This month, Scene Point Blank is excited to kick off the new year with something totally new: the debut solo record from Shahab Zargari (Kill the Scientist/GC Records), New Oddities.
The record blends digital and analog technology, specifically by using artificial intelligence to pull from a variety of art that ranges from punk of the 1980s-‘90s to poetry of the 1800s, and a way array of carefully selected samples.
Zargari explains:
The album uses artificial intelligence as a backing band or studio band. They came in. I tell them what I want, they “jam” and we go back and forth until the foundation of a song materializes.
So sit back, relax, but keep your ears tuned for a wide and often surprising variety of sounds that manages to couple human emotion with synthetic rhythms for a realm of new oddities.
Did we mention there's a Crass cover?
Release date is Monday Jan. 16, via GC Records.
Credits: Track 1 features NASA sonification sounds from the Black Hole in the Perseus galaxy cluster Track 2 features Mo Milan and words by Neil Gaiman speaking on mythology Track 3 features a sample of a 1990s middle school choirs recording archive of "Kalinka" a Russian folk song written in 1860 by the composer and folklorist Ivan Larionov Track 4 features lyrics by CRASS Track 5 features Micah Haji-Sheikh Track 6 lyrics are included in the album download as a Bandcamp exclusive Track 7 contains a poem by John Henry Mackay Track 8 features Mo Milan, as well as the first computer-based phonemic synthesis-by-rule program, John Kelly and Louis Gerstman, 1961 as well as VODER, Homer Dudley, 1939. Song also features an excerpt from a 1977 Anne Waldman's lecture on female writers. Track 9 features audio from FMA Overlords - Net Neutrality Sample Pack Track 10 features a sample of a default alert sound in Windows10 and the track Left In A Deep Trance By You by One Man Symphony. Track 11 features samples of a 1990s middle school choirs recording archives of Beethoven, Mozart and traditional tunes as well as archival American news audio Tracks 2-9 feature samples and arrangements using AI generated sounds from Soundraw
