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Listening to art. Playing with audio. Sounding out technology. Composing in code.

Monthly Archives: January 2004

Norwegian Fusion Stream & MP3

[ January 23, 2004 / Department: downstream / Leave a comment ]

Guitarist Eivind Aarset plays a dark brand of trip-hop-infused jazz fusion, chords hovering like sulfurous clouds, ominous yet plaintive, beats that are mechanical, but also seductive and atmospheric. On two albums, Electronique Noire (1998) and Light Extracts (2001), Aarset has built a body of work that complements the reputation he’s made as a member of trumpeter Nils Petter Molvaer’s band. Like Molvaer, a fellow Norwegian, he is extending the heritage of Miles Davis’ electric era, melding the swing of jazz with electronic percussion and other digital effects. Aarset’s webpage on his tour promoter’s site features a three-minute video of him and his band, which takes its name from his 1998 album, performing “Dust Kittens,” off Light Extracts (page here, video stream here). In related news, Molvaer has put a free MP3 file, “Wilderness,” up on his own website (site here; enter and click the “unreleased on CD” tab) that evidences his interest in applying sinuous melodies to club beats.

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Vibert Stream

[ January 22, 2004 / Department: downstream / Leave a comment ]

Luke Vibert (aka Wagon Christ) is promoting his Kerrier District collection, out now on the Rephlex records. On November 21 of last year, while in Tokyo, he recorded a mix of his tunes for web radio outlet Station Samurai FM (RealAudio stream archived here). The site itself, samurai.fm, is worth a look, as it houses sets by Aquasky, FC Kahuna and A Guy Called Gerald.

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Deadbeat Stream

[ January 21, 2004 / Department: downstream / Leave a comment ]

Deadbeat, aka Scott Monteith, is currently on tour, playing San Francisco this weekend, with Monolake and Joshua Kit Clayton; Detroit in February, with Monolake and others; and across Europe throughout March. He contributed the A side to a three-artist single, the debut release from the Tokyo-based Kodaira Tracks label. His loungey downtempo song, “Schmalzting After Midnight,” is streaming in its entirety, along with the single’s two B-sides (Kodaira founder Yoshihiro Arikawa’s somewhat harder edged “Lamp Black,” and the techno with an acoustic vibe of “Petenoye” by Petetok, aka H. Nakajima), on the Kodaira website, kodairatracks.com.

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Quote of the Week: Dean’s Scream

[ January 21, 2004 / Department: field notes / Leave a comment ]

Slate.com on the audio fallout of Monday’s Iowa Democratic caucuses:

I’ve heard it replayed so often, the [Dr. Howard] Dean scream is starting to sound good to me too. … Who’ll be the first hip-hop artist to sample it?

Tuesday, January 20, 2004 entry of the “kausfiles” column, here.

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Game Boy MP3

[ January 20, 2004 / Department: downstream / Leave a comment ]

Nanoloop is the name of a sound editor created for the Nintendo Game Boy. The cartridge includes a sequencer, which can be fiddled with in real time, while the song is playing, and a wave form editor, in which you can build your own sounds. The current edition of Nanoloop, 1.2, is sold out, but version 2.0 is said to be available soon. Wonder what kind of music such a toy — er, tool — might produce? There’s a nearly four-minute demo (track here), which has the dutiful blips of a video game, its occasional modulations suggesting level changes. And with its echoes of contemporary glitch music, the extended fadeout owes more to Autechre than to Mario. More info at nanoloop.de.

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