Simon Bahr

composer

Counterfeits, Cover-Ups & Karaoke

piano & playback

ensemble

piano Adele Thoma

› watch on YouTube
› download score

Counterfeits, Cover-Ups & Karaoke is composed of various tiny elements of sound or notation stolen from other peoples music. To cover up this massive theft, Adele and I try to distract your attention by offering counterfeits of familiar musical brands and making the piano sing karaoke… Will we get away with it?

After having worked with stolen sounds in Well-Planned Theft, where all sound sources and processing steps are documented in meticulous detail in the score, I decided to apply this approach to instrumental notation as well in this piece. All material played on the piano is taken from other piano pieces, which are referenced in a bibliography. The only transformations used are tempo changes, dynamic changes, transpositions, reversing the order of notes and filtering notes out.

The Voice of Laptop

synthesized voice & hybrid ensemble

ensemble

flute Aaron Wolharn
flute Dimitry Stavrianidi
clarinet Sebastian Langer
bass clarinet Heni Hyunjung Kim
saxophone Leon Dehne
trumpet Felix Riedel
trombone Paul Lüpfert
ewi Tamon Yashima
accordion Filip Erakovic
vibraphone Carlotta Ribbe
electric guitar Frederik Taubenheim
electric & double bass Béla Bluche
drumset Jonathan Schierhorn
viola Jing Chen
cello Rebekka Stephan
cello Robert Alan Wheatley

› listen on bandcamp
› watch lyric video
› download score

The Voice of Laptop is an album that features a synthesized voice accompanied by a hybrid ensemble. It combines algorithmic composition with songwriting and acoustic instruments with a singing computer: Over the course of ten songs, Laptop addresses various highs and lows of their virtual existence and finally escapes their physical shell by uploading themselves to the cloud. Along the way, Laptop processes and reworks musical data fragments of various genres and languidly surrenders to digital nostalgias and fantasies.

Tracklist

  1. Updatedownloadbackuptime
  2. Superuser
  3. Deepfake
  4. Debugging My Love
  5. Laptop Running Hot
  6. ILOVEYOU
  7. Hibernate
  8. Internal Speaker
  9. I‘m > Σ(my parts)
  10. 1 Upload 2 Eternity

Credits

  • Béla Bluche – electric bass (1, 3, 5, 9), double bass (2, 4, 10)
  • Jing Chen – viola (2, 4, 8, 10)
  • Leon Dehne – alto saxophone (2, 5, 7), tenor saxophone (3, 8, 10)
  • Filip Erakovic – accordeon (6)
  • Heni Hyunjung Kim – bass clarinet (6)
  • Sebastian Langer – clarinet (2, 3, 7, 8, 10)
  • Laptop – synthesized voice (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10)
  • Paul Lüpfert – trombone (2, 3, 5, 8, 10)
  • Carlotta Ribbe – vibraphone (4)
  • Felix Riedel – trumpet (2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 10)
  • Jonathan Schierhorn – drumset (1, 3, 5, 9)
  • Dimitry Stavrianidi – flute/piccolo (6)
  • Rebekka Stephan – cello (2, 4, 8, 10)
  • Frederik Taubenheim – electric guitar (1, 2, 5, 7, 8, 10)
  • Robert Alan Wheatley – cello (6)
  • Aaron Wolharn – flute (2, 3, 7, 8, 10)
  • Tamon Yashima – electronic wind instrument (6)
  • Simon Bahr – composition/production/mixing
  • drip – artwork
  • Arthur Jogerst – recording engineering (2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 10)
  • Tim Pauli – mixing

The Voice of Laptop was released on Narval in August 2024.