Technological Extinction at TheAtlantic.com

I ponder the fate of the recording studio, in light of Dave Grohl's forthcoming documentary, in this newly posted article.

/ By Marc Weidenbaum

There’s a certain beauty to the fact that the writer of a documentary about an endangered mammalian species, the dolphins of *The Cove*, has now tried his hand at a documentary about an endangered species of technology: the recording studio.

The writer is Mark Monroe, who worked with director Louie Psihoyos on *The Cove* and has now teamed on Dave Grohl’s directorial debut, *Sound City*, an institutional biography of the fabled Los Angeles recording studio Sound City.

I wrote about technological subtext of the film’s trailer — concerns about the “human element,” echoes of Grohl’s comments about computers in his Grammy speech earlier this year — for the website of *The Atlantic*: [“Recording Studios May Die, But the False Mythology Around Them May Not.”](http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2012/12/recording-studios-may-die-but-the-false-mythology-around-them-may-not/265919/)

Here’s the film’s trailer:

Read the full article at [theatlantic.com](http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2012/12/recording-studios-may-die-but-the-false-mythology-around-them-may-not/265919/).

Beats Slip in Japan

Himuro Yoshiteru's in hyperdrive

/ By Marc Weidenbaum

Warning, this starts with a quick-draw beat, a Casio castanet on hyperdrive. It slurs a bit, and elements intrude upon its speedy delirium. The battered, slipped-disc beats of “WavWavWav” by **Himuro Yoshiteru** run like a vinyl dance track that’s been on the shelf long enough to be squeezed by the countervailing pressures of all the adjacent records. Its grooves reduced to nubs, the beats give way at times. Snatches of a neighboring jazz record impress themselves while the rhythm does its best not to trip all over itself. A vocal is heard briefly, and then gets subsumed. The splendi sense of imminent chaos lingers throughout.

Track originally posted for free download at [soundcloud.com/himuro-yoshiteru](https://soundcloud.com/himuro-yoshiteru/free-download-wavwavwav). More from **Yoshiteru**, who is based in Tokyo, Japan, at [twitter.com/Himuro](https://twitter.com/Himuro) and [himuro-yoshiteru.bandcamp.com](http://himuro-yoshiteru.bandcamp.com/).

Resting Bell Rests

A final (double) album for 2012 from the German netlabel

/ By Marc Weidenbaum

The thick wave is almost visible in the air, so slow is the pace at which it moves. This tonal mass is “Numazu” by **Summons of Shining Ruins**. It is the opening track off *Shiho*, the first of two albums with which the excellent netlabel Resting Bell will close out the year. The shimmering density of “Numazu,” and of *Shiho* in general, was produced entirely on digitally mediated electric guitar. It is all nanobot fireflies and glorious circular saws and tinsel made from razor blades.

Track originally posted for free download at [soundcloud.com/restingbell](https://soundcloud.com/restingbell/sosr-numazu). Get the full release at
[restingbell.net](http://www.restingbell.net/releases/rb114-shiho).

Whitest Noise

When aura is the point, not just afterglow

/ By Marc Weidenbaum

**Leonard Rosado**s “Variation in White #1” has a seasonal feeling, in large part due to its resemblance — a comparison made with the intention of a compliment — to Phil Kline’s “Unsilent Night.” It has all the sheer, effervescent, slo-motion aura of an end-of-the-year celebration. It’s a carol, minus the melody. It’s lens flare, minus the ornament that has caught the flash cube’s glare. In his brief liner note to the album on which the track appears (*A Long White Sleep*, from the [laverna.net](http://www.laverna.net/releases/Lav53.html) netlabel), Mirco Salvadori recognizes these associations when he refers to Rosado’s “luminescent vision.” For five minutes, Roasado seeks to slow time by exploring conceptually and sonically a perception, a color, that symbolizes both vacuum and clarity.

It was originally posted for free download and streaming at [soundcloud.com/leonrosado](https://soundcloud.com/leonrosado/a-long-white-sleep-m1). More from Rosado, who is currently based in Gõteborg, Sweden, at [twitter.com/leonrosado](https://twitter.com/leonrosado) and [subterminal.tumblr.com](http://subterminal.tumblr.com).

The Glitch Lion in Autumn

A seasonal figment by jmmy kppl(e)

/ By Marc Weidenbaum

What to make of “Autumnmotion” when there is so little from which to get one’s bearings? There is a title and there is sound — no liner note, no “cover” image. It is a puzzle of a track, though there are hints, especially at the start: the crunch and pace of the initial audio could be both halves of the title: leaves under foot. As time passes — four and a half minutes, all said — the track takes on the sense of the real world lightly altered. It brings to mind a casual day spent with one’s iPod set to the RjDj app. Nearby voices and passing cars, among other things, are lightly filtered, a sonic testament to our technologically mediated age.

Track originally posted for [soundcloud.com/jmmy-kpple](https://soundcloud.com/jmmy-kpple/autumnmotion). More from jmmy kppl at [twitter.com/jmmy_kppl](twitter.com/jmmy_kppl) and [jmmykppl.tumblr.com](http://jmmykppl.tumblr.com/).