Ben Zimmerman – ‘My Mind is Fried, But What a Ride’

Brooklyn-based computer wizard Ben Zimmerman spent the decade between 1992 and 2002 crafting tunes on his computer — a Tandy — and its DeskMate operating environment. DeskMate was somewhat of a competitor to the first few versions of Windows or the Apple O/S, and in its third revision included a crude audio editing program and music software for playing back songs created using samples from the editor. Zimmerman crafted hundreds of tracks via this archaic platform, which were distilled earlier this year into The Baltika Years, a double LP that arrived via the Software imprint. Bolstered by the renewed interest in his work, Zimmerman has released not one but two EPs for Portugal’s EXO Tapes imprint. My Mind is Fried, But What a Ride, is the product of a more modern set of music-making tools. Opener “The Jungle” could have been released on Dan Snaith’s (Manitoba, Caribou) Start Breaking My Heart LP. Considerably more charged up are “Zurt” and “The Golden Age of the Electromagnetic Spectrum”, the latter of which has been pitch shifted to somewhat of a cartoonish effect. “No Strings” and “A Pyrrhic Victory” drop off into drone territory, the waves of sound crashing violently against each other. Unlike his Software release, My Mind is Fried and its companion tape have been released in ultra-limited quantities and this one is sold out at the source.

Check the usual distros or pick it up in digital form via the EXO Tapes Bandcamp and bake your brain with some sick beats.