FM3
Beijing duo known for the Buddha Machine loop player.
FM3 is a duo from Beijing made up of Christiaan Virant and Zhang Jian. They helped pioneer electronic music in China. Since 1999, they have blended Chinese classical instruments with digital techniques to produce meditative sounds. Their most famous work is the 2005 Buddha Machine loop player.
Quick Facts
- Origin
- China
- Years active
- 1999–present
- Current members
- Christiaan Virant and Zhang Jian
Facts from the source article.
History
Virant, a United States native, moved to China in the 1980s to study Chinese music and culture. In 1999, he joined Zhang Jian to form FM3, a project that combined Chinese classical instruments with modern digital techniques. The duo began as an ambient, chill-out act playing in the back room of Beijing clubs, later evolving a meditative sound. In November 2013, Virant announced a forthcoming FM3 album, Ting Shuo, on his YouTube channel. During late 2013 and early 2014, FM3 performed in China and Thailand, with most Thai gigs featuring Virant alone. On March 22, 2014, he played at the EESE Experimental Electronic South East arts festival in Bangkok as FM3v, and conducted a workshop the next day on the Buddha Machine.
Buddha Machine
In 2005, FM3 began work on a small musical loop player called the Buddha Machine. The device fulfills criteria of a generative music device; the idea of layering ambient loops is credited to Brian Eno, who was an early supporter. Roughly the size of a cigarette pack, it has a toggle switch to cycle through samples, a combined power and volume dial, and an integrated speaker. It contains a chip holding nine digitally encoded drones from 1.5 to 40 seconds. The name derives from a Chinese device that intones repeating Buddhist chanting loops. Virant said he was inspired by a device found in a Buddhist temple. Two further editions followed: a 2008 unit with nine new loops and pitch control, and a 2010 unit, Chan Fang (Zen Room), using loops on the Gu Qin. The pair also produced iPhone and iPad apps. In 2009, they collaborated with Throbbing Gristle and Industrial Records on a model called Gristleism, featuring thirteen original loops. A fourth-generation Buddha Machine, with eight new loops and a dayglo case in four colours, was released in November 2012. In 2013, FM3 collaborated with Cornelius to produce Ghost in the Machine, containing three tracks from his soundtrack for Ghost in the Shell: Arise.
Discography
FM3 has releases on CD and vinyl, and their music appears in film and television soundtracks in China and the West. Releases include Hou Guan Yin (with Dou Wei, 2006), Mort Aux Vaches (2005), Radio Pyongyang (2005), Streets of Lhasa (2005), Chuan Song (2005), Jing Hua Yuan Ji (with Dou Wei, 2004), Bu Ke Neng (with Yan Jun and Wu Quan, 2003), and Ting Shuo (2014). On October 27, 2006, Robert Henke released Layering Buddha, ten tracks created by filtering, pitching, and layering original or reassembled loops. In November 2006, Staubgold released Jukebox Buddha, a 15-track album of Buddha Machine remixes by artists including Sun City Girls, Sunn O))), Thomas Fehlmann, Jan Jelinek with Andrew Pekler and Hanno Leichtmann, Blixa Bargeld, Robert Henke, Alog, and Mapstation. In March 2011, Jan Linton released Buddha Machine Music, a mini CD of six compositions using treated sounds from Buddha Machines 1.0 and 2.0. A new version of Jukebox Buddha, He Xie Fu, featuring all Chinese artists, was released in November 2011. Other compilation appearances include P.Pa, Zheng on Bip-Hop Generation [v.7] (2004), Ambience Sinica on Very Best of the Far East (2004), Bitzen on Condominium (2004), Ruan on Mutek 05 (2005), Part #1, Part #2 on Radio Worm 59 (2005), Untitled on Yokomono 02: 55 Lock Grooves (2005), Monoqin on Minicomp2 (2007), and East 18b on Silent Room (2007). An extended nine-minute version of P.Pa appears in the 2010 installation Ten Thousand Waves by Isaac Julien.
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