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Tag Archives: forum-digger

Cellular Automata MP3s for the People

[ September 18, 2008 / Department: downstream / Leave a comment ]

The Automaton audio software tool applies the classic rules-based, artificial intelligence Game of Life to sound. It was released this past weekend by Audio Damage, and on Sunday shots of the interface served as images of the week here (disquiet.com).

Now, much like the pixelated patterns in the Game of Life, Automaton is propagating across the Internet in unexpected but not unforeseen ways, largely as initial demos by curious early adapters.

On the software’s Audio Damage homepage (audiodamage.com) there are two samples, one rhythmic (MP3) and one melodic (MP3), that show how the controlled randomness of Automaton can affect music over time.

In the always active comments at createdigitalmusic.com, participants were posting the results of their initial experiments. Kent Williams (aka Chaircrusher, founder of the cornwarning.com label — based in Iowa, naturally) took Julie Andrews‘s take on “The Sound of Music” and put it through the Automaton grinder, showing how it can automate glitchy remixes (MP3, createdigitalmusic.com). And one Fall a Star (fallsastar.com) posted a multiple-instance application of Automaton on a dubby, rhythmic original material (MP3, createdigitalmusic.com).

Also, thanks go out to Disquiet.com reader Davis who pointed out an earlier, Nintendo DS hack called glitchDS that uses the Game of Life as an audio manipulator. Video evidence at youtube.com and youtube.com. More details at glitchds.com. Here’s a screenshot from one of the youtube.com videos:

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Tasty Instrumental Hip-Hop MP3 from Illstylus

[ August 4, 2008 / Department: downstream / Leave a comment ]

Over at the hip-hop production discussion boards at cratekings.com/forum, one of the best recent tracks is “hhkeys1″ by Illstylus (MP3, zshare.net). It was introduced with the header “A touch o soul…,” and that’s a fair if understated estimation of its qualities. While the old-school flavor of the track is very much at home in the Crate Kings forums — a place where musicians regularly plumb 1970s blaxploitation soundtracks and otherwise creaky old vinyl for beats — Illstylus is the rare producer there to let the soulful material speak for itself. There are no hard rhythms bolted on, no unnecessary frills like backing vocals or canned, atmospheric synths.

It opens with a bit of piano (hence the “keys” in the utilitarian, production-draft title), a reminder of all the recent Nina Simone samples on FM radio, but enjoyable on its own, for a certain boxy, clanky quality. Illstylus then drops in some well-orchestrated horns, a little riff with a dubby echo and some more plaintive slow passages that give the track a chamber-jazz elegance. At two and a half minutes, “hhkeys1″ is a solid song, and deserves additional kudos for achieving what few Crate Kings demos do: a proper, well-constructed ending.

Read the thread where the MP3 first appeared at cratekings.com. More on Illsylus at myspace.com/illstylus.

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Community-Filtered Beat MP3s

[ July 18, 2008 / Department: downstream / Leave a comment ]

Not all charts are created equal. The wisdom of crowds can be a lot more convincing on a message board than on a sales chart. The top 10 albums of a given week, according to Soundscan, can be more a reflection of conventional wisdom and reactive consumerism than of individual taste or the state of the art. By contrast, on Internet forums where musicians post their own music for peer input, the accumulated number of comments can be a dependably solid sign of some solid work.

As of this morning, for example, the most commented upon entry among the 20 most recent threads in the “Beats/Instrumentals Showcase” forum at cratekings.com is a pair of grimy, artfully crafted rhythm tracks by one panamacanal. The thread is titled “New Beat Plz Check Out.”

The first and the real keeper, “Introducing … Intro” (MP3, zshare.net), is, as the producer says in his brief note, a Public Enemy-flavored flare-up, opening with that hip-hop trifecta: gunshot, hi-hat, strings. It doesn’t have the density commonly associated with the best Bomb Squad productions for Public Enemy, but it does have the ambient filigree, dramatic tension, and earnest vibe. “Life Hell” has a similarly classic opening: orchestral grandeur that drops, vertiginously, to downtempo swagger, a sweet lope of a loop played under some period spoken soul (MP3, zshare.net).

And both are, frankly, better — more interesting, moody, and detailed — than just about anything on the new Nas album, aside perhaps from its opening track.

(If the above MP3 links don’t function, just use the zshare.net service.)

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Freebie Beat MP3s from Crate Kings Forums

[ July 10, 2008 / Department: downstream / Comment: 1 ]

The forums at cratekings.com continue to be a great place to dig for excellent electronic music in the form of beat-heavy, sample-based solo work. Recent faves include Grimeshine‘s “Hangover,” with its old-soul strings, punchy funk touches, vocals reduced to moany vowels, and a hot little minimalist piano riff (MP3, zshare.net, cratekings.com). More on the Seattle, Washington-based producer at myspace.com/vinylfreeway.

Also worth a listen, Dyllemma‘s “New York Shit,” in which the vinyl surface noise lends some serious grit to a florid piano line and a soul-vocal snippet that’s truncated just in time to match the cut’s title (MP3, zshare.net, cratekings.com) — and, also by Dyllemma, the extended (three and a half minutes, which by Crate Kings standards is equivalent to a concept album) “Melon Chollie Strings,” which lays some scratchy violin-bowing over a mid-tempo groove and one majorly psychedelic break (MP3, zshare.net, cratekings.com).

If the above direct MP3 links don’t function, just go to the zshare.net service. The cratekings.com links go to where the artist first posted the work for public critique.

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Henry Mancini Hip-Hop Remix MP3s

[ June 19, 2008 / Department: downstream / Leave a comment ]

The aspiring hip-hop producers who populate the forums at cratekings.com work together for mutual musical benefit — and not only by commenting on each other’s work and pushing the collective to tweak each sample, hone each beat, and better craft each instrumental track that they post. They also collaborate, as on the 14-track compilation of remixes of themes by Hollywood screen-music legend Henry Mancini. The set, Crate Kings vs. Henry Mancini, is available as a series of individual tracks (ZIP) or as a single mix, put together by Rafferty, one of the tribute’s contributors (MP3). Participants include Figment, DJ Oaty Love, DJ Tru Blu, Olivertone, Kid Konnect, Illstylus, Pyro. More info at cratekings.com.

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