Visions of Doing

Pierre Bastien is well known for his orchestra of musically gifted robots. Driven by electric motors, the machines deliver stuttering rhythmic loops. These unsteady tempos constantly fluctuate, imbuing the songs with an emotional and honest quality not found in much of today's loop-based music. The nine tracks on Visions of Doing have been selected from Pierre Bastien's soundtracks to Karel Doing's films.

Pierre Bastien on Visions of Doing: "The compositions presented here in homage to Karel Doing are more than just the soundtracks to his films. They are the result of years of collaboration, in the recording studio and in live performances. Tracks like "Visions of Shanghai," "Energy Energy," and "Turkish Boys at the Harbour" have Karel's sounds integrated within the compositions. Others like "Bubblin'" and "The Thermodynamic Orchestra," inspired Karel's development of several Optical Toys. As we worked together at Studio Een on three performances (Recollection, Four Eyes, and Rotary Factory) and a CD-ROM (Nine Optical Toys) we developed a strong complementary style evident in the music I composed for Karel's films: Energy Energy, Images of a Moving City, East, and Getijden. The extract of Four Eyes included here shows how our images and sounds criss-cross and lead to a collective piece."