Monday, November 30, 2009

BAR RAB BAR


All you kids' music sounds like this to me now. OK, I kid.

Send me your musics and lo, I will still listen to them. This invitation includes all present, past, and future sounds.

BONUZ

Love it.

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

SOMETHING I'M THANKFUL FOR: FAIRLIGHT

DORK OUT DEAD AHEAD

For ZinBin's first ever Thanksgiving post, I'd like to take a moment to say how thankful I am for the Fairlight CMI, a pioneering effort in polyphonic digital sampling. For those of you who don't know, long long ago computers had little to nothing to do with commercial music. Funny idea, right? The CMI helped change all that. By making high quality digital sampling available to musicians, the Fairlight CMI and its competitors actually changed what people defined as music. And it still sounds great.


Enough from me, let's hear what Bob Moog has/had to say.


And the company itself. Check out the list of Fairlight users at 1:44 to see what I mean about this instrument being so broadly influential. This video also briefly discusses the Voicetracker and the Fairlight CVI. More on the CVI later.

IN THE NEWS




TESTIMONIALS

Peter Gabriel


Herbie Hancock


And check out the ridiculousness that resulted from a classically trained musician getting his hands on one of these things.


Fairlight also spent considerable effort towards creating a digital video effects device. What ultimately resulted was the Fairlight CVI.


Here's another only slightly cloying promo tape.


Inevitable BBC coverage.

WHERE ARE THEY NOW

Fairlight Instruments currently has a 30 year anniversary revival planned for 2010. You can express your interest in obtaining one here. They are taking feedback from fans and potential users regarding the final specs on their forum . This is super exciting! I can't wait to see how this this new beast turns out.

Good job, Australia! Good job, Peter Vogel! Keep up the good work. And a happy Thanksgiving to you all.

all photos copyright Fairlight Instruments

Thursday, November 12, 2009

GOOD LUCK, FARMER


If there's anything dear to the small nuclear reactor I call a heart, it's food. The process of growing that food is just plain intriguing. Growing that food on an acre (!) of dedicated rooftop space in Brooklyn, well wow, that's amazing. This event is your chance to help make that happen. Screw FarmVille, Brooklyn Grange is the real thing. $10 entry fee gets you all that stuff on the flier, which I would normally hype for you individually, but I have the suspicion that you can read for yourself. OK OK OK, just know, good live and DJ music, loads of free stuff, and yes, A PUNCHING MACHINE! COOL! GOOD TIMES! RAKES! SHOVELS! HOES! FRIDAY THE 13TH! SEE YOU THERE!

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

TRIANGLE WATCHTOWER

Photo by Scott Robertson

Hey guys, it's a music post that's not even about a disco diva. Weird, right? When does that happen? Um, now.

WITNESS

You may already be familiar with Nightshade a la our last
mixtape, which I promise I really will stop mentioning someday, or possibly your own limitless internet savvy. They had the great idea to make music videos for all their songs right off the bat and put them all up on their Youtube Channel. New media, say what? If you still prefer to listen to music without using your eyes, they also have a myspace. I'm enjoying this stuff. It's dark, but still has a really great pop sensibility to it. I've heard people compare this stuff to Fever Ray, Bot'Ox, Glass Candy, and even a low-fi take on Peter Gabriel and/or Phil Collins. (QUESTION: Those two ARE officially the same person now, right?) I can hear all those in there if I try, but I'm 10 to the 10th power more likely to get Nightshade stuck in my head these days than "Solsbury Hill." I really really want to see how this stuff sounds live. Keep up the good work, guys!


This piece of music entered my world via
†HE C☮MM☮N CH∆N†. I will admit, that my first reaction was not entirely positive, but this song got its hooks into me and has been a near daily listen ever since. Ata Kak has gotten me through colds, bad job interviews, a leaky roof, and more than one intolerable subway rush hour. It's sunshine in lo-fi highlife form. If that video didn't send you screaming from the room, then you should visit Awesome Tapes From Africa and download the full album.

I bet you're thinking this is pretty weak mp3 wise for a music post, well ASSACRE has you covered. 2005's Fantastic Illusions Worth Dying For is now available as a free download (here). I lost this album a few hard drives ago, so you can imagine my relief that these epic jams have been loosed on the earthly plane once again. Listen with vigor. Repeat until achieving desired results.

And hey guys,
I'd like to put music up here on a more regular basis, so if you ever have any music you know about/are making that you'd like me to post, please be so kind as to drop me a line.

BONUS