Friday, September 12, 2008
Hiatus
Well, I'm not sure how many of you are still around here, but it's starting again...
First things first is to sort out the mess left it in!
Watch this space
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Edward Coyle
Tuesday, January 17, 2006
Null
Monday, December 05, 2005
AFX - Analord
"The whole of AFX's Analord vinyl series, as uncompressed .wavs. Have not been thru MP3 compression. Zipped into one .rar file." Enjoy!
Tuesday, November 29, 2005
Mash-up goes mainstream?
We all saw how much press coverage Dangermouse's Grey Album got last year. The mainstream media has really picked up on the concept. To the point where Radio 4's Front Row programme can't even review a book written with a William S. Burroughs style cutup technique without going off on a tangent about Shitmat's Rolf Harris mash-ups (but without actually playing them).
Back in the late 80s / early 90s the UK charts were full of rave and acid house remixes of kids TV themes. That underlying piece of the familiar, the recognisable, the nostalgic, suddenly brought what had been an underground scene into every living room. Suddenly everyone was exposed to a form of music that would never have got that exposure if it didn't already have that instantly recognisable quality.
As fashion, in music as much as in anything else, tends to run in circles, I wonder whether we are on the cusp of seeing something like this again. DJ Spazmo's My Sharona remix has been played on Radio 1, the Wrong Music guys have done their own hour long live session at Maide Vale, and Shitmat gets name dropped on Radio 4.
Mash-up will be coming to a TV or radio near you, soon. Personally, I can't wait to see Mully's Thomas the Tank Engine mash-up on Top Of The Pops. Bandwagon jumpers, jump on now. Those already on the bandwagon, hold tight or jump off, it's up to you.
Tuesday, November 15, 2005
Emulating Digital Sound with Acoustic Instruments
cbaba - Pleasant Voice of (wo)Man and Machine 29:43
Download or right click to save as
tracklisting:
a 00:00 - 06:00 Aphex Twin, "cock/ver10" versus alarm will sound, "cock/ver10" [cbaba mashup]
b 06:00 - 11:00 Nobukazu Takemura "Let My Fish Loose [aphex twin remix]" [cbaba mix]
c 11:00 - 13:30 Prefuse 73 "Female Demands"
d 13:30 - 15:30 Beastie Boys "Picture This"
e 15:43 - 18:00 Nine Inch Nails "The Beauty of Being Numb [aphex twin remix]"
f 18:00 - 20:10 Cbaba "Megaloskizk"
g 20:10 - 23:00 Cbaba "Voclif Beatpharm"
h 23:00 - 26:00 Ray Lynch "Pastorale"
i 26:00 - 29:43 Aphex Twin "Laughable Butane Bob"
"The earliest purely electronic instrument was the Teleharmonium or Telharmonium, developed by Thaddeus Cahill in 1897. Simple inconvenience hindered the adoption of the Teleharmonium: the instrument weighed seven tons and was the size of a boxcar. The first practical electronic instrument is often viewed to be the Theremin, invented by Professor Leon Theremin circa 1919 - 1920." [wikipedia] The theremin was commisioned by Stalin and popularized by a young savant violinist who'd lost the use of her fingers. Prior to this, music was composed with for and performed with non electronic instruments, such as the violin.
Composers wrote music for kings and nobility, the patrons thrilled as the sounds of powerful harmonic vibration. Electronic strings are sometimes able to compete with the complexity of real strings, but their value is only augmented by their reference to real strings, not provided wholly. The synthetic sounds of today may refer memetically to their physical models, however we've come full circle to a condition of real instruments often being used to emulate electronic sounds. Ever seen anyone play drum and bass on buckets?
The symbiotic growth of language and music also reflects this phase shifting-- Vocoded voices are teaching people how to pronounce and inflect their words, perfect electronic rhythm is seeping into our natural progressions and syllable cadence. We will explore phase shifts and glitches further at a later date.
On an almost related note, say outloud: "Yeah-Yeah" and fully annunciate it. You have just discovered the best way to imitate Little John. Yeah-Yeah is a silly little meme.
This mix contains many voices, some synthetic, some derived from samples, as well as many other techniques of vocalizing sounds. All sound is vibration, fractal in it's frequency content.
a. Aphex Twin released Druqks in 2001. Amusingly, it contains "explicit lyrics," namely the word cunt. However, that word is hardly explicit compared to the obscene frequencies and mad rhythms the showcased by the album (alongside some avante garde prepared piano tracks). Cock/v10 is one of these obscenely frequent tracks. Earlier this year, an orchestral organization, a band even, named Alarm Will Sound released "Acoustica," a collection of Aphex Twin compositions performed by live instruments. Cock/v10 is included, and thusly this mashup of live and electronic is born.
b. The singing voice is accompanied by high frequency harmonic which often intertwines and permutates the overall timbre. My girlfriend liked this track more than any aphex I've ever played her. She has interesting taste. It IS a beautiful song.
c. Female Demands? She doesn't demand that much, just that I shower occasionally. Just kidding, this is a track by Prefuse 73, my star queen ultimate love of blip hop. The album is One Word Extinguisher.
d. The Beastie Beastie Boys let out some surprising material as well as their familiar sounds on Hello Nasty. This track off the latter half of the album is choice.
e. Aphex Twin and Trent Reznor go way back-- on NIN's further down the spiral we find "At The Heart of It All" to be created by Richard and not Trent. This remix of the beauty of being numb trails out with a rhythm and harmonic cadence made entirely out of wet "ppphhpht-ppphhpht-ppphhpht" sounds. The track it mixes into,
f. Megaloskizk is a piece I composed in 2000. By electronically modifying (vocoder, distortion, some other stuff) a few oooohs and aaaahs we are treated to almost inhuman voices, the choir of the planet of the apes, or similar electronic jungle aesthetic.
g. Voclif Beatpharm demonstrates the interchangeability of drum rhythm and melody/harmony rhythm in an organic yet quite synthetic sounding live recorded then post vocoded drumtrack.
h. Ray Lynch went platinum with Deep Breakfast in the 80s. A lot of musicians currently producing electronic music likely heard this in their childhood. It's good to know your roots. Ray says his music is mostly live instruments in the studio, but it sure sounds like cheesy synth to me. Really good cheesy synth. He was a man split between the classical composition epoch and this fresh onslaught of complication extropic drum programming. We will be returning to the compositional style of "classical" music, as it is already taking form in what are often called "drill" sounds. These glitchy high frequency series of drum hits or other samples are contain multiple phases of frequency, and our evolving intelligence craves complicated yet easily listened to pitches and phrasings of those pitches.
i. On that note, this is Laughable Butane Bob off the Hangable Auto Bulb EP (released in a limited edition of 1000 in 95, re-released by warp on CD. don't miss the anagram). This, and the title track HAB are excellent examples of complicated melodies being played by immensely complicated drillish frequencies.
If you have any predictions about where music is evolving to, feel free to shoot them my way, I have them too and like to discuss. expando@gmail.com
Hope you enjoyed this first post, I'll be back to get nasty with phase transition in frequency next time. Until them, remember the earth is an intelligent organism, of which we are just one kind of cell, possibly metaphorically cancerous.
Download or right click to save as
tracklisting:
a 00:00 - 06:00 Aphex Twin, "cock/ver10" versus alarm will sound, "cock/ver10" [cbaba mashup]
b 06:00 - 11:00 Nobukazu Takemura "Let My Fish Loose [aphex twin remix]" [cbaba mix]
c 11:00 - 13:30 Prefuse 73 "Female Demands"
d 13:30 - 15:30 Beastie Boys "Picture This"
e 15:43 - 18:00 Nine Inch Nails "The Beauty of Being Numb [aphex twin remix]"
f 18:00 - 20:10 Cbaba "Megaloskizk"
g 20:10 - 23:00 Cbaba "Voclif Beatpharm"
h 23:00 - 26:00 Ray Lynch "Pastorale"
i 26:00 - 29:43 Aphex Twin "Laughable Butane Bob"
"The earliest purely electronic instrument was the Teleharmonium or Telharmonium, developed by Thaddeus Cahill in 1897. Simple inconvenience hindered the adoption of the Teleharmonium: the instrument weighed seven tons and was the size of a boxcar. The first practical electronic instrument is often viewed to be the Theremin, invented by Professor Leon Theremin circa 1919 - 1920." [wikipedia] The theremin was commisioned by Stalin and popularized by a young savant violinist who'd lost the use of her fingers. Prior to this, music was composed with for and performed with non electronic instruments, such as the violin.
Composers wrote music for kings and nobility, the patrons thrilled as the sounds of powerful harmonic vibration. Electronic strings are sometimes able to compete with the complexity of real strings, but their value is only augmented by their reference to real strings, not provided wholly. The synthetic sounds of today may refer memetically to their physical models, however we've come full circle to a condition of real instruments often being used to emulate electronic sounds. Ever seen anyone play drum and bass on buckets?
The symbiotic growth of language and music also reflects this phase shifting-- Vocoded voices are teaching people how to pronounce and inflect their words, perfect electronic rhythm is seeping into our natural progressions and syllable cadence. We will explore phase shifts and glitches further at a later date.
On an almost related note, say outloud: "Yeah-Yeah" and fully annunciate it. You have just discovered the best way to imitate Little John. Yeah-Yeah is a silly little meme.
This mix contains many voices, some synthetic, some derived from samples, as well as many other techniques of vocalizing sounds. All sound is vibration, fractal in it's frequency content.
a. Aphex Twin released Druqks in 2001. Amusingly, it contains "explicit lyrics," namely the word cunt. However, that word is hardly explicit compared to the obscene frequencies and mad rhythms the showcased by the album (alongside some avante garde prepared piano tracks). Cock/v10 is one of these obscenely frequent tracks. Earlier this year, an orchestral organization, a band even, named Alarm Will Sound released "Acoustica," a collection of Aphex Twin compositions performed by live instruments. Cock/v10 is included, and thusly this mashup of live and electronic is born.
b. The singing voice is accompanied by high frequency harmonic which often intertwines and permutates the overall timbre. My girlfriend liked this track more than any aphex I've ever played her. She has interesting taste. It IS a beautiful song.
c. Female Demands? She doesn't demand that much, just that I shower occasionally. Just kidding, this is a track by Prefuse 73, my star queen ultimate love of blip hop. The album is One Word Extinguisher.
d. The Beastie Beastie Boys let out some surprising material as well as their familiar sounds on Hello Nasty. This track off the latter half of the album is choice.
e. Aphex Twin and Trent Reznor go way back-- on NIN's further down the spiral we find "At The Heart of It All" to be created by Richard and not Trent. This remix of the beauty of being numb trails out with a rhythm and harmonic cadence made entirely out of wet "ppphhpht-ppphhpht-ppphhpht" sounds. The track it mixes into,
f. Megaloskizk is a piece I composed in 2000. By electronically modifying (vocoder, distortion, some other stuff) a few oooohs and aaaahs we are treated to almost inhuman voices, the choir of the planet of the apes, or similar electronic jungle aesthetic.
g. Voclif Beatpharm demonstrates the interchangeability of drum rhythm and melody/harmony rhythm in an organic yet quite synthetic sounding live recorded then post vocoded drumtrack.
h. Ray Lynch went platinum with Deep Breakfast in the 80s. A lot of musicians currently producing electronic music likely heard this in their childhood. It's good to know your roots. Ray says his music is mostly live instruments in the studio, but it sure sounds like cheesy synth to me. Really good cheesy synth. He was a man split between the classical composition epoch and this fresh onslaught of complication extropic drum programming. We will be returning to the compositional style of "classical" music, as it is already taking form in what are often called "drill" sounds. These glitchy high frequency series of drum hits or other samples are contain multiple phases of frequency, and our evolving intelligence craves complicated yet easily listened to pitches and phrasings of those pitches.
i. On that note, this is Laughable Butane Bob off the Hangable Auto Bulb EP (released in a limited edition of 1000 in 95, re-released by warp on CD. don't miss the anagram). This, and the title track HAB are excellent examples of complicated melodies being played by immensely complicated drillish frequencies.
If you have any predictions about where music is evolving to, feel free to shoot them my way, I have them too and like to discuss. expando@gmail.com
Hope you enjoyed this first post, I'll be back to get nasty with phase transition in frequency next time. Until them, remember the earth is an intelligent organism, of which we are just one kind of cell, possibly metaphorically cancerous.
Wednesday, November 09, 2005
New Writers!
Much bigger response to the call for writers than I was expecting, which was a pleasant surprise
There are two confirmed so far with another couple on the way. The first two are Dan and Forrest. Check out their respective sites Gusset and Expando where you can hear both of them in action live
Sorry if I haven't replied to you about writing for the blog but I couldn't have everyone as it would just get too hectic
Monday, November 07, 2005
Dozercast 7
The best yet?
Tracklisting for Dozercast 7 (7/11/05)
0:00 - 2:00 Sliver - Fat Man Small Car (2004)
3:00 - 4:10 Safety Scissors vs Kit Clayton - 5-8 (Ping Pong EP, Carpark, 2002)
4:10 - 7:20 Computor Rockers - Get Ready (Galaxy Defenders, Breakin', 1998)
7:20 - 10:00 Autechre - Ipacial Section (Untitled, Warp, 2005)
10:10 - 13:00 Raymond Scott - Powerhouse (Reckless Nights and Turkish Twilights, 1937)
13:10 - 17:20 Ricardo Villalobos - Chromosul (Chromosul, Perlon, 2005)
17:20 - 20:00 Marais & Miranda - Conservation Song (More Nature Songs, 60s)
20:00 - 24:00 Venetian Snares - Live at ATP (2004)
24:00 - 30:15 Unknown (taken from Dominic Eulberg - Kreucht, 2005)
30:15 - 36:10 Phonophani - Zurnas (Phonophani, Biophon, 1998)
36:10 - 40:00 Andres Segovia - Fugue In G Minor (20s/30s)
feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/Dozercast
mp3: Dozercast 7 (7/11/05).mp3
