Fistful of Buddha is also yet another articulation in the continued evolution of the original Buddha Machine, which in its fourth-generation edition features loops extracted from this album.
Co-creator (with FM3 partner Zhang Jian) of the instantly legendary Buddha Machine, Nebraska-born China hand Christiaan Virant has created a moody suite of chamber tunes that, like he, is neither east nor west but bursting with structures and intimations from both.
As a bold departure from the nine tinny drones of the little battery-powered plastic box named for the icon of bliss, as well as the pellucid ambient of FM3, Virant has composed nine strongly narrative, dramatic miniatures. The title of course immediately recalls Morricone’s classic spaghetti Western soundtracks, the music blatantly so midway through, with the tumbleweeding “Metropolis Waltz.” The cello of Benjamin Pates graciously darkens the corners of Virant’s lightly-decorated electronics on “River Pearl” and sweeps above the more ponderous “Do Better,” though strings—sampled from Pates or synthesized?—echo throughout an otherwise strictly solo album.
Fistful of Buddha is also yet another articulation in the continued evolution of the original Buddha Machine, which in its fourth-generation edition features loops extracted from this album.
Fistful of Buddha is available on CVMK.
