BERLIN’S Mouse on Mars, the playful and textural duo who have been seducing us for many a year with their particular brand of off-kilter sonic wobble, have announced a new album, AAI (Anarchic Artificial Intelligence), which will be out on Thrill Jockey on February 26th.
Jan St Werner and Andi Toma’s new album promises to be their most explicitly science fiction record to date, in a career festooned with wonky brilliance. For this set they’re collaborating with writer and scholar Louis Chude-Sokei, a collective of computer programmers and longtime Mouse on Mars percussionist Dodo NKishi.
AAI, we’re told, “… aims to explore artificial intelligence as both a narrative framework and compositional tool, drawing parallels between the evolution of human and machine, using technology as a lens to examine contemporary issues and philosophical questions.”
And they’ve just dropped “The Latent Space” – take a listen on our YouTube embed, below: it’s fuses the robotic and the human in a whirring, seductive, multi-layered rhythmic busyness, with warped and sheared vocal samples bubbling through the hive-mind feel of the multifarious activity.
Working with AI tech collective Birds on Mars and former Soundcloud programmers Ranny Keddo and Derrek Kindle, Mouse on Mars created bespoke software capable of modelling speech. What appears to be Louis Chude-Sokei narrating through the story is in fact the AI speaking – the album’s narrative of an artificial intelligence growing, learning and speaking quite literally mirrored in the album’s composition.
Last Saturday, Jan and Andi received the accolade of the City of Cologne’s Holger Czukay Prize. Named after the founding member of pioneering Krautrock act Can, the prize honours artists whose work is rooted in Cologne and whose influence continues to shape current developments, recognizing Mouse on Mars contribution to contemporary music, art and technology.
Mouse on Mars’ AAI (Anarchic Artificial Intelligence) will be released by Thrill Jockey on February 26th on digital download, CD and green vinyl. It’s available to pre-order from the label now, here.
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