nutshell
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robotcowboy (sic) is a one-man band musical project using custom hardware and software running on a wearable computer. It is an attempt to meld rock with realtime algorithmic composition tools into a dynamic live show. A MIDI guitar, crazy control devices, various masks, and synchronized visuals make for a new new wave experience. Dan Wilcox info[at]robotcowboy[dot]com H: 256 858 9952 |
what people are saying
He was a completely self-contained one-man band, who played and triggered all of his music utilizing methods I had never encountered. … The songs were very structured and melodic, in a complex yet simple listening sense. His name, “robotcowboy”, really fit the type of music he was playing. … I truly felt I was witnessing “The Future”. Wow.
--- Christopher Miller, of Electronic Sub South, in a review of a tour show in Gainesville, FL 1/23/08
music
selections from the suboptimal summer tour cd (Jun-Jul 09)
07__6-21-2009_15-58-27_HoldMeGently_v2
10__6-26-2009_19-4-4_BallOfLove
selections from the consoles afire tour cd 2 (Jan-Feb 07)
3__2-25-2008_20-29-41_MartianPlain
5__2-28-2008_21-2-4_Velocipede
7__2-27-2008_19-25-40_MyLungsWereAchingForYou
The sound is meant to be gritty, noisey, and melodic. Unlike the cold precision of most electronic music, care has been taken to incorporate the frailty of the live human performer. Live musicians make mistakes and this fact adds an element of excitement to the music and robotcowboy songs are constructed using parts generated in realtime as the performer plays.
pictures
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bio/motivations
Dan Wilcox is a computer engineer by trade and a musician by heart. He has been playing in bands for over 6 years, most notably the Surf-DEVO 7inchWave. Computer software and electronics are becoming his musical tools of choice nowadays. He is influenced by DEVO, The Residents, Sun Ra, Raymond Scott, and others. He enjoys old Sci-Fi including the 1950's radio show, X-1.
robotcowboy is his Master's thesis in Art & Technology at Chalmers in Göteborg, Sweden. Coming from his punk and rock roots in America, Dan's Swedish studies opened him towards the avant garde noise and experimental music in Göteborg. This expanding of horizons led him to develop the idea of a dynamic, computer-based one-man band rock show. robotcowboy is his stab towards the future as well as a critique of laptop dj/vj sets and live computer sound. In the world of robotcowboy, the man and machine are merged into an imperfect cyborg entity, the sweat and feeling of man and the cold logic of machine.
notable shows
- performed during the Ars Electronica Festival 09 using the Ars Electronica building led facade, Linz, AT Sep 09
- peformed and presented at the New Media Meeting, Norrköping, SE May 09
- Altavoz Electronic Music Festival, Venice, IT May 09
- STRP Media Art Festival, Eindhoven, NL Apr 09
- STEIM Micro Music Jamboree 2, Amsterdam, NL Dec 08
- Signal+Noise 08 Festival in Vancouver, CA Apr 08
- Consoles Afire Tour 08, a nearly 2 month tour of the United States Jan-Feb 08
- artistic residencey at the Studio for Electro Instrumental Music (STEIM) in Amsterdam, NL Oct 07
- Pure Data Conference 07 in Montreal, CA Aug 07
- Norberg Electronic Musical Festival in Norberg, SE July 07
- performed at the Cabaret Voltaire, Digital Art Weeks 07 Festival in Zurich, CH July 07
robotcowboy also has two signature mixed drinks!
rc urban 
rc rural
gear
The robotcowboy consists of a wearable computer system and custom hardware and software. The machine itself is a commercial industrial wearable computer running the GNU/Linux Ubuntu operating system. All audio processing and generation is performed in Pure Data, a graphical multimedia programming language. Data from my MIDI guitar, gamepad, and wrist keyboard are routed to Pure Data by custom software. The visual program running on the robotcowboy helmet is a simple, custom sprite engine. The robotcowboy helmet and led mask are both handmade.