I can’t believe this is the first I am seeing Sony’s “Rolly” because Engadget scooped it way back on August 31 of last year, but peep dis:
I’m especially intrigued by the frequency filtering effects inherent in the motorized speaker cup movement, akin to cupping one’s hand over one’s ear while listening to music. Which reminds me of how I first learned to “tweak EQs” as a DJ. It was quite serendipitous, I was listening to this compilation:
on cassette, in the car. My Toyota Camry had this little pop-up knob that toggled between bass and treble, and I was fiddling with it when I realized how good it sounded to drop the treble out or bring it up all the way at certain points during the track. Voila, I realized I needed a DJ mixer with EQ knobs on each channel and soon had to move on from the Radio Shack nonsense I had been working with. I’ve kind of been an EQ junky ever since then.
::tweaks knobs::
I should hunt down a new digital copy of that Detroit/Berlin comp. and/or the individual tracks if any of them are available on vinyl. Some seriously great Fowlkes and Baxter action on there! But such a goofy title: “Trance Tekno Express.” I definitely sought out other trance comps for a while before I realized that the awesome Detroit Techno on that mix is not what most of the world calls trance, even in the early 90s. Argh.
Almost totally unrelated, but be on the lookout for a new double mix from me and DJ Hypnotyza very soon.
So a few weeks ago Derek Plaslaiko hipped me to Halcyon Brooklyn. I went one Friday afternoon and shopped around for rekkids. I was surprised at the amount of used stuff they had, I found a bunch of classics that I’d been looking for for a while. I also listened to some new stuff that I ended up liking. I passed that night but I plan on going back when I’m a little more liquid to grab a stack of wax. Anyway, I actually had a chance to sit down and have a long chat with the owner, Shawn, about the state of vinyl vs. digital downloads. Like myself and many of my friends and cohorts, he’s a staunch supporter of actual 12″ records (as evidenced by the “Serato Ruined My Life” tees pictured above that he stocks in the store), but he sees the business need for embracing the digital format as well. I explained to him how I really don’t buy digital downloads, but ever since I’ve been trying to write my own tracks, and sometimes get mp3s from friends who produce, that I’d recently installed Virtual DJ on my laptop and scored some timecode vinyl with a jerry-rigged 4in4out USB sound card. To that end, he hooked me up with three free downloads on the site, which was mighty nice of him. I finally got around to actually buying some tracks tonight. Their setup is relatively easy to use, my only real complaint is that only certain sections of the site allow the shopper to sort via date. I mean, I only want the hippest hottest newest tracks if I am buying recent releases. If I want old stuff that I don’t know I want yet, chances are I find it at used record shops or get lucky at a thrift store, or sometimes I’ll hit up discogs if I’m PRESSED for something on my want list. If I’m buying new records I’d prefer nothing that’s more than a couple weeks old. After a few sessions browsing around the site and saving stuff with the “wishlist” option, I managed to find a few things I like. Their prices are reasonable for digital downloads, and the file quality is sufficient. I’ve mail-ordered actual records online before, and I’ve had some success, so buying mp3s shouldn’t be much different than that, right? It isn’t. Still, I can’t help feeling that going to a store and walking out with the tangible stack of 12″s isn’t somehow superior. Like many people, though, I find it hard to articulate why. Perhaps it’s because that’s how I was enculturated into music? I’ve been buying music via some physical format for 25 years, that’s a lot of time to grow attached to the thingness of a record. Certainly the disconnect I feel with regard to digital music can’t be an issue of finances, because I feel just as connected to great dollar-bin finds as I do to the records I’ve spent the most on (I’ve never bought a record for more than $30). Realistically, the problem isn’t one of time investment either, because I’ve actually spent more time browsing the online shop than I would if I were to go into a store and crate dig. That is to say, if I value records more than digital music, the oft-cited argument is that one has to invest a lot of time in finding the perfect beat. Apparently, as far as I’m concerned, that’s not the case. I’m oddly much more picky when I shop online.
Well, regardless, once I separated the wheat from the chaff, these are the tracks I found that I ended up taking…
A sort of uptempo, neo-acid beat with some nice chimey bits like if you sped up “Plastic Dreams” and the accompanying more ambient/intro b-side. Omar-S lite, in a way. Surprisingly, this guy used to record industrial as “Digital Poodle” back in the early 90s. Puzzlingly, his company’s website doesn’t mention him as an artist aside from his work with Kinder Atom, and this latest cut isn’t available for purchase through their own store yet.
CORRECTION! Gerald from Nice+Smooth just emailed me to point out that the website does mention Heiki’s solo work, under the “artists” section, and also directed me to this video of the Heiki track mentioned above:
I guess all I can say about that is where are the neon tubes??? ;)
He also told me that they’re phasing out their direct mp3 sales and pointing folks to “bigger sites like Beatport as much as possible these days.” It’s good to know what small labels are feeling about the different options for distribution available out there. Thanks for getting in touch Gerald!
Another solid Chicago/acid release from Tadd Mullinix (half of TNT w/ Todd Osborne) this time paired with some feller named D’Marc Cantu. creepy vocals, killer bassline. This is the track on Death Is Nothing To Fear 3 that doesn’t sound like the other three, and the only one worth listening to. Perhaps that’s a solid benefit of digital music shopping. Get the one track on a multi-artist release that doesn’t suck!
And, somehow, despite my best efforts to select only new music, much of what I liked had been around for a while…
Pretty much straight up tech-house with some industrial sounding descending-filter cranks and a bumpy melodic bassline. For any New Yorkers reading, Naudio is playing The Bunker tonight.
So, will I shop online for music again? Perhaps. Will I return to Halcyon in DUMBO (or where ever they are, should they move, which the rumour mill says might happen this year) to buy vinyl? Heck yes. Good people, good records, fun store, A+.
The first in a series of Count Zero “secret weapons”, or relatively obscure 12″s that I consider personal favorites for surprising a crowd, Max Werner’s “Cosmic Winter (We’ll Make it to Mars)” is perhaps one of the strangest records I own.
The flipside to what you see here is a relatively awful reggae-beat cover of The Lovin’ Spoonful’s “Summer in the City”, but Cosmic Winter is where it’s at. This track is an optimistic sci-fi anthem about taking the human race to the red planet. It’s got Max Werner’s odd euro-warble rap on the verses, an uplifting gospel choir on the chorus, big stompy drums, and a persistent clap backed by an otherworldly organ drone. I clocked this one at around 110 bpm, as you can see by my note on the label above. Here’s a brief sound sample. “Cosmic Winter” reminds me of the also brilliant cult classic sci-fi flick Silent Running.
Not a whole lot is known about the cut outside of what’s on the label. Max Werner “was lead singer, drummer and percussionist of the Dutch Progressive Rock band Kayak.” Yes, Kayak. Very silly. The single comes from the album Seasons which peaked at 10 in the Swiss charts in April of 1981.
“Summer in the City/Cosmic Winter” was released on the Radio Records imprint. This brief entry tells us: “Probably more than anything else, the Radio label will be remembered for brining (sic) us the fad of the early 1980s, the musical medley. As soon as the European studio group Stars On had smashed through the US charts with ‘Stars on 45,’ countless imitators dredged up every medley conceivable, and some that even in retrospect are impossible.” As an aside, you might be familiar with the Stars on 45 series largely due to Weird Al’s “Polkas on 45″ medley, if you’re as big a nerd as I am, at least.
I discovered two copies of this record one lucky day when I had my portable turntable at The Attic in Pittsburgh. (man, that website really does not do justice to the amazing archive of 12″ and 7″ records that The Attic stocks) I ended up gifting the second copy to Theo Parrish, who later described it as “absolutely gone”. High praise, if you ask me, from a man known for some completely out there records.
Incidentally, here’s a completely ridiculous video of another track from the Seasons album, “Rain in May”, apparently the closest Werner ever got to a hit.
decided to go ahead and post the tracklist for my last mix…
the showmen - it will stand - imperial records (repress)
lee dorsey - tears, tears, and more tears - spring records
lee dorsey - occapella - spring records
rhine oaks - tampin - atco records
shelley duvall - he needs me (remix) - bastard jazz
john williams - theme from close encounters of the third kind - arista
herbie hancock - sunlight - columbia
whiz kids - take - kasaba
soul survivors - expressway to your heart - crimson
the kay gees - who’s the man with the master plan? - gang
taco - puttin on the ritz - rca
john kongos - he’s gonna step on you again - elektra
parliament - breakdown - invictus
gladys night and the pips - i heard it through the grapevine - soul
martha reeves and the vandellas - i can’t dance to that music you’re playing - gordy
detroit emeralds - showtime (instr.) - ric tic
aretha franklin - eleanor rigby - atlantic
the jaggerz - the rapper - kama sutra
diana ross and the supremes with the temptations (maybe? no info on label) - sound of silence - ampex test press
otis and carla - knock on wood - stax
patrice rushen - haven’t you heard - elektra
dan hartman - instant replay (replayed) - blue sky
ebonys - sexy ways - philadelphia international recordings
the winstons - amen brother - metromedia
teegarden and van winkle - god, love, and rock and roll - westbound
the tornadoes - telstar - london
louis armstrong and friends - give peace a chance - flying dutchman amsterdam
One regular feature on this here blawg is going to be what I refer to as “sample this!” I’ll be posting short snippets of speech, music, drums, etc. that I think would be interesting to sample into a track. If I were experienced enough with making music I’d use them myself. Unfortunately, I’m not yet, so here they’ll be, for your enjoyment and for you to take and use of your own volition.
Today, some smack talk that I imagine would make a great sample for a hip-hop style battle DJ, from the movie Five Easy Pieces, this one is Jack Nicholson saying “You play that thing one more time and I’m gonna melt it down into hairspray.” Booyah.
Part of what I want this blog to do is somehow summarize what kind of music really speaks to me.
These five albums are quintessential “Count Zero albums” in so much as they’ve all had a profound influence on my taste in music, while simultaneously reflecting other aspects of my musical education. Additionally, I chose these five because chances are you might have missed them on their first go round. My Bloody Valentine, for example, may in all reality be a better choice than Medicine as far as the actual sublimity of the work, but the Medicine album is slightly more obscure, and therefore makes this short list.
I am going to refrain from commenting on any of these specifically because I’d rather the recordings speak for themselves. Seek them out, I assure you won’t be disappointed.
In no particular order, I give you:
1)
chris carter - the space between
(not to be confused with massive attack’s string arranger craig armstrong’s the space between us, which is indeed also quite good, but came eighteen years later)
2)
medicine - the buried life
3)
psychic tv - dreams less sweet
4)
shpongle - are you shpongled?
5)
ry cooder & vishwa mohan bhatt - a meeting by the river
My interest in music and DJing started when I was eight years old or so. I’m an only child, and to keep me entertained my parents had bought me a record player a lot like this one:
except in white and orange and without the Mickey Mouse stylings. They gave me a couple 45 RPM 7″ singles to play on it, and some Disney records. My favorite record at the time was Queen’s “Another One Bites the Dust.” Coincidentally, I was also listening to the radio on my own in the early 80s, and started to hear some electro and hip-hop. I called hip-hop “breakdancing music” because I would see videos for the songs on MTV and saw news reports of the fledgling Bronx B-Boy scene. Thanks to MTV of course, Herbie Hancock’s “Rockit” was among the first electronic compositions I was consciously aware of. I had heard about scratching and Grandmixer DXT, and couldn’t for the life of me figure out what I was doing wrong in dragging the needle across the record, that’s what they said they were doing! I later discovered that I had completely ruined my copy of the Queen 45 by literally scratching the vinyl back and forth against the grooves. Clearly my earliest forays into DJing weren’t all that succesful. Grandmaster Flash’s Adventures on the Wheels of Steel kind of blew my mind when I discovered they were using the same music as the Queen song, and later I would realize they were actually just playing that beat off the record, amongst others.
Many of my favorite tracks came from the first compilation I bought on my own, K-Tel’s Electric Breakdance sampler
Here’s a Top Ten from that era of my musical upbringing:
Queen - Another One Bites the Dust
Paul Hardcastle - 19
Newcleus - Jam on It
Run DMC - It’s Like That
Kraftwerk - Tour de France (and the K-Tel cover version by “10-Speed”)
Herbie Hancock - Rockit
Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five - The Adventures Of Grandmaster Flash On The Wheels Of Steel
Run DMC - You Talk Too Much
G.L.O.B.E. and Whiz Kid - Play That Beat Mr. DJ
Jean-Jacques Perrey - Baroque Hoedown from The Official Album Of Disneyland/Walt Disney World
That last one was my earliest exposure to the sound of a Moog synthesizer, and hugely influential in my tastes in electronic music.
It’s probably important to point out that some of the music that influenced me even earlier than this was the music my Dad listened to, specifically Chicago Transit Authority’s first album, Santana’s Abraxas, and classic Motown and other R&B and early black rock’n'roll/jump blues. That’s directly where “It Will Stand” by the Showmen - the first track from the mix in the last post - comes from, mixtapes that my Dad had his brother make for him (my uncle was a radio and dance DJ in the 60s) that we’d always listen to on long car drives. Thanks Dad!
I’ve posted a new mix for your listening pleasure. It’s called Nearly Sixteen Feet of Soul, available here (right click to save as/download, left click to play)
Consisting of 27 7″ records, primarily from the 60s and 70s, but with a few 80s cuts thrown in for kicks, this is basically the first non-electronic mix I’ve ever released.
Surprises abound so email me if you want a track ID, and of course please feel free to share this with your friends.
