The Yamaha Tenori-On is… well, I don’t know, exactly. It’s a small box that has LEDs on, and when you press these LEDs it makes noises. The results are a bit like Nintendo’s excellent, but limited, DS sound-a-thon Electroplankton (what has happened to the Wii version?). It looks like a lot of fun, and eventually it could change the way people make – and perform – music.
If you go here you will most likely see an interview with Norman Fairbanks, and a link to his new EP he made entirely with the Tenori-On. It’s good music, too. Ambient, chilled stuff that reminds me a lot of Ninja Tune’s Rainstick Orchestra, only with less real instruments. It’s good sleeping music, and that’s a better compliment than it sounds.