Motorlab #3 in Bloomington, MN

This isn't your everyday sound-clash. The third in the
Motorlab
series from Iceland's
Kitchen Motors
label pits fake imaginary/non-imaginary film soundtrack composer
Barry Adamson
against
Mika Vainio
and
Ilpo Vaeisaenen
of the Finnish minimal techno duo
Pan Sonic
.
asked the artists to travel to Reykjavik and write a piece of music for a choir. Once written,
Adamson
,
Vainio
Vaeisaenen
, and
Halldor Vikingsson
recorded the piece ("The Hymn of the 7th Illusion"), as performed by
Hljomeyki
and conducted by
Hoerdjur Bragason
. The spooked recording -- a haunted, wordless succession of boyish escalating "ahhs" and "ohhs" -- was taken by
into the NTVO studio, where they added a repetitive, suspenseful, reverberant succession of electronic throbs that appear, evaporate, and return throughout the piece's 12 minutes. A number of slight atmospheric touches add to the cinematic feel, which
no doubt played a role in. It's hushed and unresolved tension at its best, and could be used in a film where paranoia is an overriding theme. Not quite as engrossing is its remix, "The Illusion of the 7th Hymn," done by experimentalists
the Hafler Trio
. Throughout its 24 minutes, the remix goes through several shifts of minimal drone and noise, cresting around the 12-minute mark with a passage that shapeshifts both the choir and the electronic thrums into a disturbed choppiness. The gent pictured on the cover is composer
Magnus Bloendal Johannsson
. As evident by the photo that shows pickups attached to his head, the mad scientists of
scanned his brain as he listened to
's collaboration. The resulting brain waves are displayed on one of the accompanying cards within the packaging. ~ Andy Kellman