Category Archives: MUSIC

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David Lynch Remixes Nigel Godrich’s Ultraísta

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Superstar producer Nigel Godrich, most well known for his work with Radiohead, has a band of his own called Ultraísta. David Lynch gave their track “Strange Formula” a moody remix. Check out the accompanying psychedelic video via nowness.com.

Ultraísta is comprised of Godrich, singer Laura Bettinson, and Joey Waronker, who has done session drumming for heavyweights like Beck and the Smashing Pumpkins. Their self-titled album will be out Oct. 2nd on Temporary Residence and they will be playing at Le Poisson Rouge NYC on Oct. 24th.

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Brian Eno Announces New Ambient Solo Album

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Brian Eno will release his first proper ambient solo venture in seven years this November. Following in the sonic vein of earlier aural massages he calls “Music For Thinking” – which includes Music For Airports, Music For Films, Apollo: Atmospheres and Soundtracks, Discreet Music, and Neroli – Eno’s new piece has been dubbed LUX. This four track journey is “a 75 minute composition in 12 sections that evolved from a work currently housed in the Great Gallery of the Palace of Venaria in Turin, Italy.” LUX will be available Nov.13th on Warp Records.

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Desertshore / Final Report NOT a Throbbing Gristle album

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ImageIndustrial Records has released info (and teaser trailers, below) for what they’re calling “a unique collaboration by Chris Carter, Peter ‘Sleazy’ Christopherson and Cosey Fanni Tutti.”

Throbbing Gristle “ceased to exist” when Genesis P. Orridge capriciously quit the band during their European comeback tour in 2010. The remaining three members decided to continue under the name XTG, since, according to Sleazy, it was not “possible for any changed band or variation of personnel to perform live as Throbbing Gristle without all the original four of us on stage.” The forthcoming double album Desertshore / Final Report is thus the result of ‘XTG’ sessions.

First conceived by Peter ‘Sleazy’ Christopherson, who died on November 25th, 2010, Desertshore is a ‘re-imagined’ cover version of Nico’s album of the same name. It was completed by Chris Carter and Cosey Fanni Tutti, and features guest vocalists Gaspar Noé, Blixa Bargeld, Marc Almond, Sasha Grey, and Antony Hegarty.

The Final Report is the companion album, culled from 2009/2010 sessions by the trio. The double album will be available November 26th, the day after the second anniversary of Sleazy’s death.

Apparently, the announcement that “Throbbing Gristle” is releasing these new albums, as reported by Pitchfork, angered Genesis P. Orridge, sparking a public argument on twitter. Chris Carter makes it clear that these albums are NOT being released as Throbbing Gristle.

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Trent Reznor Reveals New How To Destroy Angels Info

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ImageTrent Reznor released information regarding a new EP from his post-NIN project How To Destroy Angels via his facebook today. The band consists of his wife, Mariqueen Maandig, Rob Sheriden, and Atticus Ross, with whom Reznor worked on the scores for both The Social Network and The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. Here is the message from the man himself:

Sorry for the radio silence lately… I’ve been busy! There’s a number of things to be revealed over the coming months. Some you may expect, others you may not. Patience, my friends.

Today’s news is about my band How To Destroy Angels. I’m happy to announce we’ve formally partnered with Columbia Records for our next series of releases. The first of these will be available in November and it’s called An Omen EP. As you may have guessed, it’s an EP. It contains six songs, some of which are from our full-length LP which is coming early next year.
We are making some videos, we are going to be performing live, and that’s all the details I have for now on those matters.

Regarding our decision to sign with Columbia, we’ve really spent a long time thinking about things and it makes sense for a lot of reasons, including a chance to work with our old friend Mark Williams. There’s a much more granular and rambling answer I could give (and likely will in an interview someplace) but it really comes down to us experimenting and trying new things to see what best serves our needs. Complete independent releasing has its great points but also comes with shortcomings.We are all very excited about you checking out the new stuff. Wish I could tell you more, but you know how this works… it would take all the fun out of it!

Stay tuned!

If you missed it back in 2010, grab HTDA’s first EP FREE at howtodestroyangels.com
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Johnny Greenwood Scored PT Anderson’s The Master

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Johnny Greenwood, sometimes known as the guitarist for a little band called Radiohead, has provided the score to Paul Thomas Anderson’s much anticipated new film The Master. But Greenwood isn’t new to writing for film or orchestra; he scored Bodysong in 2003, premiered the string piece Popcorn Superhet Receiver in the US as part of the Wordless Music Series in 2008, and has released a collaborative album with Krystoff Penderecki. He also wrote the score for PT Anderson’s highly acclaimed masterpiece There Will Be Blood. Read a recent interview with Johnny at NPR, check out an audio clip from The Master below, or stream the full soundtrack at Spotify. The Master opens tomorrow 9/21. 

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Dinosaur Jr. Release “I Bet On Sky”

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Today Dinosaur Jr. drop their newest fuzz bomb “I Bet On Sky,” via Jajaguwar. This is their tenth studio album and the third since reforming in 2005. For anyone who craves Jazzmaster and Big Muff blistering guitar solos in their earhole this should be a no-brainer. Stream it over at The Independent, buy it on vinyl or CD from the DinoStore if you’re too lazy to go support your local record shop, or digitally online everywhere.

The video below is for the first single “Watch the Corners” starring Tim Heidecker of Tim & Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!

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Amon Tobin Takes Manhattan

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(image via amontobin.com)

Legendary electronic pioneer Amon Tobin brings his massive 3-D multimedia art installation ISAM Live 2.0 to the Hammerstein Ballroom tonight, followed by an audio/visual art exhibition opening at the Spencer Brownstone Gallery tomorrow, September 15th, and afterwards a dj set on the Rocks Off Concert Cruise Aboard the Jewel.

Composed of giant geometric cube configurations, ISAM Live presents Amon performing from inside a central 25’ x 14’ x 8’ cube, where he controls live generative imagery, which reacts to the audio he is pumping out, mapping projections in real-time to the surfaces of the reconfiguring cubes surrounding him.

While this is Tobin’s second time around with his ambitious project, the reboot promises to be “enhanced with new audio and visual elements,” including new material from “Stunt Rhythms,” the sophomore album soon to be released under his more beat-centric alter ego, Two Fingers.

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Apple announces new iPhone, iPod, iOS, iTunes

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Did someone say iPhone? Wait, can you say it again?

Today’s biggest news is certainly Apple unveiling its new line of iProducts. No doubt you’ve already been bombarded by live blogs of the event, summaries of what you need to know, updates, and ecstatic exclamations of gleeful abandon about the wonderful new iPhone. Maybe the world’s ever growing faction of Apple fandom makes you a bit queasy. Or maybe you just can’t get enough. So that’s where this blog comes in, dear reader, let’s plunge deeper into the rabbit hole of iPhun together shall we?

First the recap – The iPhone 5 is thinner, wider, faster, and downright sexier than its predecessor, of course. The screen is now a 4-inch 16:9 full sRGB completely redesigned touchscreen technological breakthrough. The camera now shoots panoramic images with a mere swipe through the air, image capture is quicker, and you can take stills while recording 1080p video. The battery life is longer. The new A6 CPU processor is twice as fast. It operates on 4g LTE. It has a new smaller, tighter port, called ‘Lightning,’ which requires a separate $30 adapter to use with all your old accessories. Why? Don’t ask questions, just consume! It’s better. Trust me. Why are you still using that crappy old iPhone for God’s sake?

Now what might really concern us audio-minded individuals are upgrades to the microphones, built in speakers, and earbuds. With the new iPhone you get not just one, not even just two, but THREE microphones, located on the front, back and bottom, to improve call and sound recording quality. Surprisingly, they’ve even thrown in noise canceling technology, so you (hopefully) won’t have to struggle to hear the person on the other end over the din of the coffeeshop or rock club anymore. Voice calls (if supported by the carrier) will also be boosted by “wideband audio,” using more of the available bandwidth spectrum to deliver your buddy’s voice straight into your earhole. The speakers are packed with 5 magnet transducers, up from the previous 3 (see Apple didn’t even stop at upgrading to just 4 because they care, they really do care about you). Finally, the new earbuds are now called EarPods, because they are made out of microscopic iPods assembled by chinese factory worker fetuses to make your listening experience better. Because we are Americans and we deserve nothing less.

Pricing is the same as past releases, $199 for 16GB, $299 for 32GB, and $399 for 64GB (with a 2 year contract of course) and is available in black or white. The good news is that the 4S model’s price has dropped to $99 and the iPhone 4 is now free. You can start pre-ordering iPhone 5 this Friday 9/14 in the US.

Apple has also revamped the iPod Nano to look like a tiny iPhone, and added Siri to the now multicolored iPod Touch. iOS 6 will see some changes as well, most notably a new Maps app (Google and Apple broke up a few months ago) with turn-by-turn directions (FINALLY!), Facebook integration, and  a redesigned iTunes store, among other amazing technological advancements like finally allowing Facetime to operate over cellular networks instead of WIFI only. The new iOS will be available 9/19. An iTunes update was released today and there will be a totally new version in late October. What fun! No word on the rumored iPad mini though…

Now I am as much of an Apple addict as the next fool (although I have been growing more attracted to the PC laptop’s junky charm lately) but one thing I cannot abide is the fact that the most “valuable company in the world” can’t afford to treat its workers humanely. That is a whole other story that should be considered alongside all the hoopla of this iPhun frenzy. Educate yourself and sign this damn petition here.

So obviously there is a lot of lust surrounding this little gem, but what does it all mean for music technology? The iPhone and its millions of apps have undoubtedly revolutionized the world of composing music. I fully intend to write about music apps I enjoy, a plethora of which I haven’t even begun to fully “tap” into yuk yuk. What are some of your favorite music creation apps?

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What are Buke and Gase?

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(image via wired.com)

If you haven’t heard, Buke & Gase are a band of two scruffy young instrument builders who happen to rock instruments of the same respective names. Also they are a boy and a girl with the same first name. Confused yet? Ok let’s get this straight. The Buke is a baritone ukulele played by Arone Dyer, who also sings, and the Gase is a guitar/bass hybrid (formerly called the Gass, but that didn’t read well enough with the general public) constructed and played through (also) home-made amps by Aron Sanchez. The duo also plays their own percussion live with their feet. These two first impressed me when they were part of a math-rock band called Hominid, and they’ve taken the complex contra-rhythmic style to the next level with the warm, fuzzy, acoustic stylings of Buke & Gase. Their new digital-only EP Function Falls drops today on Brassland Records. Stream it over at wired.com or buy it on bandcamp.

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Death of a Dream: the end of Hydrahead Records

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While it’s 9/11 and there are far more tragic things to grieve about, today Hydrahead Records announced that it will be shutting down after a 20 year run. Starting this December, HH will “remain operational only in the interest of maintaining our back catalog, with the ultimate aim of repaying our rather sizable debts.” Get the full story straight from the horse’s mouth at hydraheadlines.blogspot.com.

It’s a sign of the times that a seemingly “successful” label, with a dedicated, albeit niche, following, finds itself closing its doors due to massive debt with no bailout in sight. Plain and simple, even rabid music fans aren’t actually BUYING records at a high enough rate to sustain the business that keeps their beloved artists afloat, even when that business is a grassroots outfit like Hydrahead. Of course this isn’t news, it’s been completely obvious for ages, but apparently it isn’t important enough to consumers to do anything about. We just shrug our shoulders and keep downloading or streaming away. And in effect we are letting the terrorists win!

You can’t go against the tide of history I suppose; technology has made it far too easy to listen for free, and I’m not sure the concept of paying for music is one the current generation is familiar with, even with the ease that smartphones and iTunes or Amazon have made possible. Streaming services like Spotify or Rdio reportedly pay artists a pitance, yet who can argue with having all the music in the world at their fingertips for a small monthly fee? Meanwhile, as the music industry crumbles at the feet of the internet, artists are empowered to put out their own work by the same tools they use to pirate the music they love. However, to rise above the glut of music now available, one has to be more of a business person/promoter than a musician. Although Warhol once famously said that business IS the ultimate form of art, what does this do to the actual level of ARTISTRY that garners the most attention? It’s highly debatable whether major iconic artists of past times would sink or swim in today’s murky waters, or whether we will ever have another Beatles or Nirvana in this age of 15 minute fame.