Archive for April, 2013

Photographer Paul McDonough spent time during his summers in the 70’s and 80’s travelling across America and captured some wonderfully nostalgic images. Sasha Wolf Gallery is having an exhibition of the work entitled Sight Seeing through May 5th, 2013.

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Gold Panda is back and announces his LP release date along with sharing this catchy single, you’ll never guess the name of it after listening to it all the way through.

My “new” favorite artist who’s been featured on the blog many many times is hands down Dirty Beaches, its like someone shot morphine into Suicide and took them on a 4 am chaotic pick up truck drive through the outskirts of Mexico City.

A huge one from Thundercat, nails the feeling and shows off skillful musicianship among the crowd of beatmakers.

Junior Boys’ singer Greenspan gives Lusine’s single a makeover, soo glad to see him around producing, I miss all the JB material.

I’ll be doing an AMA (Ask Me Anything) session over at the Electronic Music sub on Reddit today, Monday, April 15th, 2013 at 1 PM PST. The AMA is listed as Tycho but being that it’s all the same thing, I’ll also be answering any ISO50 related questions you might have.

I’ll update the links here once the AMA is live. Hope to hear from you over there.

Tycho/ISO50 Reddit AMA

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6RgZPvNX2Y

Firefox was a 1983 film starring and directed by Clint Eastwood in which the protagonist must steal some sort of fictional Soviet “ultimate killing machine”, which from the looks of it and the “specs” is loosely modelled on the SR-71. I must confess I haven’t watched it, and after viewing the trailer I have no desire to do so. But I did find a lot of great stills from the film along with some promotional imagery. Love the suit.

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQoOfiLz1G4

Can’t believe I just now stumbled onto this. Sound City is a documentary about the legendary studios by the same name. Everything from Neil Young’s After The Gold Rush to Nirvana’s Nevermind were recorded at Sound City Studios so a lot of people in the community were sad to see them close their doors in 2011. The documentary chronicles the history of the facility through interviews with many of the artists who recorded there. The film is produced and directed by Dave Grohl who purchased Sound City’s Neve 8028 mixing console when the studio closed. Must have been a good feeling to end up owning the same console his band recorded their breakout album on over 20 years before.

Update: Watched it. Really entertaining; very engaging for people into this sort of thing already but also does a great job of explaining the recording process for the layman. My only criticism is that at times the underlying plot of “how and why Dave Grohl acquired the Neve Console from Sound City” seems a little forced. I’d rather have seen a bit less of Grohl waxing nostalgic on his past and fawning allover Rupert Neve and more interviews and dialog about Sound City itself.

Sound City Film

Excellent “Back-To-The-Camera-Shot” supercut from Plot Point Productions. A bunch of my favorites from above, but be sure to watch the piece below.

More goodness from the San Diego Air & Space Museum Archives on Flickr. These fantastically-yellowed photos, probably taken at the Skunkworks facility in Palmdale, CA in the 80’s, almost look like illustrations.

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RhUBLxaVYB8

It’s not often that get very excited about modern audio equipment but when the name Neve is attached there’s always room for an exception. Rupert Neve Designs (not to be confused with AMS Neve) announced this week at Musikmesse a new desktop console dubbed the 5060. It’s meant to be a sort of studio centerpiece and features a 24×2 mixer with sends and transport control. There are other products out there that do this (the SSL Nucleus for one) but none do it while looking this good (although not quite as good as the original Neve Sidecar). Unfortunately, as is always the case with quality recording equipment, with a MSRP just under $8,000 USD the 5060 is way out of reach for all of us mortals and will most likely exist only in the world of medium to large sized professional studios. I guess I’ll just hold out hope that in 40 years I might find one at a garage sale of some lady who’s “son left it in the attic when he moved” or whatever cliche scenario it seems like everyone acquired their choice vintage gear via.

More info at Neve’s 5060 Page

Artwork by Michael Cina

My name is Chester Raj Anand. I’m from Upstate NY. I’m 20. I grew up in a small town called Red Hook. My brother got me into production at a very young age. By second grade I was used to experimenting on computer programs like Acid and Fruity Loops. I remember telling my 2nd grade teacher that Aphex Twin was my favorite.

It got to a point where I would lock myself in the basement everyday after school and make like 5 or 6 beats a day on my PC computer on fruityloops everyday until college. I’d mess with Indian tapes and records and keyboards. I never really knew about a beat scene at all. I didn’t even think that other people were doing the same thing or that this would become somewhat of a culture. I discovered people like Dilla & Dabrye and Madlib and it all blew my mind.

I decided to make my music public on my 17th birthday. I released an experimental beat tape called “17 Years” which got the attention of people at Asthmatic Kitty and Astro Nautico. And then I did some releases for them and changed my name from InfinitiRock to Lord RAJA.

Music has always been the biggest part of my life. I have always loved experimental and electronic music. I think I liked the idea of communicating with sounds rather than lyrics since a young age because when I would hear Indian music in the car I couldn’t understand the words. I just focused on the instrumental loops and saw that as a new form of expression or reflection. I was obsessed with records and all that. I like to mess with film also. I like to mess with everything.

via FactMag

I’m seeing a lot music apps lately that have amazing potential but this one has a uniqueness to it thats built in. Soo happy to see a label like Ninja Tune grab the bull by the horns and drive deep into the musical making experience, my only worry is that it gives the younger generation the mindset that they might own a song that they made with other artists samples, just sayin’.

head over to createdigitalmusic for a great Q&A about the app.

When’s the launch?

Today! April 11th, 2013
How much is the app?

It’s free to download and comes with 1 free tunepack (Beats and Pieces 3). You can purchase single tunepacks for a launch price of £0.69/$0.99, or “EPs” of 4 tunepacks for £1.99.
What tunes and artists will be included at launch?
Coldcut – Beats and Pieces 3 (comes free with the app)
Mr Scruff – Wobble Control
DJ Food – Dark Lady
Coldcut x Hex – Timber (Seiji Remix)
Two Fingers (Amon Tobin) – Fools
Bonobo – Eyes Down
Falty DL – Atlantis
Martyn – Masks
Starkey – Blood Roses

via CDM