Aaron Spectre / Drumcorps Megamix MP3

/ By Marc Weidenbaum

The music of Aaron Spectre, who records digitally mutilated metal under the name Drumcorps, regularly provides serrated bludgeons to the ear. And few Spectre outings are as introspective as the 20-minute mix nestled in the nearly 160MB podcast uploaded on November 14 at adnoiseam.net (MP3).

Spectre’s contribution begins approximately 45 minutes in, and after a characteristically explosive opening, it ventures deep into unfamiliar territory, a downtempo realm of cautiously spaced percussion and rank echoes. Inevitably, of course, aural nihilism rears its pixelated head, all cacophonous, splintering grindcore, set to self-immolate in Spectre’s personally circuit-bent Osterizer. While the overall effect is, certainly, more volatile than much of what appears in this Disquiet Downstream series, Spectre’s facility with digital transformation and his comfort with noise make him required listening.

The source material for the mix is as follows:

    01 – Drumcorps – No Escape – [Unreleased]
    02 – Nine Inch Nails – The Mark Has Been Made – [Nothing]
    03 – Rotten sound – The Effects – [Spinefarm]
    04 – Converge – Year Of The Swine / Conduit – [Equal Vision]
    05 – Broken Note – war In The Making – [Ruff)
    06 – Animosity – Terrorstorm – [Blackmarket)
    07 – Animosity & Drumcorps – Mobs Over, Rob Me – [Manalive]
    08 – Genghis Tron – The Feast (Drumcorps Remix) – [Unreleased test]
    09 – Genghis Tron – Relief (Drumcorps remix) – [Relapse]
    10 – This Will Destroy You – A Three-Legged Workhorse – [Magic Bullet]
    11 – Nine Inch Nails – 2 Ghosts 1 – [The Null Corporation]

More on Spectre/Drumcorps at drumcorps.cc and myspace.com/drumc0rps.

On November 30, 2009, I turned off the comments on this post — for some reason it had become the target of massive spamming.

Techno MP3s from Nashen

/ By Marc Weidenbaum

Within four bars of its clacky, syncopated opening, “Cluerman” by Nashen off the free, three-track Source EP has registered as a keeper. Even when the minimal techno trappings — serene wooshes, clubby counterpoint, machine gurgles — risk layering in too much for the whole to truly register as minimal, it has a trenchant, single-minded purpose that’s admirable (MP3). Ditto the echo-laden “Zinkin” (MP3) and the more mechanistic “Hating You,” the latter of which ditches any appearance of analog source material in favor of a machine dream (MP3). Get the full set at the releasing netlabel, bumpfoot.net.

Stephen Vitiello / Molly Berg Art-Score MP3

/ By Marc Weidenbaum

The sound artist Stephen Vitiello doesn’t always work alone. Often, he brings the world into his work, transforming field recordings into electronically mediated wonders. And sometimes he creates alongside witting collaborators. Up now on his website, stephenvitiello.com, is a segment of score he wrote with Molly Berg for an installation by Eder Santos. No visuals are included, but the sound is deserving of its own audience — light bells, like some digitized wind chime, ring their way through backward masked guitar, rough whistles (suggesting the sound-art equivalent of “outsider” technique), and wisps of less identifiable sounds (MP3).

Quote of the Week: Scanner’s Alarm

/ By Marc Weidenbaum

From the product description of the new Philips’ Wake-up Light 2008 clock:

Combining a reading lamp with an alarm clock, the new Wake-up Light offers a more pleasant way to wake up by gradually illuminating as it turns on to simulate a sunrise and follow the natural rhythm of the body. This is further enhanced by the diversity of alarm sounds to choose from to accompany the waking experience, from sounds derived from nature to a gentle, ambient waking alarm.

Those sounds are by none other than Scanner (aka Robin Rimbaud), who describes the project further on his site, scannerdot.com:

This month I’m finally allowed to speak openly about a major project I’ve been collaborating on for the last year with Philips in The Netherlands. Available in the stores now in Europe is the new Wake-up Light 2008 which evokes sunrise for a more pleasant and natural waking experience.

As a dawn simulator, no matter what time of day you wish to wake up of course, the Wake-Up Light combines a reading lamp with an alarm clock and offers a far more pleasant way to start a day, simulating a sunrise to echo the natural rhythm of the body. With the light slowly increasing in intensity over 30 minutes prior to the set time it produces a far gentler entry into the day. I consulted on the project and then designed several sound environments to balance this awakening, using natural sounds through to chimes and more musical shapes. Once fully illuminated, the lamp recalls a sunset on the horizon via a divider between the luminescence and the dark part of the object. So finally I’m able to get inside the bedrooms of unsuspecting people, into their innermost sanctums and fuse into their environment without detection!

More on the alarm clock at design.philips.com.