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Confessions of a Meta-Hipster: Episode III - Revenge of the Hip
Mini-episode this go-round. I've just received the three latest additions to my direct-to-garment printing project and it seemed as good a time as any for an update.
The graphic tee is a mainstay of fashion that just never seems to go away. There are to this day a number of quality websites specializing in cult graphic tees. But what could possibly be more hip than designing and printing your own graphics in tribute to your favorite musical icons? I confess, I was apprehensive at first about reintroducing graphic tees into my wardrobe. I'd been wearing disco attire for years and I feared that I might lose credibility in a simple tee. Then I re-read that sentence and realized how absolutely absurd I was being and promptly went to work designing new iconic graphics with which to adorn myself. Below is my black-band-tee paraphernalia at present. http://i.imgur.com/d6l3xXgl.jpg Key for the Plebeians (from top left) Cluster & Eno - s/t (1977) Captain Beefheart - Safe as Milk (1967) The KLF - The White Room stencil (1991) Analog Modular Synthesizer graphic UML-type flow chart of synth operation Moondog - s/t (1969) Underworld - Dubnobasswithmyheadman by the Tomato art collective (1994) Brian Eno - Before and After Science (1977) Klaus Schulze portrait Lemon Jelly logotype by the Airside art collective High-Res for Fanatics and Fetishists There is one additional tee missing - Godspeed You! Black Emperor's Faulty Schematic of Ruined Machine [to scale]. The graphic is a hand-drawn illustration which accompanied my copy of their fantastically dark F# A# ∞ LP. The shirt is currently framed in my listening room. http://i.imgur.com/OskWDa0l.jpg I've also a bank of yet-to-print tees for whenever the mood strikes. A few examples: http://i.imgur.com/8A5NY9e.jpg http://i.imgur.com/9TyK471.jpg http://i.imgur.com/OdDZl73.jpg http://i.imgur.com/xLGOJHZ.jpg http://i.imgur.com/JEBH92f.jpg ...and many others, with more on the way. I'm also considering a Silver Apples print, a NEU! logo, Faust's So Far, Terry Riley, White Noise, a single-color print of BoC's Music Has the Right to Children, and other freaks of the industry. And if you've any design ideas to contribute, I'd love to hear 'em! |
I always thought that nerdy synth shirts would be really awesome but never got around to looking or finding any. That flow chart one is especially great!
As per suggestions, maybe you can take the Fender guitar shirt idea: http://bonanzleimages.s3.amazonaws.c...0_thumb200.jpg And change it up with a Harry Partch adapted guitar design http://blogfiles.wfmu.org/CL/pix/par...ted-guitar.jpg |
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http://i.imgur.com/l9Yq1MKl.jpg But on to tonight's entry! I'm settling in for the evening with a new arrival just in from Germany (with accompanying mood lighting) - Hidden Orchestra's Night Walks. http://i.imgur.com/dWR5ZFTl.jpg This bold but understated debut record is equal parts downtempo electronica, organic orchestral music, seductive jazz, and cinematic score to a dramatic film noir that never was. Jazzy drum patterns and breaks blend seamlessly with sweeping strings and electronic soundscapes. Essential listening for the classy bastard in all of us. |
Revolution Starter Kit
I've just returned from antiquing escapades with my lady friends and brought home several groovy treasures!
I picked up my first-ever Pharoah Sanders record - a mint first press of the legendary Karma LP featuring "The Creator Has a Master Plan." I also snagged original copies of Jimmy McGriff's deeply-funky Soul Sugar LP... ...and a newly traded in first press of The Jesus and Mary Chain's noise pop debut, Psychocandy from 1985. I also snagged original copies of Jimmy McGriff's deeply-funky Soul Sugar LP and a newly traded in first press of The Jesus and Mary Chain's noise pop debut, Psychocandy from 1985. Before I left I also grabbed a clean copy of The Trouser Press Guide to 90s Rock - a mammoth oversize reference text of 2300 of the greatest punk, grunge, indie-pop, techno, noise, avant-garde, ska, hip-hop, new country, metal, roots, rock, folk, modern dance, and world music recordings from the decade of my high school years. It's the first time I've considered buying a critical text on rock music (I usually prefer 20th century classical and jazz), but this seemed an excellent starting point. AND as a nifty bonus, from the Devil's Library section of the antique mall I picked up a (R)evolution: A Journal of 21st Century Thought zine from The Anarchists of Chicago in the early 1980s which features a piece by Aleister Crowley. #sh*tyoucantbuyatthemall http://i.imgur.com/bAReUedl.jpg http://i.imgur.com/SLPdDgxl.jpg http://i.imgur.com/ipOGsGHl.jpg |
Something's Coming...
Something's Coming...
A heads-up - mark your Google Calendars, everyone. Two particularly exciting new installments are drafted and ready for publication. The first will post this evening at 5:30. In a moment of spontaneous inspiration, I conceived, developed, and produced a piece of visual art comprising all of my MusicBanterness. The act was followed at 1:30 in the morning by a stream of consciousness excercise which became the latest in my Hip series, on the subject of the new project. Tune in tonight, and again next Friday at 5:30 when I reveal the audiovisual splendor that is my latest and very special new vinyl acquisition! Stay tuned. |
The Grand Unified Theory of Hip
I love a good challenge, and last night I presented myself with a most delightful dilemma. As you've seen from my previous posts, I've created a stockpile of obscuro graphic tees to thoroughly confuse the unsuspecting public. And with the plethora of imagery available from the avant-garde and cult cinema, I could go on forever printing these tees. But I'd never be able to wear them all.
And so I set myself the challenge - to conceive and implement the ultimate hip tee - a single design which sums up all of my specializes interests. The Grand Unified Theory of Hip. And then it came to me. What better way to showcase my academic pretension, my musico-cultural obsession, and my meta-hip snobbishness than with an autobiographical custom tee emblazoned with a Fruchterman-Reingold graph depicting the web-like interrelationships between my 60 favorite sub and micro genres? I quickly constructed a dataset of my favorite musical niches and formatted them as a CSV denoting each node and edge for the graphic. (For example: Post-Punk is an amalgam of elements from funk, dub, electronic, and experimental musics.) I was pleased to discover that my favorite data visualization application, Gephi was supported by Linux, and in a short time I produced this splendid graph. Behold, ladies and gentlemen: The Grand Unified Theory of Hip. Click here for a hi-res raster image. Forum-friendly thumbnail: http://i.imgur.com/7r8ezzil.jpg |
Update on the Hip tee!
Successfully reformatted the image for textile printing. Selected a cleaner, bolder sans-serif typeface, adjusted the weight of the lines to print clearly on cotton fabric, and added a hairline knock out stroke around the type to enhance legibility.
The tee has been ordered and is en route. Mission accomplished. Project duration: ~4.5 hrs. I'm quite happy with the result. http://i.imgur.com/0TrXjpG.jpg |
A Momentous Discovery and a Wish Fulfilled
The last two weeks of January have been beautifully inspiring. A further exploration of choral works at the recommendation of a fantastic fellow classical connoisseur led me to revisit Arvo Pärt’s Da Pacem.
http://i.imgur.com/Ij8DD0Ll.jpg I was instantly enamored by the sacred sounds of The Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir and the fantastic production quality of the recording. And I was duly delighted by the discovery that the release was issued by the Harmonia Mundi label (from which I’d recently acquired the 20-volume CENTURY I and II early music catalogs). This remarkable music set the stage for a brilliant musical revelation - one that carried with it emotive and intellectual majesty I’ve not experienced since my first listen to Eno’s Airports. http://i.imgur.com/l0mdnSrl.jpg The revelation arrived in the form of a fated discovery of Germany’s Harmonia - the supergroup of Dieter Moebuis of Cluster (synthesizer, guitar, electronic percussion, nagoya harp, vocals), Hans-Joachim Roedelius of Cluster (organ, piano, guitar, electronic percussion, vocals), Michael Rother of Neu! (guitar, piano, organ, electronic percussion, and vocals), and eventually, Brian Eno (synthesizer, bass, vocals). Their small but influential discography was produced by Conny Plank, who produced works by Neu!, Cluster (almost becoming a member of the band), Ash Ra Tempel, Can, and Guru Guru. In December of last year, Larry Crane interviewed Michael Rother for TapeOp.com and discussed the formation of Harmonia, their work, but it was an article published January 20th of this year in The New Yorker titled, The Invention of Ambient Music that first introduced me to Harmonia. The article cites a video interview from 1997 in which Bowie named some of his influences, including Kraftwerk, Neu!, and Harmonia. An inspiration good enough for the Thin White Duke is certainly one worth exploring, so I wasted no time in queuing up Harmonia’s first album, Musik von Harmonia, released in 1974 on the classic Brain label. http://i.imgur.com/QCcnjFfl.jpg Instantaneously I knew I’d found something exceptional. The tracks were united in a consistent theme - instrumental exploration of subtle, ever-shifting sonic textures - an electronic realization of Satie’s vision of furniture music. On the surface the work might initially appear uneventful, dull, and lacking in focus or direction. There are no lead vocals and no primary melodic structure. However these seemingly detrimental characteristics are precisely what contributed to their greatness and lasting-influence in the world of ambient music and beyond. Eno has stated that Harmonia was "the world's most important rock band" in the mid '70s. Daniel Dumych elaborates in his article for hyperreal.org: "Perhaps Eno's reason for praising Harmonia so highly was that their music fit the requirements of ambient rock. Its music was equally suitable for active or passive listening. The careful listener found his/her attentions rewarded by the musical activities and sounds, but Harmonia's music was also capable of setting a sonic environment." In John Cage’s classic Indeterminacy: New Aspect of Form in Instrumental and Electronic Music (Folkways FT 3704, 1959), he observes: "If something is boring after two minutes, try it for four. If still boring, then eight. Then sixteen. Then thirty-two. Eventually one discovers that it is not boring at all." http://i.imgur.com/C8zsnnxl.jpg Cages words accurately describe a first-listen to Harmonia’s music, (only I was instantly receptive to the “subtle, ever-shifting sonic textures” to which I alluded above.) Headphones donned and eyes closed, I laid in bed and soaked in every note of the Harmonia catalog. By its conclusion, I’d scoured the web for information on available recordings in a vinyl format and was astounded and elated to learn that only three months prior (to the day, in fact), a massive deluxe 6LP box set celebrating Harmonia’s complete recordings had just been issued by Grönland Records in Germany! The teaser video for the set: The set, titled Complete Works, contains all the released material from 1973 to 1976, including their 1976 collaboration with Brian Eno and four unreleased tracks (Documents 1975). Also included are a 36-page booklet, a concert poster, a pop-up, and a digital download code. http://i.imgur.com/Ln7UyLll.jpg Overcome with excitement at this fateful cosmic alignment of circumstance, I sprang from my bed, and quickly dialed my contact for German import vinyl and limited edition recordings. The set was not intended for distribution in the US, and copies had already sold out from the Grönland Records website. Thankfully, my contact came through for me and within a matter of minutes I’d secured a copy for my library. It just arrived in the States and I couldn't be more delighted. Below is a video of the unboxing of this wonderful box set. It’s truly remarkable to experience this sort of exhilaration over a newly-discovered artist. As an archivist with well over 100,000 recordings in my library, there are moments when I fear I’ve exhausted the 20th century of all its surprises. But, like I was by my first experience listening to Harry Partch, I am once again awakened to the magnificence of our greatest century of cultural artistry. Click here to view a gallery of images I've taken detailing the contents of this wonderful box set! |
Collectors and Sellers – Your Discogs Wish Is Granted!
Quite recently I came upon an announcement from Andreas Dahl on Reddit about the latest revision of an Android mobile app for Discogs.com which he’d independently developed. I’d tried a few of the unofficial Discogs apps in the past but had really found little use for them. Still, I was curious and downloaded his app – Discographer, to check it out. I am thrilled that I did! The official Discogs app is still in beta on the iOS platform and Android users have not yet received an official release, but I can say with great confidence that the need for such an app has been 100% fulfilled by Dahl’s independent project.
http://i.imgur.com/McceUCh.png The app was initially released in September of 2015 and Dahl has steadily been improving the app, actively responding to the input from his user base. As of February 14, 2016 the app has reached version 1.3.4 and is stable and fully-functional. I’ll outline a few of the features below. The Welcome Panel The Welcome Panel displays a quick-reference summary of Discogs general statistics. This includes the total number of releases and catalog percentages of its Most Popular Genres, Styles, and Formats. Your Collection Android users have been waiting for a quality and fully-functional mobile means of accessing their album collections. Discographer’s Collection feature is the solution we’ve been waiting for. From this menu, you can view your collection as a graphical grid of album covers with artists and titles, or as a list with album cover thumbnails. A quick menu option beside each entry lets users remove titles, move them to subfolders, add to their seller inventory, and view the artist/label page. You can also dynamically sort your collection by a wide range of criteria – title, artist, year, format, label, Cat #, newest added, rating, or by a specific collection field such as notes or condition. Combined with the search function, this makes navigating large collections of thousands of titles a breeze. I was also happy to see a Manage Folders option to browse and modify the sub-categorization of my collection. This feature was missing from other independent Discogs apps I’d tried in the past. TIP: For sellers with particularly large inventories, if you’ve indexed the location of the titles in your library using the Notes field of your Discogs Collection, this app can tell you exactly where to retrieve the album for sale and provides every possible piece of data about your copy, right in the palm of your hand! http://i.imgur.com/Gv9h84I.png Vinyl Hub Integration A most welcome feature, Discographer includes Vinyl Hub’s searchable Google map of user-contributed record stores worldwide. From within Discographer you can search the globe, tap to call, and open stores’ addresses in Google maps – excellent for the traveling vinyl hound. For advanced features like the Vinyl Hub forum, there is a View on Vinyl Hub button. This integration adds excellent value, encapsulating all your album shopping needs into one fantastic app. http://i.imgur.com/Swgw0QV.png The Search Feature The Main Menu’s search function puts all of Discogs.com’s powerful search capabilities in a single, easy-to-use panel. And as with all of the app’s other functions, Andreas Dahl has done an outstanding job of building every menu into an impressively mobile-friendly layout. The search feature lets the user easily search by Release, Master, Artist, Label, and Stores without the frustrating interface of a drop down menu or having to open a secondary search config settings cog. Just tap the arrows at the upper left and right of your screen and the search heading will change to indicate the category of your search query. Best of all, the search menu includes a camera function so that the user can snapshot album barcodes, making collection-building an absolute snap! User Summary Panel Once logged in to your Discogs account, Discographer will display a complete summary of your profile. Everything is here, from contact info to collection stats to recent activity and Discogs recommendations. In earlier versions there was difficulty logging in to a user’s account from multiple mobile devices, but as of the latest release this has been resolved with a pair of in-app security codes which you will be prompted to enter on the second device at login. This gives users increased accessibility while protecting the security of their account. http://i.imgur.com/Srinn4U.png Album Summary Panel The album summary panel is a stand-out feature of incredible value to Discogs.com users. Below the album art, the panel is divided into a series of organized sections. The first presents all the basic info you’ll need to verify you’ve accessed the correct pressing – the album cover art, title, artist, label and catalog #, release date, genre and style. The next pane displays info about the user’s copy of the album, including rating and condition, folder, and notes. This is followed by a summary of Discogs suggested pricing based on various states of condition quality, (a fantastic quick-reference for crate diggers in the wild!), and below that, a list of copies currently for sale in the Discogs marketplace. Further panels provide track listing and album credits, Discogs catalog numbers, and barcode and matrix information. There are also buttons to view the release on Discogs.com, to share the entry, and to explore user reviews. Every feature offered from the desktop Discogs.com website appears to be fully accessible from this app, and its clean and well-organized interface make finding the information you need easier than ever from your tablet or smartphone. http://i.imgur.com/zI2u3Zv.png The Marketplace The Marketplace menu is divided into three primary screens with a navigator at the top of each. The first details all of your Orders, including all related communications and details. The next screen contains Purchases, and the last a mobile-friendly Inventory of all titles you have listed for sale in the Discogs Marketplace. A search panel is featured at the top of each of these menus, so any title you need to recall is only a few taps away. Additional Features The Main Menu also includes buttons to browse the marketplace, view and modify your Wantlist, and to build public Lists. If there are any other features you’d like to see integrated into this wonderful app, please contact the developer. Dahl has done an outstanding job and been great at responding to community feedback and requests. I absolutely recommend supporting future developments by purchasing the ad-free version for just $2 from the Settings menu of the app. It’s all right, Discogs team. You don’t have to worry about developing an official app for the Android platform. Dahl has got us covered! Download Discographer here! |
Time to Relax
A magnificent weekend! Beautiful, sunny weather, home repairs completed, and now to spend the evening hours awash in sonic bliss (presently Spacemind's psybient mix entitled, Distant Worlds[/URL]) and furiously poring over texts on the history of ambient music, taking note of major works which had previously escaped my radar.
Matt Anniss has just published a breathtaking examination of Ambient House music rich with samples of the works discussed. The write up discusses press documents and mailing list exclusives from the KLF at the dawn of the Chill Out scene, the Land of Oz parties, nights at Trancentral, veterans like Steve Hillage, David Toop, and Manuel Gottsching, the Telepathic Fish and the Spacetime parties, Megatripolis, guest speeches from Terence McKenna, Alan Ginsberg, George Monbiot and Timothy Leary... it is absolutely fantastic. And Mike Watson (producer of Ultima Thule in Sydney) has done an exquisite job provided a deeper, historical perspective on many of the most significant and influential artists in the field of ambient music on his website, AmbientMusicGuide.com. A relaxing evening at home, inspiring reading, and a hot cup of coffee. What more does a man need? http://i.imgur.com/y69EOIpl.jpg |
*like post*
Is that your own view of the sunset? It's lovely. |
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And the sunset is a photograph from Ambient Music Conference 2014 in Helsinki. You can always count on me to post relevant media. |
Merry christmas to me!
I recently got sick and tired of performing my usual type-intensive activities on my tablet or phone. These include drafting long-form articles on Wordpress, notetaking in Google Docs for my music research, task scheduling in Google Keep and Google Calendar, and additional work in Google Sheets. My Nexus 7 tablet has a Bluetooth mini-keyboard case which made these tasks unbearable. The keys were cheap and had poor action, several stopped working, and the 7" layout was far too small for effective typing.
I thought, given my Google-focused activities, that a Chromebook would be a fair solution. $200 for a 11.6" HP Chromebook 11 G4 seemed like a great value. And 99% of my activities are browser-based so Chrome OS would be well-suited to my needs. I am so glad that I hesitated, because this evening a fellow Linux user chimed in with a solution that instantly vanquished my Chromebook fantasies. In 55 seconds... you'll probably want one too. This simple solution is A. slightly more compact than a Chromebook (and fits into my messenger bag), B. costs a tiny fraction of the Chromebook's price tag, C. gives me the full-size keyboard action I'm after, D. vertically cradles my tablet, freeing me of the now-defunct cheap keyboard case... and E. makes more efficient use of my existing tech re-purposing my tablet for article writing / blogging / etc. BUT WAIT - THERE'S MORE! Added bonuses include the increased capabilities of my existing tablet over the somewhat limited functionality of a Chromebook, including access to the full Google Play market and my beloved media server app, AND that it transforms my tablet into a convertible with both touchscreen and full-size QWERTY input. This device will finally grant me the flexibility to do my work anywhere. Whether in bed or at the cafe, I've got everything I need to complete all my crazy projects. (Sennheisers on standby.) My new keyboard is on its way and I feel like a kid at Christmas. http://i.imgur.com/PKHcQNjl.jpg |
Woo-hoo!
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Breaking the Fourth Wall (Typographic LPs)
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I downloaded the image above from Marshall Watson back in 2005. Marshall used to travel the dirtyforum back in the day and won the Underworld remix contest for his version of "Bird 1"). While in 2005 it was a challenge to identify the single he holds in the shot, times have certainly changed by 2016. Feeding the image into Google’s reverse image search now immediately produces the single’s credits. The album is Einmusik - "Kleine Nachtmusik" ("A Little Night Music") - minimal tech-house distributed by Germany's famous Kompakt label. I have to applaud this cover for it's ballsy simplicity, even though I know it's been done before. After sampling the single on YouTube eleven years after I'd first spotting the cover I decided it was just the sort of thing I should have in my collection. A few moments later I secured a clean copy from a collector in the US and this evening it arrived at my door. It's amazing how far music collectors have come with the empowerment of the digital age. Here's XTC's second studio LP from 1978 - Go 2. For those unfamiliar with this record, the text continues and fills the entire reverse side of the LP sleeve. http://i.imgur.com/WID2FLXl.jpg Most of the Remixes... by Soulwax is another typographical cover, this one from 2007. The cover clocks in 552 characters of text. http://i.imgur.com/CpwHbMFl.jpg Dubstep artist, Skream opted for a humorously post-modern fourth-wall cover for Skream presents The Freeizm Album in 2010. http://i.imgur.com/gE7CqZUl.jpg And no feature on typographic covers is complete without mentioning Howlin' Wolf... http://i.imgur.com/Ru2ZBAwl.jpg EDIT: A reader kindly informed me that I’d made at least one glaring omission – and I felt it was my duty to correct the error. Here is the fantastic The Faust Tapes from 1973! http://i.imgur.com/sdb9q21l.jpg And tonight I'm proud to add "Kleine Nachtmusik" to my collection... eleven years in the making. Here's my newly-acquired copy, fittingly pictured beside an image of Karl Hyde. http://i.imgur.com/QwfcbPAl.jpg If you know of any similar covers I'd love to see 'em! |
Stay tuned for when I rip that concept off.
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Die Welt ist Klang: A Tribute to Pete Namlook (Revisited)
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Recently I revisited a lossless archive I’d picked up of the 8CD box set, Die Welt ist Klang: A Tribute to Pete Namlook. The re-visitation was an effort to remedy my terrible neglect of the many large collections I’d acquired but never given the proper, dedicated listen that they each deserved. As I surveyed the list of artists who’d contributed to the project, It quickly became evident that I had done a particular disservice both to the collection and to my own ears for having passed over something so significant. http://i.imgur.com/RocozEel.jpg Die Welt ist Klang is a tribute to Peter Kuhlmann, aka Pete Namlook. Namlook was a prominent ambient and electronic-music producer and composer, and the founder of the German record label FAX +49-69/450464. During the span of his career, Namlook and his label release 135 wonderful albums. Namlook also famously collaborated with Klaus Schulze for the monumental 11-volume series, The Dark Side of the Moog. After Namlook’s passing in 2012, artists from his label and his fans banded together to produce a tribute album in his memory. This included artists like Bill Laswell, Dr. Atmo (of Silence), and F.U.S.E. (an alias of Richie Hawtin), as well as ambient veterans like Spacetime Continuum, Higher Intelligence Agency, Biosphere, and Oliver Lieb. http://i.imgur.com/lZ5dFkOl.jpg Die Welt ist Klang is the result of their efforts. The set comprises four discs of 47 tracks contributed by FAX +49-69/450464 alumni, and four additional CDs of 44 tracks from their fans. About half of the tracks were never before released and several were composed specifically for the set. Die Welt ist Klang is handsomely packaged in a custom wooden box and includes a 24-page booklet. The set was released by Carpe Sonum Records and distributed by EAR/Rational Music. EAR/Rational was the official North American distributor for the FAX label and Carpe Sonum was created to keep the ambient spirit alive, beginning with this wonderful tribute collection. http://i.imgur.com/rR3icL2l.jpg From their official website: Quote:
http://i.imgur.com/0ekHBW4l.jpg I wasted not another moment’s hesitation and secured one of the remaining copies from the label for my own. Some might call it an irrational purchase, as I don’t even own a device with which to play these CDs. But sometimes music is more than the physical object. This collection is an objet d'art - a symbol of the celebration of a lifetime of music - and a collaborative triumph between artists and their fans. It's precisely the sort of album I want in my library. http://i.imgur.com/wzEVkMKl.jpg As of the writing of this article, EAR/Rational Music is offering the unsold copies from the third run for auction on eBay. It is a wonderful piece of ambient history and a fitting tribute to a man who did so much for the genre. I’m proud to have added it to my collection. RIP, Peter Kuhlmann 25.11.1960 - 08.11.2012 http://i.imgur.com/AEZqktvl.jpg NOTE: All of the images above are official photos from the Pete Namlook Tribute Bandcamp page. Support great music and order your own copy of this box set while they're still available! |
Damn. I had no idea he died.:(
I'm not the biggest fan, but I've spent some fun hours listening to the Dark Side Of The Moog series. |
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That's correct. I've always built my own towers for my server, and I honestly thought that CD-ROM/DVD-ROM drives disappeared YEARS ago. I recall from my days working in an office supply store about 5 years back when software companies stopped putting their content onto DVD discs and instead printed a download code in each box. (It really drives home how mentally handicapped you have to be to buy software in a store when they're going to make you go download it anyway!) I know the few big box cartels are still selling CDs - Walmart and a few others, but I really can't fathom why PCs would be sold with such a drive in 2016. I'm seeing really great things happening in the micro PC world - that really seems to be where its at. PiMAME is a brilliant and low-cost gaming center, and Raspbmc is equally great for home media servers. It's an incredible time to be alive for computing. I just don't see any reason to have a CD or DVD player in the 21st century. (invites the snide reply: "This from a dude who spend several grand on a RECORD PLAYER!") |
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*strokes white cat* I also wanted to support the continued work of Carpe Sonum and to honor Pete Namlook. |
Entertaining Foolish Notions
Over the past few months, a few people have put a crazy bug in my ear about my publishing a book. The problem with such a project is that, at the outset, I tend to write in short, blog-length bursts, and as such I'd dismissed the idea of a novel as pure fantasy.
Then this afternoon I was tidying my Google Drive and quickly discovered that I had a small stockpile of unpublished op-ed critical essays on culture, music, and the media. Suddenly the notion began to seem bizarrely feasible - not a novel but simply a modest collection of thought-pieces. I collected them in a folder and needed a working title, so I quickly banged out the phrase: The Media Mind - Frustrated Blatherings of a Pretentious Knob (24 Curmudgeonly Essays) ...I would buy that shi*t. |
I would totally buy it too. Looking forward to reading it at some point :)
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2016: A Music Odyssey – DISCOVERY ONE: Explorations of the Innerspace Archives
I had a nice afternoon to myself today so I got comfortable in bed with great tunes on the Hi-Fi and started revisiting my copy of Simon Reynolds’ RETROMANIA: Pop Culture’s Addiction to Its Own Past.
I was grabbed, yet again by a chapter on collector culture, addressing vinyl fetishism, and the impact of the internet on collectability. Reynolds explored the psyche of the collector. First, how collectors identify themselves as somehow more noble than common mall zombies in that they are discerning and well-informed consumers. Their collections serve not their own interest, but act as professional research material to enrich their understanding of music history. Then comes the pivotal moment when the collector realizes his/her collection may have exceeded the actual capacity they have to consume it in their limited life time. “Those potential pleasures stacked on the shelf stop representing delight and start to feel like harbingers of death,” Reynolds writes. He goes on to identify the collectors’ need for constant craving, and that the one elusive missing album is always the most important, (until it is inevitably replaced with the next of holy grails). This sort of niche activity was a fringe interest for decades, but at the turn of the millennium advancements in distribution technology made budding collectors of us all. Still, a burn-out was inevitable at this rapid pace, and it came with the iPod. The chapter addressed the digital hording that takes place for so many users who discover that they can have all the world’s music for free, and the failure of such a model to satisfy the psychological anxieties previously fulfilled by the physical incarnation of collector culture. The little white box, Reynolds notes, is a remarkably anti-social device. No matter how much music you pack into it, there is no personal memory attached to newly-acquired recordings. And earbuds isolate your musical experience, shutting out a world of potential participants. And with no investment attached, the music is stripped of any potential significance. Hundreds of thousands of tracks might sit dormant on a player, unlistened or deleted entirely, with little to no consequence to the consumer. Perhaps that very burn-out – the inconsequence of the music I compile has led me to start investing in exceptional works, like the several limited edition deluxe box sets I’ve ordered in the past month. After throwing a hundred dollars at a special collection, you’re damn right I’m going to set aside some time and actually LISTEN to the thing. By the chapter’s end, I found myself back in my office taking notes on large collections I’d compiled but never explored after the initial acquisition. Given my own hording tendencies and the looming mortality such a collection bears, I made a personal resolution this afternoon to set aside dedicated listening sessions with a checklist of works to survey in the weeks ahead. It would be like “the old days” when I’d saved up $16 for a CD and played that one disc a hundred times until I knew every note by heart. I’m reclaiming my music. http://i.imgur.com/lhb0OPHl.jpg |
Barbara, Barbara, We Face a Shining Future
http://i.imgur.com/akr80rzl.jpg
Underworld portrait © Perou / Courtesy of the artist For thirty-seven years, Rick Smith and Karl Hyde have been creating their own unique flavor of music, ranging from New Wave (with their first effort, a one-off single sold from the boot of Karl’s car as the Screen Gemz), to synth pop as Freur and Underworld Mk1, to progressive house experimentalism with their breakthrough self-reinvention on the album, Dubnobasswithmyheadman. From there Underworld’s sound grew infinitely richer and more adventurous, with everything from dancefloor anthems to ambient scores for film and the stage, to providing a soundtrack for the London 2012 Olympic Games. By the present day, their catalog boasts an impressive tally of 510 albums, EPs, live releases, collaborations, solo efforts, and singles. At 56 and 58 years old, the duo have been producing music longer than many of their listeners have been alive. Releasing a new LP, the band’s first new recordings in six years, would be a daunting task for any artist. But instead, as Ian Mathers notes in his review for PopMatters, “this might be the most relaxed, subtly confident record they’ve put out in Underworld Mk II’s history.” True veterans of electronic music, Barbara is artful and inventive and easily the freshest-sounding album I’ve heard all year thus far. Casual listeners hoping for an album of “Born Slippy”s be warned - this is instead an intimate and reflective album capturing the emotive spirit the band has past-exemplified in their more meditative and mid-tempo tracks and, as Mathers notes, “is more of a slow burn, a ‘Banstyle/Sappys Curry’ instead of a ‘Pearl’s Girl’." Slant Magazine revealed that “the album's title came from the mouth of Smith's dying father, being among the final words he uttered to his wife.” And Spin Magazine adds that the album’s “stirring background vocals over ever-turning arpeggiated synths are provided by Smith’s daughter, Esme, and Hyde’s daughter, Tyler, carrying the torch (almost literally) for future ravers.” This is what four-decade veterans of electronic music sound like in their most intimate and thoughtful moments. The opener, “I Exhale” sets the pace for the record - steady and patient, with a subtle energy harkening back to the halcyon days of their electrifying floor-stomping live performances. Karl’s familiar spoken-word vocals are welcome here, a signature sound of the band’s indelibility. The melodic hook that picks up and builds at the three minute mark of “If Rah” and returns to close the track is elemental to the structure of countless progressive house classics. And the abstract and sometimes stream-of-consciousness lyrics which accompany it fuse the formula into that which is unmistakably Underworld. The instrumental, “Santiago Cuatro” is an intimately organic and fragile departure from the tracks which preceded it, and it serves as the perfect transition to the magnificently radiant “Motorhome.” Relinquishing bass-heavy electronic percussion, the listener is left with a simple lyrical phrase accompanied by a curiously active meandering melody and delicately placed traditional piano tones. Brian Eno's influence from their recent collaboration certainly shines here. And true to form, the album closer, “Nylon Strung” is an empyrean ascent to unabashed bliss. With its recurring lyrical plea, “Carry me… open me up… I want to hold you… laughing…”, the duo invites us to share in their resounding joy. The theme of the record approaches the shimmery, reflective territory Karl explored with an early edit of “Always Loved a Film”, (then dubbed “Silver Boots”) broadcast only once - on May 19th 2006 from the band’s Lemonworld Studio. The track has long been a stand-out favorite with its four on the floor beats delicately balanced by more complex and thoughtful elements which reveal themselves over the eleven minutes of the song. And ever-present are Karl’s trademark vocals - stripped bare of effects and showcasing curious conversational fragments expertly-described by Jon Dennis (of the Guardian) as “affecting, fractured evocations of the disorientations of modern urban life.” Karl speaks, “Maggie’s a doll and I’m a big sister / She’s a little girl and I’m a little princess / These are the weeds that live in the cracks / and these are the rails at the edge of the world.” The phrases are puzzling and disconnected, but function beautifully in an abstract sort of elegance. This is what Underworld does best - and precisely what they’ve achieved with their wonderful new record. |
A Matter of Taste
Dear MB readers - I want to pull on your coat a moment.
Someone I know (with whom I have many shared family friends) tagged me in FB in a post celebrating aggro-rockers, Disturbed for their apparently "outstanding" nu-metal cover of "The Sound of Silence". She and her friends praised it as being "vastly superior" to the original. I felt that I had a responsibility, both as a critic and as a cultural custodian, to inform them, as unpopular as it will surely make me, that they have really ****ty taste in what is quantifiably and objectively a load of dingo's kidneys. So I did. As expected they all whined about it, one going so far as to say, "I saw S&G perform this live in the 60s, but this new metal cover is so much angrier and that's what the song SHOULD have been." I'm not going to apologize for being insensitive of their poor taste. I don't set out to be pretentious but this is a really extreme example of bad taste. What do you think? Should I curb my high horse to spare people with low artistic standards or am I right to call them out for being the bottom of the cultural barrel? I want to be a likeable and sensitive individual. This just "grinds my gears" and I'm sure I'll face similar situations in the future. What do you think? |
Did you listen to it and how do you feel about the original?
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I constantly find myself coming into similar scenarios with friends of mine. I'm a touch too opinionated to sit back while others' speak, and whenever someone makes a statement I disagree with, I feel the need to interject. I think in your scenario, much like any of the ones I find myself in, it matters not what you say as people won't back down from their opinions, even though I find that often times they fail to back up their stance. I've gotten into countless arguments about why I don't like x musician, and whenever I ask the person I'm discussing with to explain what they like about the act, they just reply "it just sounds good" or "I just like it."
At the end of the day, I don't think telling someone that they have shitty taste will ever go over well, nor will it cause any change, but I know personally it never stops me from saying something, so I don't blame you. |
I watched the shared video three times. The first from as neutral a position as I could, the second critically, and the third was a painful fast-forward to expose my fiance to as little of the wretched thing as possible through her anguish and cries to make it stop.
She gasped, "dear god it's like country nu-metal!" I see great value in the original work. It has historical and cultural significance as a generational anthem among its devotees. It addressed the social and political strife shared by the youth of the era, to say nothing of the angelic vocals of the legendary duo. Also the minimal instrumentation and softly-sung vocals gave the lyrics a meditative and reflective sonic space - highly-conducive to the message of the song. Disturbed's cover by comparison was adolescent, angsty, angry, and painfully derivative. The 60s covers trope was exhausted 10-15 years ago and peaked with Cash's American series (where he, himself covered S&G). This new recording offers nothing to add to the majesty of the original. The vocals were far too showmanlike, obstructing the sensitive message of the lyrics. The track suffered from overproduction and was way too "over the top" in every respect. No sir. I don't like it. |
State your well constructed opinion just like that and watch them fume while you enjoy some coffee.
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Posting well-constructed opinion to thread. Awaiting said fumes. |
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In all seriousness, taste is still objective. I mean sure, I agree with you, but that doesn't make me any more superior. You were fortunate enough to have found yourself in an environment where Disturbed was never really part of your listening reportoire, but these facebook friends you have are probably millennials or gen x'ers, and nu metal was the style embraced by teenagers and young adults of the era. Due to things like nostalgia and fitting in, which are important to all adolescents, they grew up never questioning their taste because they probably don't care. You have to remember, these are casual music fans. We're all full out fanatics. Of course we can't stand Disturbed, we know better. These people could care less if their post-punk listening is up to date or they've dug deep enough into krautrock. That doesn't mean they have bad taste, it means they have no taste. And they don't care. Of course, correct me if I'm wrong. |
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Perhaps it's a wasted battle when the villian doesn't care but it honestly feels like these people are dragging down the cultural standard of our society. The really frightening reality is... these people are MOST of our society. |
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It's finally arrived! After playing the FLAC on repeat all week, I can now add the LP edition to my batsh*t crazy Underworld collection!
Now playing: Underworld - Barbara, Barbara We Face a Shining Future (2016) http://i.imgur.com/M6bYzsGl.jpg |
The Imaginarium: A Wedding Box Set!
New Audio Project of the Morning!
My fiance has been hard at work sewing, knitting, and crocheting fun trinkets to gift to the guests at our wedding this August. We're having a very DIY wedding - crafting all of the display items, gift boxes, guest books, invitiations, RSVPs, our wedding vBulletin forum website, cake, wardrobe, etc ourselves. Not to be left out of the creative process, I set myself to the task of constructing a multi-disc box set of our favorite musical selections which will be featured at the event. The album art is a collection of design pieces by John Warwicker of the Tomato Design Collective which have appeared in exhibitions throughout the UK and in Tokyo. The set thus far comprises a series of volumes each focusing on a particular facet of our shared musical interest:
To distribute the content I will order a bulk stock of flash drives (perhaps with custom graphics if the price is right), and I'll place the drives at each guest's seat on the day of the event. It's my wedding... I'm going to have some fun with it! |
Late to the party, but, as a Simon and Garfunkel devotee, I champion you. Well done, sir.
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