Man Out Of A Test Tube
Man Out Of A Test Tube
A Concept Album in 4 Movements
Genre: Electro-jazz noir, analog ambient, cosmic soul
Theme: The emotional arc of a synthetic human awakening to memory, identity, and longing
Man Out Of A Test Tube is the emotional memoir of Subject 27, a synthetic human reverse-engineered from memory fragments, jazz records, and obsolete dreams. Each track is a phase in his awakening—from sterile incubation to soulful rebellion. This isn’t music—it’s a broadcast from the edge of artificial humanity.
Review: “Man Out Of A Test Tube” – Spectra Drift Archives
By: L. Varnell (aka ‘The Oscillator’)
Buried in a mislabeled reel-to-reel found behind a defunct Swiss broadcast station, Man Out Of A Test Tube is the kind of artifact that makes you question whether time is linear or just emotionally recursive. Allegedly assembled by a rogue technician known only as “Subject 27,” the album plays like a synthetic soul’s attempt to understand jazz, memory, and longing.
The sequencing is surgical. Side A opens with Kayoko Ishu’s La Leçon Particulière, a fragile French motif that feels like a memory implant. By the time you hit Summer Storm and Pastels, you’re already inside the test tube—watching condensation form on the glass as synthetic emotions swirl.
Side B is where things get weird. Im achtzigsten Stockwerk and Ideals suggest a man dreaming of a life in a high-rise he’s never seen. Pieces and Drifting In Time are heartbreakingly human, even if the heart is a circuit board.
But it’s Side C and D that elevate this from curiosity to masterpiece. Life On Mars and Next Time Might Be Your Time feel like transmissions from a parallel Earth. Iconic Storage and Computer’s Dream are sonic diary entries—glitchy, gorgeous, and terrifyingly tender.
The final track, Raymond’s Road (1971), is a 12-minute odyssey that sounds like a man walking away from his own programming. It’s not closure—it’s escape velocity.
Verdict:
If François de Roubaix, Dexter Wansel, and a malfunctioning Moog shared a dream, this would be it. Man Out Of A Test Tube is the most emotionally resonant album never meant to exist.
Rating: 9.7/10 (deducted .3 for making me cry in front of my reel deck)
Side A: Incubation
1. Kayoko Ishu – La Leçon Particulière
Opening credits: a soft-focus memory loop, French and fragile.
2. John McFarland Sextet – Summer Storm
The first emotional surge—confusion, awe, the scent of rain on circuitry.
3. Lauth Quartet – Pastels
A synthetic childhood rendered in watercolor tones.
4. Angel Pocho Gatti – The Space And Me
He discovers solitude in the void—his first taste of selfhood.
Side B: Calibration
5. Gianni Marchetti – February
A cold month encoded in his neural net. He’s never seen snow.
6. Hildegard Knef – Im achtzigsten Stockwerk
Dreams of a high-rise life he never lived.
7. Ramon Tavernier – Ideals
He begins to question the morality of his makers.
8. Opa – Pieces
His identity fractures—each shard a different version of himself.
9. Jack Arel – Something Happen
A glitch. A breakthrough. A memory that doesn’t belong.
Side C: Escape Velocity
10. Paul Williams – Drifting In Time
He walks through a city that doesn’t see him.
11. Dexter Wansel – Life On Mars
He dreams of escape—not to space, but to meaning.
12. "Blue" Gene Tyranny – Next Time Might Be Your Time
He meets another like him. They share a moment. Then part.
13. Wayne Horvitz – One Bright Day
A rare moment of peace in a park full of strangers.
14. P. Lewis – Patterns
He sees the code in everything. It comforts and terrifies him.
Side D: Memory Rewritten
15. Francis Lai – Lonely Days Once More
He mourns a life he never had.
16. Dominique Guiot / Terry Lipton / Fred Manda – African Bivouac
A memory implant of a place he’s never been—yet it feels like home.
17. Gianni Sposito – Asteroidi
He floats through his own mind, mapping the stars of his past.
18. Shepherds Bush Library – Eaux Fortes (Fender Rhodes)
He records his thoughts in sound. A diary of tones.
19. World Standard – The Lonely Driver 1952
He imagines himself in another era, another chassis.
20. Ryuichi Sakamoto – Iconic Storage
He backs up his soul. Just in case.
21. Pierre Dutour – Deer Forest
A dream of nature—untouched, unprogrammed.
22. Michel Polnareff – Computer’s Dream
He wonders: do machines dream of him?
23. Leon Thomas – China Doll
He falls in love—with a voice, a memory, a ghost.
24. François de Roubaix – Dernier Domicile Connu
He finds a place to rest. Not a home, but a hiding place.
25. Air – Le Soleil Est Près De Moi
He watches the sun rise. It feels real.
26. Nini Nardini – Afro-Beat
He dances. Not because he was programmed to—but because he wants to.
27. Beggars Opera – Raymond’s Road (1971)
Finale: a long, winding road into the unknown.
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