Drum Machines

Martin Daigle skillfully unearths the melodic qualities of the drumset on DRUM MACHINES from Ravello Records, an album featuring the works of composers Pierre Alexandre Tremblay and Sylvain Pohu. Daigle, the 2022 winner of Music NB’s “Innovator of the Year” award, performs two solo pieces that feature innovative applications of technology in this release, producing unique timbres through electronic augmentations of the drumset. These unique flavors paired with Daigle’s adept musicality and inventive grooves make for a one-of-a-kind listening experience that’s sure to stir the senses.

The composition La Rage, by Pierre Alexandre Tremblay which features on the album has many various interactions between acoustic and computer-generated musical events. With a series of performance gestures, through written beats, and improvisations, the performer is in constant conflict with the machine that wishes to take over the sound space. While struggling to confront the machine, the performer must face varying power dynamics in the hopes to remain relevant and audible.

The composition was one of his most ambitious projects featuring an octophonic speaker setup surrounding the audience. In 2004, this piece illustrated that microphones may serve many different purposes other than their principal use of sound amplification