds and stylistic approximations on PUBLIC.EXE, the only impossible source for this music would seem a children's toy. In the face of so many electronic artists vying for the childish, naïve angle with conversely "adult" equipment, Wand pulls the opposite with flying colors, doing it all live, better, and without the hidden laptop.
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