Month: April 2009

Leafcutter John Remix Contest MP3s

/ By Marc Weidenbaum

Leafcutter John has a remix contest going on. The source material is the five constituent parts of his slocore folk tune “Big Black Eyes” (MP3), available for downloard as an archive (ZIP). The segments consist of a guitar and vocal tone; the background vocal of atmospheric syllables, with a Tropicália vibe; deeply echoed piano; sparse slide guitar; and the proper vocal, with quieter guitar. As of this writing, there are over two dozen entries, and the contest runs through April 30.

Among the highlights are the Bluermutt mix, which extends the instrumental introduction, introducing light electronic patters (MP3, myspace.com/bluermutt). The Hardy Tree added scratchy vinyl and chamber-music instrumentation (MP3, myspace.com/thehardytree). Rotted Karma makes the effort to cut up and reconfigure the piano into a more solid harmonic line, and also plays with layers of vocals (MP3). Seabuckthorn puts the vocals and guitars into some rapid reverberation (MP3, myspace.com/seabuckthornmusic). Fabio Keiner‘s is more demix than remix, slowing down the various parts, for a morguey soundtrack of drones, Tuvan vocals, and slack guitar (MP3, jamendo.com).

Sunken Foal‘s is perhaps the most thorough re-imagining thus far, with bent synthesized tones, a chaotic rhythmic undercurrent, an elevation of the chorus, and an appreciation for how the various instrumental moments, notably the piano, can be employed to dramatic effect (MP3, myspace.com/wesunkthefoal).

[audio:http://leafcutterjohn.com/audio/big_black_eyes.mp3,http://leafcutterjohn.com/audio/BigBlackEyes_bluermutt_rmx.mp3,http://highpointlowlife.com/leafcutter/BBEthehardytree_remix.mp3,http://highpointlowlife.com/leafcutter/big_black_eyesRottedKerma.mp3,http://highpointlowlife.com/leafcutter/BBEAndyCartwright.mp3,http://highpointlowlife.com/leafcutter/BBEfabiokeiner.mp3,http://highpointlowlife.com/leafcutter/bbeSunkenRMX%201.mp3|titles=”Big Black Eyes”,”Big Black Eyes (Bluermutt Mix)”,”Big Black Eyes (The Hardy Tree Mix)”,”Big Black Eyes (Rotted Karma Mix)”,”Big Black Eyes (Seabuckthorn Mix)”,”Big Black Eyes (Fabio Keiner Mix)”,”Big Black Eyes (Sunken Foal Mix)”|artists=Leafcutter John,Leafcutter John and Bluermutt,Leafcutter John and the Hardy Tree,Leafcutter John and Rotted Karma,Leafcutter John and Seabuckthorn,Leafcutter John and Fabio Keiner,Leafcutter John and Sunken Foal]

More details, including an ongoing list of entries, at leafcutterjohn.com.

Tara Rodgers Image-as-Sound MP3

/ By Marc Weidenbaum

This is the second sound art piece I’ve come across that takes as its source the January 20, 2009, inauguration of Barack Obama as the 44th president of the United States. For it, Tara Rodgers investigated the pixels of an aerial view of the National Mall on the day of the event, and converted the RGB color data to, as she put it in a brief description at her safety-valve.org website, “sound and noise. … [E]ach line plays back left to right in stereo, from top to bottom in the photo” (MP3). The photo that served as the score for Rodgers’s “Aerial View of Inauguration, In Sound” appears here:

[audio:http://www.safety-valve.org/audio/012009.mp3|titles=”Aerial View of Inauguration, In Sound”|artists=Tara Rodgers]

The resulting audio is understandably pixelated, each split-second sound a perfectly formed, standalone object in time. They bounce like several dozen little balls on a taut metal surface, like rain drops caught in slow motion.

The other Obama sound art entry was by Christopher DeLaurenti (disquiet.com).

Beautiful Instrumental Moby MP3

/ By Marc Weidenbaum

The new Moby track is 3:17 seconds long. The first 38 seconds consist of a loop of tightly constricted sound, what seems like a heavily compressed guitar, set to loop so that the pause between repeats of the loop serves as a sort of rhythmic cue. In the roughly animated video (think Frans Masereel’s sketches turned into a flipbook) he directed for the song, David Lynch (yes, David Lynch) acknowledges the gaps by turning the screen momentarily blank each time it comes around. (The video appears at the bottom of this page.)

[audio:http://www.moby.com/download/1|titles=”Shot in the Back of the Head”|artists=Moby]

Then a very simple, gently weeping guitar line arrives, and along with it a string section, as well as a soaring vocal, but the strings are so muted as to be virtually unrecognizable, and the vocal is so distant that its impact is more ethereal than epic. Titled “Shot in the Back of the Head,” the song has none of the drama that the title might suggest, and it’s really one of the most beautiful things Moby has recorded in a long time. It’s available for free download from his website (MP3, moby.com) as a teaser for his album, Wait for Me, which is due out June 30.

Quotes of the Week: Kadrey’s Strategies

/ By Marc Weidenbaum

Science fiction writer and general cyberpunk Renaissance geek Richard Kadrey has been spewing his own takes on Brian Eno and Peter Schmidt‘s Oblique Strategies via his Twitter account. Here are some samples:

    Consider ambiguity. Or not. What do I care?

    Mix forms, but don’t forget to change your underwear.

    Emphasize the itchy parts

In Kadrey’s Twitter timeline, the first such stategy begin’s at twitter.com/Richard_Kadrey. Some, just to be clear, are not safe for work. Kadrey’s new novel, Sandman Slim, will be published in July.