Meet the LASER KOTO: Almost certainly the most future thing you’ll see today. Wired has more about it.
why record stores matter
So there’s been a lot of drama on my local electronic music message board, about the whole vinyl vs. digital thing, and the value of analog and quality control in music and so on and so on and so on. The dead horse continues to be beaten.
With that said, I’m almost entirely certain that record stores will never die. Or, if they do, they probably shouldn’t. This is because they’re there for music, not for attention. The digital world is almost entirely a medium that is hungry for attention: labels and artists and distros all shout out “HAMMERED BY ALL THE TOP JOCKS! PETE TONG’S #1 TUNE! HUGE FOR TIESTO AND VAN DYK!” These people need your traffic and your money, and it shows.
A store, on the other hand, while it is no less needy in terms of customer dollars and cents, gives you things, forces them on you. It filters the entire world of electronic music through the lens of the staff of the store. They sort the wheat from the chaff, they tell you “here, give this a listen”, they say “I really like this”. They are, or should be, there for you. A record store offers another perspective on the gargantuan, fractal-expanding world of music. It prevents you from totally disappearing up your own ass, and bludgeons you with the fact that you Do Not Know Everything. All of those things are beyond valuable, and are the reason why the shops won’t go away any time soon.
Music I Just Bought
Nathan Fake – Silent Night [Border Communty]
Qbical – Warm Fuzzy Electrons [Manual]
Roel H – The Dancing Bears [Furry]
Audion – Mouth To Mouth [Spectral]
Alexander Kowalski & Barca – Start Chasing (Extrawelt Remix) [Different]
DJ Hell – Buttersaure (Perc Remix) [Kickin]
Mashtronic – Supernova (Demi & Lolitas Remix) [SexOnWax]
Jaytech – Manipulator [Rapid Response]
Andrew Kelly – She Thinks She’s Underground (Stuart McKeown’s Burial Remix)
The Rogue Element – Dead Drummers [Exceptional]
Edit: Also just picked up the Prins Thomas remixes of ‘Tape’, by 2020 Soundsystem, and a release on Spectral by Sami Kovikko called ‘Paajaasa’.
Tide Pool Mix #2 – Vibrating Fishes
Check it out here: It is by Limbo and is like a fine wine, only with more drums and shakers and sound, and less…wine. Yeah.
tdpl14: Robsounds – Au Poids Du Feu
New hotness from London Rob Masterton. Check out the techno madness here.
The Invincibles
So on this one, all your Manchester United fans with your titles, all you Liverpool fans with your European Cups, and all your new-school Chelsea blues…you can all take the back seat to Arsenal 2003-2004, the only side since 1889 to play an entire season unbeaten. 28 wins, 12 draws, EIGHTY-THREE goals for, twenty-seven goals against.
Start here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8OouWOQxuk
End here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVKGVd-gIy8
Youtube hero Saharali has just about all of them. Up the Gunners.
known things
So I’m both shocked and pleased to report that I just faxed off a contract that signs four of my songs to Precinct / Primal Recordings, who release artists like Leama & Moor, Tilt, Kosmas Epslion, Ozgur Can, and Probspot.
*squeee*
I also just wrote an ambient / intro tune for a:Loud, that will hopefully be used on their upcoming compilation. It’s called ‘Turn On Mercury’, and I’ll have a clip of it up soon, don’t fret.
i chose b10nary
Got a chance to listen to the new Hybrid album, I CHOOSE NOISE, and the new BT epic, THIS BINARY UNIVERSE. I highly recommend both, although with the following provisos: the BT should be heard in 5.1,with the videos, and the Hybrid should be heard louuud. Both, however, are pretty fine and awfully inspirational and recommended.
Alright: the verdict on the Hybrid is in, and it’s this: Boys, you needed to find who you had to kill to put your Planet Funk remix and ‘Sleepless’ on this album. And you should have done what ever you needed to do to get them. Because your album is in need of some gargantuan, take-no-prisioners dancefloor monsters. There are some near things, but none of them are textbook Hybrid home runs.
Also, I’m really curious, Mike, about your mixdown choices. A friend of mine said “It’s an album – it’s allowed to have dynamic range.”, and certainly no one likes dynamic range more than me. But I also like songs that I’m going to play in clubs to be loud, tight, and to pounce like a tiger. And the big dancefloor cuts (Dreamstalker, Dogstar, Just For Today, Falling Down) just don’t.
But! The secret track is fannntastic, so there you have it.
the flowers preach / turn at twilight
I am getting more music released!
‘The Flowers Preach’, which came out on a:Loud yesterday, is a scarybreaks-like-Habersham tune. You can buy the mp3 from Juno here.
And, the latest Royal Assassin track, ‘Turn At Twilight’, has been featured on Pacific Front’s monsterous new compilation, Storm Warning 2. You can get that from Beatport here.
There are also rumours that my remixes of Chris Fortier for Fade will be out soon. Stay tuned…