"The Complicated Bicycle" is a 24-page screen printed book accompanied by an 8-song CD. Released by the Hometapes label in 2005, this project marked the culmination of my experiments in art and music from 2002-2004. Having just moved to Chicago from Murfreesboro, Tennessee, I was processing tons of new input fragmented urban sound scapes, bold city shapes, and an amazingly vibrant art and music community. Working out of The Bird Machine, I was surrounded by a truly fantastic group of artists; Jay Ryan, Mat Daly, Dan Sinker, Dan Grzeca, and Nadine Nakanishi. The amount of creative actively going on here completely blew me away. I had never been around such hard working artists before… The energy was amazing…and the environment proved to be a perfect place for big ideas.
I had been making pictures and music for as long as I can remember, but never really thought to combine them. This all changed when I got to Chicago. The images I was making at this time were influence by my recent move. Physically processing these images became part of their creation. Crudely drawn airplanes, bicycles, and houses where pushed through countless photocopiers. Copies were cut up, rearranged, and copied again, creating unplanned structures and line work that pushed the pictures into a completely new realm. The culmination of these experiments would become the foundation for the book portion of "The Complicated Bicycle."
When I wasn’t at The Bird Machine, I was at home recording music. Writing songs had never come easy to me, but for the first time I was discovering ways around my limitations. Influenced by the amazing music I was hearing in the city, mostly free jazz and improvised music, I was discovering a something totally new to me, a music that relied just as heavily on intuition as musical prowess. I was hooked. Rough improvisations were pecked out on dying keyboards, air organ, and guitar. These automatic compositions were captured on cassette tape loops and primitive samplers, forming hazy accidental structures. It sounds weird, but it was almost as if the music already existed somewhere in the machines. I just had to find it.
With the support of Sara and Adam from Hometapes, I was able to merge these experiments into something tangible. "The Complicated Bicycle" a 24-page hand-bound screen printed book with an accompanying 8-song CD . It was printed in an edition of 500 and has enjoyed a slow and steady reception since its release in 2005. The year 2010 marks five years since its release, and, to celebrate, Hometapes will be issuing a limited number of "The Complicated Bicycle Anniversary Edition." This special edition will include a bonus disc entitled “Automatic Music," featuring 45 minutes of unreleased songs, sketches, textural experiments and source material from "The Complicated Bicycle" and "Bee Removal" recording sessions, and a screen print culled from the "The Complicated Bicycle" days. The anniversary edition is limited to the 183 remaining copies of the original release.
-Nick Butcher
