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week 38

February 3, 2013 · by · in ,

You’ll notice that I cunningly skipped week 37, due to the McGill Music Hack Day, so we are now at Week 38. Onward!

– I saw McGill Opera do Volpone on Wednesday, with vigour, wit, and skill. It’s an opera that rewards youth and vivacity, which the cast had in spades. The score was not, perhaps as bleeding edge as an opera written in 2004 could be, but it was lots of fun just the same.
– I finished the second of my two explorations into what could maybe be called ‘trap’, but I’m going to just call ‘my continued attempt to be Hudson Mohawke’. They’re trolling among people I trust for feedback now, but I’ll post ’em up soon.
– I collected my discography since I did The World Outside, and I was pretty surprised by its scope: five EPs, seven remixes, and six singles. Will there be another megamix soon? We’ll see.

the fourth consistency mix

January 28, 2013 · by · in

Download here. This one is pretty much a straight line up, up, and then more up. Starts with my own remix of Victoria’s Fossil, and then has one of his tunes with Vic / Calgary songstress Amy Wood.

1: Fossil – Alkalosis (Fractal Remix) []
2: Fossil – Shadows in the Underground feat. Amy Wood []
3: Appleblim – Vansan [Punch Drunk]
4: TNGHT – Top Floor [LuckyMe x Warp]
5: Amon Tobin – Piece of Paper [Warp]
6: Borealis – Silkworm []
7: Rustie – Glass Swords [Warp]

mcgill music hack day

January 27, 2013 · by · in , , ,

Logo

Twelve hours of hacks, punctuated by delicious burritos, a fire alarm, and the ventilation failing; Montreal, you sure know how to do things right. You can see all the pictures here, and the video is here.

Deep thanks to Ryan, Julian, and Hackon for organizing with me. We’ll do it again in the fall, I am sure.

the third consistency mix

January 21, 2013 · by · in

Download here. Post-dubstep through a footwork/electro/all pads all the time sort of lens; includes heat from Victoria’s own Monolithium.

1: Helipad [LuckyMe]
// Rustie – City Star (Intro) [Warp]
2: Monolithium – Bounce 4 Life [Error Broadcast]
3: Roy Ayes – Everybody Loves The Sunshine (Machinedrum Remix) [LuckyMe]
4: Flying Lotus – Putty Boy Strut [Brainfeed]
5: Limbo – FFFFfffffUUUUuuuuu [Sushi]
6: Seams – Punch [Full Time Hobby]
7: Rustie – Surph [Warp]

week 36

January 21, 2013 · by · in , ,

One of those weeks when nothing happens, but everything is about to happen:
– McGill’s miniature Music Hack Day is next weekend! You should come.
– FaltyDL’s album, Hardcourage, is really, really good.
– Oh my god, have you seen Four Tet’s chaos for Just Jam?
– Also hot mixes from Four Tet for Rinse, Jacques Greene for the Fader, and so on.

the second consistency mix

January 14, 2013 · by · in


Download here.

1: Friendly Fires – Hurting (C2 Runway Edit) [Planet E]
2: Jozif – Twilight feat. Terri Walker (Dub) [This Is Music]
3: Essay – Morning Mountain [Glyph]
4: Blue Daisy & Annkea – Raindrops (John Talabot Remix) [Black Acre]
5: Todd Terje – Snooze 4 Love [Running Back]
6: Lindstrom – Rà -à kõ-st [Smalltown Supersound]
7: Lindstrom – Eg-ged-osis [Smalltown Supersound]

week 35

January 14, 2013 · by · in

Welcome back to Tra La La:

– Heather Harker, who is a genius of a soprano, sang my piece Tornado Songs as part of her Master’s graduating recital at UVic, last month She sang ’em amazingly, and is amazing, and I can’t thank her enough.
– Phillip Stearns finished his colossal Year Of The Glitch project.
– Finally, the best song of 2013 is from a movie from 1959: Louis Armstrong and Danny Kaye doing “When The Saints Go Marching In”.
– Australia had record high temperatures, Beijing broke its pollution index, and it was 12 degrees in Toronto. We have a problem.

the consistency mixes

January 7, 2013 · by · in

So it turns out that I’m a failed DJ. Not only do I basically never gig any more, I’ve not recorded a set for almost six months.

One of those things is going to change, and it’s going to change right now. Meet The Consistency Mixes:


Download here.

I’m going to record a set a week for the next sixteen weeks. These may not be perfect, and sometimes they may be pretty darn weird…but they’re going to go up anyways.

2012: songs of the year

January 6, 2013 · by · in ,

I know, I don’t often talk about ‘songs’. Another sign that I’m getting old. With that said, these three tunes helped keep me sane, all year ’round.


Julia Easterlin – Eyes On The Prize
Song of the year, mantra of the year, everything of the year. Julia Easterlin is the good magic.


Hannah Read – Gramercy West
Hannah knows. Her partner in crime on this one, Charlie Van Kirk, also knows.


Wilsen – Anahita
Tamsin Wilson / Wilsen’s debut album is as close to perfect as one can get. Anahita, the token post-rock behemoth on the album, is perfect.

2012: concerts of the year

January 6, 2013 · by · in

All the time I spent not DJing, I spent going to concerts. I can’t stress enough how fantastic many of my “honorable mentions” were.


György Ligeti – Poeme Symphonique
Yes, the OSM did “100 Metronomes”. Yes, it was great, even with the hecklers as the last metronome kept failing to stop. Yes, you should go see it (or put it on!) whenever you get the chance.


Patrick Saint-Denis – Air
Mr. Saint-Denis is a Ph.D student at U de M. His piece, Air, is for three soloists with electronics, then a combination of them…and also for a grid of 192 pieces of paper, each controlled by a fan. This was by far the coolest thing I saw all year: a rippling, low-res screen that felt like a living thing, shouting at the performers from backstage. The music was pretty rad too.




Kim Shepherd, Jillian Hanks, Kevin Thomson – Graduating Recitals
My people, who I could not be more proud of. Kim sounds like Webern and late Steve Reich got drunk with George Gershwin; Jill sounds like Debussy channeling Nobuo Uematsu. Kevin sounds like Messiaen, but hipper – wearing a hat and dress shoes and holding a glass of rye. They each, it must be said, sound like themselves.


Various – The Workshop
Remember that time that people wrote, rehearsed, and performed pieces in less than 12 hours? Me too. It was amazing.

Non-trivial honorable mentions to: Cassandra Miller’s hypnogogic Bel Canto; Dan Brandes’ A Place to Listen series; Quartetski’s postmodern Tobias Hume covers; the grad recitals of Heather Harker, Karl Hirzer, Jeremy Potts, Alex Loewen, Justin Boechler, and Liova Bueno; the Trimpin concert, especially Darren Miller and Chris Reiche; MISQUA, esepcially Ligeti I, the MSO doing Shostakovich 13, and the Mario Bertoncini aeolian harp / bowed piano party.