Open Reel Ensemble’s Cyklepedia Spins Wikipedia Knowledge Into Magnetic Tape Music

Japanese musicians commemorated Wikipedia’s 25th anniversary with a unique composition made up entirely of Wikipedia entries. Open Reel Ensemble produced the song as part of a virtual birthday celebration, and it’s a true journey because it’s totally made up of ancient reel-to-reel equipment that also function as instruments. Every sound is produced by physically moving the tape over the heads, with no artificial samples added after the fact.

The video shows the trio jamming at a table surrounded by recorders. Snippets of Wikipedia material appear on screen, and the lads are completely freestyling their way through them; grab an entry on how a term is defined, and the machines come to life. One of them is rewinding quickly to fit the description, producing a wonderful smooth swooshing sound across the speakers. Another one goes into fast-forward mode whenever the text flashes by, raising the pitch and adding a little of edge to the beat.

Each one flows seamlessly into the next, and the overall effect just seems natural Pitch control slows down for deeper tones and speeds up for brighter ones. Loops take small pieces and repeat them to create these steady rhythms below, while vibrato puts in some wavey portions by slowly changing the pace. Tremolo reduces the loudness in these rapid little pulses, and when they scratch the tape edges, they make these sharp little snappy noises. Then there are the wow effects, which are simply natural wobbles that go up and down in the same rhythm as your breathing.

The layers just develop as the devices interact with one another; definition after definition for reel-to-reel recording, tension, cut-up technique, and even magnetic punk all appear on screen, activating their corresponding action. The music remains techno and dance-friendly throughout, but it is all anchored in the mechanical slapping and hissing of the tape. The moniker “Cyklepedia” refers to the entire cycle of information that repeats itself through these physical rotations. Masaru Yoshida composed the song, Haruka Yoshida was in charge of the camera and editing, and the entire group collaborated to bring the performance to life, with even Wikipedia getting in on the action, with the anniversary event playing a role.
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