Project: Bicycle's interesting idea falls flat
By Lisa Wakeland, Staff Writer
April 19, 2007 | 7:02 p.m.
Traditionally, bicycles are thought of as transportation. Bikes can bring children freedom or give adults an alternative to gas-guzzling cars. But to the eccentric minds at Ache Records, a bicycle is an instrument.
Project: Bicycle is a concept album that uses sounds from bicycles to create music. The Canadian record label chose 11 progressive-sound designers from around the world to manipulate the provided sample sound byte. The result is 45 minutes of pseudo-techno confusion.
The original track provided by the record label is the last song on the album. Less than two minutes long, it starts with spinning wheels and chains followed by someone banging on metal. The beat is not outstanding; a chimpanzee could have produced similar sounds with a stick and a bicycle. Two people saying “bicycles” jolts the listener's attention back to the sample long enough to hear a clownish horn and bell.
Freshman photojournalism major Johnny Simon was returning the CD to the Muzak meeting for a friend, but kept the album because he thought it would be good. “It was a cool idea and that's why I wanted to listen to it,” he said. “It's not enjoyable to listen to. It doesn't really have any redeeming merits at all.”
In the first song, “Roule Brouille” by Aelters from France, the sample is barely recognizable. It sounds more like an arcade game with a short circuit. Danish musician Jab Mica Och El uses excessive clown horn in “Side Car Bicycle.” Although it is more coherent than the first song, it sounds too similar to circus noise.
Like many songs on Project: Bicycle, “Pizza Boys Bike” takes one part of the sound sample and uses it to an extreme. Sun Ok Papi K.O. from Belgium takes the spinning wheel and repeats it enough to make listeners feel as though they are hearing nonstop reruns of the Showcase Showdown on the “Price is Right.”
“Gas Prices” by Canadian artist Secret Mommy and “Bikebox” by Belgian DJ Elephant Power are slightly difficult to listen to, but are on the verge of normalcy. While the electronica genre is prevalent throughout the album, these songs sound like they could have been outtakes from early Radiohead songs.
The lengthy “Ladri Di Biciclette” has a dark theme. It's like a nightmarish walk to an execution chamber. However, toward the end of the song, Italian artist TU M' brings in the clown horns for light relief, but the song abruptly cuts out before any resolution comes.
“Bicycle Work,” by Romanhead from the United Kingdom, creates the most coherent song that sounds like a trancelike journey through space. But chaotic noise returns for Uské Niko's disjointed “Les Claxons De Madame Du Pont.” Overuse of the clown horn makes the listener wish it were never part of the sample. The American contributions, “Sagres” by Greg Davis and “Flee You” by Wobbly, are the longest songs on the album, lasting around six and a half minutes each. They have few variations from the sample but overwhelmingly sound like broken-radio transmissions.
The only entertaining song on the album is “Breaking Away” by Jason Forrest from Germany. Appropriately titled, Forrest strays from the provided sample for a high-energy song incorporating Queen's “Bicycle Race” into his mix. Ache Records acknowledges that Forrest broke the rules, but his revitalized track loses its potential impact because it follows a 30-minute noise headache.
Simon said the record was an open-source project but was unsure of the extent. Although Ache Records chose the artists for Project: Bicycle, they included the original sample as the last track on the album, encouraging listeners to participate on an audience level as well as an artistic level.
Most of the album is cumbersome, including the packaging, which details the history of bicycles around the world and the pollution problem created by cars. It seems like a CD with a cause, but the concept is lost on the average person. If you're brave, give Project: Bicycle a listen. Just make sure to have a bottle of Excedrin near the stereo.
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Project: Bicycle is available on June 6 from http://www.acherecords.com
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