Pierre Bastien (born 1953 in
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
) is a French
musician
A musician is a person who composes, conducts, or performs music. According to the United States Employment Service, "musician" is a general term used to designate one who follows music as a profession. Musicians include songwriters who wri ...
,
composer
A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music.
Etymology and Defi ...
, and
experimental musical instrument
An experimental musical instrument (or custom-made instrument) is a musical instrument that modifies or extends an existing instrument or class of instruments, or defines or creates a new class of instrument. Some are created through simple modif ...
builder.
Life and career
Bastien began building mechanical-based musical instruments at an early age, using items such as
metronome
A metronome, from ancient Greek μέτρον (''métron'', "measure") and νομός (nomós, "custom", "melody") is a device that produces an audible click or other sound at a regular interval that can be set by the user, typically in beats pe ...
s,
cymbal
A cymbal is a common percussion instrument. Often used in pairs, cymbals consist of thin, normally round plates of various alloys. The majority of cymbals are of indefinite pitch, although small disc-shaped cymbals based on ancient designs soun ...
s, and
pulley
A pulley is a wheel on an axle or shaft that is designed to support movement and change of direction of a taut cable or belt, or transfer of power between the shaft and cable or belt. In the case of a pulley supported by a frame or shell that ...
s. In 1977, he began collaborating with
Pascal Comelade
Pascal Paul Vincent Comelade (born 30 June 1955), is a French musician.
Comelade was born in Montpellier, France. After living for several years in Barcelona, he made his first album, ''Fluence'', influenced by electronic music and by the grou ...
and composing music for dance companies. He performed in ensembles such as Operation Rhino, Nu Creative Methods, and Effectifs de Profil.
In 1986, he formed his own orchestra, Mecanium, composed of
Meccano
Meccano is a brand of scale model, model construction system created in 1898 by Frank Hornby in Liverpool, England. The system consists of reusable metal strips, plates, Structural steel#Common structural shapes, angle girders, wheels, axles and ...
machines which play various instruments, such as
Chinese lute,
Moroccan bendir,
Javanese saron,
koto
Koto may refer to:
* Koto (band), an Italian synth pop group
* Koto (instrument), a Japanese musical instrument
* Koto (kana), a ligature of two Japanese katakana
* Koto (traditional clothing), a traditional dress made by Afro-Surinamese women
* K ...
, and
violin
The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...
. These machines were often driven by the rotation of old
turntable
A phonograph, in its later forms also called a gramophone (as a trademark since 1887, as a generic name in the UK since 1910) or since the 1940s called a record player, or more recently a turntable, is a device for the mechanical and analogu ...
s. By the 1990s, Mecanium consisted of up to 80 machine 'musicians', and toured various art and music festivals, including events in
Norway
Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...
,
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
,
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
,
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
,
Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...
, and the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
.
Bastien has collaborated with artists such as
Robert Wyatt
Robert Wyatt (born Robert Wyatt-Ellidge, 28 January 1945) is a retired English musician. A founding member of the influential Canterbury scene bands Soft Machine and Matching Mole, he was initially a kit drummer and singer before becoming para ...
,
Jac Berrocal
Jacques "Jac" Berrocal (born 22 October 1946, Saint-Jean d'Angély) is a French trumpeter, singer and composer. He has been active since the 1970s in the independent and avant-garde music scene, and has released many albums. He also founded and p ...
,
Emmanuelle Parrenin
Emmanuelle Parrenin is a French folk singer, harpist and hurdy-gurdy player who was first active in the late 1960s and 1970s as part of "''le mouvement folk''".
Early life and education
Parrenin was born into a family steeped in classical mu ...
,
Jaki Liebezeit
Jaki Liebezeit (born Hans Liebezeit; 26 May 1938 – 22 January 2017) was a German drummer, best known as a founding member of experimental rock band Can. He was called "one of the few drummers to convincingly meld the funky and the cerebral". ...
,
Pierrick Sorin Pierrick is a given name. Notable people with the name include:
*Pierrick Bourgeat (born 1976), French alpine skier
* Pierrick Capelle (born 1987), French professional footballer
* Pierrick Cros (footballer, born 1991) (born 1991), French football ...
,
Lukas Simonis
Lukas Simonis is a Dutch guitarist, mainly active in experimental music and sound art. Besides his career as a musician he's also involved with the Rotterdam-based avant garde venue WORM. and runs the music lab of the venue.
Simonis published a b ...
and
Issey Miyake
was a Japanese fashion designer. He was known for his technology-driven clothing designs, exhibitions and fragrances, such as '' L'eau d'Issey'', which became his best-known product.
Life and career
Miyake was born on 22 April 1938 in Hirosh ...
. He has released material on record labels such as Lowlands,
Rephlex,
Tigersushi, and
Alga Marghen. He has also completed a
doctorate
A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''l ...
on 18th century French literature, his thesis being on pre-surrealist
Raymond Roussel
Raymond Roussel (; 20 January 1877 – 14 July 1933) was a French poet, novelist, playwright, musician, and chess enthusiast. Through his novels, poems, and plays he exerted a profound influence on certain groups within 20th century French litera ...
.
In 2001, Bastien released an album, ''Mecanoid'', on
Rephlex Records
Rephlex Records was a record label launched in 1991 in Cornwall by electronic musician Richard D. James (aka Aphex Twin) and Grant Wilson-Claridge. The label coined the term ''braindance'' to describe the output of Aphex Twin and fellow artists ...
. In 2008, he released an album, ''Visions of Doing'', on
Western Vinyl
Western Vinyl is an independent record label founded in 1998 and based in Austin, Texas. The imprint was formed by Brian Sampson and Ryan Murphy originally to release their lo-fi indie rock projects as Win Foster and Havergal.
Artists
*Abram Sh ...
.
In 2014, he made installations with paper as the main sound source. In 2015, he came up with a new project called ''Silent motors'', two frames with wheels and gears that are beamed on a screen with an overhead projector. In 2016 Bastien had a big exhibition of his mecanoids at
November Music
November Music is an annual international festival of contemporary music in the Netherlands on various locations in 's-Hertogenbosch. Its motto is 'Today's Music by Today's Makers'.
The ten-day festival is held in the first half of November. It ...
Festival in The Netherlands.
Discography
;Albums
* ''Nu Jungle Dances'' (1978)
* ''Le Marchand De Calicots'' (1981)
* ''Superstitions'' (1984)
* ''Hommage à Jean Raine'' (1988)
* ''Mecanium'' (1988)
* ''Musiques Machinales'' (1993)
* ''Eggs Air Sister Steel'' (1996)
* ''Oblique Sessions'' (1997)
* ''Mécanologie Portative'' (1998)
* ''Neuf Jouets Optiques'' (1999)
* ''Musiques Paralloïdres'' (1999)
* ''Mecanoid'' (2001)
* ''Musique Cyrillique'' (2001)
* ''Mots d'Heures: Gousses, Rames'' (2002)
* ''Pop'' (2005)
* ''Sé Verla al Revés'' (2005)
* ''Téléconcerts'' (2005)
* ''Les Premières Machines: 1968-1988'' (2007)
* ''Visions of Doing'' (2008)
* ''Rag-Time Vol. 2'' (2008)
* ''Machinations'' (2012)
* ''Blue as an Orange'' (2015)
* ''Suspicious Moon'' (2022)
;EPs
* ''Boîte N°3'' (1996)
* ''Boîte N°7'' (2004)
* ''FTR003'' (Split 12" with
Anna Homler, Adrian Northover & Dave Tucker (TRIO) on
First Terrace Records) (2018)
;Singles
* ''XVII La Estrella'' (1993)
* ''Automatic Music'' (2010)
* ''Among the Skulls'' (2010)
References
Further reading
*
*
*
External links
*
*
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Bastien, Pierre
Bastien, Pierre
Inventors of musical instruments
Living people
1953 births
Western Vinyl artists