Enchantress of Numbers
Part of the reason it took me such a long time to get the other mix reviews posted (which I'm going to do before posting my new color one, sorry faithful mixers!) is that my little mp3 player for reasons best known to itself mixed up these songs in such a way that it produced quite a different impression that the mix in its correct order. The main difference had to do with who was the mix's protagonist, and whether Ada appeared as a young girl or as an older woman. It worked both ways, but here's the review for the right one....
Track 1. Pi
Well, you can't do better when trying to suggest simultaneous cyberpunkiness and a distinctly archaic sensibility - a recitation of Pi in Japanese layered over a calm electronica track. The voice might be that of a teacher or a student - impassive, but not inhuman.
Track 2. Conceiving Ada Title Theme
Intricate and optimistic.
Track 3. Causes and Effects
Our heroine is introduced, with the innocence, prickliness, and genius of youth quickly sketched in a compassionate perspective.
Track 4. Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)
I see this song as Ada speaking for herself: cool, ladylike, and young, facing a world she's going to change simply by being herself.
Track 5. Wicked Girls
An expansion of the world-survey in the previous song, now applied more directly to the situation of a young woman.
Track 6. Apprentice
Now we see Ada as having established her place in society, finding a graceful integration of refinement and intellectual ambition. What? Then that can't be the central conflict of this mix! What is?
Track 7. 1864
A ha, here comes a mood-shifting piece. Focus moves from inward to outward. Technology?
Track 8 . Code Monkey
Aw yeah. Is this Babbage?
Track 9. Steam Brain
And the figure of the Prolific Inventor (yeah, I'm pretty sure it's Babbage) describes exactly what he is up to.
Track 10. Imaginations From the Other Side
But ah, what does this invention imply? From musical-theater exuberance to a cloudy, cluttered metal like visions of a future beyond imagination.
Track 11. E=mc 2
The cloudiness of the previous sound resolves into the hard-edged synthetic cadences of this song, expanding on the reality-bending power that Our Heroine is touching upon. The masculine and feminine voices fit with the two characters established.
Track 12. The Collars
I like how there are still a male and female character appearing to frame the narrative of the birth of artificial intelligence.
Track 13. Computer Eyes
This song build so slowly that it seems like it's introducing another shift in mood, but as it settles into its futuristic groove with the wild, lost woman's voice narrating the story, it makes it clear that it's continuing the trajectory already begun.
Track 14. World Inside the Crystal
We've left the ground entirely now. Surely Ada had never expected this travelling the world and the seven seas...
Track 15. Archetype Cafe
This coda pulls the mix right round to the beginning: what did it all mean? Will anyone ever know about it? And is that the part that matters?
I'd describe the person this mix is about as: a silicon flower
I'll listen to this mix when I: want to get back to the future
My new favorite song thanks to this mix is: E=mc 2
If I could add one song it would be: Bettie Serveert - Tomboy http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PaAXkwQBzYU
Track 1. Pi
Well, you can't do better when trying to suggest simultaneous cyberpunkiness and a distinctly archaic sensibility - a recitation of Pi in Japanese layered over a calm electronica track. The voice might be that of a teacher or a student - impassive, but not inhuman.
Track 2. Conceiving Ada Title Theme
Intricate and optimistic.
Track 3. Causes and Effects
Our heroine is introduced, with the innocence, prickliness, and genius of youth quickly sketched in a compassionate perspective.
Track 4. Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)
I see this song as Ada speaking for herself: cool, ladylike, and young, facing a world she's going to change simply by being herself.
Track 5. Wicked Girls
An expansion of the world-survey in the previous song, now applied more directly to the situation of a young woman.
Track 6. Apprentice
Now we see Ada as having established her place in society, finding a graceful integration of refinement and intellectual ambition. What? Then that can't be the central conflict of this mix! What is?
Track 7. 1864
A ha, here comes a mood-shifting piece. Focus moves from inward to outward. Technology?
Track 8 . Code Monkey
Aw yeah. Is this Babbage?
Track 9. Steam Brain
And the figure of the Prolific Inventor (yeah, I'm pretty sure it's Babbage) describes exactly what he is up to.
Track 10. Imaginations From the Other Side
But ah, what does this invention imply? From musical-theater exuberance to a cloudy, cluttered metal like visions of a future beyond imagination.
Track 11. E=mc 2
The cloudiness of the previous sound resolves into the hard-edged synthetic cadences of this song, expanding on the reality-bending power that Our Heroine is touching upon. The masculine and feminine voices fit with the two characters established.
Track 12. The Collars
I like how there are still a male and female character appearing to frame the narrative of the birth of artificial intelligence.
Track 13. Computer Eyes
This song build so slowly that it seems like it's introducing another shift in mood, but as it settles into its futuristic groove with the wild, lost woman's voice narrating the story, it makes it clear that it's continuing the trajectory already begun.
Track 14. World Inside the Crystal
We've left the ground entirely now. Surely Ada had never expected this travelling the world and the seven seas...
Track 15. Archetype Cafe
This coda pulls the mix right round to the beginning: what did it all mean? Will anyone ever know about it? And is that the part that matters?
I'd describe the person this mix is about as: a silicon flower
I'll listen to this mix when I: want to get back to the future
My new favorite song thanks to this mix is: E=mc 2
If I could add one song it would be: Bettie Serveert - Tomboy http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PaAXkwQBzYU