Wanna be a superstar DJ?

There's an 'app' for that.



Against The Grain Records has released the Krafty Kuts application for iPhone.

They say:
"Add a new dimension to your DJ sets with this awesome sound effects tool which comes pre-loaded with over 100 samples including MC shouts, sirens, bass drops and many more useful noises to spice up your set.

"I wanted to produce a sampler style app which could actually be used by DJs in clubs, on radio or even at home," says Krafty Kuts. "Having the ability to drop samples like 'Make Some Noise In Here!' along with big 'woosh' and 'lazer' noises over my mixes, without the need for a laptop or third turntable is amazing!"

No matter your preferred genre of music, or if you're a budding bedroom DJ or a pro, you'll find these DJ Tools both useful and fun to use. With an incredibly simple user interface you'll be able to launch samples at the touch of a button out the the corner of your eye - so you won't be heads down while you're ripping it up!"

You can buy it for just under three quid on iTunes now.

The only think that confuses me about this 'app' is that Apple has rated it '9+' for "infrequent mild cartoon / fantasy violence". Erm, did I miss something?

Need inspiration? Try 'The Brainstormer'

The Brainstormer is a Flash gadget aimed at inspiring illustrators, but it can work equally well for anyone needing a band name, track title or an unusual stylistic nudge.

Go to Andrew Bosley's site to try it out.

Another party-friendly bootleg for you!

tOtALcULt - Dynamite Lady by tOtALcULt

Modjo's 'Lady' meets MC Dynamite's verses from Krafty Kuts' 'There They Go' atop some funky breaks business.

Direct download link here for those who don't like Sandclart:
http://bit.ly/4AIRn5

Enjoy, feel free to post a comment if you like it / detest it. And it's a 320, so do play it out if you feel so inclined.

EastWest Orchestra - Free Edition

Soundsonline is offering a free edition of the EastWest Quantum Leap Orchestra instrument, including strings, woodwind, brass and percussion.

Go here, fill out a survey and it's yours. Also, there's a cheap upgrade path to the full versions until January 31st.

Go Pro!

See the pic in full here.

Free Daft Punk bootleg for all y'all!

I done did a bottleg / mashup. It's the first time I've done that.

It's Chic's 'Good Times' meets Daft Punk's 'Around the World' meets Dan The Automator's remake of 'Rapper's Delight'.

Decent party-fodder I reckon.

Grab it here and have a very merry Christmas!

Free Kore content from NI

Native Instruments are making sure the season goes with a swing by releasing nearly 500MB of new sounds for their free Kore Player.

The sounds come from the following packs:
57 DRAWBAR ORGAN - The legendary 1957 Hammond™ C3 drawbar organ
KONTAKT RETRO MACHINES - The sounds of seminal synths and drum machines from the 70's and 80's
KONTAKT SAX & BRASS - Saxophones, trumpets and trombones from KONTAKT
DEEP RECONSTRUCTIONS - Highly creative, unconventional effects
ESSENTIAL BASS - Ready-to-use instrument containing classic synth basses to sampled uprights
URBAN ARSENAL 2 - Second installment of the complete hip-hop production toolkit
ACOUSTIC REFRACTIONS - Original sampled sounds, combined with advanced processing
MASCHINE DRUM SELECTION – Groove construction tool and library taken from MASCHINE
EVOLVE MUTATIONS - Rhythmic suites, percussive kits and unconventional instruments/ FX
ABSYNTH SPECTRAL EXPANSIONS - Newly designed sounds from the modern legend ABSYNTH
ABSYNTH TWILIGHTS - From ethereal, enchanting pads to dark and foreboding soundscapes
SONIC FICTION - Brilliantly bizarre musical instruments inspired by Sci-Fi culture

Go here to download the new content and here to download the free Kore player.

40 Amen Breaks

Courtesy of Cyberworm's very excellent Sample Blog.

Download from here.

Free synth from Ohmforce

As an early Christmas gift, those lovely plug-in types at Ohmforce are giving away a stripped down version of their Symptohm Melohman synth.

Features:
* 2 unique sample-based SyncGrain oscillators (SGOs).
* Additional Sub Oscillator, based on SyncGrain's spectral content.
* Stereo noise generator.
* A ring modulator for each voice, based on the Sub Oscillator.
* inter-voice Ring Modulation.
* Dynamic routing of the signal into a 'powered by Quad Frohmage' filter bank, with loads of filter types, distortion, band delay and much more.
* Extensive modulation options (one LFO + one xADSR per parameter + MIDI) for almost every parameter.

The 'Peformer Edition' they are giving away has 1200 presets(!) and although takes away control tweakability, it retains the ability to morph between presets AND you can still load your own samples into it, replacing the factory ones.

Grab it now!!!!

Free Music Friday

On my heavy metal Christmas my true love gave to me,
12 silver crosses
11 black mascaras
10 pairs of platforms
9 tattered t-shirts
8 pentagrams
7 leather jackets
6 cans of hairspray
5 skull earrings
4 quarts of Jack
3 studded belts
2 pairs of spandex pants
and a tattoo of Ozzy!

And who could ask for more? Well, you lot probably, so here it is:

First we have a very festive offering for this season of goodwill and all that lovely stuff.

It's an alternative take on Christmas given to us by those splendid folks at XO Publicity. Actually, I'm with Bill Hicks on this, anyone who works in PR is Satan's little helper, but y'know it's snowing and I feel kind.

Anyway, by alternative, they mean jangly American pop-rock from bands called things like 'Sleepwalk Kid' and 'Caravan of Thieves', but at least it's better than John f*cking Denver. (Yes, that is his middle name.)

So if jangly indie pop is your bag, click here to download. If not then humbug to you sir, but hopefully you will enjoy our other offerings!


Sublime to the ridiculous now, or vice versa, as we move from indie to airhorn-blasting ghetto bass through the exciting method of intarweb space folding.

So yeah, think we transitioned that okay.

Scatter Music is a new netlabel / blog offering its releases for free whilst simultaneously selling them through major download sites. It makes payment entirely optional and as far as I know it's a pretty new approach to running a label.

I'm loving the chaos of Mat Cant's 'Hornbo', their second release. It's a slice of bruckwilin' party-friendly beat-breakery chock full of mad ragga samples and airhorns. Noice!

Their first release was a 21-track dirty bomb of an album blasting its way through breaks, hip-hop, twitchy house and Baile-funk. Go here to grab Real Music For Hustlers. If you like your music loud, chaotic and mental you won't regret it.


Let's ease back with something chilly-outy now. Re-Runs is a free EP from 00Genesis, featuring crackly beats, laid-back loungey samples and thumping bass. Just the ticket if you need to relax after battling your way through the zombie hoards whilst Christmas shopping.

Go here and register to download Re-Runs and a load of other releases.

Finally this week, a release from heroes of breaks Splitloop who have remixed, re-recorded and re-imagined tracks from their album 'Pleasure Machine' in an easy listening stylee. The result? 'Leisure Machine' of course.

Really awesome stuff. It works incredibly well. Go here and hear for yourself.

How To: Smack Your Bitch Up

Wunderbar!

Thunderous noise

July 2009 Reason Wizardry - Thor Audio-Rate Modulation from Jeremy Janzen on Vimeo.

Nucleus SoundLab get freaky with Thor's routing in Reason. Interesting stuff for anyone with a modular / semi modular soft synth.

Can you tell the difference...

... between a recording made on Reason in a bedroom setup vs a professional studio worth thousands of pounds?





Just how far has music software come?

Well, the MusicRadar blog is putting just that to the test.

Go here and listen to the A/B comparison.

Which one do you think was mixed in Reason and why?

Now go here to see if you were right.

Tim Exile performing with his incredible Reaktor setup

Wow.

There's a brief explanation of all the technical jiggery-pokery in this vid:

Mixtape Wednesday

Oh Em Eff Gee! Do we have some tasty treats for your this week? Yes we do. So let's not mess about, here we go.



First, let's get festive with the modestly-titled "World's Greatest Christmas Mixtape". DJ's Chris Read and Marc Hype get chopping, slicing, mixing and blending - not to create a wonderful chestnut stuffing, but instead the perfect eclectic Christmas mixtape.

Funk, soul, hip-hop, reggae and Latin flavours are all present and correct and the mixing is absolutely spot on.

The tracklist is massive, including James Brown, Run DMC, Elvis Presley, Dan The Automator, Blondie and Yuletide classics from the Jackson 5, Petula Clarke and Paul McCartney - all presented in a cut & paste stylee with skill and humour.

Go here to grab a copy, courtesy of Music Of Substance.



Next up something fierce, fresh, rock-steady and bass-heavy. Granted it's not very Christmassy, but if that's the effect you're going for, try hanging some holly off your balls whilst listening.

It's a brand new mix of glitch-hop and dubstep spun by William Breakspear, head honcho of the newborn Spanky Panky label.

We're expecting big tings from this label in 2010. It promises to provide much funky, mid-tempo, heavy bottom-end wickedness. Watch this space for news and free teaser MP3s.

And grab the mix here. No tracklist, but rest assured there are some mammoth tunes in there, nuff FX and lots of squonky goodness.


Some lush soulful vibes now, courtesy of DJ Hanif, on a downtempo tip.

Tracks from Spacek, Rollercone, King Britt and more,combined with plenty of moody vocal performances, lend this a smoked out, bumping atmosphere - like a 1960s soul club catapulted into the 21st Century. Or something.

Go here to get your groove on and check out Hanif's other mixes.

And finally for this week, something to recognise the massive impact the Warp label has made on the music scene over the last two decades.

That's right, it's been 20 years!

And by way of a celebration, DJ Flincha has put together a mixtape featuring plenty of Aphex Twin, Drexcia, Flying Lotus, LFO, Hudson Mohawke and heaps of other forward-thinking, boundary-busting beat-makers.

It's not downloadable, but you can listen here on this widgetty thing:

Flincha Presents - Warped Steel - 20 Years Of Warp by Inaudibleanswer on Mixcloud

That's yer lot for this week, enjoy!

In C

In 1964 a composer called Terry Riley composed a piece of music called 'In C'.

From Wikipedia:
In C consists of 53 short, numbered musical phrases, lasting from half a beat to 32 beats; each phrase may be repeated an arbitrary number of times. Each musician has control over which phrase he or she plays: players are encouraged to play the phrases starting at different times, even if they are playing the same phrase. The performance directions state that the musical ensemble should try to stay within two to three phrases of each other. The phrases must be played in order, although some may be skipped. As detailed in some editions of the score, it is customary for one musician ("traditionally... a beautiful girl," Riley notes in the score[2]) to play the note C (in octaves) in repeated eighth notes. This functions as a metronome and is referred to as "The Pulse".

In C has no set duration; performances can last as little as fifteen minutes or as long as several hours, although Riley indicates "performances normally average between 45 minutes and an hour and a half." The number of performers may also vary between any two performances. The original recording of the piece was created by 11 musicians (through overdubbing, several dozen instruments were utilized), while a performance in 2006 at the Walt Disney Concert Hall featured 124 musicians.

The piece begins on a C major chord (patterns one through seven) with a strong emphasis on the mediant E and the entrance of the note F which begins a series of slow progressions to other chords suggesting a few subtle and ambiguous changes of key, the last pattern being an alteration between B♭ and G. Though the polyphonic interplay of the various patterns against each other and themselves at different rhythmic displacements is of primary interest, the piece may be considered heterophonic.

Here's part one of the original recording:



Then, in late 2008, the Grand Valley State University New Music Ensemble decided to make a new recording of 'In C'.

Their idea was to release a double CD - one disc with their performance in full and a second disc of remixes.

The project is now complete and you can hear the results here:


You can also get an insight into the project from the remixers point of view by listening to this week's Radiolab podcast from WNYC.

Traktor + Maschine + X1 Controller = Mad Skillz

DMC-winning DJ Rafik mashes up the Chemical Brothers' 'Block Rockin Beats' live using the latest technology from Native Instruments.

Aquasky Bass Tutorial

Loop TV caught up with Dave Wallace of Aquasky to watch him turn a sampled drum n bass hit into a complete bassline using Kontakt.

Watch the video here. (No embedding of Loop TV for some reason!)

New Audio Visual Mix from DJ Food & DK

DJ Food & DK present - Now, Look & Listen from Solid Steel on Vimeo.

DJ Food & DK showcase their AV mix that they perform live on 4 decks and 3 mixers. Using Serato's Video-SL plug-in for Scratch Live, they mix, scratch and blend the sound AND vision for each track they play.
Months were spent creating videos for each piece of music, either using the original source material or, in most cases sampling footage to create a new video entirely. Described as 'Video Turntablism', it has become a way for Food & DK to visualize their already legendary DJ sets.
As usual, it's the diverse mix of music that they love and are known for, taking in current club floor fillers, but also making room for classic tracks. You can now marvel not only at their musical tastes, but also the visual side as well.

The Day The Earth Stood Still.

This is how it ends. Our robot overlords are already here and they go "Fwonk".

This is a robot built by Nervous Squirrel containing a 'Weird Sound Generator' synth from Music From Outer Space.

Fwonk* Monday

Prolific (pruh-lif-ik)
–adjective
1. producing offspring, young, fruit, etc., abundantly; highly fruitful: a prolific pear tree.
2. producing in large quantities or with great frequency; highly productive: a prolific writer.
3. profusely productive or fruitful (often fol. by in or of): a bequest prolific of litigations.
4. characterized by abundant production: a prolific year for tomatoes.
5. Katarrhaktes.

Today, though the infinite love of Fwonk* Monday, you get the chance to meet a true phenomenon. A man who seems to sweat music, tracks dripping from his every orifice, remixes scattering carelessly from his pockets like so much loose change every time he sits down, albums dropping like biscuit crumbs as he dusts the front of his sweater.

Welcome to the itchy glitchy world of Katharrhaktes.

With eight albums to his name (and counting) and a penchant for destroying pop music with fiercely squonky remixes, Katharrhaktes' sound is hard to explain or describe.

It's like music only broken. If music could be kept, tethered and strait-jacketed, blindfolded in a cold, wet, windowless cell for 3 years, only being let out once a week to be waterboarded or given shock treatment, this is probably how it would sound.

Just check out the deeply freaky Katarrhaktes remix of Hannah Montana's 'Hoedown Throwdown' and you'll start to see what I mean:



I honestly expected the man behind such music to be writing strange prophecies about robot badgers on the wall of his rubber room using crayons and faeces. However, when we caught up with him for a chat, he seemed to all intents and purposes a very rational and sane human being.

Mind you, they said that about Charles Manson. It's always the quiet ones you have to watch...



How would you describe your music?

It’s different depending on which LP/EP you’re listening to. There’s a kind of continuity going, too, so if you listen to my earliest music, it’s quiet, ambient, and textured noise over piano. Over time it’s gotten darker and much more sparse, with an increasing reliance on digital technology. Dynamics are often vast, ranging from ear-splitting industrial noise shrieks to incredibly soft atmospherics. If I absolutely had to put a label on it, it would probably have to be something like: Bipolar Dark Electronic Harsh Ambient Wreckno

Which of your Fwonk* releases are you happiest with and why?

NO FUTURE. It's my only release on Fwonk*. This is a sin that must be rectified. That album is not easy to ‘get’, seeing as it’s essentially a lengthy indulgence of remixing some sickeningly mainstream pop songs with almost unknown artists. All over-driven with noise, of course.

When and where do you make music?

In my bedroom. I make music whatever state of mind I may happen to be in. Time isn’t really an issue, either, although you probably won’t find me doing anything between the hours of midnight and nine o’clock a.m.

What inspires you?

Suffering. The sad things in the world. I don't think I have ever written a piece of music about a joyful experience. If I do write about beauty, it’s always tinged with the knowledge that that will wither and perish. My happiest-sounding track so far is entitled ‘the wish that was, but never would be’.
I am often inspired by disillusionment and the separation of one’s own perception of reality from reality itself. Truth can be relative, but much of the time it’s not.

How does your creative process work?

Sometimes I’ll ‘hear’ a particular line of percussion or melody, either in a dream or a random passing moment, and quickly record myself singing that. Later when I can get access to my computer, I’ll re-create it and flesh it out. The next step comes with improvising and finding sounds that work with whatever I’m working with. Much of the time this will be weird samples taken from something like radio hiss, a guitar that sounds like a vocal line, something like that. After I’ve got it all down and am completely happy with what I’ve made, that track is then left for a few weeks, listened to again, and either left or worked on more.
Getting myself into the right frame of mind to get down and write has always been a problem, but I force myself to do it anyway to keep myself on edge, and as a result, I produce a whole load of music pretty quickly, and usually have a backlog of material. Right now I have around fifteen tracks completed and ready to send out into the world, but the problem is with pacing – having literally just released two full-length albums in two months, I don’t think it’s wise to flood the market with way too much too quickly if I can help it. I’m thinking of setting myself some new boundaries to ensure that I only release one thing every couple of months.

What hardware / software / instruments do you use to make music?

PC with an old version of ACID Pro and Sound Forge
Boss Dr. Rhythm DR-550
East West Quantum Leap Symphony Orchestra [silver edition]
FRG-7 Communications Receiver
Various free VSTs
Zoom H2 recorder
A circuit-bent Casio SA-21 keyboard
Cornet
A violin owned by a man who is now dead, and has not been re-tuned since he departed.
Egg shaker
Piano
Ocarina
Recorder
A myriad of bells and whistles

Who are your favourite bands / producers / DJs?

I can enjoy pretty much every type of music, as long as it's well done, although I have to admit that I tend towards listening to music with a dark aesthetic. As far as bands go, I'm very into Blam Honey, Collide, Curve, Dir en grey, Massive Attack [the late albums especially], Nine Inch Nails, and Teargas & Plateglass.

Whereabouts in the world do you come from? And is that where you live now?

I'm from London in the UK. Born and bred, and still here!

What's your favourite noise?

When you’re alone in the middle of a moor at twilight, and you can’t see or hear any sign of civilisation. And you stand there with your eyes closed and are at peace, even though around you, you know that the harsh landscape is at war with itself.

What's your least favourite noise?

Not hearing. A few months ago, one of my ears became blocked, which meant that I couldn't hear a thing. I couldn't listen to music, let alone make it. It was one of the more traumatic experiences I've had.

Download 'No Future' by Katarrhaktes here and visit his own site for much more music.

Make your own Spectrum Analyzer

A very talented japanese person teaches us how to build a physical spectrum analyzer using nothing but 16 computer fans, a couple of acrylic sheets and plastic beads. Oh, and some leds.

Looks nice, works, and i'd certainly pay for a USB version.

Where's my monkey?

So Caspa has absolutely rinsed the dubstep scene with his tearout remix of TC's 'Where's My Money?'



Now Parker, from Goodgroove Records has gone one better by remashing and mangling it with a side order of Jungle Book bizniss into 'Where's My Monkey?'

Enjoy:

Free Music Friday - Funk Special

Free as a bird,
it's the next best thing to be.
Free as a bird.

Ah, free as a bird. That's how we like it. But with less feathers and beaks and weird twiglet feet. Especially the twiglet feet. What's up with those? Birds are freaks basically. But at least they're free.

Which is also how we like our music here at th'Object.

Another smorgasbord of music awaits, so let's get down to it.

Now, we don't normally include single tracks in our free music round-up, normally we'll highlight full EPs and even albums, but once in a while we find something a bit special and have to break our self-imposed rules.

'Misdemeanour' by the CBs is already a slice of pure old-school funk released on DJ, producer and funkmaster general A-Skillz' new label, Jam City.

Then Mr Skillz stepped up on remix duties and a dancefloor-smashing monster was born.

And now he's giving the track away for free. What a bloody nice chap. It's a killer tune, you need this in your life.

Grab it here.



Staying on a funky tip, next we have an album by French hip-hopper DJ Trans Bert entitled 'Music, Friends, Life'.

With cool, smoky vibes, jazz flourishes, crisp beats and tight cuts aplenty, this is a very slick debut from the as-yet unsigned Trans Bert (who also goes by the name of Tatsuki The Abstract, after all, everyone needs a good AKA nowadays).

You can download the album here courtesy of The Find Mag and get your head nod on.

More funky bizniss now, this time from Hungarian netlabel Budabeats. If you've not heard of them, you are in for a massive treat.

This is music to comb your Afro to. And if you don't have an Afro, you might just grow one listening to this raw, badass funky material. It's tougher than Shaft, sweeter than Coffy and even more pimp than The Mack.

Refusing to be confined by pigeonholes and genres, Budabeats are putting out trip-hop, breaks, turntablism and other funky stuff and it's all free.

I've been rinsing 'Funkagent' by Sliptone all week - a brilliant release.

Head over to their site for this and many more releases.

Finally, something a bit more slow and slinky, smooth soulful hip-hop from Canada's Henry Moses.

He's just released his album 'Love and Happiness' - a collection of slow jams, with slick vocal guest performances, nice scratches and crisp beats. His production is full of great samples and smooth vocals, 'Shine' featuring Amenta is a particularly beautiful track.

Grab it here (Megaupload link).

Cheers all, have a truly funky weekend.

Mixtape Wednesday

Go shorty, it's ya birthday, gonna party like it's ya birthday.

Even if it's not 'ya birthday' we're still 'gonna party' because this week I got another year older.

And to celebrate, we have some superfly TNT action, where TNT stands for TurNTable. What? It sort of works. Well okay pedant-pants it doesn't, but it's my birthday so shutuppayaface and enjoy the mixes.

First up, a 4-deck mix from Fort Knox Five, recorded live in Colorado in October this year.

Weighing in at 80 minutes, around 40 tracks, countless beats, cuts, samples and loops, with acapellas, mash-ups and more than a sprinkling of low-down dirty grimey funk - this is great work.

Download it here.








Tracklist:

1. Mr Bigstuff vs Lyrics Born - Sould Out DJs
2. Money Banger - A Skillz
3. Sign, Sealed, Delivered (DJ Smash's Remix) - Stevie Wonder
4. Shake Ya Ass - Street Punx
5. The Brazilian Hipster - Fort Knox Five
6. Buffalo Boot (DC's Finest Fort Knox Five Edit) - Buffalo Springfield vs Shaft
7. My Girl Remix - Temptations vs DJ Solarz
8. More Bounce - Dj Dan and Uberzone
9. Rock of Ages - DC's Finest featuring Huula
10. The Balance (Fort Knox Five Remix) - Sub Swara
11. Fifth of Cool J - DC's Finest (Fort Knox Five Edit)
12. Calling Out A Winner (DC's Finest Fort Knox Five Edit) - Hot Chocolat vs Lyrics Born
13. Shining Star (Fuzzbox Inc Edit) - Earth, Wind, and Fire
14. Work (Fuzzbox Inc Edit) - Masters at Work
15. Party & B.S. (Mat the Alien Edit) - Notorious B.I.G.
16. Downside Up - Nick Thayer & Agent 86
17. I'm Bossy (Reece Re-Edit) - Kelis
18. Dusty Girl (Jay Clue's Edit) - DJ Tripp - B.I.G. vs Leftfield vs Stereo MCs
19. Dizzie Dollie (Different Strokes Edit) - Dolly Parton vs Dizzee Rascal vs Billy Squire
20. Azzido Da Banger - Will Styles
21. Night Owl - Neighbour & Think Tank
22. What Make Ya Dance featuring Rootz - Fort Knox Five
23. Funky Music Till You Die - Kool Hertz
24. The Champ (Nick Thayer Edit) - The Mohawks
25. Boogie Call - Slynk
26. Whatchyagot - Funkburners
27. Electro E.L.O. (DC's Finest Fort Knox Five Edit) - E.L.O.
28. Black Dog in the Streets - Unknown
29. Revolution (DC's Finest Fort Knox Five Edit) - The Beatles
30. Bmore Salmon (A Skillz Edit) - Chemical Brothers
31. Body Slam - Neighbour
32. Dynamo Bustamove (DC's Finest Fort Knox Five Edit) - Dynamo Productions vs Young MC
33. The Sax Pusher featuring Frank Mitchell - Fort Knox Five
34. Big Band Breaks - DC's Finest (Fort Knox Five Edit)
35. Baba O'Reilly (Sebastien Edit) - The Who
36. War Pigs (Drums of Death Edit) - Black Sabbath
37. Studdastep (DC's Finest Fort Knox Five Edit) - Biz Markie vs Sukh Knight
38. Paper Planes - M.I.A.
39. Come Together (A Skillz Banger) - The Beatles


Next is a jacking disco mix, "blending old, new, classic, disco, electro, grime, rock and more into a delicious b-girl bouillabaisse" from Cassie Carpenter.

For my money, this mix takes a couple of minutes to find its groove, but it's worth getting through the first few tracks, because once the Rye Rye + MIA track hits, the rest of the mix just blows up with groove after relentless groove.

Download and listen courtesy of DiscoWorkOut here.

Tracklist:

1. Los Angeles Intro (including Tchaikovsky’s Sleeping Beauty and David Lynch)
2. Pants are Saggin’ – DJ Tragic
3. Burnin’ – DJ Attack
4. Inside Ya – DJ Tragic
5. Bang – Rye Rye featuring MIA
6. Credit in the Straight World – Ssion
7. The Dull Flame of Desire (Modeselektor Remix for Boys Edit) – Björk
8. Ain’t My Type of Hype (Rap) – Full Force
9. Jungle Fever – Chakachas
10. Fit In Interlude – TV Carnage
11. Born to Be Alive – Patrick Hernandez
12. Damian Lazarus Interlude
13. Fuckingham Palace – Alter Ego
14. Nattura (Switch Remix) - Björk
15. I Love U (Larry Tee Secured Dub Remix) - Bart B More
16. Off the Map – Simian Mobile Disco featuring Jamie Lidell
17. Baby Let Me Kiss You – Fern Kinney
18. The Goddess Appears – Koji Kondo
19. I Can’t Help It (Todd Terje Remix) – Michael Jackson
20. Lose You (Drums of Death Remix) – Peaches
21. Lose You (Slash Fiction Remix) – Peaches
22. Frenchapella and What is Love? – Deee-Lite
23. Monty Python/Disco Show/8 Bit Weapon Interlude
24. Bacon Fat – Andre Williams
25. Brainless (Baron Von Luxxury Remix) – Sunny Day Sets Fire
26. Do You Wanna Funk – Patrick Cowley & Sylvester
27. Golden Cage (Fred Falke Remix) – The Whitest Boy Alive
28. Brian 2 Demo – James Braun
29. Still Going – Spaghetti Circus
30. Clown (Moves Remix) – Ssion
31. Jeffer – Boyz Noise
32. Scatterheart – Björk
33. Roscoe (Beyond the Wizard’s Sleeve Remix) – Midlake
34. William’s Blood (Aeroplane Remix) – Grace Jones
35. Untitled – The Cure

Also hot this week - breaks, bass and genre-hopping from one of Fat! Records' tips for 2010, Randomer.

This mix glides from funky breaks, to silky chilled beats, to drum & bass with apparently effortless ease - something like watching a swan float downriver with a boombox on its back.

Download the mix and a free track from Randomer here.

Tracklist:
1. Zombie Disco Squad - The Dance
2. Joe - Claptrap
3. Untold - Just For You (Roska Remix)
4. Randomer & Jonny5 - Too Many Times
5. Martyn - Mega Drive Generation
6. Untold - I Can’t Stop This Feeling (Pangaea Remix)
7. Untold - Palamino
8. Drop The Lime - Set Me Free (Lil Silva Remix)
9. Lil Silva - Different
10. Randomer - Bleep Loop
11. NB Funky - Frequency
12. Randomer - Scapegoat
13. Toasty - Full Clip
14. Randomer - Soft Focus
15. Instra:mental - No Future
16. Randomer - Junk
17. Danny Breaks - Outro
18. Randomer - Easter Island
19. Enei - Z-Grab
20. Randomer - Down in the Woods
21. Randomer - Down to the Club
22. Randomer - Synth Geek
23. Randomer - Trogs
24. Randomer - Synth Geek
25. Dan Harbarnam - Zoom Back Camera
26. Danny Breaks - The Big Bossa
27. Commix, Nutone & Logistics - Soundbyte
28. Randomer - Puzzled
29. Hunchbak - Peace Wip
30. Randomer & REDS - Modem Jazz
31. Hunchbak - Peace Wip
32. Decimal - Circle Of Nine
33. Sabre - God Fearing
34. Randomer - Appetite
35. Martsman - Halow
36. Randomer - Rough Sex

And finally, a mix from techno legend Dave Angel, a man whose chunky British re-invention of the classic Detroit vibe has been an inspiration to me for many years.

This mix was recorded a year ago, but still sounds fresh. I can't find a tracklist on the web anywhere, but it does contain a couple of tracks from his 'Ghost Train EP'.

It takes me back to my days of eye rolling head massages at Voodoo in Liverpool, the days when Dave Angel's 'In Flight Entertainment' EP absolutely blew my mind.

Download it here and crank your stereo.

Bohemian Rhapsody... WITH COWS ! - No, i mean, WITH COMPUTERS !

Well, finally they've done it. The canadians done it. They took useless computer junk, and hacked it to make beautiful music with it. So here it is, a version of Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen, interpreted on Oscilloscope, Scanner, Printer and Atari 800 XL.



One wonders: what will they do next ? This is the beginning of a new era. Soon, musicians all over the world will be replaced by calculating machines and slide rules, and this people will be able to focus on more productive tasks, like ploughing.

Cubase Portable?

If this is for real, it changes everything! Fully functional Cubase 5, with VST support, on a PSP portable gaming system. Too good to be true?

Googling hasn't thrown up any legitimate launch links, but this is a very intriguing demo / hoax.

Endless Endless

The wonderful Audiobulb Records have initiated a collaborative project (in fact it appears to have been running a while) called Endless Endless and have been asking for further submissions for the project. They are looking for submissions of 120 seconds duration of Ambient or Microsound compositions to be potentially used in a notfor profit CD/Download compilation. Submission and contact details are outlined below. Usefully for people like me who start stuff but never finish it on time, there is no submission deadline.
Project Specifications:

+ Endless Endless is made up of tracks of an ambient and/or microsound nature.

+ Tracks need to be sent in a WAV format (preferably 24bit, 44.1kHz).

+ Each track must be 120 seconds long.

+ Please label your file as follows - "artist_name-track_name"

+ Please send me an email confirming that you are happy for the music to be used in the project and made available for public download.

+ Lastly confirm whether you are happy for the track to be used in a potential future Endless Endless CD or digital download - available for purchase? If this is achieved it will be a small scale run and not for profit - but artists will get a copy.

Please send to contact@audiobulb.com or use www.yousendit.com
Audiobulb Records www.audiobulb.com exploratory music

OMFG! Want one!

Okay, so it costs almost $800. But I still want one. It's a tiny theremin inside a Russian doll, what's not to want?

Buy them here.

Free Music Friday

It's Winter, which means Jack Frost is nipping at our noses and Johnny Boredom is nagging at our noggins.

But we can cure your seasonal blues and warm your chilly bits with an early Christmas stocking, brimful of gratuitous pod-fodder.

DJ Def Cut is up first with a splendid album of cut & paste funk, crisp breaks, fierce scratches and wicked samples.

If, like me, you're still mourning the death of bigbeat and the lack of party-friendly hip-hop hitting your speakers, this is the album for you.

26 (yes, twenty six) tracks of jump-up, dancefloor-smashing funk-hop. Priced at no pence, which is frankly amazing.

Get your copy here.




Next a compilation album from Bristol collective Drawn - a gang of "artists, producers, musicians, vjs and promoters who want to see innovative and original music and art spread across Bristol and the Southwest". They also run their own record label.

The comp ranges in styles from bass-heavy wub-tronica from Mothboy to indie rock in the form of The Deads. On the way it takes in Girl After Shower's glitch-hop, vocal trip-hop from Cloudbreak and Jump Ship, a couple of dubby outings from Plodocus and Onega Sound System, and even a lively reggae ska track from Sickwax.

All in all, this is a seriously quality product. Expect great things from this lot in the future.

Check their site for updates on gigs, events, future releases and other news. And download or stream the compilation, Drawn Vol. 1 here.

And finally, just space to plug the Deep In Dub netlabel, which has more than 30 releases including EPs, albums and sample packs for producers.

Specialists in deep, spacey, bassy dub techno, their Walking Spirits compilation is a very good place to start exploring this label.

Drifting from deep house styles to moody electro and seriously smoked-out dubs, this is quite varied compilation, which serves as an intro to the artists in their roster.

Download the album here and see their full releases list here.

Iphone Orchestra

This is nothing that new in general terms, I've seen lots of different people performing with mobile devices for quite a long time (particularly reminded of DJ Scotch Egg conducting an orchestra of Gameboy performers), Standford "MoPho" - who look very similar to the above but describe themselves as a chamber music as opposed to full orchestral (!) there are lots of live performance and
not so live performance bits of sotware for a number of mobile platforms, the Palm Sounds blog goes into quite a lot of detail on many of them. I've done gigs on nothing more than an ipod touch, and it's a lot of fun.

None the less, what I think *might* be interesting utilising Iphones would be the use of the different interaction methodologies - stuff like game boys or similar have a limited amount of interation possibilities, they only have the control that they have, but the iphone (and others) have multiple interation possibilites, which could be used on conjunction to create some very nice performance possibilities - it's done by computer types first and foremost and not musicians, which is a good thing to my mind. It would be nice to see a more detailed run down of this aspect of the performance.

I like mobile music making stuff and this kind of publicity is always going to get more people interested and therefore mean more developers, which can only be a good thing.

Photo: The University of Michigan's iPhone orchestra in action. Photograph: PR via The Guardian.

New Look on the Object

Just a quick post to say that we've updated the styling of the MusicObject blog to match the rest of the Fwonk* empire (*evil maniacal cackle*), and to enable easier movement between the blog, the forum and the netlabel.

Ta.

Hacked Novation Launchpad

This is a cool hack made by Johan Larsby over at Idle Hands. It's so easy and fun, even kids can use it to make noise.

Quote:
As you know I own a Novation Launchpad, and since I want to extend the functionality in ways that Novation did not think about and I really don't want to be bound by max/msp. Inspiration are plentiful from the work's of monomeist's and fellow launchpadders.

What I'm making though is a little framework, with the emphasis on little, that enables me (and perhaps other when the source is a bit better) to create applications in C/C++. So far I've gotten a decent framework in place as a command application. No GUI to speak of and it needs a little bit of cleaning up before anyone could make a port to something other then it's current os x home.

The Inspiration Bucket - Free Sample Pack

Ever been writing a track and found it needed something? Something you couldn't quite put your finger on?

If you have banging drums but no groove to lay over them, or a wicked groove but need some crisp breaks to give them bounce, or you just need something unexpected, weird or wonderful to lift a track, then this could be the sample pack for you.

We have assembled 75 24-bit samples from soul, funk, hip-hop, indie and world music designed to inspire whole tracks from the ground up, or simply bump you out of a creative rut when you find yourself stuck.

'The Inspiration Bucket' is designed to be a kind of sampler's lucky dip. It contains music from artists as diverse as Rhetta Hughes, The Cure, Breakestra, Amp Fiddler and Run DMC as well as African musicians such as Awadi and Rokia Trarore.

Whether you're looking for a bassline, guitar riff, drum break, percussion loop, vocal snippet or even a whole groove, just dip into the Inspiration Bucket and see what comes out.

Whilst this pack is mainly aimed at hip-hop production, there are sounds and samples in here suitable for any funky, beat-based music including nufunk, breaks, chillout and IDM.

Download the pack here.

PLEASE NOTE: The Inspiration Bucket is intended for non-commercial use only. If you try to use these samples in commercial work you might well find yourself in court and that won't be our fault.

Mixtape Wednesday

We're on a countdown to a new decade and we still have no flying cars or hoverboards. Let's face it, the future is a lot less cool than we expected.

Yes, this decade gave us the iPod, Serrato Scratch, Ableton Live and YouTube, but it also gave us X-Factor, lawsuits from Metallica, the death of James Brown and Autotune.

Not great. Or is it? When you look at some of the amazing music released in the Noughties (next decade to be called 'the Teenies'?), you realise the perks of living in the 21st Century.



As if to illustrate this point, DJs 2tall, Clockwork and Kper have compiled an impressive mix of raw, soulful, underground hip-hop released between 1999 and 2009.

Year by year, track by track, beat by funky beat, 'A Boom Bap Continuum' cuts, samples, mashes and blends its way through 10 amazing years in music.

Taking in Skitz, Erick Sermon, MF Doom, Mos Def and a host of other artists, from the US, UK and Europe, this is not so much a mix as an important social document, recording the voice of hip-hop in the Noughties.

Yeah, you can bob your head to it, but it also deserves a place in libraries and archives.

Download the mix, read the epic tracklist and find out more about the three time-travelling turntable tour-guides here.


Another mix so huge, encyclopaedic and funky that we could ignore it no longer, is the Stickypod Connection's Shambhala 2009 set.

This is three hours of Drum n Bass, Funk, Dancehall, Womp, Breaks, Reggae, Soul, Hip Hop and Mashups from two truly creative DJs, J-Pod the beat chef and Stickybuds.

Recorded live at the Shambhala Festival in Canada, this bass-heavy mix is peppered with acapellas and unexpected eclectic collisions.

Where else could you hear The Eagles and The Rare Earth wrapped around MIA and Fort Knox Five? This mix is surprising, groovy and exciting, standing out in a world full of unimaginative, plodding mixtapes.

Download it and read the mammoth tracklist here. You can also get their previous Shambhala sets on their Myspace.


Finally, just got time to highlight some really rather excellent classic soul mixtapes from Modern Sun Records.

Go here to grab mixes by Skymark, Ill Dubio and Ketepica featuring artists such as Cassiano, Future Flight, The Lovelites and The Fantastics.

That should keep you going until next week!

Moby, ubergeek!

Moby shows off his massive drum machine collection, gives a tour of his studio and even adds his two cents to the analogue vs digital debate.

"There's no such thing as a cool electronic musician... We're not cool."




Actually, all the Electric Independence vids are worth checking out. There's interviews with RJD2 and JD Sampson of Le Tigre.

RIP Technics?

The industry standard deck that has been the foundation of three decades of DJing and turntablism, could be discontinued next year if internet rumours are to be believed.

The iconic Technics 1200 and 1210 ranges have been a staple in nightclubs since their birth in the 1970s. But with the rise of CD turntables, software mixing solutions and packages like Ableton Live, a whole generation of DJs is growing up without ever touching a deck.

Now many sites are reporting an end of production in March next year, although Cnet.com has stated the press release that forms the basis of these articles is a fake.

We'll keep watching the story, but if it's true, it would genuinely be the end of an important era.

Fwonk* Monday

So it's official, Ketamine will obliterate your bladder, leaving you peeing into a bag for the rest of your whiffy, sloshy life.

For those of you who don't fancy rubber pants as a life-choice, there's a new, safe alternative. It provides an equally potent trip, mashing and mangling your mind but thankfully it is free from unpleasant side effects such as organ failure.

I'm speaking, of course, about the music of 2ndMOUSE, an artistic purveyor of warm, fuzzy, occasionally frightening psychedelic experiences in handy, easy to swallow MP3 format.

His music is melodic, electronic, strong in the groove department yet prone to industrial bursts and unexpected glitched-out twists. It summons images of terminators chasing sweaty, wide-eyed ravers through unconvincing 1980s Hollywood versions of night clubs. Well, it does for me anyway.

Now celebrating his second release on Fwonk*, we thought it was high time to catch up with 2ndMOUSE for a chat.



How would you describe the your music?

Experimental electronica / idm.

Which of your Fwonk releases are you happiest with and why?

Levite, because its the most recent, and is a better representation of what I'm hearing in my head. As my knowledge of production grows, the picture is able to be realised much more clearly, so I always prefer my most recent material.

When and where do you make music?

I make music constantly 'cos I'm surrounded by sound all day and always thinking of ways to assemble it differently. If I'm on a train, I listen to the rhythm of the carriage on the tracks. When I hear people talking, I'm thinking of ideas. My mind never stops.

What inspires you?

what inspires me is sound itself. I like to disassemble it, and find new ways of putting it back together again. I'm inspired by rhythm and always put as much thought into the rhythm of a melody, as I put into the actual notes themselves. Sound is as much to do with rhythm as it is intonation.

How does your creative process work?

My creative process just involves auditioning sounds until a particular nuance catches my ear, then I audition more sounds until I find something to complement the original.

Generally, I find that there is almost a DNA in a sound that determines how that sound should be used, almost like I hear the whole track inside the nucleus of the very first sound I choose.

What hardware / software / instruments do you use to make music?

The only hardware I have is an M-Audio Fasttrack audio interface , and an M-Audio Oxygen49 keyboard which isn't working properly right now.

Software I use is predominantly freeware VSTs. I like finding new little machines that mess with buffers and screw things up in satisfying ways.

Who are your favourite bands / producers / DJs?

I'm inspired by many bands, not all of them electronic. Plaid , Boards of Canada, Vesna, Plone, Luke Slater, Luke Vibert would be a few that I'd consider to be awesome.

I try not to copy what they do, but sometimes its inevitable and you can't escape.

Whereabouts in the world do you come from? And is that where you live now?

I come from Northern Ireland , near Belfast.

What's your favourite noise?

Favourite noise would be those planes you always hear in summer when the nights are getting brighter. It just says "summer".

What's your least favourite noise?

Scratching fingernails on a blackboard.


Download 2ndMOUSE's 'Levite' here and his first Fwonk* release 'Full Of Earth And Stars' here.