I was pleased to learn recently that one of the most important albums of the past 25 years was remastered, and re-released: “Paul’s Boutique“, by the Beastie Boys. I played this album (cassette, then CD) to death (really). It’s one of the most lyrically-complex albums (that I’ve heard), and I can recite 95% of the lyrics from memory—that’s how many plays this sucker got.
This LP was a radical departure for the 3 lads from Brooklyn (well, 2 from Brooklyn, 1 from Manhattan)—at the time, they were expected by Capitol Records to release another “License to Ill“, and they did anything but. They split for LA, expanded their minds, and ears, and released this masterpiece in the summer of 1989.
At the time, Paul’s Boutique was a commercial failure. Panned by many music critics (but not all), and from what I’ve read since then, most felt that their 15 minutes were up. I didn’t know what to think—I was most likely too young at the time to pass any judgement on them. All I knew, is that I had never heard anything like it before, and I don’t think I’ve heard anything quite like it since. Time has been very kind to Paul’s Boutique (and the Beastie Boys). The album continues to make many top-album lists (including Rolling Stone, which, if I am not mistaken, panned it back in ‘89).
I recommend everyone experience this sonic adventure—’specially the new remastered version, but I hope most of you have by now…
This entry was written by , posted on 01/02/2010 at 11:25 AM, filed under Life, Music and tagged Music. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink.
There exists no better soundtrack for a Sunday afternoon, than “Bitches Brew“, by Miles Davis. It sounds like nothing else on this planet.
This entry was written by , posted on 11/01/2009 at 11:00 AM, filed under Music and tagged Jazz, Miles Davis. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink.
The site we developed for Dusty Johnston’s debut album, is finally available on iTunes. Go grab yourself a copy—I guarantee it’s like nothing else you’ve ever heard.
This entry was written by , posted on 08/21/2009 at 9:30 AM, filed under Design, Flash, Music and tagged Analogue, Dusty Johnston, iTunes. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink.
iDrum: Club Edition has got to be of the best iPhone drum machine applications currently available. It’s actually much more than just a standard drum machine—it’s 1 part sound fx generator, 1 part beat-maker, and 1 part sequencer. You’ll be rocking some imaginary dancefloor somewhere in seconds.
Regarding the title: “Hold Your Wig”. Those that were there—know. I was.
This entry was written by , posted on 06/21/2009 at 7:58 PM, filed under Mobile, Music. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink.
This blows my mind: a full-featured retro studio, 100% Flash-based. Does this blow your mind? I doubt it. We are spoiled. We’ve come to expect amazing things like this coming from our web browsers. I’ll never lose sight of how bloody mind-blowing this actually is…
I love acid.
This entry was written by , posted on 04/30/2009 at 8:09 AM, filed under Flash, Music, Technology and tagged 303, 808, 909. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink.
One of the most fascinating App Store categories is the music section, and some of the most original are the generative music production apps. I’ve enjoyed using “Bloom” by Brian Eno immensely, but I came across a generative music production gem titled “SynthPond“. It’s almost like a hybrid between “Bloom“, and a standard audio sequencing application. When these 2 apps allow for export to WAV, I am going to town, and will start producing my own experiments of ambient soundscapes. The future is friendly, and it is full of droning sounds…
This entry was written by , posted on 04/26/2009 at 10:49 AM, filed under Mobile, Music, Technology and tagged iPhone. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink.
iPhonemusician.com is quite the incredible blog-resource for everything you could ever want: all the major iPhone sequencer apps, mobile recording studios, and classic analog synths are reviewed—and when available, video demos are provided. Special attention is paid to the classic Roland drum machines and classic synth emulator apps.
I love acid. I really do.
This entry was written by , posted on 04/24/2009 at 7:19 PM, filed under Mobile, Music, Technology and tagged App Store, iPhone, Music. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink.
Acid house is a sub-genre of house music that emphasizes a repetitive, hypnotic and trance-like style, often with samples or spoken lines rather than sung lyrics. Acid house’s core electronic squelch sounds were developed by mid-1980’s DJ’s from Chicago who experimented with the Roland TB-303 electronic synthesizer-sequencer. Acid house spread to the United Kingdom, Australia, and continental Europe, where it was played by DJ’s in the early rave scene. By the late 1980’s, copycat tracks and acid house remixes brought the style into the mainstream, where it had some influence on pop and dance styles.
Nicknamed “the sound of acid”, acid house was different than the emerging styles of deep house or vocal house in that it was starkly minimal, being very light or absent of instrumentation and generally harder or trancier sounding than these. This bifurcation marked an early separation in house music that directly correlated to the origin of hard dance and trance and which developed in conjunction with the more underground and specialized rave scene. The starkness of the style was a result of the discovery of the strange sounds that the Roland TB-303 bass line synthesizer produced when tweaked and the straight 4/4 rhythm which though shared by much of house and techno music was programmed into much harder and more pounding rhythms than pop or electro. Both of these elements are present in most of the tracks considered core to the sound of acid house. Roland’s other famous sound, the Roland TR-909 drum machine is nearly as common. Acid house’s influence on dance music is tangible considering the sheer number of electronic music tracks referencing acid house through the use of its sounds, including trance, goa trance, psytrance, breakbeat, big-beat, techno, trip-hop and house music.
This entry was written by , posted on 03/13/2009 at 5:20 PM, filed under Life, Music and tagged Analogue, Music. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink.