Machines Are People Too

Here is a short video documentary of local pop group Machines Are People Too. Created by Graham Uhelski, this slightly meandering 12-minute interview/soundbite gives insight to the band’s background, and what they hope to accomplish in the future. (More after the jump.)

Machines Are People Too’s lead singer Brian Sylvester is also behind a local record label called Memetic Society that is soon to release a compilation entitled Tennesthesia. Featuring local artists such as MRP2, Forest Magic, Moonlight Bride and The Distribution, Tennesthesia‘s goal is stated as this on the Memetic Society website:

We want to experience music as an innate, preternatural reflex to its own reticulating nervous system, where Tennessee’s own topography is transmuted waveform. Our hope is that Tennesthesia is catching, that the sounds of our fair state continue to invigorate the minds of those they reach, and that eventually metaphor will be moot next to the transformative sound of this fair state.

Related: MRP2 smokes indoors and has an excellent drummer - chattarati

Click link for video - Nao is Now - Music Media Blog

Probably the coolest group of guys to come to the Star Bar hail out of Chattanooga and are called Machines Are People Too. Off the bat, from listening to their music on their MySpace page, the closest sounding band that comes to mind is Radiohead because of the ruggedly soft voice of the lead singer. However, MRP2 have a wider array of musicianship, having elements of chill music and dance music. Plus, they have a catchy tune that Radiohead doesn't carry, and a tune that will get the crowd rocking. With a saxophonist, drummer, a couple of keyboardists and a beat maker, these guys are an act that no one should miss.
- Examiner Atlanta

Click link for video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNyR0f0xBTg&feature=related - LimeLight Nashville

Click link for video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKxloyIHMPM&feature=related - StarBar

Freaks Live at StarBar (Click Link) - StarBar

Click link for video - 4th Ward Heroes

The audience was entertained by acts such as:

Opportunities
Machines Are People Too
The Woes (Brooklyn, NY)
- The Loop - UTC

Last weekend I tried — unsuccessfully — to step outside my comfort zone at the Pajama Jami-Jam Dance Party at 412 Market.

As the name suggests, sleepwear was the recommended attire for the Jami-Jam, hosted by GhostPlayer, the guys who put on last year’s Sexy Christmas Party and Zombies: a Dance Party.

To some, dancing in your jammies probably sounds like a lot of fun, but I can’t dance without injuring those around me, and I have no sleepwear to speak of (my negligee was out for retailoring).

Nevertheless, I’ve been in the world of rock and folk music too long. I was determined to expand my horizons, even if I ended up looking foolish.

When I arrived, I took my place in the snow at the rear of a long line of shivering, scantily clad girls and guys wearing boxers or pants made of thin, printed fabric. Several bursts of frigid wind later, I stopped regretting wearing jeans.

Once I found my way inside, however, I discovered about half the audience also had declined to follow the dress code. So much for that source of friction.

The audience was split between those dressed as if for any other show and those whose interpretation of pajamas was “almost nothing” — or in the case of comedian/emcee Joel Ruiz, a Cupid outfit straight out of a twisted Hanes commercial.

The room that held this menagerie was surprisingly large. I’d always imagined 412 Market (aka Club Fathom or Mosaic, depending on whom you ask) to be a much smaller venue, but even with several hundred people at the Jami-Jam, there was plenty of breathing room.

While lasers seared my retinas and I tripped the light fantastic to the music of DJs Ghostplayer, Flashmob, Machines R People 2, Flannel Boy, Wannabe, Bassel and Lights and Sounds, I realized my other concern — my inability to dance — was also unfounded.

Apparently, dancing, in a traditional sense, isn’t mandatory at raves.

Based on my Jami-Jam research, there are three acceptable ways to move to trance/house music: moshing, glowsticking (weaving patterns with LED lights on the end of strings) and standing around looking superior and disinterested. I choose option No. 3.

Despite my best efforts to step out of my element, I ended up having a blast and felt right at home.

Still, isn’t a failed attempt better than none at all?
- Chattanooga Times Free Press

Last weekend I tried — unsuccessfully — to step outside my comfort zone at the Pajama Jami-Jam Dance Party at 412 Market.

As the name suggests, sleepwear was the recommended attire for the Jami-Jam, hosted by GhostPlayer, the guys who put on last year’s Sexy Christmas Party and Zombies: a Dance Party.

To some, dancing in your jammies probably sounds like a lot of fun, but I can’t dance without injuring those around me, and I have no sleepwear to speak of (my negligee was out for retailoring).

Nevertheless, I’ve been in the world of rock and folk music too long. I was determined to expand my horizons, even if I ended up looking foolish.

When I arrived, I took my place in the snow at the rear of a long line of shivering, scantily clad girls and guys wearing boxers or pants made of thin, printed fabric. Several bursts of frigid wind later, I stopped regretting wearing jeans.

Once I found my way inside, however, I discovered about half the audience also had declined to follow the dress code. So much for that source of friction.

The audience was split between those dressed as if for any other show and those whose interpretation of pajamas was “almost nothing” — or in the case of comedian/emcee Joel Ruiz, a Cupid outfit straight out of a twisted Hanes commercial.

The room that held this menagerie was surprisingly large. I’d always imagined 412 Market (aka Club Fathom or Mosaic, depending on whom you ask) to be a much smaller venue, but even with several hundred people at the Jami-Jam, there was plenty of breathing room.

While lasers seared my retinas and I tripped the light fantastic to the music of DJs Ghostplayer, Flashmob, Machines R People 2, Flannel Boy, Wannabe, Bassel and Lights and Sounds, I realized my other concern — my inability to dance — was also unfounded.

Apparently, dancing, in a traditional sense, isn’t mandatory at raves.

Based on my Jami-Jam research, there are three acceptable ways to move to trance/house music: moshing, glowsticking (weaving patterns with LED lights on the end of strings) and standing around looking superior and disinterested. I choose option No. 3.

Despite my best efforts to step out of my element, I ended up having a blast and felt right at home.

Still, isn’t a failed attempt better than none at all?
- Chattanooga Times Free Press