Would this be better described as music made from midi-controlled (mechanical) instruments?
Very neat, however the title lead me to believe the robots had the creative control of the notes and construction of the song. Still very entertaining none the less.
The article makes it seem way more automated than it is. In that sense this is one of a handful of folks doing this and a really exciting time for avant garde music in my opinion. It's increasingly popular in the industrial music genre.
There's a long history of this arguably starting with Kraftwerk and spanning genres including some of the amazing things bjork has made.
On my constant playlist is author and punisher who is an engineer by day and makes his instruments from scratch:
Well Pat Metheny has been doing similar things, building "sonic machines" for years. He also brings them on stage at least since the "Orchestrion" album.
This is a good reference. I love that you guys mentioned Metheny and Tom Jenkinson, these are two of my biggest influences and favorite musicians.
Have you seen what Lars Dietrich does with 'Lucy'? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzW6IbggtY8
Animusic: CG animations of fantastic machines playing music. The animation is parameterized to the MIDI input. Attempts to build real-world working models of these machines or machines like them have been made, with varying levels of success: https://youtu.be/hyCIpKAIFyo
Compressorhead: An all-robot heavy metal band. Famous for Stickboy, the band's four-armed, headbanging drummer, or at least Stickboy is what I remember most about the band. https://youtu.be/j4UZh2FjEQw
hurrumph. getting old.
edit: the sound is good, definitely a Kraftwerk vibe.
For a heavier sound involving robots, try Author & Punisher: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PrOTHl6Tldc