That’s right, you get to listen to me beat it… These experiments were created with Hydrogen. Who knows, with some more time and practice (and more samples) I might make something that actually sounds good! Blessed be open source linux software that makes people look good! …. Oh by the way… spooge..

Recently I went to a concert hosted by the Regina Folk Festival Independent Music Series, the concert featured Tons Of Fun University a spoken word/music trio. I cannot even begin to explain the greatness of this performance. I am not a fan of poetry but had heard about the T.O.F.U experience and wanted to take part. I was not disappointed. Tons Of Fun University combine storytelling, music, beat boxing, harmonica and poetry into one fantastic listening and viewing experience. Every emotion was tapped as I laughed, cried, experienced joy and was even disgusted beyond all measure.

Tons Of Fun University is a troupe made up of some of the most brilliant modern poets North America has to offer. Shane Koyczan is a Canadian poet from Penticton, British Columbia. He is the first Canadian to win the Individual Championship title at the National Poetry Slam in 2000. Shane had a solo during the concert and had the most beautiful and inspiring tale of a child sick with cancer. His portrayal of this young man’s courage was so amazing that I was crying while he spoke. At the end of his song not only was there not a dry eye in the club, but he himself was tearful. I was later told that he always cries at the end of that particular song, its refreshing to hear that he invests so much devotion to his work, every time. Mighty Mike McGee is a native of San Hose, California. He has also won the Individual Championship title at the National Poetry Slam in 2006 as wells as various other Poetry Slam titles. Mike brings a comic presence to the trio. One of his solo acts was a love poem to “Pudding.” His facial expressions, the tone in his voice and his ability to laugh and make fun of himself also brought tears to my eyes, however these were tears of laughter. Lastly, but definatly not least, C.R. Avery, the musical, beat-boxing, harmonica playing middleman. His whispy, low, laid back and very sexy voice brings T.O.F.U. together. C.R. Avery has toured the world bringing his eclectic style of music to the masses.

Their music is direct, witty and packed full of intellectual thought. Should anyone be interested in a fantastic performance I would highly recommend going to a T.O.F.U. concert near you. You can also look them up on their myspace page: http://www.myspace.com/tonsoffununiversity

ENJOY!

While I’m on the subject of robots, I had better mention this little guy.

He drives around his environment until he finds something to drum on, then he drums on it. Like a little robot version of me. Excellent.

Seriously though, this thing is awesome, it has a sampler on board that it uses to record the sound it makes while tapping on things, then he plays it back and drums along on top of it. Amazing.

Found him over at letsmakerobots.com.

Here is some info from the project page:

What it does? Basically:

• Navigate around, collect some data, avoid obstacles, until it finds something “worth playing on” (a single isolated object or a wide flat surface that it can find an angle onto)
• Snakes into place
• Plays some beats on what it have found, and samples this, checking it has a “good sound”
• Based on data collected in the area, and sample just made, then compose a little rhythm, and plays this along with the sample

Why? Well.. I was sitting thinking what I should do for my next robot, what it should do.. Listening to music.. making a rythm with some robot-parts.. Thought; “Hey, I will make a robot that drives around and plays on stuff”

Wicked.

Here is a much longer video showing him navigating around the creator’s home. It wasn’t until I saw this one that I realized he had a kick drum (that floor tapping thing).

Here’s a quick rundown of the specs:

Cost to build:
$120
Time to build:
20 hours

* Actuators / output devices: 6 geared motors in total, 2 speakers, sound sampler
* Control method: autonomous (very)
* CPU: Picaxe 28
* Operating system: Picaxe basic
* Power source: 4 AA batteries
* Programming language: Picaxe basic
* Sensors / input devices: SRF05, microphone
* Target environment: where ever there is something to play on

I was stumbling around trying to find more info on how it generates the music for a while. Like are they premade beats and that, or is it just making that shit up as it goes? Turns out he programmed the robot to know the basics of rhythm and that, what makes a good beat, timing, etc, but it’s basically just making that shit up.

The beats are - however - semi-pre-made. Just as the navigation is semi-pre-thought; you decide that it should not just drive into a wall (unless it is for playing it), but you do not decide weather it should turn left or right when facing the wall. That descission is up to how things are looking to the left / right, and where we just came from, and where we are trying to get, and what we are doing now as well (are we reversing, for instance).

Same way with the beats; There are rules to what is “good behaviour”, what makes a good beat. There are “examples”, and there are setup to make everything play in sync. There is input; how does it sound when sampling, and there is such things as speed, shuffle and combinations, that are put together based upon inputs made when we got to this particular place to drum.

So.. basically and in reality it is just completely random.. But I know “in my heart” that it is not; there are reasons - But I cannot predict what it will play.

I love this thing!

There is no shortage of war songs in our time. Since the Vietnam War, artists have written about war in one way or another and we have gotten some great songs and some supremely crappy ones. For me, a key element of a war song is how timeless it is. That is to say how it can be applied to any war not just the current one. Its pretty obvious that Brothers is about kids going off to fight in the Iraq War but it never states it. Instead this song starts by building vague characters: kids on a beach in what I assume is the north east US. They are spending a night at the beach until a storm comes and they have to leave.

The next part of the song delves right into the war theme. It talks about the role parents play in preparing kids to go into the military and how they get scared when a war actually happens. In the best lyrics of the song, Jesse Lacey sings about how there will never be enough troops until ‘half our names our etched out in the wall and the other half ruined from the things we saw’. This lyric isn’t subtle but it doesn’t shove the horrors of war into your face either. It just tells us that even those who make it back aren’t the same and never will be.

The last important thing to note about this song is the clearly anti-war chorus. Jesse never wants his brother to go to war and in one powerful line he reminds us of that. This is another reason why I believe this song is timeless; because there will always be brothers and sisters going to war and there will always be family left behind that are scared that they will never see them again.

Trent Reznor’s ability to make beautiful noise has always impressed me. His ability to make different sounds and beats flow together has helped make Nine Inch Nails what it is today. In the past, most of Trent’s music has been harsh and brutal with a few exceptions. Most of the these exceptions would be the instrumental track that have appeared on NIN releases. So I guess it should come as no surprise that NIN’s new instrumental anthology is more beautiful then brutal.

Ghosts I-IV is something that I would have never expected from Trent but isn’t all that surprising when one thinks about Trent’s projects in the past few years. Year Zero and Niggy Tardust have both been very ambitious projects with experimental marketing and releases and Ghosts is no different. Trent’s strategy of releasing Ghosts as soon as it was announced works well with tone of the album. The recording experiment that led to Ghosts I-IV was an intense 10 week recording session where Trent set out not to over think but to just make music and when one listens to Ghosts this becomes very apparent. To call Ghosts simple gives the wrong impression but in a way it is. There is nothing to analyze about this album other then the meaning of the title (which I will do in a moment). The music does have many layers to it and the amount of musical and recording talent needed to make it is high. However, there is little reflection needed to understand these songs. Ghosts I-IV provides a NIN experience that fans haven’t had before, listen to a song, ingest it, understand it. There are no lyrics with multiple meanings, no hidden political or personal angst, there is just the music. Ghosts I-IV is a very refreshing experience for long time NIN fans.

The title of this release is very fitting with the simplicity of the release. The music lends to a feelings of loss and regret but also to anticipation and an awareness of things around you. By using a title that can lend to so many feelings and emotions, Trent manages to encompass a theme to 36 songs with no lyrics and this is impressive. The title helps to bring more cohesiveness to this records then just the familiarity of the usual NIN sounds do. As for the different volumes, the do fit together well and some share more common sounds and feelings (Ghosts III is most rocking or intense volume) but how Trent decided to group these together I do not know (this adds to the long list of things Trent does I do not understand but fully support).

Finally, I cannot review this album without mentioning the amazing artwork that comes with it. Trent and company worked with Rob Sheridan to group each song on Ghosts with an accompanying photos and they are amazing. Each photo helps to convey the emotions of the songs but they also stand alone as beautiful pieces of art. Also, the fact that these come along with digital release as an pdf file makes the experience all the greater. Ghosts I-IV is a fantastic album and great experience with the accompanying photos and is well worth whatever the cost of whatever option you choose.

If you want to listen for yourself, click below

Read the rest of this entry »

Note to the music industry: This is how you release music on the internet and still survive as an artist

Trent Reznor has just announced the release of Ghosts I-IV, an instrumental project that was recorded over the course of 10 weeks last year. This alone is nothing amazing (well, depending on your opinion of Nine Inch Nails’ instrumental tracks) but the fact this is available immediately and the variety of release formats is. Nine Inch Nails fans have 5 different options for this release:

1. Free download of first nine tracks in high quality mp3 format. Gives unsure fans a taste of what this release is all about.

2. $5 download of entire album (36 tracks!!!) in a variety of formats (including Apple Lossless which is FLAC for itunes. Will only work with some ipods.)

3. $10 double cd-set with immediate digital download of album. This is perfect for the cash strapped fan (for example, me) who still wants physical cd’s from one of his/her favourite bands. Also, $10 for 2 cd’s is a really good fucking price.

Fanboy break: Trent Reznor is a fucking god

4. $75 package with double cd release, a dvd with multi-track files for remixing goodness, a blu-ray disc with high-def sounds and video. The video is a slide show of artwork inspired by the music. Finally, a 48 art book inspired by the album. If you have more money and a blu-ray player this is gold. The blu-ray disc experience with this will be amazing and I can’t wait to find someone who will get this (or lower the definition so I can download it). The art book also looks beautiful.

5. $300 package with everything from the $75 package plus vinyls and two art prints. Obviously Trent understands his rabid fanbase and these will be soldout in less then a day.

My love for Nine Inch Nails and Trent Reznor runs very deep and this release re-enforces and deepens this love. Trent has put the time and effort into creating options that will suit every fan. And making this is all better is that it is released under the Creative Commons License. Translation: this release can be shared and there will be no repercussions. The album is copyrighted by Nine Inch Nails but considering Trent’s feelings towards major labels, something tells me the RIAA won’t be coming after you for sharing this album. So to summarize, Trent Reznor has set the new standard for releasing an album. Smaller, independent artists will not be able to do this but larger acts that still announce albums 4 months before the cd comes out and sell DRM soaked mp3’s are way behind. Innovation isn’t impossible and for that matter, Trent has done most of the thinking for you. Bye major labels, your business plan from 20 years ago is fucked and you have no one to blame but yourself.

(Review of album coming soon…)

So there I am in the middle of doing prep for the extravagant valentines meal I’m about to cook when I realize I don’t have any “mood” music to go with that candle lit dinner. A quick google and i come accross SomaFM, a commercial free internet radio station with a variety of channels to choose from. They are supported entirely by the people, so donations and subscriptions are appreciated. $50 gets you a subscription and a great t-shirt. Go support them. Now.

They have all kinds of music to choose from, here is a taste:

• Groove Salad - A nicely chilled plate of ambient beats and grooves.
• Secret Agent - The soundtrack for your stylish, mysterious, dangerous life. For Spies and PIs too!
• Drone Zone - Served best chilled, safe with most medications. Atmospheric textures with minimal beats
• indie pop rocks - New and favorite classic indie pop tracks.
• Illinois Street Lounge - Classic bachelor pad, playful exotica and vintage music of tomorrow.
• cliqhop idm - Blips’n'beeps backed mostly w/beats. Intelligent Dance Music.
• Boot Liquor - Americana roots music with a bit of attitude. For Cowhands, Cowpokes and Cowtippers.
• Doomed - Dark and scary industrial-inspired music for tortured souls.

Thats most, but not all of the excellent stations these guys are serving up.

I chose Groove Salad to go with diner.

A public demo of Renoise is now available for Linux. I love this tracker, especially for beat slicing madness, and I’m very excited to see a Linux release. It’s something like 50 euros to buy the full version.

Now, hopefully I can get it running on my Eee, and not run into the kind of issues I had with window size while working with wesnoth.

I’ll let ya’ll know how it goes.

UPDATE: So, as it turns out it the minimum window size for renoise is 990 x 700, which presents a slight problem on my 800×480 Eee PC…

So aside from being rather cramped on my tiny new toy, we are still looking at a fully functional tracker for Linux. We’re talking ALSA and JACK support for MIDI and sound routing excellence, aswell as support for both LADSPA plugins and native Linux VSTs(link to renoise forum listing currently functional ones, also check out jucetice). So, overall I suggest you pick this thing up and go play around with it since you can finally enjoy it’s /massive greatness/ under Linux. Actually if you’ve never used it you should give it a try no matter what OS you’ve got running, you may come to love it’s unique approche to music making, especially if you’re a techie and a musician.

Aside from Linux, there’s been a variety of additions and and bug fixes in the 1.9.1 release, including a great “Draw Mode” in the sample editor that you can use to quickly edit out pops and clicks in your samples (or however you want to change them), as well as the ability to create new samples on the fly by drawing thier waveforms.

There are a few bugs lingering in the Linux version, but it mostly seems to be with multichannel sound cards and ALSA. Also there are a few things I’d like to see added, namely DSSI support for native Linux synths, better integration with the Jack transport, and the ability to load mp3s. Then again this is just a beta.

Overall I give this a rating of awesome sauce or, if you perfer, sawesome.

Note: This is a rant and is meant in no way, shape or form to end any discussions about anything. These rants are meant to start discussion and (hopefully) open some minds to new ideas. Also, these rants are written by fairly seasoned pompous asshole who will not respond to comments or questions. Now here’s Tom with the weather.

You know what is really refreshing? When the manager of one of the world’s biggest rock bands makes a speech about how internet service providers (ISP’s) should cut off service to customers that get caught sharing music. This is so very refreshing for a few reasons.

Read the rest of this entry »

So I picked up an EeePC recently and i have to say, I fucking love this thing.

Does everything I need, and it’s ultra portable. Comes with an Easy mode menu thing that seems to work just fine for what i use it for, which is mostly firefox and msn. Anything more complex and i’m just a ctrl-alt-t away from a terminal and happy linux land.

I’ve been thinking though, this would work really well as a mobile music platform, you know, just something to toss ideas together on, drum loops, synth lines, etc…. I’ve got hydrogen running on it with a bunch of drumkits and thats working fine, but I’m thinking I might wanna pickup a 2gig SODIMM and install something like studio64 or Ubuntu Studio on here… we’ll see how it goes.