{"title":"Rich Aucoin","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eRich Aucoin is a Canadian indie rock musician, based in Halifax, Nova Scotia. He performs and records both as a solo artist and as a collaborator and guest musician in Hylozoists.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWith his roots in the vibrant music scene of Halifax, Rich Aucoin has established himself as an influential figure in the indie rock genre. Known for his captivating live performances, he combines catchy melodies with thought-provoking lyrics to create music that resonates with audiences worldwide.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAs the younger brother of Paul Aucoin of Hylozoists, Rich's musical talent runs in the family. His collaborations with other artists have further showcased his versatility and creativity. Whether performing solo or alongside fellow musicians, Rich Aucoin continues to push boundaries and captivate listeners with his unique sound.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"synthetic-season-2-2","title":"Synthetic Season 2","description":"\u003cp\u003eOn Synthetic: Season 2, Halifax pop artist and composer Rich Aucoin continues his journey through the history of synthesizers.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e   The second entry in his quadruple LP series once again features an armada of the world's most rare, historic, and highly sought after electronic instruments. Gaining access to the collections of Calgary's National Music Centre and LA's Vintage Synthesizer Museum, Aucoin ran amok on machines to create four albums of thrilling, transporting instrumental music.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e    Each song on Synthetic: Season 2 conjures a world of its own, combining Aucoin's melodic sensibilities with textural, genre-agnostic experimentation. The album swerves into action with the wiggling synths and thunderous drum breaks of \"Wav\" - recorded on the Hammond Novachord from 1939 and considered the very first analog, fully polyphonic synthesizer - stacking hooks like a cinematic training montage as it climbs toward the first of many transcendent conclusions. \"Shift\" changes course into eerie, frostbitten industrial territory with rubbery beats that bounce like pogo sticks, switching tempos unexpectedly and dissolving into skittering arrays of sound. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e    The squelching groove of \"Pure\" brings a touch of '90s French House, like Daft Punk jet-setting around the world. Six minutes pass in a flash during this playful brain-dance. \"Space\" is a thumping banger built upon chiming, subaquatic beats that slice through thick drones and filter disco drops. Its passages of extraterrestrial techno tranquility will make you feel like an astronaut floating in the inky void, making shapes in zero gravity.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e    - Jesse Locke\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"We Are Busy Bodies","offers":[{"title":"LP","offer_id":50466426814795,"sku":"2021660","price":34.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/test_eb26cda9_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1727312891"},{"product_id":"synthetic-season-3","title":"Synthetic: Season 3","description":"\u003cp\u003eCan machines sing? With his Synthetic album cycle, Rich Aucoin answers that question with a resounding, exuberant \"yes.\" The four-part project sweeps listeners through a gallery tour of synthesis history, giving voice to a chorus of specimens from the past century of electronic sound. On Season 3, Aucoin deepens his dive into the variegated genealogy of dance music, charting a joyful course through the many flavors of rave euphoria.\n\nFrom March 2020 through February 2024, Aucoin recorded Synthetic: Season 3 during a series of visits to the National Music Centre in Calgary and the Vintage Synthesizer Museum in Los Angeles. Among these collections, he found historic synthesizers ranging from the ubiquitous to the esoteric, each with its own voice just waiting to be jolted to life. During these sessions, Aucoin took the opportunity to air out some of synth history's most iconic instruments. \n\nFrom the mass-produced to the bespoke, each synthesizer on Synthetic: Season 3 sends a transmission from its makers' own historical vision of the future. The instruments' tactile interfaces -- from fields of patch jacks to 50-year-old optical discs to rows and rows of voltage dials -- all lend embodied dimension to the practice of shaping sound from raw electricity. Each of them carries a story about what might have tumbled into being from the moment of their creation. In awakening these machines, Aucoin cross-pollinates a choir of futures into an ecstatic, reverential present.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"We Are Busy Bodies","offers":[{"title":"Black LP","offer_id":50476471255371,"sku":"2224773","price":32.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/test_5c016a92_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1727459981"},{"product_id":"synthetic-4-sd","title":"Synthetic 4","description":"\u003cp\u003eOver these four releases recorded during a series of visits to the National Music Centre in Calgary and Vintage Synthesizer Museum in Los Angeles from 2020 to 2025, Aucoin has trawled the depths of sonic history to demonstrate the incredible range and depth of what a synthesizer is and what it can be, and the tremendous, malleable impact its presence has had on musical construction, sound and song.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eSeasons 1 through 3 saw famous synths such as Moogs, Rolands and ARPs take the stage, but Season 4 sees Aucoin digging even deeper with inclusions of the rare Buchla 200a Electric Music Box, the E-mu Modular System, an Ondes Martenot and especially the McLeyvier, the latter of which has never before been used in recorded music and of which only a handful exist.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eA record featuring the history of synths is also one that reflects upon the history of modern pop and dance music itself–in addition to Air and Moby throughout we hear the echoes and tones of French filter (Daft Punk, Justice and Jean-Michel Jarre on “Chroma”); the IDM heroes of Warp\/Rephlex (Squarepusher on “E-Mu Pt II” and Plaid on “Ondes”, among others); to the late 70s yellow Italo-horror film soundtracks of Goblin (“Giallo”). Throughout we hear homages to these artists and the role they played in using synths to bring musical dreams to life, and yet also, Aucoin manages to simply deliver an enjoyable and fun record to throw on while going for a drive or dancing in the moonlight. What could simply be a technical thought exercise is instead a labor of love, for the output is not just sounds but music, sweet, sweet music.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"We Are Busy Bodies","offers":[{"title":"LP - Black","offer_id":53397988147531,"sku":"R2652-7228","price":29.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/201375066680.jpg?v=1758045359"}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/collections\/test_76e591d5_thumbnail_4096_368a8f87-9432-46ef-9749-dcc56c4a57b6.jpg?v=1727312873","url":"https:\/\/shop.roughtrade.com\/collections\/rich-aucoin.oembed","provider":"Rough Trade","version":"1.0","type":"link"}