The four hundred boys

Editorial Reviews
About the Artist
Alex Keller is a sound artist based in Seattle. He uses repetitive processes and custom devices like software-based audio processing, electro-mechanical modification, and physically mangled information to work with recordings of speech, instruments, the natural world, and the media-generated world. He studied music theory at the University of Houston and obtained a BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 1996, where he studied sound and art/technology with Bob Snyder, Lou Mallozzi, Shawn Decker, Lauren Weinger, and Peter Gena.

As rebreather Alex also performs with Christopher DeLaurenti, improvising with modified and rewired consumer electronics. rebreather appears regularly in the Seattle area. Alex also create installations and sculptural electronic sound objects, and performs occasionally on his own. He works in the music technology education field and is an active member of the Sonicabal. In 1998 he won an Artist Assistance Award from the Jack Straw Foundation and was a finalist in Sound Transit’s public art competition. Though he has been releasing recordings for over ten years, The four hundred boys is his first solo CD release. Previous releases Alex’s work has contributed to include rebreather, Psychic Twins Network, Daddy Scary Robot, and both Sonicabal compilations.

Album Description
Using processes like the whispering game, structures that sync then drift wildly, and recordings that sound like intercepted transmissions from ancient worlds, The four hundred boys depicts a sensual, edgy sonic landscape that is familiar as it is alien. Computers, voices, field recordings, pianos, electric guitars, analog synthesizers, and the media that we are exposed to everywhere exchange identities and introduce us to a world where a fortress can use the voice of a rainforest (All of these things), broadcast dreams are spoken in tongues (Gun), or a summer sunset is caught in cross-section (Landscape: still life with bug lamp).

Tracks:

And the walls became the world all around
Decades II
The four hundred boys
Landscape: still life with bug lamp
Cosmetic (soundtrack)
All of these things
Gun

Album Description

Using processes like the whispering game, structures that sync then drift wildly, and recordings that sound like intercepted transmissions from ancient worlds, The four hundred boys depicts a sensual, edgy sonic landscape that is familiar as it is alien. Computers, voices, field recordings, pianos, electric guitars, analog synthesizers, and the media that we are exposed to everywhere exchange identities and introduce us to a world where a fortress can use the voice of a rainforest (All of these things), broadcast dreams are spoken in tongues (Gun), or a summer sunset is caught in cross-section (Landscape: still life with bug lamp).

Customer Reviews:

Most Impressive.......2001-12-21

Alex Keller's The Four Hundred Boys represents some of the very best sound artistry of the decade.

Each of the seven pieces is a distinctive composition with a unique and empyrean element of genius. The diversity of the techniques, instruments and technologies used, and the composer's mastery of them makes for engrossing, entertaining and intellectually-challenging listening.

It is overall a very impressive disc, and one I will be listening closely to for a long time.

Music: