As Miles Davis wisely said: "My future starts when I wake up every morning... Every day I find something creative to do with my life."
In the year 2999 we will certainly have flying cars, robot butlers and houses that know when we want the lights switched on and off. I know this because I watched Tomorrow's World when I was a youngling.
But what will the music sound like?
Well, Peppermill Records are giving you the chance to decide in a new competition.
The blurb:
Description:
It's the year 2999, and what you see above is your future. What exactly is going on? Your job is to soundtrack the above painting by celebrated futurist David Schleinkofer and write a short description of your vision.
This open competition is for a spot on a big upcoming Peppermill release, the chosen piece will be featured alongside many of the most talented forward-thinking electronic musicians around. Their works will be interpreted by illustrators while you'll be doing the exact opposite.
What we're putting together is a futuristic dance album, as the title is a play on the phrase "dance like it's 1999". However this doesn't have to sound like anything humans currently groove to, in fact we encourage you to paint way, way outside the lines.
Bass is necessary though. Deep, deep sub bass. This collection is going to feature songs using a very full range of frequencies, and experimentation with the lower end of the spectrum is a must.
When completed it'll be freely downloadable under a Creative Commons license, as all our releases are, which means people are encouraged to share the music but aren't allowed to alter it in any way or use it for commercial purposes without your consent.
Guidelines:
- interpret the painting above - the result should be ready to be played on dancefloors 989 years from now - use a rich range of frequencies including sub-bass - the title should be fairly descriptive, as the painting and the song are to be a combo - include a paragraph-long summary of your vision
Why not have a go? And if you do, why not send us your efforts too. If we get enough sent to us, we'll do a showcase post at some point in.... THE FUTURE!!!!
We've had two new releases on Fwonk* records, an ambient-noise LP from Viejos Hombres de Abejón - a supergroup of three Fwonk* drone meisters, and Ettertid from Fwonk*s resident genius and polymath Per Byhring. Two new releases, and both for free!
Click on the covers below to download...
Viejos Hombres de Abejón - Viejos Hombres de Abejón Per - Ettertid
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Derby-based DJ Hudson has been rocking the Midlands for years with his party-friendly blend of disco, funk, breakbeat and hip-hop.
He has a whole heap of mixes available online, showcasing his block-party sensibilities and excellent set-building skills.
My current fave, still getting a lot of iPod airtime for me, is his 'On 45' mix, made using only 7" singles and taking in everyone from Professor Longhair and Paul Simon to Silver Bullet and Shut Up & Dance.
Tracklist: 01 MFSB - Something for Nothing 02 New Birth 03 Eddie Kendricks - Intimate Friends 04 Ohio Players - Funky Worm 05 Foster Sylvers - Misdemeanor 06 Aretha Franklin - One Step Ahead 07 Hubert Laws 08 Cymande - The Message 09 The New Birth - Honeybee 10 Madlib Invasion 11 Heavy D & The Boyz - Blue Funk 12 Leon Haywood - I Want To Do Something... 13 James Brown - Papa Don't Take... 14 Biz Markie - Vapors 15 Ruby Andrews - You Made A Believer Out Of Me 16 Freda Payne - The Easiest Way To Fall 17 Joeski Love - Pee Wee Dance 18 Everybody Bounce 19 Deee Lite Theme 20 Kool & The Gang - Dujii 21 The Village Callers - Hector 22 Gang Starr - Who's Gonna Take The Weight 23 LL Cool J - Rock The Bells 24 The 900 Number 25 Olympic Runners 26 Paul Simon - 50 Ways To Leave Your Lover 27 Parliament 28 Dilla - Signs 29 The Supremes - Bad Weather 30 Jack McDuff - Dit Da Dit 31 People's Choice 32 Big Daddy Kane - Raw 33 Chambers Brothers - Funky 34 Ann Sexton 35 Shoorah! Shoorah! (reggae version) 36 Professor Longhair 37 Doobie Brothers - What A Fool Believes 38 The Intruders - I'll Always Love My Mama 39 Patti Jo - Bonus Beats 40 Tom Tom Club - Wordy Rappinghood 41 A Guy Called Gerald - Voodoo Ray 42 Royal House - Yeah Buddy 43 Shut Up and Dance - £20 To Get In 44 Silver Bullet - 20 Seconds To Comply 45 It's a Leicester Fiesta 46 The Jacksons 47 Breakbeat Era 48 Life Is What You Make It 49 Motherlode - When I Die
Download it here. And check out more mixes by DJ Hudson here.
Sometimes I wonder where it all went wrong. Kids have knives, our leaders are arseholes, the economy is in a slump and the word "electro" is being misappropriated by every shitty house DJ on the planet.
In truth, it's the last one that bothers me most. I love electro. Real electro. Detroit electro. German electro. Proper electro. I hate the fact that a genre built on experimentation and innovation has had its name hijacked by unimaginative house producers.
For the record, house music is not electro any more than trance music is techno.
Anyway, rant over. Here's a mix from Bassline FM, in Seattle, that reminds us all of what makes real electro amazing and how the scene is continuing to push boundaries with fresh pioneering sounds.
The Electro Mixtape covers tracks from the 1980s when electro was born, to the present day. Taking in classic productions from AUX-88 and Shiver alongside newer joints from Point B and Dave Clarke.
Circuit bending - the noble art of licking electronic devices until their souls scream for mercy in shrill, upsetting tones. It's probably best explained by the short Absurdity.biz documentary below:
Having established what it is, how does one go about it?
Well, first you'll need something powered by batteries that makes sound. Kids toy electric guitars, drum machines and keyboards are a good start, as are Speak & Spells, Furbies and a host of other noisy toys. Hell, you could even do it with one of those annoying musical greetings cards.
Next you'll need to open it up, exposing the circuits.
Dozens of inspirational creations from Tim Kaiser at Atomic Sonic.
Bendtronics sells kits and stuff, but also has a series of excellent free video tutorials.
And the Get Lo-Fi blog has loads of great articles and links.
"But I'm frightened of batteries, ever since I licked one and it made my tongue feel funny!"
Oh well, perhaps circuit bending just ain't for you. Don't cry about it.
In fact, for the faint of heart there are some cheeky alternatives out there, ways to get the bent sound without ripping the heart out of a single Texas Instrument.
This obviously goes against many of the purist principals of bending, where abandoning the chaotic creation process through buying pre-made kits and devices is frowned upon. But there you go.
MusicObject friend and all round talented geezer De La Mancha has created 'Bent' - a circuit bent style VST resynthesis effect.
He says the plugin "will recreate the incoming audio into an approximation of itself using a waveform-morphing audio oscillator. Depending on the volume and pitch of the audio, it will gate, stutter and morph the output in sync with your host tempo". And you know what? He's not wrong.
Like all DLM creations, this works well and sounds great.
Berrtill is a bizarre sound-mangling distortion plugin from Shuriken.se, modeled on a circuit-bent toy. The signal path goes through a car speaker to a kazoo, to a tape recorder, followed by a toy microphone and finally a toy amp. The controls allow you to adjust the thresholds of various parameters and to mess with the signal path.
You really should read the manual to get a feel for it.
See a video of the real-world device:
Tonebytes have created a software synth that does a pretty good emulation of a circuit-bent device.
Bend Box"can be useful for making experiments and for creating various noise FX. All knobs can be tweaked manually or thru easily assignable MIDI controllers. MIDI Automation is also available.
With Bend Box you can get wide range of noises: from the soft gurgling to ringing grinding, or even strange melodical timbres."
Bitboy from Darkware is another free plugin that promises the sound of "all your old consoles,fried by lightning". We haven't had a chance to play with it yet, but it looks good.
If samples are more your thing, there are some goodies to be had for free.
There's a bundle of great Speak & Spell sounds (both bent and unbent) at Webiocosm.
The Freesound Project has a good pack by evilpaul.
mimu.eu has some good packs here and here, including a broken 303 and a bent noise machine.
Roil Noise has some blinders including samples of a Yamaha PSR-12 keyboard, a Casio CTK-550 keyboard and a Roland DR-550 drum machine here.
After a couple of weeks' absence, spent dodging Matatus in the amazing town of Mombasa, Free Music Friday is back.
In honour of the majestic continent of Africa, here's an amazing free album from the modestly named "The Very Best".
The band, made up of Esau Mwamwaya and producer Radioclit, met in London, but have produced an album that sounds wonderfully exotic and true to their African roots.
Infectious rhythms and joyous vocals collide with electrifying effect on track after track. If you like this, and I suspect you will, keep an eye out for their new album "Warm Heart of Africa". Tribal pop which brings a bit of sunshine into the most gloomy of winter days.
Download their demo album here. Visit their Myspace for news about their activities, including an exciting remix project here.
And just in case you are hungry for more freeness, we're taking this opportunity to highlight the Eigentum Ist Diebstahl (Property Is Theft) label from Germany.
Their netlabel is now up to it's 19th release. The Eigentum crew have a very open music policy and (contrary to the national stereotype) a very quirky sense of humour, so expect everything from beard-stroking ambient noise to electro-pop covers of "These Boots Were Made For Walking".
With 19 releases, there's a lot to choose from, but I'd recommend Shenpen Senge's EPs as a very accessible starting point. That said, if you're into facial hair, the label's founder D-Tex is pretty hard to beat, as you can see in the picture below. Either way, pay them a visit and grab some of the rather splendid music they give away for free.
I signed on this week. I am officially on the dole. For the first time ever. Not the best experience really. When the 14-year-old behind the desk asked how to spell "BA" I had to wonder exactly how come she has a job while I don't.
How to cheer myself up? With some free music of course!!!!
This week we're starting on a drum n bass tip, ending up somewhere entirely more mellow.
New netlabel Criminal Waves Recordings has launched with it's first release - two tracks of filthy techy DnB from Lyon-based producer Aknot.
Both have relentless drums, nasty-ass basslines and enough build and drop action to keep any wide-eyed raver happy until the early hours. Definitely one to watch, looking forward to hearing their future releases.
Next up, with more frenzied beats and tearing bass bizzniss, it's long-running DnB netlabel Tilt Recordings.
Offering more than 60 MP3 EPs and albums alongside it's vinyl and dubplate releases, this label from Mannheim, Germany, is well busy.
With so much music to choose from, it's hard to pick one stand-out release, but I can tell you that T-FREE-LP001: Sourcream Remixes is particularly wicked, with Raytem's version probably edging in as my fave.
Finally for this FMF, a lower-tempo, more blissed-out selection. Echodub is a label exploring IDM, dubstep and other electronic lushness.
Their new free compilation 'Echodub Loves Vol. 1' is a glossy, floaty and wonderfully high-quality piece of work - avoiding all the cliches of dubstep and garage while losing none of the vibe. If there is such a scene as "intelligent dubstep" then these guys are at the forefront.
This is all lovely stuff, but if I had to take just two tracks to a desert idland, they'd be 'Once More' by Autopilot and the vaguely old-skool sounding 'Warm & Easy' by Psychonaught.
Round the rugged rock the ragged Royksopp remixer ran. Or something.
Anyway, Royksopp have put together a sample pack allowing fans to remix 'Tricky Tricky' from their Junior album, released earlier this year.
For my money, it's not really their finest musical hour, but what do I know?
The boys themselves wrote: This is yet another shabby attempt at giving something back to our fans – or rather get our fans involved in our shabby doings… Yes, this is an invitation to all of you dedicated souls out there who want to take part in the Röyksopp legacy!
We feel that track “Tricky Tricky” has so much potential, it deserves a life outside the album. Not only is this a chance at beating us at our own game, you also get to mess around with Karin Deijer-Andersson’s extraordinary vocals! Now, how about that?!?
For those about to remix – we salute you!
Señors B + B
Download the parts and find out how to enter here.
Moog synthesizers are the epithome of electronic music instruments. The bold combination of wood, metal and electricity seems like a chimera born out of the depths of Haefestus' forge.
Compliments aside, the Moog synth sound helped to define the sound of rock music and electronic music during the seventies and forth. Years have passed, we have seen the apparition of virtual analogue synths, virtual instruments for our PCs and Macs, we have seen the rise and fall (and rebirth) of Frequency Modulation synthesisers, romplers, samplers and grooveboxes, and yet, the Moog sound still shines on top.
During the seventies we had the luck of listening to the works of Wendy Carlos and many others, yet, many of the albums are lost in second hand album bins or garage sales.
So, check this blog, listen to the music, then buy the albums you like. They are very much awesome in mp3 format, but they are better yet when you listen to them in their vinyl incarnations.
Musicobject is born out of our love for music and all things related to music. Musicobject was also born from our feelings of mourn since musicthing closed.
All the trademarks and brands named in this blog belong to their respective copyright owners. All reviews are made with no commercial bias.
We just like to point out content that we like, already available online.
All tracks posted on this blog are shared out of love and respect for the artists. If the copyright holders or artists wish for any track to be removed, please contact us and we will immediately remove the tune in question. Disclaimer out of the way, enjoy.
