Independent production 90's Japanese experimental & ambient!
Yuji Dokin, a botanist, started research and development in 1987 with the aim of creating a device that would allow plants to talk to themselves, and the plants themselves would talk to them.
In an age when Mac PCs still had an "occult-like" feel to them, and two light tigers could be bought for the price of one, he devised a system that continued experiments on his own using Mac SE and electroencephalogram measurement equipment. .
This device, which extracts potential changes from plants and transforms them into sounds and images that humans can perceive, presents a world that has never been encountered before, both in terms of software and hardware.
In the early 1990s, "Plantron" emerged from the field of research to the public, and was picked up by the mass media and became a sort of <phenomenon>. Although it is being exhibited, it is unknown how far the original meaning of this device has permeated.
Dokin's "plant-centered" attitude was quite challenging and radical, and few people understood it.
However, in 2022, 30 years after Plantron's first installation, and now that the building of a decarbonized society has been set as a globally agreed goal, I can't help but be in awe of its foresight and execution.
Ecological Plantron (1994) is the first CD recording of this Plantron. With the support of composer Mamoru Fujieda, the copper-gold "Plantron" was constructed into a full-fledged installation. The potential changes generated from the communication between plants and the human environment were converted to MIDI, and through the "MAX" program they were indeterminate and irregular. It is emitted as a regular YAMAHA FM synth sound. If I were to use a strong analogy, it might be called Konron Nancarrow, who has an atmosphere somewhat similar to the musical scores of Xenakis and Penderecki, or unpredictable electronic sounds.
When we think of ecological electricity, we think of the experimental music of David Rosenboom, Alvin Lucier, Yann Tomita, etc., which uses human brain waves, but this work does not feature humans as the main characters, but is completely plant-centered, and it is a modern work in the first place. It is not presented as a meaningful 'musical work'.
In this reprint, the original sound source produced at the gallery has been remastered, and the CD version includes two exhibitions after "Ecological Plantron", "Mangrove Plantron" (1995) and "Piano La Plantron". (1997) recorded as a bonus disc. The first LP version will also be released.
Since the exhibition of the installation of this device in 1992, pseudo-similar attempts have appeared, but the original is "Plantron". [JAPANESE] [AMBIENT] [EXERIMENTAL]