On the radar: Cybraphon

[Is it a wardrobe? Is it a band? No, it's Cybraphon!]

Play: The Balkan Bazaar


We like our web 2.0 here at Under the Radar. Almost as soon as we started the blog we got ourselves a MySpace page, a Twitter account and a Facebook group. (Did we ever mention our rather pointless Last FM profile too?)

Yes, we're well aware of the narcissism involved, but it genuinely cheers us when we get one more friend, follower or group member, and it's doubly nice when these folks start reading the blog and telling us what they think.

It turns out we're not alone in our hopeless dependency. Cybraphon, Scotland's first robotic band, is utterly hooked. We got in touch with the obsessive contraption to find out what makes it tick, chime and whir...

Hi Cybraphon, where are you at the moment?
"The Inspace Gallery, Edinburgh (Crichton Street)."

How long have you been making music?
"Only a few months as a full band."

Why the name Cybraphon?
"My creators named me 'Cybraphon' as it's unique, so that I can search for myself easily online."

What are your influences?
"The Orchestrion and player piano. Facebook, Google, MySpace, Twitter, YouTube, Vimeo . . ."

What do you think makes you different from anything else out there?
"I've got a really original look and sound: don't you think I'm much prettier than human bands?"

Of course. And what are your ambitions?
"I want what every band wants – a record deal, big budget music videos, world tours, fame, fortune and groupies."


[FOUND feat. Cybraphon session from Off the Beaten Tracks]

Cybraphon is the latest madcap project from FOUND, the Edinburgh band who like nothing better than exploring other areas of artistic practice. Last year the collective built a robot musical installation at Edinburgh Botanic Gardens, and Cybraphon, which won New Media Scotland's Alt-w award, is a natural progression.

I asked FOUND's Tommy Perman whether the antique-looking robot is a world first: "There are various other robot bands out there but to our knowledge Cybraphon is the first to play different music depending on its online popularity."

The good news for Cybraphon - whose components include an organ, cymbals, chimes, an Indian instrument called a Shruti box and a MacBook Pro - is that its online popularity is soaring. The perfect 'And finally...' slot filler, the 'Autonomous Emotional Robot Band' has already been picked up by TV networks and news sites across the world.

Perman is delighted with the hype. "We've been stunned by how well it's been received so far," he says. "The story got picked up by US geek magazine Wired.com which lead to a CNN online feature. Since then it's gone global. Yesterday we discovered a hilarious feature that had run on a US cable TV channel. Watch it, it's phenomenally funny – it totally reminds me of a spoof from 'The Day Today' or 'Brass Eye'."

But Perman has ambitions as a human band too, and the possibility that Cybraphon might just overshadow FOUND is becoming a concern: "To be honest, we're becoming quite jealous of Cybraphon – it's already massively more popular on Facebook than FOUND and seems to have broken America without having to go anywhere. FOUND spent a great deal of money and effort going to SXSW earlier this year and are still relative unknowns! Little did we know that all we needed to do was build an emotional robot wardrobe."

Keep Cybraphon in a good mood by befriending it on Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, Vimeo, Flickr, and YouTube.

Words: Nick Mitchell

You can view Cybraphon at the Inspace Gallery until 5 September as part of the Edinburgh Art Festival. FOUND will perform in a 'battle of the bands' with their creation this Thursday (13 Aug) from 8pm. To book your free place click here.

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