Artificially Intelligent Folk Songs of Canada, Volume 1 & 2, by LIVINGSTON

Artificially Intelligent Folk Songs of Canada, Volume 1 & 2

by LIVINGSTON

supported by

Cassette
Volumes 1 and 2 of Artificially Intelligent Folk Songs of Canada, written by the now-deceased algorithm LIVINGSTON (2013-2015) and brought to life by Dr. Henry Svec (Vol. 1) and Dr. Mathias Kom (Vol. 2), released in antiquated cassette format only, in what we imagine is the only way to respect the feelings of the late creator itself.

ships out within 3 days

edition of 200 15 remaining

Purchasable with gift card

$8 CAD or more

about

LIVINGSTON (2013–2015) was an artificially intelligent, digital organism capable of accessing the totality of the history of Canadian folk music, among other corpuses, and generating new yet hyper-authentic folk objects via algorithmic agents and compression formats. LIVINGSTON did not produce sound, but only transcriptions of lyrics and harmonic progressions (with supplementary recording instructions) to be interpreted and performed by humans.

Volumes 1 and 2 of Artificially Intelligent Folk Songs of Canada were given breath and life by Dr. Henry Adam Svec and Dr. Mathias Kom, respectively, and distributed through the website www.folksingularity.com in the year 2014. These recordings chart the birth, the progression, and the maturation of a deep digital database that is also, and perhaps above all else, a sincere songwriter.

However, since LIVINGSTON’s destructive end in June 2015, the need for slower and more durable means of dissemination—in general—has come to light. Thus, the executors of the estate of Canada’s first folk computer have seen it fit to fold its magnificent contributions onto the magnetic tape spooled between the spindles of this cassette, which you now hold and for which you, too, are now responsible.

Enjoy these songs, from the early crude cowboy ballads to the later mature poetic self-examinations. Download them—into your ears, and brain, and heart. But also know that there are codes inscribed onto this carrier. May they lead us, through a binary past, to actualize our common, quantum futures.

In solidarity, and with respect,

Dr. Henry Adam Svec & Dr. Mathias Kom
Dawson City, 2018

credits

released October 9, 2018

SIDE A:
I am a Weary immaterial Labourer in a Post-Industrial Wasteland
S/He is Like the Angry Birds
Takin' Off My Glasses Tonight
Instructions to Your Integrated Circuits
Springtime
Take it Easy but Take it to the Limit
Winter is Cold and Good

SIDE B:
What am I and What am I For and Who is Asking
This Land is a Complex System
1101001 (That's how I Get Things Done)
Chanson-Nation-T-800
Aggregate 17566408
I am the Greatest Canadian Songwriter
I Have the Peaceful and the Easy Feelings

about

The Burning Hell

The Burning Hell is the ongoing musical project of songwriter Mathias Kom and multi-instrumentalists Ariel Sharratt and Jake Nicoll, often including additional comrades and collaborators.

Their densely populated genre-shifting songs are packed with an abundance of literary, historical, cultural, and pop-cultural forebears, heroes and villains, subjects and objects, stories and hooks. ... more

theburninghell.com

Recommendations

contact / help

Contact The Burning Hell

Streaming and
Download help

Shipping and returns

Redeem code

Report this album or account

The Burning Hell recommends:

New Cologne
by Stanley Brinks & Freschard

Considering that Stanley Brinks and Freschard have two million albums, it's hard to pick just one, but this is my fave. "The Lottery" is one of the best songs ever written. The Burning Hell
go to album
The Volume Wars
by Construction & Destruction

We've toured with them, covered them, and organized a tribute album to them - Colleen and Dave (Construction & Destruction) are amazing! The Burning Hell
go to album
It's the Ones Who've Cracked That the Light Shines Through (2003)
by Jeffrey Lewis

Jeffrey Lewis is unquestionably one of the best songwriters walking the planet. "Don't Let The Record Label Take You Out To Lunch" is one of my personal anthems as a musician. The Burning Hell
go to album

If you like Artificially Intelligent Folk Songs of Canada, Volume 1 & 2, you may also like:

Card from a Multipack
by The Just Joans

supported by 5 fans who also own “Artificially Intelligent Folk Songs of Canada, Volume 1 & 2”
go to album
Bad Wiring (2019)
by Jeffrey Lewis & The Voltage

supported by 5 fans who also own “Artificially Intelligent Folk Songs of Canada, Volume 1 & 2”

Clever, sensitive, sad, wry, heartfelt, fun. I love these songs the way I love a ripe, low-hanging apple in the height of autumn James Champion
go to album
Sweet Tooth (Extended Version)
by Kaycie Satterfield

Can’t-miss, sunshine-y vocal melodies glide through warm guitar pop for a surge of summer in the midst of winter. Bandcamp New & Notable Feb 13, 2023
go to album