Ralph's been a long-time fan of Feral Five, especially as they performed at his Proud Camden launch for the Ralph's Life CD for mental health charity Rethink. So it's with great pleasure that I can bring you news of a shiny new single from the London electro duo.Rule 9 is a unique collaboration betweenFeral Fiveand Francis Bitonti, the world's leading designer working in 3D printing and future materials – it’s electronic #datapop.
The kicking catwalk dance track takes you inside the sonic world of 3D printing, using Bitonti’s sound files made from the Rule 9 algorithms he uses to generate materials and geometric forms at his design studio.
Feral Fivedeveloped the mechanised yet organic production-line feel from the sonic generative geometry, and created new Rule 9s too - using nine different languages for the vocals, including Icelandic, Mandarin and Russian, and sculpting with synths and beats.
“This collaboration speaks to the nature of digital work, it’s all data,” says Bitonti.
New York-based Bitonti is the design visionary behind the legendary Dita Von Teese 3D printed gown, andFeral Fivehave worked in 3D too, with a song about 3D printing humans, featuring 3D printing samples and artwork. Admiring each others’ work, they met in London and hatched a collaboration plan.As Francis builds future design worlds and new material languages with computation,Feral Fivework within that same universe to create new sound worlds, with echoes of construction, and the background radiation of the 3D cultural ‘big bang’.
Francis says, “Music or a chair we can map those patterns onto sound waves or materials. This collaboration highlights how digital technologies are flattening these creative disciplines.”Feral Fivesay, "Francis’s sounds are striking, beautiful and hypnotic, and the sound waves like no music we have ever seen."
