Added on Tue 8 Jan 2008
Steam Machine
Steam Machine is exactly the machine I’m living in right now. It’s hot here! and we’ve run out of milk so I’m giving ice cream a go in my tea? Ok here’s the trick - lot’s of sugar. Oool little white lumps come to the top, pure fat I guess, I can’t recommend it…
A live version of the song with another one is on their myspace website here… but it doesn’t have much of the album version in it, hardly any truth be told. A good listen just the same.
Now quick while the song is playing. It’s basically a pinball machine sound track, sinister in sound. Grungy and dirty like the rest, the only smooth thing in it is ‘Steeeaam Machinnnne’ that is breathing out steam all over the rest of the grungy pinball machine beats. If I was photographing it in stead of picture making it, I would have definitely taken a photo of an old pin ball machine surrounded in dry ice and darkness beyond.
It’s repetitive and sort of simplistic made me think of industry stuffing up the skies with steam. Well at least as far as you often see pollution causing cooling towers being blamed for screwing with the environment. (Hey TV people, point the cameras at the tall thin stacks, not the low fat ones, but anyway.)
click to make bigger
Out of all that I did this? Now I can’t remember exactly how the picture relates? The steam machine is there at the bottom and it is pumping it out, sort of dirty steam all over the back. Ahh I remember, I also thought I couldn’t miss a train reference and the black bars are sort of tracks. But also they do well to bring in the heaviness of the sound visually. Overall, the picture is repetitive beats and marks under which the murky steam swirls below.
So that’s track 4 on the album Human After All by Daft Punk.
Click on the thumbnail to see a full size version and head over to eBay to buy it if you want… here. (Ok it sold for a dollar too! - I’ve got to start listing these as starting a $3 to cover my listing fees)
More on the way!