Wellington-based musician Jeremiah Ross (aka Module) has just released a 13-track live album of electro music, Pattern Dot Life, with not one, but two twists.

Firstly, the album (recorded live at Sandwiches in Wellington) costs absolutely nothing to own, as it is available as a free download from Ross’ various websites. Secondly, listeners are encouraged to also download the raw song data from his website for the purpose of creating their own remixes of the songs, which can then be sent back to Ross for consideration for inclusion on a subsequent Module release.

It is not a case of getting others to put in the hard yards for him, however. While the general populace cut up, mangle and tweak his original live recordings, Ross will be busy creating studio versions of the live tracks (“Radio-type versions, as some of the live tracks are eight or nine minutes long” he says), to be released as Pattern Dot Life 2.0. The best remixes of the live tracks from Pattern Dot Life will also be included on this release.

And as Pattern Dot Life 2.0 will be available on iTunes as a paid download, those whose remixes are included also stand to profit from the venture, claiming 50% of the royalties their remix generates.

“The future is awesome” said Ross.

Pattern Dot Life lends itself well to remixing, as it is rooted in the digital realm. “It’s cross-genre,” says Ross “music I like making. It’s influenced a lot by music from the eighties, things like Vangelis… I grew up listening to ‘Synthesizer Greatest’ – it’s a homage to that”.

Ross stated he decided to do this open source project as Pattern Dot Life is “fun music that I’ve written for live stuff that I might not necessarily want to release on a proper album. I really wanted to see what people would do when they got hold of them [the tracks].”

“It’s fun and outside the normal way you have to do things [when you release a regular album]” said Ross.

“I really love writing that style of music… people can make of it what they want to” he added. “I’m just gonna have some fun and who gives a sh*t.”

Ross’ future plans include a third Pattern Dot Life release, which he envisions will be a recording of another live show a couple of years down the road. “I’d love to do that in France or Germany… the NZ electronic scene isn’t overly large” he said.

Ross is also currently busy setting up his own production studio, putting out an unrelated five-part EP through iTunes, working on Playstation game, and is planning on touring Australia and Japan throughout 2009.

The Pattern Dot Life project is a nice distraction from all that: “Working on the Playstation game is hardcore, and is pretty much taking over my entire life. To alleviate that I’m working on some fun Module stuff” said Ross.

“It’s really cool to get an idea out there, and people seem to be embracing and enjoying it, so that’s good”.

For more details, see www.patterndotlife.co.nz or surf to www.module.co.nz