An now for something totally diferent: The Importance Of Having A Lot Of Influences

John Kricfalusi. Name sound familiar? maybe you remember him as John K. I had read this post The Importance Of Having A Lot Of Influences about a month and a half ago on his really excellent all kinds of stuff blog.

The post talks about influences in art and how important it is to look into not just the basics of the art you're into, but what influenced the artists to create what they did.

So lets say for say for sake of argument Nine Inch Nails is your favorite band. You love NIN so much it makes you want to make music. Your next step is to look into what made him make the music he does- so you would read about and listen to some Skinny Puppy, Prince, The Clash, Depeche Mode, and Ministry.

Maybe Skinny Puppy strikes your fancy and you adore the band. Now you go back further and listen to Cabaret Voltaire, Throbbing Gristle, and Severed Heads. So on and so forth.


I cannot stress enough how important it is to have a real understanding of the art that came before. Without knowing the past, there is no chance for a future.

Please read his entry, if you are an illustrator, musician, designer or effects make up artist. It will put things into a new light for you.

One more thing- Speaking of influences. Check out the work of Zan Lyons Sort of a moving amalgimation of Chris Cuningham and Boards of Canada cover art.

Really cool, and really inspiring.

No music today

I think that many of you would agree that today your time could be much better spent making your voices heard rather than reading about my fetish for obscure electronic music, shoegazer rock, or Asian cinema.

Please get out there and vote. The internet will still be here tomorrow.

Promise.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

So, remember me saying that I was going to get back to doing this blog on a regular basis?

I was totally on track until I was asked to play a show. All of a sudden *POOF* my time disappeared.

The show was for my local goth night. I decided to do a couple of cover songs.

Here are they are in all of all of their sp00ky glory

Halloween

Humanity (Part I) -main titles to The Thing

So, everybody have a safe and sane Halloween. I'll see ya Friday!

Bobby Bird email interview

Hello everybody.

You may remember my woefully out of print Friday about System Error from a few weeks ago.

Bobby Bird of System Error/Higher Intelligence Agency was kind enough to do an email interview with me.

I hope you enjoy! (I'll be in italics, BB will be bold)

Hello Bobby,

Thank you again for allowing me to conduct this interview by email. I realize it's not
the ideal medium for an interview so your graciousness is really appreciated. 

1. What were the early days of HIA like? 

early HIA evolved in a club night we used to do called Oscillate, we started of in this tiny club called Jasmin's in Birmingham in about 1991 & used to put our equipment in the DJ booth & play live tracks & jam between disc's, it was pretty heady days really, the club owner used to wonder why we didn't drink much beer!


2. What records had the biggest impact on your first recordings?

I suppose stuff that influenced me to make records was things like:
Nick Cave
jimi Hendrix ,
syd Barrett,
the Swans - Children of God,
white noise - an Electronic Storm

3. How did you hook up with Warp records? 

Sean Booth from autechre came to some early Oscillate night's & they played live at one of them & warp records came to that show, I think it was there 2nd live performance, HIA supported them on there 1st

4. What kind of impact did your appearance on the Artificial Intelligence comp have?

I think there was a lot happening at that time with HIA anyway, we were playing live & writing a lot & it was generally a busy time.

5. When did the work begin on the System Error record?

I think it was started in 1998 at my studio in Brighton rd , birmingham, it seemed to take us ages!! about 4 months if I remember correctly

6. What equipment were you using at the time?

for the sounds we used a Akai S700, Akai S1100 & Emu E64 samplers, effects were things like - Ensoniq DP4, Quadraverb ,Zoom 9030 guitar FX, plus Atari ST computor...

7. What was your process for recording System Error VS HIA?

where HIA was mostly analog, System Error was totally digital, we spent a lot of time making sounds from nothing, we'd sample nothing, turn it up, squash it , stretch it , try & make the samplers crash, anything we could think of to make new sounds, quite an interesting process thou as the machines somehow created the sound we had to work with, rather that creating the sounds you wanted as is the case with analog gear.

8. If you re-did the record today how would the sound differ?

I'm sure it's not possible to re-do the system error album, if we re-did it now, it would be a different album

9. Did you play any shows as System Error?

no

10. What can we expect to hear from you next?

I've been involved with a collective of people/artist's 'Modulate' for a few years now & we've been putting on events, creating installations & recently we've completed a DVD of abstract Audio/Visual works called - Modulate 5.1, it's just released on my label Headphone records, anyone who's interested could go to - modulate.org.uk - for more info.

also maybe some more HIA material in the not too distant future.

For more information on what Bobby is up to (and has done) head on over to:

Headphone Records
Modulate

And I really do encourage everybody who is reading this to purchase a copy of System Error's Nothing

Empty City [file under: ghost ambient]

There was a time several months ago that I first though of doing the radio2019 blog. I was walking away from a very successful (in the sense of information sharing, not financial) website about high tech special effects makeup materials. But my heart wasn't into it anymore. I had been talking about doing a blog like this for years (in it's original incarnation it was called 3lectric Sh33p) But the timing never seemed right, but fortune would smile on me and I would find my muse. In this case it was for a singular reason- an album a friend of mine was releasing on his own Strange Fortune label. The album was being described as "(A) new category to discover. The subtle underlying melodic structure of this music means it may be the most listenable "ambient" music you've ever heard, while it's all drenched in a singularly moody, haunted atmosphere that is Tor's real trademark. "

That was enough for me thus radio2019 was born. Just one problem.

In all of my excitement I forgot to buy the CD, and do a review of it! So with out further adieu I present to you what should have been the first radio2019 review Empty City by Tor Lundvall.



It's rare that an ambient album will really strike a chord with me. In 1997 I was blown completely sky high by Biosphere's outstanding album Substrata To me that album defined what modern ambient could (or should) sound like.

Almost 10 years later what Tor Lundvall has done is re-define ambient music by invoking not just an aural landscape, but what felt to be (to my ears) a fully immersed environment.

Even as a write this review in the middle of the day in a coffee shop in Pittsburgh I feel like I am in a desolate seaport city that lacks both people, and the trappings of commerce. Large empty buildings covered in layers of snow and ice surround me. Empty train yards tell stories of the people that used to be, but have ceased to exist.

The music with it's broken hip hop beats, and subtle melodies harkens to an alternate soundtrack to Twin Peaks (perhaps with Ridley Scott directing?) The slow grooves won't linger in your head for days, but will call to you to listen again and again. The delicate tranquility will reveal itself more and more like the layers of posters you see on city walls. If you carefully peel it back more and more of it's history will be revealed. This would probably appeal to not just fans of ambient, but to people in love with Souvlaki era Slowdive, and has certainly taken it's place as one of my favorite ambient records of all time.

download Scrap Yard

Order Empty City from Strange Fortune

Tor Lundvall's home on the web

Hello my lovelies.

It's been a while. Work and weddings and such got in the way of me posting. I'll not let that happen again.

To make it up to you I've got a ton of content for the next week. Album reviews, DVD reviews, an interview with Bobby Bird of HIA/System Error. (Not to mention the return of woefully out of print Friday)

All of this for you. My loyal fan-base. :)

For now how about a little bit of news?

First bit. The Horrors.



I don't hide the fact that I love the band for 2 reasons.

1. The music is really cool in a psychobilly sort of way- minus the billy. (and as you may guess I'm not a little bit country in the least bit)

2. Their first video was directed by Chris friggin Cunningham!

So, I was pleased as punch when I got this message via a myspace bulletin:

US HORRORS FAN – PRE-ORDER THE HORRORS US EP NOW

The Horrors are releasing a 5 track EP Stateside on October 23rd as an introduction to all you guys over there. The tracklisting is:

1. Death At The Chapel
2. Crawdaddy Simone
3. Sheena Is A Parasite
4. Jack The Ripper
5. Excellent Choice
Enhanced with the 'Sheena Is A Parasite' video

PRE-ORDER THE HORRORS EP by OCT 23 and receive a limited edition autographed poster!
Go here now to pre-order the EP.

Autographed poster AND the Sheena video. No brainer yo. BUY IT!

Now for something completely different.

I love Asian cinema. Tartan Entertainment has been releasing some of the best films out there under the Asia Extreme banner. (Including the Chanwook Park revenge trilogy, not to mention a bevy of other amazing flicks)

A little birdie told me that for the next 2 weeks a bunch of them (including Marebito, Cello, Face, Koma, Phone, Wishing Stairs, Whispering Corridors, Memento Mori, Acacia, Unborn But Forgotten, Doppelganger, The Booth, and Pray) will be on sale at Walmart for $9 monies each. I'm not the biggest Walmart fan, but if you'd like to build up your Asia Extreme this would be the best way a cheap way to do it.

That's all for now. I'll get something posted either late Sunday or early monday. Until then have a great weekend!

PS. Make this weekend a shoegazer weekend with some Slowdive. It's what all of the cool kids are doing. ;)

Woefully out of print Fridays

Each Friday I'm going to dig through my cd collection and talk about a cd that really should be available for purchase, but alas and alack is gone daddy gone.

This week is bLaCKlaNDs by bLaCKlaNDs



George Cicci was a hero of the Morgantown W. VA music scene having fronted the local punk band Dreagerman. However, it was his work as the ambient project bLaCKlaNDs that would catch my ears in the late 90s. The record shared much of the same sonic space as things being released on Skam, and to a large extent Warp.

His shows where something of legend with thick smoke encapsulating the stage and the music creeping through like the calls of the Sirens. (Though to listen to his music didn't force anybody into rocky places. Some were to have said to have drowned in the ambience created on stage however.)

There was a rumored 2nd album to be released as a follow up, but it was not meant to be. I thought George had all but faded into musical obscurity, however I am happy to report that his new project Evasdad is just as good as bLaCKlaNDs (though not nearly as dark, and much more sci-fi)

download Skies
download Celestine

Evasdad myspace page

Oldboy 3disc Special edition

It's no small secret that I love Asian Cinema. One of my favorite films of the last few years had to be Park Chanwook's masterpiece Oldboy The 2003 revenge film was based on the Manga by Minegishi Nobuaki and Tsuchiya Garon. In a nut shell (from IMDB) After being kidnapped and imprisoned for 15 years, Oh Dae-Su is released, only to find that he must find his captor in 5 days.

The movie is one of the most amazing character studies I have ever seen. Every action of every character is so exquisitely orchestrated to the very end that you are on the edge of your seat with anticipation for what the next moment will bring.

Several years ago there was an amazing limited edition of Oldboy on DVD. It was no less than 4 discs, included the soundtrack and was house in a handmade metal box. Unless you were in the know you had to buy this after the fact on ebay ay quite an inflated price.

Tartan Films who have been releasing some of the finest films Asia has to offer is going to release their own Oldboy Limited Edition on November 14th.



The package looks AMAZING:

DISC 1
Feature Film
Director’s Commentary
Director and Cinematographer’s Commentary
Director and Cast Commentary

DISC 2
5 Behind the Scenes Documentaries:
Making the Film – The Cast Remembers (11 mins.)
Production Design (13 mins.)
The Music Score (17 mins.)
CGI Documentary (8 mins.)
Flashback (23 mins.)
Cast & Crew interviews (41 mins.)
10 Deleted Scenes with Optional Commentary (25 mins.)
Featurette: ‘Le Grand Prix at Cannes’ (9 mins.)

DISC 3
The Autobiography of Oldboy (212 mins.)
A video diary from each of the 69 shooting days.

INCLUDED IN METAL CASE
Special collector’s edition card featuring an actual film cell from the theatrical 35mm print.
The first volume of the Old Boy graphic novel upon which the movie is based.

That's an amazing amount of stuff packed into that metal box. This will be the first in Tartan’s “Vengeance Trilogy Collector’s Series” (which included Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, Oldboy , and Lady Vengeance )

I highly suggest hopping over to your favorite online retailer and pre-ordering a copy today.

Trailer

Woefully out of print unheard of Friday

Each Friday I'm going to dig through my cd collection and talk about a cd that really should be available for purchase, but alas and alack is gone daddy gone.

This week though, I wanted to do something just a little different. I wanted to share with you an album that (IMO) has gone very unheard, and not talked about. Ironically, the album is titled Nothing and was put out in 1996 by System Error.



Bobby Bird had already gained quite a bit of a fan base with several releases under the Higher Intelligence Agency moniker (including an appearance on the seminal Warp Records compilation Artificial Intelligence II in 1994) and 1996 was to be a stellar year for releases. Not only was it the first of two collaborations with Biosphere's Geir Jenssen but a record created literally from nothing would fuel my musical imagination for years to come.

Something from nothing. But what was the nothing? According to these notes on the album "..the album is called 'nothing', because that's essentially what it was derived from. We wanted to reveal the hidden voice of sampling technology and play the samplers rather than the samples. Using no input signals at all, we just sampled nothing and looked really closely at it. We used every glitch and software fault and tried to listen to what the machines had to say."

What does nothing sound like? Not as cold and digital as one would think. There is a real human feeling to the compositions.(despite the tracks coming from such an unfeeling source) A warmth within the machine hums.

This was from a time when dance music really was intelligent, and not just the noodlings of a kid and his MacBook. Meticulously programmed beats intersperse with delicate melodies that reside within subtle textures. It's relaxing and challenging, and is best suited in a room lit only by a single computer monitor while reading something like E.M. Forester's The Machine Stops as the music could easily be a future artifact from that time period.

The album is thankfully still available on the web. I would suggest hopping over to Headphone and picking up a copy.

Fans of the early days of Warp will not be disappointed.

Look for an interview with Bobby Bird later this week.

For now have a great weekend.

download Enough Already

Woefully out of print Friday Sunday

Each Friday I'm going to dig through my cd collection and talk about a cd that really should be available for purchase, but alas and alack is gone daddy gone.

This week is 2000's The Age of Terminal Irony By Ammo.



In 1999 I was introduced to the power electronics movement, and all of the output on the Ant Zen label. I adored the albums put out by the likes of Imminent Starvation, Synapscape and the like. (More-so I was impressed with the output of their sister label Hymen. )

Through Ant Zen and Hymen artists I discovered the much lamented Flatline Records label, and their 2 disc comp. I was really blown away by much of what was on there, but I especially loved the track No Safe Place by Ammo.

Who was this band? I put my internet ninja skills work, and tracked down info telling me that The Ammo EP was going to be released in early 2000. I was totally psyched!

When the day did arrive I was totally unprepared for the opening track Ghost Phalanx The 3 minute intro is very reminiscent of the ambience John Sellekaers created as Xingu HIll. That all changed at the 3:14 mark.

The tension of the track with it's pulsating high hats gave way to glitched out drum and bass that easily could have been the soundtrack to Asuka Langley's final stand in the End of Evangelion movie. It was brutal, and sounded like a battle between giant robots that decided the fate of all mankind. The song didn't so much end, but have the life drained from it.

The other stand out track (though there were no bad tracks) Reptiles in Paradise has a really infectious beat to it, despite having what i dubbed as a studio error sound to it. (The glitch reminds me very much of the Lassigue Bendthaus album Pop Artificielle, and it would probably appeal to fans.)

The included remixes were good, though I do believe the original tracks had much more power and urgency to them. Live the band was just phenomenal. The tracks were tighter, and lent themselves to really great live remixing on the fly. (I still can't believe I saw them in Pittsburgh!!)

Ammo put out a few other VERY out of print EPs after that, but faded into nonexistence. They will be missed.

download Ghost Phalanx
download Reptiles in Paradise

For more information on all of John Sellekaers's musical output head over to the Metarc page. (John's mastering company)

We interrupt this Woefully out of print Friday to announce an amazing reissue!

Spend enough time with me and you will learn that I am a bit of a sucker for all things electronic. By sucker, I mean that if something is really good, I will probably fall for it, and it will become a huge part of my musical environment.

Case in point: Bola.


Darrell Fitton's Bola is one of the most underrated/unknown of all of the heavyweight IDM projects out there. I fell hook line and sinker when I heard 2001's Fyuti. It was a nice change from all of the digital terror I was listening to at the time. A guy who was making music with analogue gear that was both compelling, and challenging. (Not to mention easy on the ears)

I spent much of my time looking for everything and anything I could find on the guy. I tracked down a copy of his first full length Soup I found the great Mauver EP, and READ about the so called "Shapes" LP (which wasn't attributed directly to him, but the lucky 300 who got a copy knew it was) I spent my time and energy looking for it, seeming to miss it at every turn.

Then today I looked on a whim for Bola on ebay, and what do I come across, but this: An auction for the shapes EP re-mastered with bonus tracks! I did a little bit of digging around and found that not only was it going to be released september 26th, but that his new record was finished and slated to be released in a few months!

What a great day to find that something isn't quite as woefully out of print as I though it was just one scant day ago!

Run, don't walk over to the Skam shop and pre-order the Ep. Or, if you are like me, and can't wait purchase the MP3 album directly from Skam!

HOORY FOR NEW BOLA!!

Look for a bonus WooP sometime this weekend as I load some Ammo into a gun and fire it at your ears!

Au Revoir Simone

Sometimes I amaze myself as far as the whole "missing something right under my nose thing" goes. For example- I don't listen to the music my friends have embedded on their myspace profiles.

It's not because I'm a jerk, or that I think my taste in music is soo much more refined (ok, it is partially both of those reasons, but I don't mean it in a disrespectful way). It's mostly because 9 times out of 10 I'm already listening to something, and that something will get all kinds of garbled with the myspace music... Tragedy unfolds.

However, tonight when I listened to a friend of mine's musical selection I discovered something quite spectacular!



Au Revoir Simone is an electronic band from Brooklyn made up of Heather D’Angelo [vocals, drum machines, keyboard], Erika Forster [vocals, keyboards], Annie Hart [vocals, keyboards].

What do these fine upstanding young ladies create? Some of the most amazing dreamy pop music I have heard in a long time. (Though this trio owes more debt to Stereolab, than say MBV) I know that gives a vague explanation to the band. (it's 2:30 in the am, and my brain is leaking out of my ear) Let me try again

Imagine if you will that the 3 eldest Libson sisters (of the Virgin Suicides) each got a synthesizer, and recorded poppy soundscapes using bits and pieces from their diaries as inspiration for their lyrics. The sweet sounds would be light and airy, (the kind of music you would want to hear while sitting under the stars on a cool October night) but with enough worldly understanding to keep even a jaded listeners ears perked.

If the Libson girls were around now, and didn't write this music they would all certainly do everything they could to listen to it. (as my readers should)

Their cd (with a hand silkscreened cover) is available online. I would suggest doing what I just did and buy it.

Download Through the Backyards

Au Revoir Simone on Myspace
Au Revoir Simone official page

[Thanks Rachel! Your taste in music has never ceased to amaze me!]

{EDITED 9:21 AM, now fortified with added coherence!]

Holy Crap! It's ben almost two weeks since I posted!

Ok, so it's been a while. Life got in the way. That is going to change. Starting next week there will be at least two posts a week.(Including the return of Woefully out of print Fridays.)

As time permits I'll post more. For now, have a great weekend. See ya next week!

-The Management

A little of the old catch up.

So, I kinda dropped the ball on this whole blog thing last week. Yes, life kinda got in the way, but that's no excuse.

That being the case, I'm going to try to pack as much musical info into the next week.

So, welcome back to Radio2019. You can read along with me in your book. You will know it is time to turn the page when you hear Artoo-Detoo beep like this

Lets begin now.

First order of business is The Prairie Cartel.
I got a friend request from them on myspace. I usually proceed with much trepidation with these invites, after the large amount of awful indie and electronic acts I've heard on there. (No, I'm not a snob- well ok, I sorta am, but really a few chords and some Apple Loops does not a band make.)

However, that is not the case with this Chicago based band. I was mad impressed with the sound of their project. The track Fuck Yeah that Wide reminded me very much of Land of Rape and Honey era Ministry. While other songs had a very great post punk/disco feel to it that will really appeal to fans of Bloc Party and the like. I have a feeling that the next time I dj they are going to be a big part of my arsenal!

Their myspace page has 4 songs available for download, and I encourage peeps to head on over there, and check them out!

Prairie Cartel on Myspace
Official Site

[beep]

And now for something completely different.



I should come right out and say I don't like pop music. Like not at all. It doesn't challenge the ears, nor is it up to par with the production standards that demand. Annie being the exception to the rule, but I digress.

However, my ears were given the a treat earlier in the week in the form of an IM from a friend of mine who told me I HAD to check out this band called Khoiba. Ok, now I am really particular about my music, and not to say that my friend doesn't have good taste in music, but he does legitimately like the Insane Clown Posse. Again, I proceed with caution.

I was blown away. To call Khoiba pop is a great disservice to this amazing band from The Czech Republic. Really mind blowing intricate noisy electronic pop structures with female vocals that remind most people of Bjork, but to my ears she sounds like a cross between Bjork and a much less annoying [and talented] Jewel.

I would post some mp3 love, but I have the iTunes DRM'd versions of the Album. No love I'm afraid. However there are a bunch of songs at both their myspace page, and the official site.

Who would it appeal to? Fans of Dntel, The Knife (at their noisiest), and of course Bjork. [Though I think if you played this for the average Jewel fan their heads would asplode. ;) ]

Khobia on myspace
Khobia Official Site

[beep]

[almost] Woefully out of Print Friday... erm Sunday now.

Each Friday I'm going to dig through my cd collection and talk about a cd that really should be available for purchase, but alas and alack is gone daddy gone.

This week is going to be a little different. While this album is not out of print NOW it almost was not heard by a generation of electronic musicians. That album is The Planets by Isao Tomita.



The year was 1976. (A scant two years after I was born) Japanese synthesist Isao Tomita had released several critically acclaimed electronic albums albums (including electronic interpretations of versions of Moussorgsky's Pictures At An Exhibition and Stravinsky's Firebird Suite) but was found him self with a legion of new fans as his version of Gustav Holst's The Planets found it's self at #67 on the Billboard pop chart at the #1 slot on the classical chart.(1)

One subset of fans that he didn't have was the estate Gustav Holst. They demanded the album be withdrawn as it was a sub-par recording, and an abomination. (The other complain from classical music purists was several of the tracks were abridged versions, which As a result the album was pulled from stores, and a generation of electronic musicians lost out on an amazing recording.

Enter the age of the Compact disc. Not Only is The Planets Available on CD, but it was given the special edition treatment with a new recording and mix in 2003!

While not everybody's cup of tea (some people find it fairly kitschy) The recordings really stand the test of time as a really cool piece of electronic music history.

Tomita official site
Tomita fan site

download Mars here

(1) interview with Tomita originally from Keyboard magazine available here

Woefully out of print Friday

Each Friday I'm going to dig through my cd collection and talk about a cd that really should be available for purchase, but alas and alack is gone daddy gone.

This week is going to be 1997's -273c by NEWT



Not content with being the current kings of the Industrial underground Daniel Meyer (of haujobb) and Andreas Meyer (of Forma Tadre) got together to do an album of progressive ambient. Interviews from that time period call NEWT "dynamic and structural elements from different sources, trying to envision our own musical conception which has to do with small and great spaces, empty rooms, electricity, flow of energy."

I found it to be an amazing soundtrack for an unmade sci-fi film. The environmental sounds of that record and it's stark isolation were touched upon in Biosphere's album Substrata from that same year, though this album suggested the reaches of a deep dark space many years from now, and not a winter tundra. While it's influences are worn almost like a badge of honor (Aphex Twin being the most obvious ) this album stands very much on it's own sounding like an alien transmission that somebody recorded and mass produced on CD.

I can't say that this album would be everybody's cup of tea, but for somebody like me it is one of the most mind-numbingly amazing record I had heard up until that time, and I will maintain that it had more influence on the current music I both listen to and produce than any other single album ever had.

The accompanying Phaseshifting EP is not to be missed either. The reconstructions of these tracks are simply amazing. (Especially the Architect mix of Abyss, and the new song Patina. Perfect for a night in an off world bar.

download Testone from -273c
download Abyss (Architect Mix) from the Phaseshifting EP (fair warning. this song is a 9 minute long beast... might want to go put on a pot of tea while it's downloading)

Planet Myer home to Haujobb, NEWT etc
Andy Maya dot com home to Forma Tadre
Amazon dot com search for -273c
273c search on Ebay

For those who know- free music

I just got an email update this morning from James Vehslage (who handles drums in For Those Who Know):

For Those Who Know is a psychedelic band from Austin, Texas, who released a self-titled EP that came out last year, and caught a lot of attention here in Texas. Comparisons have been made to the Jesus and Mary Chain, New Order, Sonic Youth, and My Bloody Valentine. You can download the entire album for free at for-those-who-know.com and at myspace.com/forthosewhoknow .
They are currently planning a tour to the East Coast for October, and on August 10th they will play their first show in California, headlining at the Silverlake Lounge with the Fleeting Joys, the Meeting Places, and Rachel Goldstar(of Experimental Aircraft).
Also, FTWK is working on a new full length record and a video with Super!Alright! for "Night At The Danceclub". Super!Alright! has done work with Single Frame, the Octopus Project, and the Black Eyed Peas.

As somebody who has just a bit of a Shoegazer fetish, this is right up my alley. I would love to see a triple bill with these cats, Asobi Seksu and Alcian Blue.

Dream pop bliss. Yum. :)

download Grow Old Together and Die
download Night at the Danceclub

For Those Who Know on the internets

Woefully out of print Friday

New feature!

Each Friday I'm going to dig through my cd collection and talk about a cd that really should be available for purchase, but alas and alack is gone daddy gone.

This week is going to be Render the 1994 album from Lassigue Bendthaus



Industrial music in 1994 was a strange creature. Nine Inch Nails brought it to the stereo of every kid in America with "that fuck you like an animal song" Many a Gap cloned minion swayed and made out to slick and sleazy Closer (which I always felt to be the ugliest song on TDS, an album that many a reviewer found to be one of the most emotionally devastating since Pink Floyd erected The Wall in 1979) little did they know of the emotional turmoil contained on the rest of the cd...

Uwe Schmidt had released 3 albums and 4 12" singles under his Lassigue Bendthaus moniker (Including the very underrated Cloned which used the same basic sample set to create several very different songs, and Cloned:Binary which gave those samples to end users for using in their own compositions. )

Render was different though. Render turned industrial music on it's ear. It took the ideas that Kraftwerk laid out in the 70's and early 80's and expanded on it, and perfected it. Beautiful minimalistic techno/industrial/ambient hybrid tracks that sound as fresh today as they did almost 12 years ago.

The album was a bit of a conundrum. Industrial kids didn't like it because it was too techno. Techno kids? Nahh... not weird enough in an Artificial Intelligence /Warp Records sort of way. But the people who were recording electronic music around that time found the album to be forward thinking enough to borrow elements from it (See haujobb's Solutions for a Small Planet , or even Madonna's 1998 Ray of LIght )

Herr Schmidt went on to record under His Atom Heart moniker, and gained a whole new fan base when he started releasing albums as Senior Coconut. He even managed to release a collection of pop covers as LB called Pop Artificielle which sounded more like the glitchy world of Atom than the warm minimalism of the former.

I wanted to share this album as the first of the woefully out of print, because it is to me one of the biggest crimes against the laptop generation of the electronic music scene to not have one of the last truly great albums recorded on outboard gear available to challenge their sensibilities.

A friend of mine once described Render as sounding like a "pop album from 2007", we are quickly approaching that year, and I can only hope that somebody creates something this fresh in the next year.

download Molecular Modelling
Atom Heart Discography
Ebay search forRender

It's July 25th, and I think you all know what that means...

HAPPY SILENT SHOUT DAY!!

Finally, after months of listening to low grade mp3s those of us unfortunate enough to live in the states can finally get our grubby little paws on a copy of The Knife's 3rd record.

I myself am as giddy as a school girl about it. This record is probably going to stay in my top 3 of 2006 (with Eraser being just a bit higher on the scale due to my rampant fanboydom)

I think this is another record that if you have spent any time on the blogosphere, and have somehow not heard it mentioned you are either:

A. Blind
2. Not paying attention
D. Don't care.

I myself fell in love with the first listen and have been spinning it on my ipod since I first downloaded it. I don't see that changing anytime soon.

The Knife homepage
Mute records page about Silent Shout

Also of note today:



Easily one of my favorite shows on TV. Also one of the smartest things ever committed to animation. There was mucho controversy when the show was first released with claims that it was too racist for tv. Eff that I say. It was a very realistic depiction of racial tension in the US. It's not (as the ignorant right wing claimed) hateful towards whites. I see it as empowering by pointing out the fallacies of our society. One of the best things on tv, and I hope with it's dvd release more people will give the show the time it deserves, and really pay close attention to what is going on around them.

Buy the Boondocks at Amazon

Finally we have

Here is the info from the Tartan Films website:

Mi-ju, played by the beautiful Sung Hyun-Ah, is a brilliant cellist who craves peace and stability after surviving a car crash, which killed her best friend. Haunted by terrifying memories of the accident, she decides to forgo a professional career in music, in favor of teaching college students and her daughter how to play. Unfortunately, things begin to go terribly wrong. One of her students attacks her, her sister in-law becomes dangerously obsessed with her fiancée, and the new housekeeper is scaring her to death. Further, there is something very ominous and portentous about the music coming out of her daughter’s cello.

Cello has gotten some rave reviews, and I cannot wait to see it! Be on the lookout for a review soon!

Tartan Films info page on Cello

Ok, time to get to a store. Later taters!

Stephen Parsick Hoellenengel

Get to know me a bit and you will soon begin to see that I have a bit of a Blade Runner fixation. By saying "a bit" a really mean a full blown addiction. Several years ago when I was maintaining a special effects makeup website I choose a domain name that was a reference to Blade Runner replicants.org . The idea of living in a time where rogue androids are running amuck and effin shiznat up is amazing. (Not to mention the beautiful cityscapes that warped my perception and gave me a very serious love for run down buildings and strong back lighting) Heck, even the 2019 in my blog name is a BR nod...

So, what does this have to do with Stephen Parsick and his record Hollenengel? Everything. Stephen is also a HUGE Blade Runner fan. It's evident the first time you listen to the droning synths of Der Tod , or the big analog synth lead of Der Prinz . The dark soundscapes are made possible (according to the press info on his website through "...the same sort of equipement Vangelis had at his disposal when he recorded the score" At times it sounds like what could have been a collaboration between John Carpenter, Coil, Vangelis, with just a little bit of Isao Tomita thrown in for good measure.

The album (which took 4 years to record) was created "entirely without computers, multi-track recorders, sequencers, MIDI interfaces or overdubs." This was a true labor of love and would be a welcomed adition to the library of any fan of dark ambient, or film scores.

download Die Burg (The Castle)
parsick.com
Doombient
The Tyrell Corporation [a great resource on Blade Runner]
BR Movie

The randomness of the day

Life has kept me from posting this week. Which is both suck and ass.

I've been scrambling to finish a Dj on your Mac workshop for that place that gives me paychecks, so the choice was made between keynote, and blogging. Keynote won this week.

However, I am not with out some cool random stuff from this week.



The first is an article I found listing The 25 Best Moments from Pee-Wee's Playhouse. I am quite unbashful in my love for the show, and this was a loving tribute dripping with sarcasm. My favorite line? It's another example of how far Pee-wee will go to be our American Mr. Bean -- hilarious, but a complete dickhole to everyone.

DICKHOLE

Let me repeat that one more time.

DICKHOLE

I am going to be saying that all effin day.

In honor of my djing SpOoky Ooky Goth night here in Pittsburgh I thought I'd share this really great Black Strobe mix of Nitzer Ebb's Getting Closer It's available on the Body Rework Remixes. It's rad, and if you don't know who Nitzer Ebb is, apparently you missed out on a great era of minimalistic industrial dance circa 1987.

(which is entirely possible... I am pretty effin old)

ANYWHO download Getting Closer (Black Strobe Moderne Remix)

Hopefully next week will be a little less chaotic, and allow me to bring more of the noise. Speaking of... I am really diggin on Scale from Herbert this week. All that hype it's getting? Totally deserving. It's seriously got to make some top 10 lists at the end of the year. He is giving away an edited version of The Movers and the Shakers at herbertdashscaledotcom Take a listen. Have a good weekend. Don't drink too much.

Quickie...

Just wanted to post a couple of things.

First is an update to the post about The Horrors.



As promised I found a much better quality version of the Shenna was a Parasite video.

Thanks to the amazing Director's File website I found a MUCH better quality mp4 of the video. download it here

I'll leave it on my server for a couple of weeks.

Second:

I just found the most amazing app for resizing pictures. It's called iZoom. It works in windows, linux, and of course my favorite Mac os X

I think every blogger in the universe should use it. I kid you not. It's THAT good. So easy, quicker than photoshop, and best of all FREE.

download for Mac OS X v1.2

Kasabian announce the departure of Chris Karloff

Just got this from the homepage:

Lead guitarist/keyboard player Chris Karloff and Kasabian have parted company.

Karloff and the band experienced certain creative and artistic differences during the writing and recording of their second album. These irreconcilable and diverging approaches resulted in the band asking Karloff to leave the group. Karloff will pursue a musical career elsewhere.

Kasabian's Album 'Empire' is released on Columbia records on the 4th of September.

I don't know what this means for the future of the band. Part of the reason I REALLY loved their debut was the production on the album. Keyboardist and guitarist leaves... all of the production tricks go with him...

download club foot

Myspace Part 2- oh the HORRORS!

Ok, so I've learned to plan a bit better for my theme weeks, and maybe I don't know write the entries out ahead of time.

But that is neither here nor there.

Today I am covering a little band called The Horrors. They are a horror/gage/punk/surf band. Think The Cramps, only louder and with a thick London accent.

Normally I'm not into the whole gothabilly/psychobilly thing (most things influenced by the deep south grates on my nerves like nobody's business) but these guys cut out all of the crap that I really don't like (the billy) and stick to the cool stuff. Well worth the listen!

Their debut 7" Sheena is a Parasite/Jack the Ripper is pretty much sold out everywhere. I can't wait to hear a full length.

Now, I don't want you kids to think that I was going to leave you without pretty pictures, oh heavens no! One of the reasons that the band grabbed my attention in the first place was that the video for Sheena was directed by non other than my favorite director Chris Cunnigham.



(I apologize for the craptastic you tube quality. I'll see if I can track down a better version.)

Tune in tomorrow when I'll have a proper post to finish up for this first attempt at a theme week.

The Horrors Myspace page.

We interrupt this theme week with a Tuesday new release bulletin

A few notables from today...

Thom Yorke- The Eraser

Unless you have been living under a rock, you are probably well aware that Thom of that one band Released a solo album today.

Do you need it? Well, asking that of a bonafide Radiohead fanboy my answer would be an enthusiastic "hell to the yes!" HOWEVER, I realize not everybody is nearly as over-zealous about my boys from Oxford. That being the case, I submit this to you- do you like the electronica of Kid A ? Yes? Then you will probably dig this record quite a bit. No? It may not be your cup of tea.

The Eraser
radioheaddotcom
XL Recordings

Jesus and Mary Chain re-issues.



Another of those do you need it sort of releases. Do you? I happen to be a big fan of J&MC. I purchased both Psycho Candy, and Honey's Dead (sadly, Darklands was not available during my record store excersion) I'm probably going to spring for the others later on this week, yes I am a sucker for shoegazer rock. I am also a sucker for bonus features, and lets be honest here. Music videos always kick butt. (as does dvd audio, and remasters... ok I'm just a sucker and I must like buying my cds several times... lets just hope ther are never any dvd audio versions of Skinny Puppy's back catalogue anytime soon...)

Jesus and Mary Chain at Rhino Records

Muse Black Holes and Revelations

On first listen this reminded a lot of a glam rock influenced Ok Computer Not at all a bad thing. I think it will grow on me a bit, but at first listen the Queen-like vocal harmonies were just a little bit alien to my ears...

[//edit//2:55 am//7.12//] Say, wouldn't it have been smart of me to upload this thing when it wrote it earlier today?

The most interesting music on myspace (part 1)

I thought about trying my first theme week.

As you can guess by the title it's myspace bands. Surprisingly it's not just people like me with a Mac making attempts at IDM rather, there are some really talented artists out there doing some cool things.

I thought I could give you a heads up on a few of them. Today is going to some electronic acts of note that are near and dear to my heart.

The first is Mr_Hopkinson's Computer ™ from Bristol, UK. This little iBook got tired of not having a voice of it's own. For so long he had been used as a tool to create music, but there were songs he had herd since he as long as he could remember that really touched him. He wanted so much to be heard, so his human counterpart helped him to get a few solo shows. The computer did a few cover songs, (mostly 80's and 90's indie artists) and it caught on. Now he's playing all over the UK from coffee shops to festivals.

Definitely guaranteed to brighten up your day a bit. My favorites have been Fake Plastic Trees and Roads As a bonus (to me anyways) Lassigue Bendthaus is listed as an influence!

Mr_Hopkinson's Computer ™'s myspace page

Deep Roller is a couple of my oldest friends. Otto and W.R. Schultz make some of the coolest f'n electronic music I have ever heard. How they aren't on a label yet, or haven't been heard by many, many more people baffles me. They styles range from d&b to glitch, industrial and electronica. They don't get to record together very often, but when they do it's magic. I encourage as many people as possible to add them to your myspace page, and bug them about playing live shows. Much love you two! (Bonus trivia- Deep roller is a reference to the film Hannibal, and one of Lector's conversations with Barney about Agent Starling)

Deep Roller on Myspace

The last one for today is sort of a cheat. I had been into the music of Cyrusrex for a really long time before I ever knew he had a myspace page. HOWEVER, I don't think nearly enough people own a copy of his debut allOfme.hyde. How do you describe the music of Cyrusrex? Think the most progressive alien sounds you have ever heard. Then give it a glitch beat, and a great melody. Then wrap it up with some of the best production you have ever heard. He really blows me away, and I can say is one of only a few artists that have NEVER left my iPod Nano since the day I purchased it.

Cyrusrex on Myspace
Cyrusrexdotcom

Thats all for today. Tune in tomorrow for part 2, where I might actaully review something with geetars.

I'll stop starring at my feet and get to the playful sex

Asobi Seksu (which is colloquial Japanese for playful sex ) is beginning to build some serious momentum thanks to the magic of the blogosphere. I am totally flipping out over the band right now, and I hope I can help a few more people to do the same. If you like the idea of kicking it like it was 1991 shoegazer style, with some great female vocals (in both English and Japanese) I highly encourage you to take a listen and buy a copy of Citrus

download New Years
download Thursday

BUY Citrus from Amazondotcom

Asobi Seksu on myspace

Found this little Bootleg Gem out in the blogosphere

Thanks to the amazing 1 two punch of Elbows and the independent music blog I found this GREAT NIN mashup album.

It's called withboots, and as you can guess it's a mashup of With Teeth.

This is one hot little record. I think songs from this are going to end up on a bunch of mix cds really soon. I'm in the process of downloading the lossless version right now via bit torrent. Definitely worth a listen!

[Edit- 7/5] The lossless files are in the .ape format. Sooo... most of my OS X wielding warriors probably won't have much of a clue as to how to open them. That why I've included a version tracker link to this handy little converter called xACT Now, enjoy the music!

THEY'RE BACK!

From Wired News After an unannounced hiatus of over a month that left fans dizzy and disoriented, Homestar Runner returns with...well, not an apology. Not even an explanation, really. But it's a cartoon, and that's what's important!

the best things in life are free part 2

I just stumbled upon Chamomile Music, a self described "free music net label created by Genshi Media to promote the distribution of high quality, professional music through the use of the internet."

The first release I downloaded was Evangelion by Tang Kai. My hunch in choosing this as the first release to take a listen to was a good choice. The bleepy down tempo tracks on this EP brings to mind Microgravity era Biosphere along with just a bit of Coil's early to mid 90's techno.

Not by any stretch a prefect release, but interesting enough to keep my ears peaks for several listens. The first track Further Away's first 40 seconds fools you into thinking you are headed towards a dystopian nightmare, but instead are transported to a future world uninhabited by Roy Batty and his ilk. It's a relaxing bit of electronica that reminds me a bit of the first For a Space album Welcome 4000

Download Further Away

sometimes the best things in life ARE free part 1

Downliners Sekt. Statement of Purpose LP

It was through this article on the Sabas Judas blog that I first heard about the band.

"...(M)elancholic and minimal electronic" was enough to peak my interest. I soon found however that this didn't give the music any sort of justice. The blending of hip hop, industrial, idm and glitch makes for some rich soundscapes that you can't necessarily tap your toes to, but you can certainly listen in awe of a group that should be among the heavies right now, but have chosen to remain in the shadows (for right now)

To my ear this this is what industrial music should have evolved into. Forget ebm, power electronics, future pop, and every other trend in the post Dwayne Goettel industrial wasteland. This is the real deal.

Downliners Sekt must be experienced to be believed. They feel the same, and for that reason (and just a bit of distain for the current state of the music industry) the album is being given away on their website.

The only thing they ask for in return is a small pay pal donation. It's not required, and I'm certain many people have downloaded it with out. However, I encourage you to oblige them if you like the music.

But don't take my word for it...