Interview with friend and "Gears of Sand" label owner Ben Fleury-Steiner

New Transient - Work/Play EP

An older Wisp netlabel release - humpelndenBEATS

Great interview with Brian Eno (I laughed out loud a few times.)

Falling Sand Game (Mesmerizing.)

Just what the doctor ordered: Cute Overload

I just want to pull something out of the big comments thread below. In the context of arguing over the relative merits of various music programs, Bruce proposes to gl0tch: "We'll name the night, and have two hours to compose a track, from scratch. Me in Live exclusively, and you in whatever you like."

This is an interesting idea. Everyone gets two hours to make something from scratch using a given set of samples. It would be a more meaningful form of "laptop battle" than the currently popular live format. It doesn't even need to be judged really. It would just be interesting to see what everyone comes up with. It would force you to figure out faster and more efficient ways of working. And, it would be very refreshing to be completely done with a track in only 2 hours. Can I play too? Anyone want to pick out the samples and officiate?

Here's a giant compilation of Best of 2005 lists.

I tried to compile a list of my favorite music from 2005, but it turned out that most of my favorite stuff was actually released last year. I'm a little behind the times I suppose. Well, one of my favorite albums that was definitely released this year is Wisp - NRTHNDR on Sublight records. Highly recommended. Think AFX crossed with Boards of Canada crossed with Ochre.

Also, on the Jazz tip I have to mention the new Bad Plus album Suspicious Activity?. These guys are just brilliant. It's almost like a new form of music entirely.

FLStudio 6 is out. Here's a list of what's new. Downloading now...

Update: It's a pretty underwhelming upgrade. Some nice new bells and whistles, a little polish here and there, and it seems stable; but overall, it's still the same ol' Fruityloops. Still no way to organize your VST list into groups, still doesn't save the pitch bend range with the song, still doesn't save controller assignments with presets, still the same annoying windowing system, etc... I just wish they would focus more on workflow and ease of use instead of new features and flash.

Update 2: Bah, I'm just bitter because they didn't fix the things I wanted fixed. Why can't someone just build the sequencer that I have in my head?

Interesting... 2005 Qwartz Electronic Music Awards.

I haven't heard of most of the nominees. Seems to be a little France-heavy, which makes sense given the sponsors.

Wow! Philly's own Starkey won the North American Laptop Battle in Seattle. Congrats PJ!

2005 Year in Ideas

HELE-SHAW FERROHYDRODYNAMICS FOR ROTATING AND DC AXIAL MAGNETIC FIELDS - A video of what happens when you apply rotating magnetic fields to liquid iron. The second half is amazing.

From the mind of the great Vytear:
How Chevy Chase invented the Space Echo

The world earliest playable sound recording.

Redesign! I've been wanting to do this for awhile now. The old design looked like crap in Opera and was done with tables so it looked slightly different on every browser. The new design is using CSS for layout (welcome to the '90s!), and it looks pretty much the same on the various browsers. Still probably some tweaking to be done, especially on the comments and archives pages. Let me know if you notice anything funky.

Ok, back to making music...

Philly Winter Festival of Delicate Creative Music
Wednesday, January 4th, 2006
starts promptly at 7pm, ends around 9:30 or so
The Rotunda
4014 Walnut St., Philadelphia
use left side entrance next to movie theater
free admission
no reservations available, seating limited to the first 100 people, arrive early

Ramona Córdova (solo voice, guitar, songs)
www.ramonacordova.com

Trockeneis (quintet from Baltimore, pioneers of The New Frictionalism movement: unamplified music for dry ice, voice, and agitated wood and metal objects)

Pepi Ginsberg (solo voice, guitar, songs)
myspace.com/pepiginsberg

Otoño Brujo (solo acoustic guitar with influences from the Gypsy folk of Andalusia, North Africa, India, etc)
www.brujomusic.org

William Fields (solo melodic, intricate IDM laptop improv)
www.williamfields.com

January 2007 December 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005 May 2005 April 2005 March 2005 February 2005 January 2005 December 2004 November 2004 October 2004 September 2004 August 2004 July 2004 June 2004 May 2004 April 2004 March 2004 February 2004 January 2004 December 2003 November 2003 October 2003 September 2003 August 2003 July 2003 June 2003 May 2003 April 2003 March 2003 February 2003 January 2003 December 2002 November 2002 October 2002 September 2002 August 2002 July 2002 June 2002 May 2002 April 2002 March 2002 February 2002 January 2002 December 2001 August 2001 May 2001 January 2001 December 2000 October 2000 June 2000 April 2000 February 2000 September 1999 May 1999 March 1999 December 1998 September 1998 May 1998 December 2001 November 2001 October 2001 September 2001 August 2001 July 2001 June 2001 May 2001 April 2001 March 2001 February 2001

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