The Smiling Buddhas

The Smiling Buddhas: 1996 - still pretty active

The Smiling Buddhas

Pictures - Audio - Liverecordings

base records proudly presents:
THE SMILING BUDDHAS "Atacama" - base shop

A musical journey through the beautiful Atacama desert in Chile & Peru.

"Atacama" starts with "Walking Through The Desert Near Palpa (Hitched a ride in a battered collectivo in the end)". The piece starts with very high frequencies (out of a Roland JD-800) to finish with a rolling beat. First heat, too much sun, aching legs, thirst but at the end I've got a nice ride in a collectivo (taxi) watching the landscape passing by. "On The Moon On Earth (Valle de La Luna)“ points out the cosmological spirit of the ancient dwellers. "Ghost Towns On The Coast Of Guanera" is a hymn to the ocean, the wind, the albatros but brings us also in mind that the richness of a region through guano is history. "Flying On A Bus (Night Bus from Tacna to Nasca)" is the final tune of the travelogue. We never felt as close to death as on this crazy bus ride from Tacna to Nasca.

tags: Atacama, Peru, Chile, travelogue, ambient, IDM, techno, arid lands, Nasca, ghosts towns, ...

Buy a copy of "Atacama" (7 tracks, CD in a special package) at base shop (best buy Europe) or via CD Baby (best buy USA, Japan, ...)

Article by the Austrian writer Didi Neidhart (thats why it is in German).

Im weitesten Sinne zwischen Ambient, Illbient und gemorphten Breakbeatkonstruktionen bewegt sich dieses "digitale freejam-sideproject" von der "in love with Hong Kong Trash"-Fraktion des allseits bekannten und geschätzten Electronic-Disco-Trios Wipeout. Die um "Oberbuddha" Hun Fa-Di (synths, samples, electronics) versammelten Smiling Buddhas (diesmal mit Bruce Li, früher mit Wipeout's guitar-electronic-modulator "Di-Di Mow" oder John Fitzpatrick) produzieren live virtuelle Hong Kong-Techno-Phantasmen zwischen "Samurai-Zen", digitaler Spielzeugsucht, Cyberspace-Irrfahrten und transzendierenden Systemabstürzen, die unterschiedliche Electronica-Genres scheinbar schwerelos herumoszillieren und ineinander übergehen lassen. "Wurmlochelectronic" als abenteuerlicher Spacetrip durch die digitalen Hyperräume electronischer Musik.

The Smiling Buddhas at MySpace

Listen to some Smiling Buddhas liverecordings here!

Discography - Compilations:
"Atacama" (base 2012)
"Lo" (base 2008)
"Picknick mit Hermann" (Rhiz 1997)
"3rd base" (base 1997)
"3rd base > sacrifice" (base 1998)
Remix:
"We Don't Even Pay" Wipeout (CCP 1996)