By Keith Walsh
Anything that can be struck, or any electronic device that makes sound can be a musical instrument. Leave it to Belgian iconoclast Gilles Snowcat to make a musical instrument from a Negative Ion Generator.
Gilles says: “Long ago in Japan, I bought a funny device that creates minus ions, a minus ion generator. It is supposed to purify the air, but of course I found better uses for it. First, it’s funny to sniff the air around the machine, it has a slight perfume of ozone. It’s not good for health but that’s the fun part, I guess. “
It turns out that the music Snowcat was inspired to create is rather brilliant. And now there’s this new project. It’s EDM all the way, strong beats and pulsating rhythms. There are references to Boba Tea, Tarot, and other arcane situations. I asked Gilles about the sound, and the concept.
About the negative ion generator, Gilles said that by using different microphones, he was able to create unique sounds. “I found out that when you bring a dynamic microphone close to the generator,” he says, “it creates interesting sounds by magnetic induction. I used the minus ion generator as a musical instrument on the ‘Mokomoko Collection’ album, maybe on other releases too but I don’t remember. In 2007 I created the Minus Ion Generation project, there was an experimental single released, “Fake” [ https://gillessnowcat.bandcamp.com/album/fake ], and now 14 years later there’s Minus Ion Re-Generation.”
I asked Gilles how this differs from standard work from Gilles Snowcat.
“In Belgium there’s a huge EDM festival called TomorrowLand. It’s very hard to get tickets, but you can watch it on TV. It’s fascinating, the music is often highly addictive and puts me into trance quite quickly. So I thought I’d have to record my own EDM too. What makes it different is the intention. It’s created to be part of DJ playlists and make people dance their asses off.”
The result of all of this experimentation is brilliant electronic music. Let’s hope Gilles Snowcat hits it big with this latest release so we can all say “job well done!”
Gilles Snowcat Online
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