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Tape Tapping with Open Reel Ensemble

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“When you tap the tape, it sounds like a electro-magnetic drum.” Japanese musician Ei Wada plays an old stretched tape from “reel-to-reel tape recorders built by Pioneer and TEAC in the 1970s and ’80s.” From Engadget:

They learned to perform by recording a mixture of sounds and then, in real-time, stopping and turning the reels by hand. It creates a DJ-like scratching effect that’s hard to replicate with digital tools alone. “Depending on what you record and how you touch and rotate the reels,” Wada explained, “the playback sound will vary in many ways with different expressions.”

Along with Haruka Yoshida and Masaru Yoshida, Wada completes the experimental music group Open Reel Ensemble. From Motherboard:

Open Reel Ensemble love producing weird sounds from obsolete tech—the more warped the better. The Japanese musicians connect old tape recorders, television sets, and ventilation fans with modern-day computers to make music.

Their aim? To give renewed relevance to old tech, and make people realize how fun the retro gizmos they discard can be. Some of the band’s music using reel-to-reel tape recorders sounds a bit like bagpipes mashed up with echoing electro influences.

Next, watch The Museum of Obsolete Objects, artist Cyrus Kabiru makes eyeglasses from trash & e-waste, Dina Amin’s Tinker Friday Stop Motion Project and Landfill Harmonic: A youth orchestra of upcycled instruments.

Bonus: Music From a Dry Cleaner.

h/t Colossal.

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