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todo, spring 2010

January 6, 2010 · by · in ,

More for my benefit than for yours:

– Finish the Bartok remix
– Finish the DA_CE chiptune tracks
– Record leads for, and finish SCULPT, tracks one through four
– Finish the 3 DJ sets I’m working on

– Polish & present FRAGILE THINGS, a collection of 15 piano miniatures
– Finish code, research, and writing for PREY, for full orchestra.
– Record and write parts HEATSINK, a tape & snaredrum piece.

– Start GHOST IN THE SHELL, a project about the internet, privacy, and memory.

Oh, and:
– Pass my other four classes.

a battle of flowers

January 3, 2010 · by · in , ,

A hi-fi psy-fi tribute to Nathan and my friend Liam. Download here.

0: Nathan Fake – The Curfew [Border Community]
1: Limbo – Gazing At My Shoesteps [Tide Pool]
2: Nathan Fake – Fentiger [Border Community]
3: Nathan Fake – Narrier [Border Community]
4: Rcid – 002 [Elefant]
5: Nathan Fake – Basic Mountain [Border Community]
6: Rcid – 003 [Elefant]
7: Nathan Fake – Castle Rising [Border Community]
8: Limbo – Distant From Sealong [Tide Pool]

Also, I am posting things for free, as in beer, on my Soundcloud, in glorious FLAC format. There are selections from my Tide Pool and Pacific Front output, along with most of my bootlegs. Get ’em while they’re hot.

the year i wake up early

January 2, 2010 · by · in , , ,

Welcome to the future, again. Some quick thoughts:

– One must be able to write code that creates forms: rondos, sonatas, symphonies, minuets, etc, based on a given theme or seed. I’m sure I’ve mentioned this before. Maybe I’ll do it this term.

– Educationally, it must ALSO be possible to write a procedural question generator for, say, a math class. This would be all kinds of useful for people like me who learn by grinding through question after question after question.

– I had a lot of professors this past term who had….intriguing marking systems, and interesting concepts of what “on time” meant. This got me thinking about bonus marks for early submission, and then to the idea of utterly strict deadlines, but with marks given out for fixing mistakes in the assignment. I don’t think that’s possible in a university environment because of the time that marking takes, but it’s a neat thought.

– I’ve been thinking about a project called HEARTBEATS, which is a top-secret classical / contemporary music thing that I’ll do next year, if at all. But, it got me thinking about the timeless idea of DJ software that responds to the dancefloor, and then about the actual data of a dancing crowd: heartrate, EEG, blood alcohol content, ambient temperature. How do these and other points change over the course of a night? How fast do they respond to the music that’s playing? Inquiring minds (that is to say, me) want to know!

tide pool goes to sleep

December 27, 2009 · by · in ,


As you may or may not have seen, Tide Pool is closed. It will be missed, not the least by me.

2009: shows of the year

December 24, 2009 · by · in ,

Unquestionable. I went to see this show expecting amazing music and iffy DJing chops. Imagine my surprise to find that Mr. Lotus knows his way around both Ableton and set-building, and had the place going nuts. Impossible music, surreal visuals, good sound, and great people.

Serious shoutouts to the ridiculous Skream show, VEMF day and night, Appleblim, the Legion of Doom five-way tag, Dekoze @ Hush, Halloween @ Hush, and Decade. 2008 felt like a bit of a nadir for me – 2009 was hopefully the start of the upswing.

2009: album of the year

December 23, 2009 · by · in

Can only be:

Flying Lotus – Los Angeles.

The future of hip-hop, right here. Loose beats, growling bass, gorgeous samples, nods to both Stone’s Throw and Jackson – this was a huge coup d’etat for Warp. Last year I called Steinski the Kurt Vonnegut of hip-hop; Flying Lotus is thusly the genre’s Phillip K. Dick.

Honorable mentions to: Zoe Keating – Natoma, Two Fingers – Two Fingers, Alvin Curran – Inner Cities I, Bullion – Pet Sounds In The Key Of Dee

2009: singles of the year

December 22, 2009 · by · in ,

Three huge winners:


Best Yang: The MFA – Throw It Back (We Will Destroy You) [Border Community]

I’ve been waiting for this New-Order-Meets-James-Holden-and-then-they-all-go-to-New-York-in-1979 masterpiece for FIVE YEARS…and I’m delighted to say that it’s still that good. Throbbing drums, huge pads, ghostly male vocals, and ray of light synth lines; this is everything good about the dance music of the past 40 years.


Best Yin: Elika – You Win Hearts

This track blindsided me on the aforementioned Ulrich Schnauss mixtape, and became a personal fall/winter anthem in no time flat. I maaaybe listened to it every morning on the way to school, usually on repeat, and I never do that. Your mileage may vary, but I’m still in love.


Best Tao: Misstress Barbara – Dance Me To The End Of Love [Iturnmen]

Yep. Still a techno cover of a Leonard Cohen tune. Still a bit of a rip of her ‘Barcelona’ track from two years ago. Still sets dancefloors on fire, against all odds. Still gets me singing along. Still an unquestionable winner.

Honorable Mentions:
Tycho – Coastal Brake [Ghostly]
Nicolas Vallee – Acid Punch [Dusty]
Rcid – Rcid 003 [Elefant]
Blu Mar Ten – If I Could Tell You [Blu Marten]
Marshall Jefferson – Mushrooms (Justin Martin Remix) [Tronic]
Vitalic – Poison Lips [Different]
Phil Kieran – Don’t Look Far Away [Cocoon]

2009: sets of the year

December 21, 2009 · by · in ,

I could write about these for days, but here are the standouts of the standouts:

Best Reason To Go Out: Kenzie Clarke – NYPD

A masterpiece of post-post-disco, simple as that, to say nothing of the latent storyline. If this mix does not make you want to go out and dance with a beautiful member of the opposite sex, you probably have no pulse. Find it here

Best Reason To Come Home: Rhythmicon – Tonight

One of the terrible secrets behind the stratospheric rise of dubstep is that, like drum & bass, you can turn it in to pure sex, if you want to. Sure, there’s room for savage basslines and huge drops, but there’s also room for honey-dipped vocals, lush pads, and impeccable programming. See the above comments about having no pulse, and you’ll start to get the idea. Get it here.

Best Reason To Wake Up On A Cloudy Day: Ulrich Schnauss – ASIP Exclusive Mix

And, breath out.

The most honorable of honorable mentions to: Hybrid, Booiamrudolf, Matt Edwards, FaltyDL, Wood & Soo, Limbo, Culoe De Song, Lazer Sword, Eskmo, Mr. Scruff, Wesbeanz, Patience Automate & Generic, and Chloe Harris. Love, love, love.

2009: concerts of the year

December 20, 2009 · by · in

Welcome to the end of the decade. Ooof. Regardless, here are the best (out of so many good ones!) concerts of 2009. The decade can take care of itself.


Beethoven – Concerto for Violin and Orchestra in D Major, Op.61
My dislike for Beethoven (snigger) is a well known thing, as is my dislike for the mix issues inherent in concertos. With that said, yowza! It is apparently possible to, by sheer force of will, drag music from two hundred years ago into the present and make it feel current, urgent, personal, and vital.


Messiaen – Vignt Regards sur l’Enfant-Jesus
Ever heard someone play piano for two hours and fifteen minutes? I thought I was going to die by the end of this piece – I can only imagine how the player (one Alastair Edmonstone, who apparently TOURS the damn thing) must have felt. Parts are ethereal, lush, and gorgeous, parts are jackhammer brutal, just about all of it is incredible.


Sonic Lab – Spring 2009
A few choice quotes from the program notes here: “telepathic improvisation”, “Aligning himself with post-war Dada”, “to re-invent the string quartet”. Look out.


Gavin Bryars – Jesus’ Blood Never Failed Me Yet
LaSam put this on during New Currents in the spring, and it was just utterly, utterly beautiful. Simple as that.

Honorable mentions of the highest order to: Video Games Live, Yan Li’s LEFT, Sonic Chamber Singers, Daniel Biro’s vocal concert, Andrea Young’s , LaSam’s other shows, the JACK quartet concert, Hollas Longton’s impossible graduating recital, and the recent Liszt Friday music apocalypse. Serious business

communication, 2009

December 18, 2009 · by · in ,

I was having a talk with a friend about new laptops / phones, and that led to me thinking about how I communicate with people, outside of in-person conversation. So I made a list. This really needs more data and better, but it will do for the moment:

Phone – Calls: 3 (60, 60, 22)
Phone – Texts: 6 (24, 26, 28, 24, 29, 22)
Computer – MSN: 6 (27, 27, 21, 20, 24, 26)
Computer – Gchat: 2 (26, 27)
Computer – Facebook: 6 (26, 21, 22, 21, 20)
Computer – Twitter: 2 (24, 24)
Computer – Skype: 1 (24)

Medium, number of people I talk with regularly there, age of the people in question. Totally unscientific, with some overlap. Interesting, however, that my computer is more useful than my phone, and that Facebook is just as useful as MSN. Also, look at the ages.

Anyone else have comparable data? I’d love to see how much of a luddite I am.