About Relatum

Igloo Magazine, Pietro Da Sacco

Relatum features two compositions revolving around the relationship and interplay between the human and the algorithmic, bringing together musicians and artificial performers.

MA(N|CHINE) with HIIIT (formerly know as Slagwerk Den Haag) is a composition for seven performers: four of flesh and blood and three of aluminium and copper wire. Through its three movements various interconnections between the players are explored. In the first movement an algorithmic system of electronics takes centre stage, devoid of any human intervention. Engagement by human performers with the electronic system and manipulation thereof by physically interacting with the bass drums and imitating the machine patterns, is brought to the fore in the second part. Movement three starts with a total synchronisation of all performers. This ‘sync’ shifts between an array of variations and relations, slowly evolving from ‘sync’ to ‘freedom’, allowing human performers more improvisational space while the machines assume a supportive role.

From Voice to Pulse shines new light on one of the oldest forms of music: the combination of voice and percussion. The piece takes shape in a partly algorithmic composition for percussion, performed by custom robotics, and for voice, performed by a human. The text as performed by Gagi Petrovic is written by the GPT-2 open-source artificial intelligence. This AI was trained on ‘Species of Spaces’ by Georges Perec and various Wikipedia pages on spatial perception. This process results in new and uncanny perspectives on the relationship between individuals and the (digital) spaces they inhabit, while simultaneously exploring new relationships between the binary character of the acoustic pulses and the expression of a digitally manipulated voice.

Chain D.L.K, Vito Camareretta

Zeno van den Broek’s “Relatum” is a sound experiment that feels like it’s halfway between an art installation and a philosophy lecture, only with drums and machines. For those familiar with his earlier works, this album doesn’t disappoint – it’s sonically dense and intellectually provocative. “MA(N|CHINE)” explores a curious tug-of-war between human musicians and machines, flipping traditional roles with unnerving precision. “From Voice to Pulse”, featuring Gagi Petrovic, elevates the voice-percussion dichotomy by integrating AI-generated text, and custom robotics. The result? A posthuman symphony that challenges what we define as “performance”.

Imagine the interplay of machine logic and human intuition as a dialogue, often cold, but deeply telling. The first movement, “System”, is quite haunting, with machine-generated rhythms dominating the scene, as if hinting at a future where machines create art for themselves. When the human performers come in later, they don’t simply “play” but react to these automated impulses, like imitating birdsong to blend into an alien landscape.

This is what makes “Relatum” both exhilarating and uneasy to listen to. The album seems to question whether the human touch even matters anymore in art – what if algorithms, trained on centuries of human music and theory, could outperform us? There’s something a bit ironic here, given that this album is the work of meticulously trained composers and performers, who perhaps are at their best when syncing with (or struggling against) machines.

Fans of avant-garde composers like Iannis Xenakis or contemporary artists such as Autechre might find common ground here. Like them, van den Broek isn’t afraid to challenge the listener, yet remains deeply thoughtful about the implications of mixing human effort with algorithmic output.

This is a record that defies background listening. It’s dense, intellectual, and almost exhausting. But in an era where every sound seems pre-chewed for easy digestion, “Relatum” reminds us to pay attention – to the pulse of the machine, the sound of a voice, and the spaces where the two collide.