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removed Category:Tuvan music using HotCat

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{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2020}}
{{Infobox album 
| name = Infinity
| type = studio
| artist = [[K-Space (band)|K-Space]]
| cover = K-Space AlbumCover Infinity.jpg
| released = {{Start date|2008|8}}
| recorded =
| genre = {{Flatlist|
*[[Electroacoustic improvisation]]
*[[Experimental music|experimental]]
*[[Overtone singing|throat singing]]
}}
| length = {{Duration|m=20|s=00}}
| label = Ad Hoc (US)
| producer = [[K-Space (band)|K-Space]], Andy Wilson
| prev_title = Going Up
| prev_year = 2004
| next_title = Black Sky
| next_year = 2013
}}

'''''Infinity''''' is the third album by [[United Kingdom|British]]-[[Siberia]]n [[experimental music|experimental]] music ensemble [[K-Space (band)|K-Space]]. It was released in the [[United States]] in August 2008 by Ad Hoc Records, an affiliate of [[Recommended Records]], and was a new type of [[Compact Disc|CD]] that is different every time it is played.<ref name=prlog>{{cite web |url=http://www.prlog.org/10110044-space-group-release-first-cd-that-plays-differently-every-time.html |title=K-SPACE group release first CD that plays differently every time |work=PRLog |access-date=26 January 2009}}</ref>{{sfn|Cavanagh|2008}}

"Infinity" will not work in a standard CD player and requires a computer to play it. Each time the CD is played, supplied software [[Audio mixing (recorded music)|remixes]] source material located on the disc and produces a new 20-minute musical piece.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.rerusa.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=7606&Category_Code= |title=K-Space: Infinity |work=RēR USA |access-date=26 January 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110715174710/http://www.rerusa.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=7606&Category_Code= |archive-date=15 July 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref> The CD cannot be paused or fast-forwarded, and there are no tracks to select. The only controls available are "PLAY" and "STOP".<ref name=prlog/>

The music produced by the CD is [[electroacoustic improvisation]] that is rooted in [[Tuva]]n [[Shamanism|shaman ritual]] music.

==Background==
{{main|K-Space (band)|l1=K-Space}}
K-Space was formed in 1996 after a series of study trips to [[Siberia]] by [[Scotland|Scottish]] percussionist [[Ken Hyder]] and [[England|English]] multi-instrumentalist [[Tim Hodgkinson]]. They were exploring the improvisational and musical aspects of [[shamanism]] when they met up with Gendos Chamzyryn, a [[Shamanism|shaman]] and musician from [[Tuva]]. Hyder, Hodgkinson and Chamzyryn formed K-Space to experiment with improvised music rooted in the [[Tuva]]n [[Shamanism|shamanic ritual]].

Their second album, ''Going Up'' (2004) was a [[sound collage]] of K-Space performances plus [[field recording]]s of shamanic rituals, manipulated and superimposed on one another. ''Infinity'' extended ''Going Up'''s production process and made it dynamic to produce a new [[Audio mixing (recorded music)|mix]] with each play.<ref name=prlog/>

==Technology==
The idea for the ''Infinity'' project began when [[Tim Hodgkinson]] started describing some of the implicit rules that [[K-Space (band)|K-Space]] use during their live [[musical improvisation|improvisations]]. It occurred to him that these rules could be embedded in software that would produce interesting variations on the original process. Hodgkinson discussed his ideas with Andy Wilson ([[pseudonyms|aka]] The Grand Erector<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.discogs.com/artist/Andy+Wilson+(5)|title=Andy Wilson|work=Discogs|access-date=30 January 2009}}</ref>), a [[software design]]er and [[webmaster]] of German [[krautrock]] band [[Faust (band)|Faust]]'s website, ''The Faust Pages''.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.faustpages.com |title=The Faust Pages |access-date=26 January 2009 }}{{Dead link|date=January 2020 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> They investigated ways to select sound files within different contexts and to use them in different ways to produce a new stream of music with each play. Wilson then set about developing "metacompositional" software that compiles and sequences deconstructed fragments of sound files. These sound sources were provided by K-Space and include [[field recording]]s, [[Overtone singing|throat singing]], various percussion, string and reed instruments. The number of audio files available were restricted by the size limitations of the CD format, but when combined and permutated, they would create an apparently infinite number of different "compositions", and hence the album title ''Infinity''.

The audio files are categorized into a number of groups, including acoustic, live, solo, environmental and loops. A single audio file can be used in many different ways by varying, for example, [[Dynamics (music)|dynamic levels]], volume and duration of play. For a particular piece, for example, the software might select any two of seven acoustic files and play them together for ''x'' seconds, adding one of four environmental files after ''y'' seconds.

The sound source selection process the software uses is not random, but [[algorithm]]ic based on [[Sheet music|scores]] Hodgkinson wrote for the project. Each time "PLAY" is pressed, the software selects a new score which it uses to construct a new piece of music. The score consists of a set of audio file selection criteria, which vary depending on what has happened before. While there are a finite number of scores on the CD, there are many different ''interpretations'' of each score.

Each play lasts about 20 minutes, a time span which was chosen with the [[Shamanism|shamans]] of [[Tuva]] in mind, and how each of their rituals produces a different journey. The 20-minute period of intense music was also chosen to deviate from the standard music CD playing times, albeit an "infinite" number of different 20-minute plays.<ref name=linernotes>''Infinity'' CD liner notes.</ref>

In October 2008 the software developed for this project was made available to anyone interested in working with it.<ref name=linernotes/> Wilson also prepared a continuous play version of ''Infinity'' for the K-Space exhibition in the [[Stuttgart]] Ethnographic Museum.

==Reception==
John Cavanagh of [[The Herald (Glasgow)|The Herald]] in [[Glasgow]] said in a review of the album that even though he knew each listening was the result of a "computer triggered sequence", it always sounded like a "cohesive musical work, as though it was meant to be that way".{{sfn|Cavanagh|2008}}

==Requirements==
"Infinity" must be played on a [[Microsoft Windows|Windows PC]] or an [[Macintosh|Apple Mac]] computer. The computer software required to play the music is included on the CD. The computer must have a CD drive, a 200 MHz or greater processor, at least 1.5Gb of RAM, and a sound card or stereo interface.<ref name=linernotes/>

==Track listing==
{{tracklist
| title_width = 10em
| writing_width = 20em
| title1 = Infinity
| writer1 = [[Tim Hodgkinson]], [[Ken Hyder]]
| length1 = 20:00
}}

==Personnel==
===K-Space===
*[[Ken Hyder]] – percussion, drum kit, dungur, voice, [[ektara]], bass ektara, sound manipulation
*[[Tim Hodgkinson]] – lap steel guitar, clarinet, bass clarinet, klarnet, alto saxophone, voice, dungur, percussion, [[ocarina]], sound manipulation
*Gendos Chamzyryn – voice, dungur, percussion, dopshuluur, [[chadagan]], cello, khomous, ocarina

===Software development===
*Andy Wilson – programming, technical assistance, oversight

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Works cited==
*{{Cite news |last=Cavanagh |first=John |title=Infinity |newspaper=[[The Herald (Glasgow)|The Herald]] |date=7 September 2008 |issn=0965-9439}}. 

==External links==
*{{AllMusic|class=album|id=r1441718|label=Infinity}}.

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:2008 albums]]
[[Category:Free improvisation albums]]
[[Category:Tuvan throat singing]]

Infinity (K-Space album) - Revision history

imported>Starcheerspeaksnewslostwars: removed Category:Tuvan music using HotCat