Inspired by some of the more awesome forces of nature, Cloud to Ground, the Minibus Pimps’ first album, is due out in March 2014. Â To quote Luis Fernandez’s preview in Crazy Friday:
‘Black Aurora’ is an electronic suite in four movements, pulsing and hovering like some collapsing dark star. The title track is a monstrous duet for icicles and cathedral organ, and the other pieces are masses of sound and noise explored in different densities.
The secret of Minibus Pimps’ colossal sonic gas giants is their use of the Kyma computer system (created by Symbolic Sound). Instruments such as guitar, bass and violin are fed into the system and radically transformed by self-designed digital instruments and processors until their sources are barely recognisable. This method continues John Paul Jones’s experiments with computer music which began as far back as the late 70s.
Cloud to Ground is seven tracks performed live by the Minibus Pimps duo — John Paul Jones and Helge Sten — at various venues in London, Norway, and Denmark and news of the debut album was featured in The Guardian newspaper.