A new Aphex Twin record!

Yup, he finally released an Aphex Twin, not a side project, record. While I've enjoyed some individual songs from the not Aphex Twin releases, it's nice to have a solid body of work that doesn't make me skip a few tracks.  He's clearly learned in the off time and does explore areas he never has before but in the end he still gives the songs a clear artistic style that makes them his.

Unpredictable, unpleasant at times, interesting and sometimes astoundingly beautiful.  In a world full of music that tries to be everyones non-threatening best friend, it's nice to hear music that says "this may not be for you".

Here's one of the tracks Warp posted to YouTube.

A podcast to checkout if you are a comic book or X-Men fan. Rachel and Miles X-Plain the X-Men

Rachel and Miles X-Plain the X-Men is a nice way to learn (or in my case be reminded) about what makes the X-Men such a popular multi-format success. While they mostly are talking about the X-Men comics (and many related titles) they do touch on the TV Shows and Movies.

It's one of the podcasts that moves to the front of the queue when a new episode is release.

Get it here on iTunes.

Or here if you use other Pod-catchers

A Q&A with Steve Albini that's worth watching if you're a music nerd or audio engineer.

He's recorded some of my favorite albums:

• Pigface – Gub (1990)
• Murder, Inc. – Murder, Inc. (1992)
• PJ Harvey – Rid of Me (1993)
• Nirvana – In Utero (1993)

Marqui Adora-Well Loved EP

Hello!

So this week we finished mixing six of our songs that we started in "the long long ago. In the before time." We like them and we hope you do as well.  The Well Loved EP should be in all the usual places within the next few days. I'll post more links when they go live.

iTunes (We like money!)
Bandcamp (Pay what you like, including free.)
SoundCloud (Why not?)
Archive.org
YouTube (An easy way to give them a listen.)
BitTorrent Bundle (For those technically adept.)

Here's the YouTube versions for your listening pleasure:





Still flyin'

Final work on those Marqui Adora songs! (From the past few years.)

I'm spending a few days finishing the Marqui Adora songs that I started years ago. It's good to hear them (after a few months break) with fresh ears and be able to tell that they are as close to finished as I had hoped they were. I think the six of them will be up on iTunes and other places well before the end of the month. 

Feels nice!

Mixing An Entire Nation

I spent a few hours today refining a mix for a Marqui Adora song called An Entire Nation. This is one of the songs we played in the 2007 era of the band. It was always a fun song to play but every prior attempt at recording would end up feeling flat. Not sure if it was tempo or the playing but it always left me with less then I'd hoped for in the energy department.

The mix I've been working on does not have any such problem. It feels big and full of life to my ears. After a few more tweaks in the morning (after a while of working on the song sleep is the only way to have fresh ears) I'll send it off to Joe to get his go/no go. What's nice about this is I felt it was ready last week and Joe pointed out a few things he wanted me to try and I think it's better for it. (Either way it is better so I'm happy we waited.)

Simple Lies 2013 Pre-Release

In Motion 2013 Pre-Release

One of my favorites. I'm glad I can finally say this one is done and that it brings some serious energy. It might get tweaked a little more when it's released on iTunes (along with other tunes) so consider this a collectors edition.





In Motion 2013 Pre-Release on YouTube

Cracks in the Mirror

Here's a mix of Cracks in the Mirror. This one's an instrumental that's been kicking around for a very long time. It might get tweaked a little more when it's released on iTunes (along with other tunes to follow) so consider this a collectors edition.

Cracks in the Mirror




On to the next one...

Less human than human. Let's push things forward.

A warning:
Based on what I'm about to write don't assume I don't like music made with technology. My music collection has 155 Aphex Twin songs, 284 Nine Inch Nails songs and several days worth of music that would qualify as Jungle/drum 'n bass.

With that said, a group of music videos showing goats yelling as a replacement for dubstepish synths and singers over singing has opened my eyes to a fundamental issue with the state of pop music.



The singing in many of the songs featured in these goat versions are so detached from the way people sound (when they actually sing) that the goat can sound more like a human. In a pop song why do breathing and moaning have to be at equal level with the words? Why do I need to hear the soft singing at the same volume as the loudest belting? I think it's all about giving the impression of something that's not really present. It's the audio equivalent of the diva hand waving and MC shoulder dipping. It's an affectation that the music machine and it's chosen performers think will bring things that are fake into the realm of reality. To me these are examples of people becoming pigeons in a skinner box. They perform the ritual, they get the food pellet, and they have no idea why.

In addition to the audio self delusion, many of these videos also share a secondary bizarre feature, they show a "band" performing the songs. These are songs that feature no (or at most little) guitar, bass guitar, live drums or keyboard parts that could be played yet they have a group of musical instrument holders rocking as if they played something. It's like the directors all said music videos have people holding instruments and rocking out so we need that to. Again this feels like some bizarre conditioning that can't be explained. If no instruments are being played and no voice appears unaltered then what's the point of miming like it was? Why not just have an entire horn section and orchestra hold their instruments? (Add a troupe of drummers as well!)

I'm sure it's just because I'm old and cranky but what are they trying to achieve? To show how well you can increment/decrement a value? We should be in a much more interesting musical age not one that has had so much of the life sucked out of it. This is the era when we should have hybrids of Mozart and Public Enemy and Tom Waits and Marvin Gaye and Kraftwerk not people who can't play or sing becoming the emperors new clothes.

Here's some music made with machines that pushes things forward: