Music & Audio

Musical Journeys

futura — Fri, 16 Feb 2007 04:34:23 GMT

Two CDs that have been captivating me as of late are:

John Digweed's Transitions #2 - Digweed's second compilation on Renaissance that carries the same name as his weekly radio show. Transitions highlights interesting and newcoming artists in the electronic music scene. Dare I call it progressive house, or is that genre label not in vogue this week? It's textured layers of electronic beats and glitchy tech house from around the world. Like the first one, techy, minimalistic German producers round out the stable of producers for this mix. Very enjoyable from start to finish. Nice build-up and carry-through. Personally, better than the first - but both are great stuff if you're into the master of perfect mixes. How seamless can two beats be interwoven in a flawless tryst? Let Digweed take you there.

Balance 010 - Jimmy Van M - Jimmy's first release since his seminal release on Bedrock Records in what 2001? This 3-disc journey into the deep world of electronic house borders on pure bliss. Is it sacrilege to compare this to Northern Exposure from Sasha and Digweed? This thing compares in scope. Disc 1, Downtempo, Disc 2, Midtempo, Disc 3, Uptempo. Put your Sennheisers on, turn up the volume, and wake up next week in a dreamstate. The tracklist is sublime, a collection of off-beat and "mainstream" tracks when put together make this something you'll be chewing on for some time to come. Nothing's made me feel this way since Northern Exposure II.

These two masterpieces have finally renewed my faith in music. In this world today where music permeates our every move, whether it be a download from iTunes or the RIAA knocking on your back-door. This stuff makes you feel happy to shell out the hard earned money to keep the music playing.

Music Issues

futura — Tue, 26 Apr 2005 04:52:00 GMT

I have approximately, sort of ever so roughly about 35 days, 7 hours, and a spattering of minutes of non-stop audio. That includes roughly half of my CD collection which has been ripped so far, a collection of live radio shows and other DJ mixes, a bunch of vinyl singles, and my “online” storage of Digweed shows.

I recently archived Digweed shows to 5 DVDs (and I didn't archive all of them). I also left a few of them online for casual listening.

I'm thinking that I probably need to schedule out some vacation time to get all of this music listened to.

Junior Boys - Part 2

futura — Tue, 26 Apr 2005 04:30:00 GMT

I picked up the Junior Boys LP last week down at Zzz Records. Read a review.

Two comments:

1. Junior Boys are going to rock the house.

2. You can't beat a needle on wax.

Enjoy this track, ripped straight from the vinyl, although down-sampled for your bandwidth needs (and besides, support these guys and buy your own)

Junior Boys - Birthday (.ogg, ~83kbps, 2.5MB)

the Junior Boys

futura — Tue, 22 Mar 2005 04:01:00 GMT

I was just introduced to the Junior Boys “Birthday” (from their new album, Last Exit) this morning while listening to Not Your Usual Bollocks #5. What a fantastic song!

I'm going to have to pick up this CD.

Delicious electro-synth-pop.

They're also playing the Vaudeville Mews in Des Moines in June!

Podcasting - I'm trying.

futura — Tue, 22 Mar 2005 03:51:00 GMT

My previous post reflected my initial reaction to podcasting.

"Don't believe the hype!" would be the sample that would sound right now if music could be synchronized to this post.

I still think the idea is good, and I've been attempting to identify some good, quality content. Of course, that is said in the context of my own personal interests and tastes. Whatever that is worth to you, I have my official list of podcasts that I'm currently subscribed to and actually enjoying.

In no particular order:

.NET Rocks Radio Show - A radio show hosted by Carl Franklin of Franklins.NET that highlights somebody or group of somebodies in the .NET development community. Always insightful, funny, and high quality content.

Bending Corners - jazz n' groove podcasts - BendingCorners, a monthly jazz~n~groove podcast of jazz and jazz-inspired mix sets. If you enjoy the groove side of all things "jazz", this is your thang. - A very nice mix of downtempo like jazz and dare I say it "neo/new" jazz? It's not acid jazz, and its not strictly downtempo - but very smooth, enjoyable sounds.

IT Conversations - A highly diverse mix of audio streams from various technology conferences by tech leaders/visionaries/etc. This could potentially be described as: if you read about them in Wired, this is them interviewed in podcast form. Sort of. Good stuff, very good content. I'm not really into all the bio-tech stuff, but most of the discussions are good and insightful. Always giving me new stuff to chew on in the tech arena.

Not Your Usual Bollocks - Possibly the best and most fun of the list, this is a show produced out of London which hilights tons of new and great quality music. Very focused on indie/non-mainstream sounds from electronica to punk/rock and everywhere in between. Good stuff.

That is currently my "for sure" list of podcasts that I enjoy. Even with these few, the reality of the medium is definitely causing an overload in information. I subscribe to about 350+ RSS feeds which I get through each day. But with the audio streams, its more difficult to get through everything. I'm always behind on IT Conversations.

I'm looking forward to a new podcast that Carl Franklin is developing called The Daily Commute, which sounds like an awesome idea. Supposedly a show that will highlight and distill all the latest tech news into a podcast that you can then listen to while commuting. My commute is 5-10 minutes, so I'll have to improvise and listen to it elsewhere.

Podcasting - I'm left wanting.

futura — Thu, 06 Jan 2005 00:25:00 GMT

If you haven't heard about the new rage in blogging, it's called podcasting. I recently gave it a try using iPodder and was sorely disappointed with my experience. Although I am not disappointed with the iPodder software, I am disappointed with podcasting in general.

There's many sites out there that provide better background and praises for podcasting so I'll spare you the gory details. The general idea that you need to remember is that it was invented by Dave Winer (daddy of RSS) and Adam Curry (ex-MTV VJ gone blogger).

Podcasting was named from the goal of the whole thing - to deliver audio content via RSS that would be automagically downloaded to your computer, and sent to your iPod for later listening. Really, a cool idea. If you have an iPod. But then of course people without iPods wanted to join in the fun, and so the tools were expanded to support the general idea of downloading the audio and then you choose how to get the audio to your device of choice.

So you've got RSS notifying the world of audio content, and various podcast download programs (like iPodder) out there to download the content. Next, you've got some blogging sap (like me, for example) who thinks it'd be great to share their ideas with the world via an audio feed constructed in their basement at their PC.

Then the idea is, you'd subscribe to this podcast feed via RSS, and the new audio would be downloaded and put onto your iPod/MP3 player each night and you'd have this fabulous collection of “content“ for the morning commute.

All fine and dandy, and sounds like a really neat idea until you realize that if you take this to its logical conclusion you end up with a really sour taste in your mouth like I did. Most bloggers (probably) don't have voices you really want to listen to, or they wouldn't be writing, would they? They may have great content in their blog writing - but this does not translate into great content to listen to. Lastly, a restrictive linear audio stream is not the best delivery for some of the information you want to receive.

To give this all a try, I subscribed to Dave Winer and Adam Curry's feed called “Trade Secrets“ that essentially involves the two of them sitting there talking about junk. The “episode“ I listened to went something like this:

Dave:
“Yeah, I'm Dave Winer, and I invented RSS, and now podcasting. It's so cool, and so am I. And because I invented it, I'm going to talk about inventing it for a while...“

Adam:
“That's right Dave, you rock, and as co-inventor of podcasting, and because I live in England and essentially own Europe, I can globally disseminate the power of podcasting from my bedroom! I'm so glad we thought of this. Now people can be notified via RSS that you and I can sit around and talk about how cool our invention is and how awesome we are.“

Dave:
“Oh yeah, we are cool. And you know what else is so cool about it? Because we're independant broadcasters we can cuss and swear up and down on this “broadcast“ and nobody can do a !#%#!#^ thing about it. We ##$!#! rock!“

Adam:
“##%!$!# yeah! We %$#%!% rock“

And so it goes on like this for about 10-15 minutes. I'm so sick of it by this time. I ended up being turned off to the whole idea and promptly removed Scripting News (Morning Coffee Notes), Trade Secrets, and Adam's Daily Source Code podcasts.

The reason the whole thing tripped my trigger was not just the swearing, which was annoying, but for the most part I can put up with that as its around me all the time, it was the selfish back-and-forth the two of them had about RSS/blogging/podcasting and how wonderful it was that they had come up with this idea and blessed it upon the world.

A bit of pride doesn't even annoy me that much, cuz I've got plenty of that rolling around in my life myself, it was the oh-so-over-the-top hubris that went with the whole thing - and the completely uninteresting conversation between the two of them.

If that wasn't enough to turn me off to the whole idea (of podcasting) it was the fact that, quite honestly, I don't find much enjoyment listening to Dave Winer, or Adam Curry speak. (Adam's voice is Ok - he was a professional VJ after-all. But he really didn't have much interesting to say.)

Lack of quality, interesting, or informing content, shameless swearing “just because we can“, and terrible “radio“ voices made me realize that podcasting is a neat idea - technically - but in practice - I have zero interest in subscribing to pod feeds from all my favorite bloggers.

I realized that I subscribe to their blog becaues I am interested in what they write and their blog content is easier to digest (audio is too linear and restrictive - no searching or good indexing).

So I will admit that after a weeks hiatus on the idea, I went back and loaded up a few more podcasts that I thought would provide a higher level of quality content. I listen to Carl Franklin's .NET Rocks show and the content there is superb. I didn't bother with their podcast because I knew what to expect. So I subscribed to WGBH Morning Stories, Evil Genius Chronicles, and IT Conversations - all the “ipodder.org“ most popular/etc.

Of those three, Morning Stories was interesting, the evil genius was all but interesting - but did have a bit of a more refined “radio“ voice, and IT Conversations was EXCELLENT.

Oh yeah, and I also tried out the Dawn and Drew Show - supposedly “one of the best“ (according to iPodder Directory). That was produced well (met my “radio“ voice quality standard), but the content was just mindless babble. That kind of crap is the exact reason I don't listen to FM Radio. The “morning shows“ out there on your typical FM station all suck.

Overall, my impression of podcasting technology is good. It works well, and is a neat idea. But the big black hole of the whole thing is the utter lack of interesting, intelligent content.

It's going to be a long time before podcasting replaces FM/AM radio and NPR, and other types of information/news/talkshow broadcasting. Production quality must improve, and as always - content rules. It must have good content

I know that my “sample“ of podcasts probably measures nothing statistically, but podcasting as an experience leaves much to be desired.

If you have interesting podcasting content that you would like to direct my way - please do so via the comments. I'm very interested in finding something interesting to try out.

Like I said, I liked IT Conversations, but I'd also be interested in “non-show“ interesting podcasts. An “average“ blogger posting podcasts would be interesting to check out.

I'll let Dave and Adam keep talking into the virtual air around them. One thing is nice, it's easy to unsubscribe and “change the channel”.

crazy crazy crazy crazy crazy

futura — Wed, 24 Nov 2004 05:52:00 GMT

Some things just never get old. Pearl's Girl (mp3)

Manic Mix Madness

futura — Mon, 15 Nov 2004 16:14:00 GMT

I am finally ready to admit I have far more music than I know what to do with.

I recently gave BitTorrent another try and came across a site that contains an ever-flowing collection of old mixes from various UK radio stations - i.e. Annie on One, Pete Tong's Essential Mix, John Peel, etc. I've since expanded my collection by several GB, including some old Future Sound of London (FSOL) EM's, Underworld, Aphex Twin, Richard Dorfmeister, LTJ Bukem, Thievery Corporation, UNKLE, the list goes on.

The FSOL stuff sounds fresh, even today. I'm glad someone took the perogative to record the shows way back when. They're fun and interesting to listen to. In "electronic music" years, music can get stale extremely quick, so hearing this stuff that has lasted the better part of 5 years is amazing.

Carrie said that when I die she'll put some speakers into my coffin, along with some "as-yet-uninvented" battery that never dies, and an iPod, and just let it play. By that time, assuming I have a few more years of life, I will most likely have music playing into the next millenium. Especially once I get that TB block of storage for my home PC.

CD: A Broadcast from Computer Hell Cabin

futura — Fri, 03 Sep 2004 01:44:00 GMT

Junkie XL released A Broadcast from Computer Hell Cabin earlier in the year. Reviews were positive and highly recommended it. I am a little late acquiring this album, although I have had a half-downloaded rip of Disc 1 for some time which I always enjoyed, but hated it's abrupt ending - which kept me from listening to it often. I finally got around to getting the full consumer package (read: legit) and I am thoroughly enjoying it.

Disc 1 is entitled 3pm and includes a mix of eclectic electronic songs written by Junkie XL, along with other singers, producers, etc. Many are vocal - and for electronic music I often times don't like this -- it has to have good vocals. These tracks are all class. In fact, I am abliged to say the entire disc is class. I am not a purchaser of singles, and typically to acquire a full album I honestly need to enjoy and even love 90% of the music on the album - but that's just me. This whole double-disc album grooves and rolls along. Phenomenal production - which I had known from reading about his work on Airdrawndagger with Sasha (a DJ I really enjoy) - make sure every nuance works for the songs included, and the entire disc works toward the goal of being an early-in-the-day, afternoon mix. It includes the heavily rotated, “A Little Less Conversation“, the infamous JXL remix of the hardly popular song by Elvis Presley. Very digestable even for a progressive house junkie.

Disc 2, entitled 3am dives to the deep and darker with fluid electronic tones and bass lines along the lines of Airdrawndagger, and even some BT. (BT also has a knack for perfectionist production techniques. No knob is twisted at the wrong moment, or in the wrong direction.) Including two songs that received club rotation from the likes of Sasha, Digweed, Kleinenberg, and other prog house DJs -- Breezer (produced with Sasha) and Beauty Never Fades (the more vocal mix appearing on 3pm, the darker, proggy version here).

It's rare to find a studio album put together as well as this with an agglomeration of tracks that work well together, yet provide a varied and interesting mix for any listener interested in some nice electronic music with a good vibe - yet not dark or driving as a deep-club mix might be considered.

I'm very pleased and in contrast to other CDs I have recently purchased, will remain in rotation in my disc changer for a long while.

Ride the Dark Train home tonite.

futura — Fri, 13 Aug 2004 19:31:00 GMT

Yes, another perfect end to the perfect work week. Here's a tune to wipe away your Friday afternoon tears. Don't worry, you'll be back again first thing Monday. Dark Train - Underworld.