Last week I shared with you the start of a 4 [maybe more?] part series of covers that some of my friends did that was free to download here. Here is volume 2:
Calmer covers Bob James: I think when I asked Calmer to cover the Taxi theme song he thought I was joking but I actually wasn’t I always play this song when I DJ late nights. He does a great hazy looped cover which shows off his drumming skills and that was what I was hoping for.
Andre Obin covers Editors: Boston’s Andre Obin is the bridge from Synth Pop to Underworld/the older Kompakt sound, he covered Munich, he went with a great direction which was ditching the sped up original and owning the vocals.
Tom Croose edits Van Morrison: Our Tom Croose does what he does best which is turning rock oldies into respectable dance floor pleasers without referencing that whole Justice dance beat movement, back to the basics for 2010 and more from Tom Croose. [Sorry, this song has been removed due to a DMCA complaint]
D. Gookin covers Primus: Are you ready for your early teen years to flash before your eyes? D. Gookin might have just made the rowdiest intro for a song ever posted on iso50 but don’t let that fool you the cover is really diverse and he did it within hours on his drum kit. I asked Gookin to do it because on tour over a year ago he played a ton of Primus for us in the car and I could tell he loved them plus Pork Soda was the first CD I ever bought so I thought it would be fitting.
Charles Trees remixes Mayer Hawthorne: Ann Arbor, MI remixing Ann Arbor, MI both Mayer and Charles are around my age and from the same city as me. You may know Charles from his other alias Mingus Rude who gave us that very memorable Fleetwood Mac edit. Charles does a fantastic job of making Just Ain’t Gonna Work Out more heady and head noddy which totally made my ears smile.
Just wanted to say thanks to everyone who came out for the SEMF show in Sacramento last night, you guys were awesome and the energy was great. I always love playing in Sacto and it was nice to see that the electronic scene there is alive and better than ever. Thanks to Adam and everyone from SEMF for putting together three straight days of incredible music; I hope this becomes and annual event.
Create Digital Music has posted an excellent interview with Paul Frindle. Frindle was one of the people at the center of the digital revolution in audio recording; he worked on SSL G-Series Console, was “part of the team that broke the “damnable black art” of digital conversion”, founded Oxford Digital (whose EQ plugin I still use extensively), and developed the application the Sony OXF-R3 Console. It’s a pretty technical article but it highlights how creativity and genius can combine to fundamentally change an art form.
Some producers and musicians these days lament the shift to digital saying that analog will always be better than digital. I tend to agree with that statement — particularly when it comes to synthesis — but the move to digital has made the process of production so much more efficient and accessible that it’s hard to argue against it. Digital audio has opened the doors of the music industry to anyone with a computer and made artists of people who might not have had access otherwise. Although I have spent many years trying to shift my process into the analog domain, I certainly wouldn’t have been able to get a start in music if it weren’t for the ability to record digitally.
So here’s to Paul Frindle and everyone like him who paved the way for a revolution in music, because whether we’re making music or enjoying it, we all owe these pioneers a debt of gratitude.
Just a reminder that tomorrow (Sat, Jan.30, 2010) I’ll be playing at the Sacramento Electronica Festival along with Dusty Brown and many others. I should go on around 12:30am and Dusty will be up right after. We’ll be playing some songs together and I’ll have all the visuals set up so it should be a fun night. Hope to see you out.
Since the post about Matthew Dear’s remix of The XX I went on to dig for a 7 inch only remix he did for Colder from 2005. This is one of the first hints at Matthew doing guitar/organic feeling based material and pulling back on the electronics which just sounded natural to have him work with.
Yesterday jonathan suggested I check out The Mary Onettes and i’m glad I did, it opened up a 4am search thru sugary Swedish post rock on iTunes. If you liked The Radio Dept. than this might be right up your alley.
After just releasing their LP Real Estate comes up with an smaller release of material that is LP worthy. The band keeps its laid back sun-dyed feel, so if you loved the LP than this is a must have.
Keepaway got a good grade on Pitchfork’s forkcast/song review because the song is great I think but it also came with a lesson which is if you rip off Animal Collective your gonna get called out hard so maybe adjust a few things so you can be your own idea and not someone else’s, its like the handful of ISO50 rip offs i’ve seen on the innernets, yikes, I can say it because some are just too blatant in my eyes.
Gorgeous typographic works by French studio Hey Ho. I’m a big fan of this super regimented typographic chaos; a contradiction of terms I know, but looking at the pieces I think you know what I mean. Careful inspection usually reveals a tight grid and all of the placement feels *right*. I try to imagine adding or taking away elements and always find that Hey Ho has balanced things perfectly. Their work kind of reminds me of Experimental Jetset in an alternate typographic universe.
Call it Chillwave, Dreambeat or Glo-fi but whatever it is i’m in full support of this sound. The whole genre is like finding an old tape collection of damaged PBS pop music that was never released. I have the lucky opportunity to be in Brooklyn at this time which eats this music up which always isn’t a bad thing because that means live shows while the sound is fresh to the ears. One band i’m excited about is Small Black, their song Pleasant Experience makes me feel like i’m close to real warm water while Despicable Dogs is a bit more noisier and has hints of Big Country – In A Big Country PLEASE TELL ME YOU HEAR IT! or am I crazy?
Tyler Hayes’ furniture label BDDW is a favorite of mine. The prices are — as with nearly all well-designed furniture — off the charts, but it’s always fun to look. I haven’t had a chance to check out their SoHo, NYC showroom in person but Trendland has a nice gallery by Patricia Thompson (who also has some great shots at her Flickr) detailing the interior.
I’m getting a rustic-take-on-Dieter-Rams vibe from that second one. Really nice stuff.
