Train of thought: (n) - the interconnection in the sequence of ideas expressed during a connected discourse or thought, as well as to the sequence itself, especially in discussion how this sequence leads from one idea to another.
Oh my God! My favorite producer and my favorite visual artist has collaborated and are releasing a DVD in High Definition and in 5.1 surround sound to showcase both of their visual and audio talents.
This is seriously like a dream come true.
There were talks on many message forums about this DVD in the making but i passed it off as just rumors. Then today I discovered on BOA message board that the DVD is up for grabs for free on www.umfeld.tv
Anyone into abstract soundscapes and from Rotterdam will know who Jochem Paap aka Speedy J is. I distinctly remember seeing him do a live show in a 'hole in the wall' in Toronto last year and my eardrums just pretty much blew out after the show.
But it was totally worth it.
Scott Pagano is a legend in the making and he is pretty much self explanatory. He has worked with Kronos Quartet (think of the Quartet that made the haunting soundtrack for Requiem For A Dream) and countless others. You wanna see 3D abstract art? Look no further.
Arguably one of the most popular Detroit Techno classics of modern day dance music, "Minus Orange" was produced by Richie Hawtin in 1999 when Detroit influenced techno was beginning to spread across the world like wildfire. You won't hear techno nowadays in many clubs where I'm from unless you live in Germany, Rotterdam or Belgium, but godamn were those days good. The glory days of Detroit are over (known to many as the Jerusalem of techno music) but the music still lives on.
I remember being at an afterhours in Montreal called Sona in 1999 when Stacey Pullen dropped this track (it was a white label record, so it wasn't released to the public yet). My jaws dropped when I heard it.
There are many rumors of the origins of the song, but many believe that it was sampled from Yello's 1985 produced "Ohh Yeah" track that was made famous in the Snicker Bar commercials and from the soundtrack of "Ferris Bueller's Day Off". Who knows where Hawtin got the sample from, but throw that into the mix with some compressed TR-909 drums and it was an instant classic.
Since 1999, Richie Hawtin has progressed into a more mature style of minimal techno. You will rarely hear him play songs like "Minus Orange" anymore. His recent work has been more experimental, abstract and dark sounding minimal techno. Him and Ricardo Villalobose have been going ape shit pushing that minimal sound in Europe when the masses were still heavily into German Schranz and hard industrial techno. I guess their hard work paid off, as most of Europe now is mainly into minimal and electro.
I picked up a copy of his latest album called "DE:9 Transitions" (Short for "Decks, Efx, and TR909"). The first DE:9 album was originally a concept album that showcased Hawtin's turntablism skills, mixed with live effects from his effect racks, while simultaneously incorporating hands on drum machine programming. Since then, it has evolved into something completely different. "Transitions" was an album that was completely mixed from Ableton Live where he spliced and diced loops from hundreds of different minimal tracks and blended them together in different orders, while using Ableton's built in software tools.
Anyhow, enough of the bloody lecture, we're not here to be educated. The two songs are taken from "DE:9 Transitions". Tracks have been incorporated into the videos he made that were released as a DVD version on his album. Enjoy.
Haven't checked out the Ableton (www.ableton.com) webpage in a while, but stumbled onto the "Artist" page and saw that Kid Beyond uploaded a new video showing him making crazy drum 'n bass and techno with nothing but a microphone and midi controller hooked up to Ableton software.........SIIIICCCKKKKKKK.....
Ohhh yah, new features of Ableton Live 7.0 introduces: -side chainer for making your drumkicks duck underneath that bassline. -spectrum analyzer......perfect for audio engineering. -new compressor for your drums. -EQ Eight, brand new EQ's for mixing down.
I just bought a vintage analogue synthesizer named the Roland Juno 106 the other night after a rather aggressive bidding war with someone on eBay. Unfortunately I am not shipping this machine to my home in Hong Kong yet, as shipping costs are too high. I plan on sending this back home to my parent's house in Vancouver where i will consolidate this with the rest of my studio to be packed up and sent to my shoebox apartment in Hong Kong.
You would not believe how excited but disappointed I am with this purchase. Excited because i have finally gotten my hands on a warm sounding analogue synthesizer for many years now. Disappointed because I cannot play with it until it arrives in Hong Kong.
The Juno 106 was released in 1984 by Roland as a semi analogue-semi digital synthesizer tool. It has been used by Dr. Dre, Aphex Twin, Daft Punk, Depeche Mode, Joris Voorn, and countless of other producers of all music genres.
In terms of sound, it has the capacity and flexibility to produce mind boggling sound effects, aggressive sawtooth basslines (think of the cheesey music you hear at Volar), and legendary leads. I got into a heated debate with my partner in crime from Toronto on a long distance call, where he advised me that there is nothing the 106 can do these days that my computer cannot do.
This is true.
But nothing beats hardware. Software technology can be overwhelming at times, and yes i am aware that it is CAPABLE of being more flexible, but in reality, is this truly the case? I know TONS of producers back home that swear by software synthesizer technology, but because the capability of software technology can be so vast, people can be caught up spending hours in front of the computer messing around for 6 hours rather than actually getting anything done. It's one thing to be constructive and actually get something done. It's another when your sitting in front of your Apple monitor debating what to do with so much software technology. You may also be asking yourself how the fuck to move rotate that button on the screen without using your mouse. It's when I think of these kind of things which make me appreciate the physicality of touching a hardware synthesizer.
