Robert Fripp is an English guitarist, member of King Crimson. He worked with Brian Eno or David Bowie. Sometimes he has a really weird way to weave notes…
Wiki says : Frippertronics is an analog delay system consisting of two side-by-side tape recorders, configured so that the tape travels from the first machine to the other, allowing the sound recorded by the first machine to be played back later on the second, thus causing the delayed signal to repeat while new audio is mixed in with it. The amount of delay (a few seconds) is controlled by increasing or reducing the distance between the machines.
Voilà. It’s like a painter who would paint OVER his own work, continuously. The music speaks, then goes away, then goes back while the instrumentist plays over it, etc. Today it can be done digitally, of course!
Here’s an example at the beginning of a Peter Gabriel song :
Of course you can visualize the effect, like an eternal balancing loop. If you click towards the end of the song, you’ll hear this “cloud” of looping sounds…
David Sylvian uses it a lot, in the Splendid album Gone to Earth. The balancing decors of Healing place is made of Frippertronics :
Well, you’ll find more on YouTube!
My question is coming : why is it so rare today to hear this good “trick”? And if I enlarge this question it becomes a structure and a tool :
As a creative person, do you know (or would you like to search for it?) someone who invented a good rare way to invent in your discipline? In what area? Architecture? Poetry?
What tool would you pick up in order to use it your way?
What could a musician like Tim Exile do with a set of continuously vanishing loops?
What could be a darker way to Frippertronic? Listen to the guitars-weaving behind :
Thanks for reading!
a french toolbox 