Thimbletron: TradeMark’s MIDI Thimbles Make Illegal Music
Cassette-tape DJ battles are just one of TradeMark G.’s retro, regressive, subversive musical creations. He also likes to put on glasses, a white lab coat, and interactive sewing thimble gloves, in order to produce illegal, copyright-crushing musical performances.
Many of the techno-gimmicks seen here on CDM are one-offs and prototypes. The Evolution Control Committee, by contrast, has been producing “illegal art”, often with the aid of technology, for some 20 years. They’ve been “culture jamming”, dropping Napster bombs (remember Napster?), infamously attracting the ire of CBS, and dressing up as giant pairs of trousers and cans of Parmesan cheese ever since. (I’m especially fond of the giant pants costumes.)
For the last few years, they’ve been perfecting the Thimbletron, a glove with sewing thimbles attached to a hacked M-Audio Oxygen8. (I always knew those Oxygen keyboards would be good for something.) The interface gives them newly-expanded powers of sample triggering. Happily, unlike Wired Magazine, they don’t overuse the term “mash-ups” to describe what they’re doing. Try, instead, “plagiarhythm” or “plunderphonics”: “In the world of The ECC’s music, Public Enemy duke it out with Herb Alpert while TV news anchor Dan Rather is the new frontman for AC/DC.”
Thimbletronic Energy Technology Page (video link at the top)
TradeMark will be performing with the Thimbletron at the Maker Faire, as well as running the cassette tape DJ battle we saw earlier:
Call for Cassette Jockeys @ Maker Faire, Cassette Tech Roundup
CDM (meaning me) will be at Maker Faire all week, sending as much coverage and causing as much havoc as possible. I’m hoping Dan Rather shows up.
More glove music controllers:
10 Comments
Leave a CommentPeter
I playeda show with mark in 99. He is one of the dudes credited with the “mashup” and is super cool dude.
May 8, 2007 @ 10:04 am
Andrew Cordani
They remind me of Finger Beatz
May 8, 2007 @ 3:42 pm
carmen
i saw him peform at the Elemental Pyre of Dessicated Corn Rind gathering in 1991 in Zanesville Ohio. at that time, i believe the musicians electrified the stage, and went barefoot, touching anything that might allow some current to pass thru such as Arp 2600s, Theremins, and small dogs equipped with piezo-collars sitting around. i believe he downsized this system to the glove after developing a heart palpitation condition likely brought on by the frequent high-level DC-current exposure which took several years to clear up, but perhaps future developments in localized current grounding will allow these fantastic performances to go on once again
May 8, 2007 @ 10:37 pm
Peter Kirn
Whoa, he wasn’t kidding when he said he had to revise the design due to health reasons.
I’m happy to say I haven’t had *that* issue with gear.
May 8, 2007 @ 10:39 pm
energy technology » Blog Archive » Thimbletron: TradeMark s MIDI Thimbles Make I…
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May 9, 2007 @ 12:25 am
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[...] Thimbletronic Energy Technology Page (video link at the top). TradeMark will be performing with the Thimbletron at the Maker Faire, as well as running the cassette tape DJ battle we saw earlier:. Call for Cassette Jockeys @ Maker Faire, … …more [...]
May 11, 2007 @ 12:09 am
energy technology » Blog Archive » Thimbletron: TradeMark s MIDI Thimbles Make Illegal Music
[...] Page (video link at the top). TradeMark will be performing with the Thimbletron at the Maker Faire, as well as running the cassette tape DJ battle we saw earlier:. Call for Cassette Jockeys @ Maker Faire, … …more [...]
May 11, 2007 @ 4:35 am
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[...] Thimbletronic Energy Technology Page (video link at the top). TradeMark will be performing with the Thimbletron at the Maker Faire, as well as running the cassette tape DJ battle we saw earlier:. Call for Cassette Jockeys @ Maker Faire, … …more [...]
May 12, 2007 @ 7:40 pm
Princepaul
Thats some very interesting stuff..cassette jockeys. I’d like to check out one of their battles. Speaking of battles. Yaris is currently having a dj vs dj battle going on, not cassettes but turntables. Winner get a one hr special on their local radio one station, check it out for more details http://www.yarisversusyaris.com/. Just thought i’d share since i work with Yaris.
June 11, 2007 @ 1:24 pm
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April 9, 2008 @ 10:29 pm
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