Archive for the 'music' Category
AV Jam tonight!
More QPE. My newborn daughter, Hope, loves this stuff. Nothing soothes away her grumpies like downtempo electronica.
I’ve given this one a quick listen and like it very much. I spend some more time with it in the next few days. If I can, I will give a little more of a review here.
On a side note, I love eMusic very, very much, but I always download all of my alloted tracks the first day I can and then I have to wait a month to get more. I’ve considered opting for a larger subscription plan, but would I just feel the same way, always wanting more?
john luther adams
I just read an article on the composer John Luther Adams in the most recent New Yorker. His work is another instance where sound, music, and art are intersecting in our current cultural climate. I was extremely taken by Adams’ piece “The Place Where You Go To Listen” which is currently on view at the Museum of the North in Fairbanks, Alaska. In this site specific installation,
“information from seismological, meteorological, and geomagnetic stations in various parts of Alaska is fed into a computer and transformed into an intricate, vibrantly colored field of electronic sound”.
The installation consists of five glass panels which change color depending on the time of day and the season (the image above shows the installation at noon in the summer). The sounds emmanating from the installation also depend greatly on the weather, season, the movement of the earth, and the aurora borealis. Patterns of bass can be heard during very small earthquakes and
“shimmering sounds in the extreme registers—the Aurora Bells—are tied to the fluctuations in the magnetic field that cause the Northern Lights”.
I have never had much of an interest in visiting Alaska, but I certainly do now. I couldn’t find video or audio of this piece on the web. Let me know if you stumble across something.(quotes taken from the New Yorker article)
I’m a big fan of downtempo electronic music, but I have to admit that most of it is so downtempo that it gets a little boring. QPE (quiet personal electronica) manages to create downtempo music that can keep your attention. This is a downright warm, enjoyable, chillout record. This is one of my best download decisions in a very long time. I highly recommend it.
I also downloaded “Philip Glass – Complete String Quartets” by the Smith Quartet (just disc 1). I haven’t given it a thorough listen yet, but I’m sure it is wonderful. I can’t get enough Philip Glass lately.
My friend, Noah Black, wrote a beautiful review of this great album. He kindly agreed to let me post it here. Enjoy.
While they may be electronic musicians, Boards of Canada’s music is unlike the kind of sound that you hear being pumped out of massive sound systems at raves. Instead of heading for the overcrowded electronic genres like house or trance, Boards of Canada sets its sights on loftier goals, the ambient electronic, or intelligent dance music style. Instead of providing a driving bass line for people to dance to, ambient music sets up an atmosphere, often with long notes, lasting for minutes, that simply change in tone. As one drone fades out, another one takes its place. On top of this, there are electronically altered pianos and flutes, drum machine beats, both relaxed and intense, and often sampled voices from a wide variety of sources. The music is, in a sense, an Impressionist painting.
Continue reading ‘Music Has The Right to Children by Boards of Canada’
I don’t know the first thing about cartoons or Toonami, but a friend recommended these tracks to me a little while back. I’ve been listening to them a lot lately and it keeps getting better and better. Here’s a blurb from Toonami’s website:
“In 2003, DJ Clarknova took Toonami’s beats – some old, some new, some never before heard -and threw them into ProTools along with sound bytes from recent Toonami and Adult Swim shows.Out came an hour-long smorgasbord of Toonami goodness.It was called the Toonami Black Hole Megamix.…it was supposed to be the second Toonami CD.Things happened, and the CD never saw the light of day.”
The tracks are well constructed, clever, and just all around great. Hats off to you DJ Clarknova.
You can download the tracks at: http://www.toonamiarsenal.com/features/blackholemegamix/index.html
