What’s a band to do if they don’t have the right musical instrument? If you’re LA electro-chamber-pop band Fol Chen, you invent one like the the Tetrafol. Seems your time has come, piano.
Created by the band, designers Monome, and Echo Park arts space Machine Project, the Tetrafol is a “hand-held tangible electronic sound toy” comprised of circuits that are enclosed in a wooden tetrahedron that detect “orientation and motion-gestures to modify the playback of a collection of Fol Chen’s micro-compositions.” So, you need at least an 11th grade education to use it.
The band has released a song created with the Tetrafol entitled “Back on Kent”. Perhaps only the most devout of audiophiles can hear the Tetrafol’s influence, but the track is still a jagged bit of pop and funk and reggae, with lots of harsh shifts and bleeps and bloops. The last two minutes in particular are an uneasy and alluring trip through the Tetrafol-shaped landscape. Check it out below.
To see the Tetrafol in action, check out the video below. Then, head here to order your own unit. “Back on Kent” comes preloaded in each box, so go nuts remixing it on your own.
