Video: Bluebrain And Its Boombox Orchestra

Bluebrain’s “Cakeblood” composition is to aleatoric (or chance-based) music as the duo’s usual repertoire is to heavily textured indie pop: smart, a tad bewildering, and ultimately quite pleasant.

That was certainly the case last Thursday night, when the area duo and about four dozen recruits performed the 36-minute work-for-30-odd-boomboxes while walking around the Dupont area. The music itself shuffled through a few movements and themes: At times it was ambient and aquatic-sounding, while other moments were minimalistic and percussive. My favorite passage was a chaotic assemblage of found sounds—exactly the “weird, electronic jungle” that Bluebrain member Hays Holladay told me to expect last week.

After the jump, check out a 3-minute video Bluebrain made containing some highlights of the event. The group performs this Friday at The Writers Center in Bethesda as part of the ongoing “Story/Stereo” series.

Also, YouTube user haetta posted this video of the first 10 minutes of “Cakeblood”:

Tags: Bluebrain, Cakeblood