BRAINWAVVE

It was a tight race, but thanks to a major last minute push, the close of the polls on our most recent Artist of the Month contest saw beatmaker Artificial Earth Machine take home the victory comfortably. While all of our artists were worthy of the nod, it's a well-deserved win by AEM, who rode into first place in large part due to the damned good new album he's just released, called Biosphere Simulator.

As you might guess from the name of both artist and album, AEM's music has a strong current of scifi running through it, full of weird sounds that sound like they were recorded straight from alien sources. In fact, it wouldn’t be much of a surprise if AEM claimed to be piping the inspiration for this starmusic straight from another corner of the universe through some sort of musical telepathic pipeline, taking in the weird signals and processing them through a beatmaker’s mind. That last part is what elevates this music to truly impressive heights of goodness; AEM corrals all of the weird, space chaos through an obviously keen head for song structure. The repetitiveness and rigidity of hip-hop and other beats provide the perfect counterbalance for all of the odd sounds from the outer reaches, and the result is instant grin-inducing. It’s the perfect music to put on while watching a space documentary or a film like “Aliens” or “Sunshine” on mute, and it’d be even better for soundtracking a stoned solo trip to the planetarium (an activity we highly recommend).

In addition to this solid, thoroughly enjoyable album of space songs, many of you who voted AEM into the winner’s spot made note of the musician’s live show as a major reason you gave him your vote, or as poster “aa” put it, “amazing live and is like a magical synth spa for your brain.” That show (you can watch a bit of it from a few years ago below) features AEM bathed in a sea of projected colorscapes, with just the man, his beatmachines and a mic producing these many-layered, highly thought-out tracks. That he does use a mic is one thing that separates AEM from much of the beat scene, especially here in Austin, where the tendency is mostly to use pre-recorded vocals by someone other than the artist in live shows, or to use none at all. AEM’s aesthetic is made even more unique by not shying away from injecting his own equally alien live vocals into his spacey beats, and it makes for quite an arresting live experience.

In all, Biosphere Simulator is a thoroughly excellent nearly mid-year album and one of the best so far in 2015 from the musicmakers of the city. You can listen to the whole thing here, and we’d like to beam out a heartfelt congrats to Artificial Earth Machine from our communications array at Space Station Deli. Stellar stuff, in every meaning of the word. - The Deli Magazine

Before the advent of internet porn and digital cable, pre-pubescent teens and teenagers beginning their descent into sexual deviancy would turn to X-rated channels on the analog cable box to decipher pornographic images through signal distortion. It is in this same vain electronic artist Artificial Earth Machine’s new video for the song ‘Secrets’ is shot in, except swapped in for images of penises and silicone boobies are images of motherboards and other electronic eye candy.

The video for ‘Secrets’ is the first music vid from (The Deli’s Artist of the Month for May) Artificial Earth Machine’s new album Biosphere Simulator, and it was filmed by the man behind the Machine himself, Benjamin Crowley. Crowley’s affinity for laying moody extraterrestrial beats with robotic-like vocals is on full display on the song, and the video itself is alien and somewhat disturbing in Cronenberg fashion.

Don’t take my word for it though, check out the video below and give a listen to Artificial Earth Machine’s trippy experimental electronic album Biosphere Simulator too. - The Deli Magazine

Recently we received a mysterious electronic missive from the digital consciousness that is the Artificial Earth Machine. AEM wanted to know if we would premiere a track from its upcoming new album Biosphere Simulator, and it went on to explain that the track in question, “V2PX,” is “about essentially becoming an extension of your computer, body parts separating into another accessory of the machine.” Fearing AEM had such a fate in mind for us, we consented but asked what the significance of that seemingly random stream of letters and numbers was. Apparently the name V2PX is in reference to “the first polymorphic virus ever written,” which coincidentally came into being at the same time AEM’s host body did, in 1989. Except instead of making glitchy, ambient leaning electronic music, V2PX’s was to help us discover why anti-virus scanners may fail to recognize different strains of viruses. Get aurally hip to “V2PX” below before the Artificial Earth Machine turns you into an extension of itself: - OVRLD

Artificial Earth Machine AKA Ben Crowley has been making the rounds here in Austin for the last couple years garnering some impressive achievements including his self released cassette Between Spaces and ink stamped CD Hyper Drive Noise, as well as an invitation to legendary beat showcase ‘Exploded Drawing’. We covered the release party for Between Spaces and it was an absolute blast. Around that same time Ben asked us to shoot a music video for him and we happily obliged. Our contributor Rob co-directed, shot and edited the video with AEM flying co-pilot. They met a couple times and brain stormed ideas. While kicking it at Ben’s house during one of these sessions Ben mentioned he owned a bunch of old half functioning TVs and and a large collection of VHS tapes ranging from old low budget B travel videos (did I just invent a new genre?) to direct-to-video childeren’s movies.

The collection includes videos that have largely been forgotten by the modern world and will sadly never see a re-release on DVD or even a stream on Netflix. Videos the creators probably haven’t even thought about in years. AEM however has not forgotten. The Chrononaut has taken it upon himself to adopt these neglected VHS relics and give them a loving home. He watches them in order to visit another time, another place, or even to enter the depraved minds of who ever made those horrific low budget children’s movies which haunt me to this day. You could get a glimpse into the past by watching the classics but if you really want to be immersed in another time you have to watch the rejected, the flopped, the failed and the jazzercise videos of that time. This is the concept behind our video for his track street legend.



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The video depicts AEM in a small empty white cube which he has converted into a time machine with the use of his music equipment and a collection of dilapidated TVs playing his VHS tapes.



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The journey is rough and gives way to glitchy video deterioration.



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A layer of cosmic condensation collects on every surface and spills about the cube as it transcends time and space.



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While warping through our fuzzy past he encounters a trans-dimensional phantom which lives in the lonely space between the past and the present, inside the coils of the magnetic tape wound up in the VHS cartridges. The phantom is puzzled by AEM’s fascination with the forgotten but simultaneously elated to have company. He gazes on while AEM jams and they travel together seeing the terrible and wonderful worlds that exist inside the dusty VHS tapes. - Join The Studio

Meanwhile there will be a whole other stage out back with some crazy acrobatics, tunes and a performance by Austin electronic artist Artificial Earth Machine as he entrances you with everything from video game blips and bloops, grainy VHS sampling and live vocal harmonies. As per its namesake, its only $3 and it starts at 7:30pm at Swan Dive, see you there! - OVRLD.com

I listened to this during one of Artificial Earth Machine’s sets at Mr. Fest. He gave me the tape and said “I got cassettes too if you want one!”. Damn I wish I had a cassette player. I just took the CD instead. It wasn’t until after Mr. Fest ended, and hanging with some friends in San Marcos, that I got the chance to check it out. I had to drive back to Austin, and this EP made a perfect soundtrack to passing zero traffic, some buildings and some road…. and more road (falls asleep). Anyways I listened to it before but I didn’t really get a chance to adsorb the concepts fully. Merely enjoyed the intricacies in the way he arranged the sounds. Usually people can tell at work when I’m enjoying a tune. Keep my eyes shut closed for extended periods and do a motion that hopefully won’t snap my neck. I’ve hit my head many times on my keyboard. It’s almost kind of sad. I decided to give it another run after work. Oh Shit. Wait. Forgot the title…

Hyperdrive Noise.

Right off the bat, I have to say this is a very experimental album. I mean, it’s an ambient synth record delving in video game soundtrack territory. Very great territory. The album starts off with a quality of peace surrounding it. A bell synth with outdoor sounds that transport you to go wherever your mind pleases. (But where?) I don’t know. I’m not you. Maybe its a damn space forest. The bass in this track is pretty cool cause it creeps up on you, and when the idea of a giant roaming this place he’s sent you to, you’re like “I want to be here forever, stepping on trees and shit”. But no the giants die and that’s how us puny humans came about. But in all seriousness, its amazing the journey Artificial Earth Machine takes you on. With death springs forth new life and thats what you have with the second track, which kicks things up with an immediate change of scenery. I would call it 2001: A Space Odyssey moving through fucking Star-Gate type of environment.




But yeah, Hyperdrive Noise (I don’t know if this counts, but is this similar to when movies say their own movie title?) is definitely what the title suggest. Refer to each track as a chapter in some book about the beginnings and likely end of this world just as the giants faced and its a cinematic experience for your earholes. After that you have the time in earth where nature was sacred. You needed that shit if you wanted to live so they treated it all nice and prayed to it how one would pray to god for money to pay the mortgage. And as described in the transition sample of worship from the track, Night Crawler. It has very earthy feel to the sounds. One sounds stands out. A very alien-like gurgling and a bunch of bubbles popping at once. And certain sounds decide not to pop back up cause the scene is progressing.



The next track, Post, is the best track in my personal opinion. After some more peace (I see what you’re doing there AEM! I’m on to you), he immediately rips you away with a vocal sample that is jarring in the best possible way. Forgive me really quickly ’cause I’m terrible with making out what samples are saying in some cases. From what I hear it says “animals”, but you don’t really need that to understand what the man is trying to convey. It screams work! This represents the time period we are at now. One sample makes this very clear with repeating “recreate” multiple times to ensure you understand… the population is getting bigger (aka doing they buzineezzz) we are getting more used to working for awful pay in a never-ending cycle. But what about the progress guys. Technology is expanding, but to what end (fuck it I want a robot that can cook for me finally)? It’s also kind of weird that this is my favorite one now that I’m thinking of it. This is one of the more danceable tracks on the EP, so it’s more hip to us present folk! But I digress.



The track Grand Voyage comes with the more looming side of the progress part (Dammit again!). It tricks you at first with some snares and hi hats that draw you in, kind of like a child predator or serial killer. I say this because it immediately flips on you and gets dark really quick. And the day gets darker. The sample continues to lead you down this path. And it builds. Oh, it hits a haunting high at the end. So many sounds on top of sounds (no racks though). Then the saddest part of the album hits you.




Street Legend has the most melodic ending you can get. Everything is just as beautiful as death… wait… damn. We ended up like the giants. Only this time, we did it to ourselves. And the ending to this album is big on bass synth. To give you the speech representation of the fear you feel when you know you have created something that could potentially leave a planet bare (Nuclear weapons son!). North Korea think they got nukes. You aint got shit man. You just showing off.


But yeah, no matter the outcome, something new will rise. Life is a strange but stubborn bastard. It will find a way to recover without us. If life can survive the fucking vacuum of space I’m sure some type of life will arise and start again. I hope we have telepathy and superpowers in that world. And when you start Hyperdrive Noise over, you can find those mutant giants walking around in peace with telepathy and shit (That’s how it is in my mind at-least).



It’s a praiseworthy effort and an experiment gone right (or wrong if you’re Oppenheimer). The mixing works best in the headphones and the listening experience is more intimate. Plus, this EP feels like it was made for the great outdoors-of your backyard. Or further. You have to go in expecting to listen to a soundtrack and not an album, and you will get far more enjoyment out of it. There was definitely a lot of detail put in to this project.

If I had to give Hyperdrive Noise a grade, I’d give it 8 atomic bombs out of 10 atomic bombs. There are moments where I feel like vocally, Artificial Earth Machine can start to experiment with more singing to further drive the narrative further. However, this is an audio narrative so I accept it as that. But still though, vocals would be cool. - Xavier Palin // Kartune

The show featured performances by artists from all over Texas including, DJ Cez (Wabi Sabi), ManOfTheDown, Vegetabe Kingdom who also ran visuals, and Marcelandrie The Giant from San Antonio. Marcel started the night off with his brand of what I can only describe as Noir Hiphop turned and nodded some heads. Dj Cez held it down between sets while Veggie Kingdom set up a rats nest of controllers and home made synthesizers for a very noisey 8-bit set which made me want mosh and play a game boy color at the same time. Then AEM was next using a discolored TV as a surface for his various controllers and a micro-korg off to the side he gave a stunning and sincere performance going back and forth between singing, modulating, drumming and playing keyboard. ManOfTheDown closed out the night pounding out boombap rhythms by hand to jazzy synth-laden back drops. - Join The Studio

Artificial Earth Machine has tracks so layered it’s hard to believe there’s only one member behind the new album, Between Spaces, which came out last month. One man sound guru, Benjamin Crowley, has made a name for himself in the Austin area as a DJ. Using no laptop, he creates his music using only hardware synths, samplers and drum machines. Some of the sound effects are straight up out of this world and suggest a Bjork influence. From cosmic, celestial soundscapes to ambient rhythms, Artificial Earth Machine creates a mellow music experience. --Written by Faith Braverman - Deli Magazine Austin

Words are pointless when it comes to trying to capture the feeling of Artificial Earth Machine. Here’s a new batch of tunes for you to enjoy and share, and maybe define on your own terms. - Chief and the Doomsday Device

Benjamin Crowley aka Artificial Earth Machine creates a spatial atmosphere that is preoccupied with the high-pitched melodies, ghostly vocals, and peripheral sounds than so the beats. With Between Spaces, his new limited-run cassette full-length on Night Visual imprint, one could imagine that the sounds are like the conversations between, messages sent from, or even an ode to the satellites orbiting the earth. Now that’s not to say the beats aren’t present. For example, the track, “Robot Rage Computer” is giving you a light touch of footwork, while “Dance All Night, Sleep All Day”, keeps it poppy. Take Between Spaces for a spin yourself below. It’s available at Bandcamp.com. - Groove Loves Melody

There are many kinds of electronic music. There's your run-of-the-mill pop dance stuff, your more gothic and commanding industrial sermons, chip tunes that build a little nerdhouse in our souls, and then there's stuff like Artificial Earth Machine. It's the sort of electronica you hear as the soundtrack to big science-fiction movie ideas with little science fiction movie budgets. It's too pumping to be ambient, but too ethereal to be commanding. It's probably the android version of that weird half-sleep you get after your spouse leaves for work just early enough to let you go back to sleep for an hour.
Take "Abstraktion" as a real good example. It sounds like Martha Graham's "Lamentation" as performed by a Cyberman. You're just able to ignore this weird beepy bullshit until it steadily builds and ever more impressive audio figure in your head that feels like being on a rollercoaster after too much cold medicine. That's what makes Artificial Earth Machine impressive, their ability to craft emotions out of machines and make you feel them in the proper order.

But that name...



Artificial Earth Machine? Really? Did you wake up late next to an overdosed hooker the day they handed out electronic band names? What, does it make fake Earth's like that factory in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy? Because they could also make soft rubber planets as big bouncy castles and that is so much better than whatever you've got planned.
I decided to fire off an email to Ben Crowley, who is Artificial Earth Machine, to learn more.

"I was trying to come up with a name that would sum up what I would be doing as an artist," Crowley says. "Making electronic music, and using samplers, you're mimicking real instruments, and manipulating them in a way you wouldn't traditionally play them, so it's almost like making 'fake' music, which is where name originates.

"And the earth machine part is more a reference to myself," he adds. "Looking back on it, I definitely should have picked something shorter, and maybe easier to say."

I feel bad for Crowley; I really do. Back in my rock-star days we came up with The Black Math Experiment pretty much the same way, and man I got tired of saying it and definitely of typing it. Finding a name that really allows you to express who you are is really difficult.

Usually I would bash Crowley here for what he picked, but instead I'll help out.

One thing you'll find out if you hang around any electronic artist long enough is that acronyms are really important. I personally think it has something to do with the Korg logo hypnotizing people into thinking it has a hidden meaning, but that's just the tinfoil hat sorting me into my crazy house. Nonetheless, some of Crowley's songs such as "Human Error" focus on the great God Pan of acronym characters, HAL from 2001: A Space Odyssey.
So I looked up the acronym for AEM. Turns out there are three notable things using it. One is a type of mescaline, one is a French electric car from the 1920's, and the last is Mexico's equivalent of NASA. Which was Crowley most like?

"I think I would identify more with the 'Mexican equivalent of NASA' because the project has already been in so many directions musically, and I never want to be confined to playing a certain style of electronic music, much like discovering space for all that it could hold."

And that's a statement beautiful enough to be forgiven a somewhat stupid name. Sigue brillando, Diamante Loco.

FINAL DEFINITION

Artificial Earth Machine (n): 1. Real fake music. 2. Magathrea 3. A Mexican space program for the ear.


Artificial Earth Machine plays HFT & Visionary Noise Presents: For The Community Five on Friday June 7 and Saturday June 8 with Nine Minutes, Jon Black, Colonial Blue, Rampancy, "Downer," Crashing Colors, Elyse, Modern Explorations, Arkitek, Worst Nightmare, Magna Carda, The Early Transcendtals, Decathect, Mephedrone, Days N' Daze, Justice Allah, P.L.X.T.X., Nikkhoo, Josiah Gabriel, FLCON FCKER, Drastik, Lone Star Disciples, Dame, Stephen Farris, Renazons, Elixir Kid, Keno Sims, En Sane, and more at The Compound (2305 Wheeler). - Houston Press Blog

"Artificial Earth Machine is an Austin guy who I had never met or seen perform but had gotten in touch via email, so when we were booking it we just kept adding bands at the beginning of the show and he was one of those. He was great! Good music and a cool light show. He gave out free CDs people eagerly grabbed them..." - Casa Vista Blog

Sensual space music craftsman Artificial Earth Machine has rebranded himself Brainwavve and we’re all for it; his new musical direction is more intellectual and structured than what he had been doing with AEM. Take “Detoxa,” from his upcoming LP Surface, a track Mr. Wavve tells us is about “detoxing from using electronics in excess.” Lindred‘s lush, vivid melodies and gentle lyrics rise up as beautiful organic intrusions amidst the clattering electronic drums and disruptive synths. The song recalls mid-2000’s Bjork but with a more antagonistic edge to it, Lindred’s fight to emerge from Brainwavve’s layers and layers of machines functioning as a perfect illustration of the song’s themes. Surface will be out sometime this fall, but in the meantime enjoy “Detoxa” - OVRLD