The Beautiful Machine

Newcastle based synth-pop duo The Beautiful Machine are described on their MySpace page as: ‘A band who make unashamedly accessible, pop music reminiscent of the decade of decadence, when the walkman reined and there was no such thing as society’.

I met up with singer and lyricist Quey Craddock to discuss this description further and also her approach to songwriting.   After sipping some coffee our conversation began to focus on the differences in music distribution and reception between the late 80’s walkman generation and the present day mp3 generation.  This discussion was promoted when I began asking whether The Beautiful Machine composed and performed ‘80’s sounding’ music for purely nostalgic reasons or whether Quey felt that the band were somehow critiquing the current popular music scene.   

Quey replied that for her something had definitely been lost in the transition from walkman to mp3 although at first she couldn’t quite place her fingers on what.  She began to describe how certain bands would appeal, not only through their musicality but also through the presentation of their Cassette Albums, the album art, and the printed lyric sheets.  Quey reminded me of when I was teenager, when I would receive one CD album every Christmas and listen to it over and over again until it became too scratched to play.  As my own reception of music shifted from CD to MP3 for me the biggest transition was the shift from the physical to the intangible, the intimate to the distant.  Maybe Quey found it difficult to place a finger on what had been lost because it could be argued that it is the sense of touch itself that has been removed from the digital music product.   

Prince shared his concerns with these recent changes in music distribution with the release of his latest album 20Ten.  He chose to give away a CD version away with The Daily Mirror newspaper and decided to block digital distribution websites from selling his music on the internet.  He stated that “The Internet is completely over. I don’t see why I should give my new music to iTunes or anyone else. They won’t pay me an advance for it and then they get angry when they can’t get it.”  Although Prince’s melodramatic comments could be viewed as a mere publicity stunt the above quotation also exemplifies a musician who is attempting to re-establish a sense of control over the output of his material.  At first I viewed Prince’s remarks as overly extreme, especially as he failed to mention how The Internet has benefited so many musicians who haven’t been fortunate enough to find major label backing.  His CD only release of 20Ten could also be viewed as an attempt to re-establish an intimacy with his fans via a physical rather than a digital format release. 

Quey told me how playing 80’s sounding music in 2010 was in some way a similar attempt to reconnect with childhood times in which she felt a stronger emotional union with bands.  She told me of how she would record her favourite bands on Top Of The Pops and watch the same video clips over and over again. 

In The Beautiful Machine she is accompanied by multi-instrumentalist Guy Mankowski who encapsulates the Newmanesque sound of Quey’s youth with punchy analogue synths and fast paced bass lines.  Quey’s vocals add catchiness and quirkiness to the popular sound, her lyrics often musing over the fast paced nature of 21^st century life.  In The song ‘Loneliness of the long distance commuter’ her words bring to mind a train carriage packed with anonymous passengers all busy on laptops and iPods.  A whole world of wireless entertainment at their fingertips yet they all feel very much alone.   

                          (The Beautiful Machine Left to Right, Quey Craddock, Guy Mankowski)

As we continued chatting Quey told me of a strange incident in which a workman came to fit a new cooker in her flat.  They shared a few words of small talk and then he left.  The next day Quey went online to find that the man had friend requested her on Facebook. The story that she told me summed up how the internet has made it possible to access endless amounts of information, people and music at the touch of a button but that in some ways it has promoted a greater deal of consumption for consumptions sake.  The workman would never have dared send a letter to Quey’s address asking for them to become friends.  Even if they passed in the street they more than likely only share a passing Hello before going off into separate directions.  Yet on the internet this random man wanted to add Quey as a means of increasing his friend count, to showcase an illusionary popularity.  The Internet has made Huxley’s Brave New World possible.  It is a hyperreal space in which ‘Everyone belongs to everyone else’.  

When one views the World Wide Web from this perspective it is easy to understand Prince’s CD only release.      

When I first read The Beautiful Machines description of their music on MySpace I thought i might criticise their decision to make such unashamedly 80’s music.   My discussion with Quey however, reminded me that bands like The Beautiful Machine play an important role in the present day music community.  They remind the listener of times in which the walkman reined.  When a change of track didn’t result instantaneously via the click of a mouse but instead after a tedious process of fast-forward and rewind. 

Have a listen to their songs at: http://www.myspace.com/thebeautifulmachinemusic


PUBLISHED FOR NEWCASTLE MUSIC CHRONICLES ISSUE 2 
http://newcastlemusicchronicles.wordpress.com/