Escape from the Head Cube is the music of Nathaniel Virgo (b. 1977), currently based in Brighton in the uk. It is produced by writing programs in SuperCollider running under linux, which produce sounds that are manipulated live using joysticks (currently the Saitek X52 Flight Control System). The laptop sits out of sight during the performance, eliminating the boundary between artist and audience that is so often caused by the presence of a computer screen and giving the performance a visual aspect that allows the audience to connect the actions of the performer with the resulting changes in sound. One trick that I use a lot is to cut a breakbeat into eight sections, then use an eight-way hat switch (intended for selecting a point of view in video games) to choose in realtime which section of the break to play.
The music itself is inspired by techno, noise and breakcore and tends to be loud, harsh and unpredictable.
The headcube.net website features a podcast of live recordings, which gets updated whenever I have time to do something new. They are more like jam sessions than finished traks – since at the moment my music is all about creating a live performance I make no effort to finish or master them, I just hit record, play something, then post it to the site.
These are taken from the podcast on headcube.net, and there may be more recent material there. They are not currently under a Creative Commons license but you should feel free to copy and share them anyway, subject to the terms on the site.
Beebadger 31/08/05
Fleasel 25/09/05
Godzillion (live at the Couch) 01/11/05
I feel like Sid Vicious 02/02/06 (feat. Bunty)