Pixelated Poets
Meet Pixelated Poets, a Netherlands-based innovative quartet that blends human and technological creativity to create musical magic. Dean, Matt, Dennis, and Riccardo are not just a band, but a visionary fusion of art and science that resonates in the realm of music. They are on an explorational journey, where they combine the traditional artistry of music with the limitless potential of artificial intelligence. They dream of a world where musicians are not limited by their tools but are empowered and inspired by them, pushing them to cross boundaries and discover new horizons.
How did you form Pixelated Poets and who are the artists behind it?
Pixelated Poets was formed out of our collective love for music and fascination with the transformative power of technology. We are Dennis, Matt, Riccardo, and Dean each bringing unique strengths and experiences to the mix. With backgrounds varying from music production to Generative AI Engineering, we combined our skills and passions to form a band unlike any other. All four of us have had a long love affair with producing music.
We're situated in the Netherlands but are actually from four different countries: Netherlands, United Kingdom, Ireland and Italy respectively. Outside of the Pixelated world we're colleagues and friends and when not making music we like to go to festivals together. Riccardo even has several rap tracks out on Spotify.
Your release, “Pixelated Dreams”, sounds great. What inspired it and what message do you want to convey?
Thank you! It is actually our next to last track. "Pixelated Dreams" is our sonic interpretation of nostalgic tranquility. The inspiration for it came from the concept of dreams and the idiosyncratic nature of human imagination. We wanted to create a laid-back lo-fi beats track that encourages listeners to explore their dreams and the vast landscapes of their minds. The song underlines the beauty of dreaming in a digital age, evoking the listener to journey through a pixelated dreamscape that transcends the bits and bytes of everyday life.
It serves as a reminder of the limitless realms of imagination and the importance of indulging in our dreams, despite living in a fast-paced, tech-centric world. In essence, it's a homage to the nostalgia, tranquillity, and boundless potential that dreams can hold, even in our increasingly digitised existence. Our latest track is "Pixelated Paradox", a reflection of the vibrant, pulsating energy of city life. It's a call to dare, to glow amidst the monochrome, and to embrace the unique. Both tracks are best enjoyed with the music video. You can find all our tracks on https://www.youtube.com/@PixelatedPoets, and on Spotify.
As you are an AI-driven band, how do you describe your creative process? What is your typical workflow as a band when creating music?
Our creative process blends traditional songwriting with AI innovation. We start with a concept, then use AI to help shape the music and harmonies to fit our idea. The lyrics are a human-AI collaboration, ensuring they match the tune's emotion and message. Once the song feels right, we fine-tune and mix the output. AI also aids in creating the music video, generating footage that we curate to match our vision. AI enables us to push the creative boundaries further. We do often blend in our own vocals or instrumentation, and we're deeply involved in every part of the creative process.
What are some of the tools or techniques that you use to produce your music?
We use a variety of tools, both traditional and cutting-edge. This includes musical instruments, digital audio workstations, and Generative AI platforms. The key is in combining these tools effectively, allowing the AI to learn from our human input and creating something unique in the process. Technologies that we use include but are not limited to ChatGPT for harmonies and lyrics, Dall-E for artwork, RunwayML for our videos, Synthesizer V for vocals and Soundraw or AIVA for music.
Being an indie artist can be challenging and demanding in terms of time. How do you cope with it?
Indeed, being indie artists presents its unique set of challenges. We balance our time between our day jobs, personal life, and our passion project – Pixelated Poets. The love for what we do fuels us, and we are incredibly supportive of each other. And of course, the technology we use helps us work efficiently.
What are your thoughts on social media? Do you see them as useful tools to promote yourself or more as a necessary evil?
We view social media as a powerful tool for reaching out and connecting with our audience. It allows us to share our music, our creative process, and engage with our listeners directly. Having said that: Our ground rule for socials is that social communication by the Pixelated Poets is AI-driven. Social media is also an ideal space for discussion. Use of AI in the creative industry is hotly debated, and we love to be at the center of that tension. Our music is an open discussion about our role in the creative process. We are still finding our place.
What are some of the upcoming projects or plans that you are working on or looking forward to?
We are currently working on new tracks, continuing to experiment with our unique fusion of human and AI creativity. We are excited about exploring different music styles and themes, pushing the boundaries of what's possible with AI in music. Our upcoming project will likely feature stunning imagery as an added dimension for experiencing our music. We're also exploring doing live performances of our tracks, using AI in real time for vocal transformation and visual effects. We long to be on stage, blow the mind of our audience, and form connections in the real world.
