FM3

Buddha Machine

Staalplaat

One of the more bizarre releases I’ve witnessed, the Buddha Machine is an "anti-iPod" of sorts. It’s an inexpensive-looking small box (available in five different colors) that plays nine different FM3 loops through either the headphone jack, or the integrated speaker. A toggle switch allows the user to cycle through the short loops, which will play continuously for hundreds of hours on a single pair of AA batteries. (And if the batteries do run out, the box even has a plug for DC power.). The box is totally self-contained, and the onboard RAM cannot be modified. The box is available in a total edition of 800, manufactured by a Buddhist-run factory in southern China.

So what do you do with it? Ask Monolake. Apparently, he bought six of these from FM3’s Christiaan Virant at this year’s installment of the Mutek festival. The guys from Radian bought eight, and Richard Chartier bought one, then immediately ordered three more; Virant had sold all the units he brought with him, including the ones he used for his festival performance! The loops are either of a very Eastern inclination (utilizing traditional instrumentation like the gu zheng) or of a meditative New Age-y nature. In actuality, the Buddha Machine is a modified version of a device used in Buddhist temples throughout Asia, which feature repeating loops of chanting monks or nuns. "Buddha Machine" is a direct translation of the Chinese term for these devices.

While the sound is lo-fi, the ethereal droning nature of FM3’s compositions are heightened by their de facto existence as an actual physical object. In a transitional period where information, especially music, no longer has a place of material inhabitance, the ability to touch and hold an object whose sole purpose is to make a self-generative sound is almost a luxury. And in the age of media on demand, the restriction of having to listen to the same nine loops for hundreds of hours gives the mind discipline and focus. Use the boxes as a teaching tool for youngsters, a sort of "My First Sound Installation." Or leave them around the garden for relaxing evenings with wine and friends. Or keep one in your cubicle for moments of escape from the daily grind.

A brilliant creation, further cementing FM3 as China’s premier electronic act and ambassador to the global experimental community.

John H DeGroot