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Music

Here's a Glass Turntable That Runs Without Electricity

Brooklyn electronic duo, Eaters, reveals the inspiration behind their innovative sound sculpture.
Image courtesy the artists

Brooklyn-based minimal electronic duo, Eaters, premiered their new EP, Moment of Inertia (Driftless), earlier this month on Brooklyn Vegan. Based on a sound sculpture by the band's visual member, Christopher Duffy, the EP is an audiovisual experiment that takes the form of a hand-spun, cylindrical glass sculpture playing an acetate-cut original composition. The object acts as an “alternative turntable,” one that doesn’t require an electric motor, because it’s charged with centrifugal force.

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“Void of a motor of any sort, the turntable slows over the course of the composition, eventually coming to a complete stop. Throughout the experience, tempo and pitch fluctuate, exploring perceptions of speed, elasticity, and entropy,” reads the duo's statement. The experiment results in three compositions: one from the original recording, one cut to acetate that speeds up in order to counteract the slowing-down of the sculpture, and a final version taken from the sculpture's own automatic "performance." Check it out in Eaters' music video below:

Moment of Inertia, in its physical form, debuted at the Chrysler Museum of Art in Norfolk, VA. You can stream the EP in its musical entirety here.

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