1000names – A Minute a Day LP

Published December, 2012
by Easterndaze

Bulgaria is closer to Space than you might think. Apart from the space food production trivia and the fact that a Bulgarian folklore song is travelling the Universe as a message to other intelligent lifeforms, our country has spawned another intergalactic curiosity – 1000names.

Local beatsmith legends and alien boogie shamans released their brand new LP via French label Eklektik Records.

“A Minute a Day” is not only a 7-song album, but a collaborative project between 1000names and Bulgarian visual artist Vitto Valentinov. The release is accompanied by a special booklet with a short science fiction story told via a sequence of photographs. TAPE-LEPATYC TRIP presents you with a brand new “wearable machine that facilitates its users’ imaginings” – the TAPE-D-TRON-1000. The device is a special type of binoculars that “translate the audio signal from a magnetic tape into abstract virtual images which are then projected through a complex sensory system in front of the eyes”.

This science-fiction motif is central to Vitto’s art and it can be felt in his other works, too – most notably in the “Critical Mass” collaboration between him and Bulgarian beatmaker Parallel Concept, and in his Absolut Teleportation project for Absolut Blank Bulgaria. Translating human emotions and imagination through machine and robotic forms thus puts the whole “man – machine” opposition in an entirely new context – in pretty much the same way as electronic music does.

“A Minute a Day” is indeed a trippy sonic experience, presenting the listener with vivid kaleidoscopic snapshots of the two composers’ shared musical mind. The signature 1000names mellow cosmic groove is here, binding together rolling, stumbling, syncopating hip hop beats with retro-futuristic synth lines, tribal claps and intricate percussion.

The album’s analogue rawness makes me think about what the first voyage into open space would have felt like – staring into infinity, perceiving its wonderful colours, shapes and sounds for the very first time, stiff with awe and joy because you realize it’s all one, and you are part of it; you are the same.

The release is available on limited 300 copies vinyl + 16-page quadri-book, USB key bracelet with PDF book and digital version.

illustration by: Vitto Valentinov

1000Names – A minute a day by EKLEKTIK RECORDS

by Snezhana Bezus, check her blog Beatbucket here.