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"It's some kind of music box, some kind of robot, some kind of machine..." Originally commissioned by Walk the Plank for the inaugural 'Art Car Parade', ( where it won the People's Prize Award, no less ) Tonefloat continues to entertain and delight with its sublime fusion of form and function, revelling in the grand tradition of the English Eccentrics. It's played at festivals and events right across the UK over the past couple of years, and is taking it's first trip to the continent later this summer. Can't quite imagine how the French will take to a very quintessentially English kind of thing. Very Hospitably I hope. More so than to the Electric-Frog-Leg Organ which is The Galvonium...
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Part Soundsystem, part Instrument. Part Milkfloat. In the photo banner up top you'll see that behind each suspended bottle is a black blob. This is a small electrical ram which is 'played' via a Midi keyboard. And behind the bottles in the lower ranks is a small jet of compressed air which blows across the top of the bottle... Hook these up to a 'sequencer' and throw in a few samples and you've got a whole new sub-genre of music ~ Lacto.
VIDEO CLIPS Here below be Links to some of the Tonefloat videos on YouTube. I've only linked to a few for now, I'll get a videoplayer module for the website sorted sometime soon. The Chap in the Hat is mostly Spencer. Not sure what I'm doing. Probably taking pictures.
ART CAR PARADE The last event Tonefloat played was almost this one, The 2nd Manchester Art Car Parade in November 2009. This clip's good to show the general arrangement of the thing.
JAMES at G-Mex. We were invited by James to play at G-Mex, Manchester in December 2008. We were the 'MJ's' for the night and rocked the house out with some proper submarine drum & bass, broken melodies and lost soundbites. Check out Nick 'Peeka' Wallbank's video comp.
GLOWMOBILES Here is a sweet little clip from the 'GlowMobiles' gig in Blackpool 2008.
BIG CHILL '07 And for the record here's another ace Peeka video comp of the 'Milkmantronix' show we did at Big Chill 2007 with the 'Semi-Tonefloat' : a go-cart version we built a couple of months before the main device.
CREDITS Tonefloat would not be what it is without a lot of help and goodwill from a lot of different people. It wouldn't exist at all without the inspiration of Spencer Marsden and the serendipity of Mark Harrison. Or have been half as much fun, or any, really, without the public climbing all over it. & a big shout out to the Treatment Room's 'Tiki Love Truck' for the tow-rope.
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