''Dead Weather Machine'' (sometimes
abbreviated
An abbreviation (from Latin ''brevis'', meaning ''short'') is a shortened form of a word or phrase, by any method. It may consist of a group of letters or words taken from the full version of the word or phrase; for example, the word ''abbrevia ...
to ''DWM'') is the second album by
dark ambient artist
SleepResearch Facility
SleepResearch_Facility (sometimes abbreviated to SR_F or SRF) is a dark ambient artist from Glasgow, Scotland, specializing in sleep-conducive beatless ambient music which is both artistic as well as functional.
Overview
SleepResearch_Facili ...
, and is the first of a two-part set, the second part being ''
Dead Weather Machine Re:Heat'' (also known as ''DWM Re:Heat'').
Overview
The album is summarised by the text on its cover:
:As an exercise in sample manipulation, DWM draws exclusively from source audio generated by swinging a cheap microphone in front of a misfiring heating unit, itself congested with the fibrous dust of advanced decrepitude and exhuming a near death-rattle from its fractured internal respiritory systems.
SleepResearch_Facility made a three-minute recording of the Tango2 heater (manufactured by
Dimplex
GlenDimplex (formerly known as Glen Electric) is an Irish based consumer electrical goods firm headquartered in Dublin, Ireland. The company is privately held, with manufacturing and development centres in the Republic of Ireland, the United Kingd ...
Heating Ltd), and created ''DWM'' and ''DWM Re:Heat'' from it, "using only about three or four very powerful pieces of software to mutate and mix/layer the sound".
[Foreshadow Magazine ]interview
An interview is a structured conversation where one participant asks questions, and the other provides answers.Merriam Webster DictionaryInterview Dictionary definition, Retrieved February 16, 2016 In common parlance, the word "interview" ...
The manipulation is so thorough and extensive that it's impossible to guess the original source of the sounds. For listeners who are interested, the original recording is included as a
hidden track
In the field of recorded music, a hidden track (sometimes called a ghost track, secret track or unlisted track) is a song or a piece of audio that has been placed on a CD, audio cassette, LP record, or other recorded medium, in such a way as to ...
at the end of the album, and
photoof the inside of the heater was available from the
Audio Project Archive page of the official website. More detailed information about the album's creation can be found in the Foreshadow Magazine
interview
An interview is a structured conversation where one participant asks questions, and the other provides answers.Merriam Webster DictionaryInterview Dictionary definition, Retrieved February 16, 2016 In common parlance, the word "interview" ...
with SleepResearch_Facility.
The promotional text for the album, written by
Manifold Records Manifold Records is a US-based record label and mailorder store specializing in experimental, ambient and other hard-to-define audio materials. Begun in 1993 by writer and zine-publisher Vince Harrigan, the label has released works by Gravitar, Fin ...
, encourages the listener to imagine being shrunk to microscopic size and "trekking through some enormous, dying mechanical landscape, the sounds of world-sized storms swirling all around you".
The album's overall sound is very dark and deep, industrial and mechanical, impersonal and unemotional. The album's main aural components are: smooth noise in various forms, rumbling bass, and droning chords (particularly in "2.5" and "2.7"). At times, the sound is more structured, such as a steady rhythmic element in "2.5" (sounding rather like a dripping water tap), random bleeping sequences in "2.2", and a regular heavy reverberating booming in "2.3". Each track flows smoothly into the next, with no gaps of silence in-between, and as with all of SleepResearch_Facility's music, ''DWM'' is very sleep
Sleep is a sedentary state of mind and body. It is characterized by altered consciousness, relatively inhibited Perception, sensory activity, reduced muscle activity and reduced interactions with surroundings. It is distinguished from wakefuln ...
-conducive if played at low volume.
The original release in 2004 was a limited edition – only 1000 copies were manufactured.
Track listing
(*) Follows "2.7" after 6:30 of silence
The following text is printed on the back of the CD box: "untitled x 7 + 1 hidden = sum", indicating that the seven main tracks have no official titles. However, on the back of the CD cover, the numbers "2.1" to "2.7" are printed, together with the duration of each corresponding track in minutes and seconds. This suggests that "2.1" to "2.7" are potential titles for the seven tracks. The use of the digit 2 at the beginning of each title may well be a reference to the fact that ''DWM'' is the second album by SleepResearch_Facility.
Miscellaneous CD text
The following phrases are printed either on the inside of the CD tray, or in the CD booklet:
* working with finite sound sources reinforces concepts of liberation through limitation">/nowiki>working with finite sound sources reinforces concepts of liberation through limitation/nowiki>
* passage through the digital domain spawns interesting new paradigms">/nowiki>passage through the digital domain spawns interesting new paradigms/nowiki>
* 55.8 -75.3
* all noise integral
* 00.76-847-5-52
* further data added upon subsequent iterations
* patience is a game worth playing.
Response and public exposure
Steve Roach, a highly respected ambient musician, has writte
a very complimentary review
of ''DWM'' on his website, and even sold the album from his online store while stocks lasted. The album has also bee
by Aural Pressure, a website specialising in dark ambient, experimental, industrial, rhythmic noise, power electronics and neoclassical music.
In 2005, some of the album wa
on Dutc
Radio 4FM
(now known a
.
Free audio
The Audio Project Archive page of the official website links to the following relevant MP3
MP3 (formally MPEG-1 Audio Layer III or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III) is a coding format for digital audio developed largely by the Fraunhofer Society in Germany, with support from other digital scientists in the United States and elsewhere. Orig ...
files:
60-second sample
of "2.1" is available from th
although the page incorrectly indicates that the sample is taken from "2.2".
Hungbunny's 50th podcast,
Silence is Golden
', begins with "2.1".
External links
Discogs entry
Rate Your Music entry
References
{{Authority control
2004 albums