When Chaos Control was first starting up in late 1992, I was on the Prodigy online service networking and doing promotion. Back then, I was using a black and white “Macintosh Classic” with a 1400 baud modem (very slow!) One of the people I met on the discussion boards was none other than Trent Reznor. At the time, the Nine Inch Nails “Broken” EP had just come out, and he was in the studio working on “The Downward Spiral.” He wasn’t really doing press then, but agreed to be interviewed for the first edition of Chaos Control as long as I promised not publish the article anywhere else. A call to his publicist (who I’d dealt with in the past) confirmed that my new online friend was indeed the REAL Trent Reznor and a phone interview was set up. It proved to be a very interesting interview, with Reznor talking about the origins of NIN, his problems with TVT Records, labeling music, and more.

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Though best known for “She Blinded Me With Science,” Thomas Dolby is NOT a ‘one hit wonder’ – he had many other successful singles (”Windpower”, “Hyperactive”.) It’s just that “She Blinded Me With Science” had a certain novelty value that made it the song people most still remember 20+ years later. But those who followed Dolby know that he consistently put out high quality and diverse material … from the haunting “Mulu The Rain Forrest” to the energetic and jazzy “Keys To Her Ferrari.” And he was responsible for one of the few redeeming qualities of the “Howard The Duck” movie (the music performed by the fictional rock band Cherry Bomb). But in the mid-90’s, shortly after we interviewed him, Dolby seemed to disappear from the music scene. Where did he go? Dolby founded a company called Beatnik (formerly Headspace) to create musical tools & technologies for such applications as the world wide web and cell phones. He has since stepped down as CEO (but remains on the board) in order to pursue other projects, including a return to performing his own music live!!! Dolby is about to embark on the “Sole Inhabitant Tour 2006″ – check out his site for the dates!

NOTE: Since this article was posted, numerous media outlets have been reporting about how Britney Spears’ husband, Kevin Federline (aka K-Fed), sampled “She Blinded Me With Science” without permission. For the full story, check out Thomas’ blog at http://blog.thomasdolby.com/ (there lots of other interesting info there too!!)

Thanks to independently developed software such as Nanoloop and Little Sound DJ, the Nintendo Gameboy has turned into the instrument of choice for a growing number of electronic musicians. While the Gameboy’s 8-bit soundchip is somewhat limited, it has a warm, crunchy sound that works well when taken beyond the context of simply supplying video game soundtracks. Musically, Gameboy tracks run the gamut from energetic electronic pop to weird, often scary-sounding experimental stuff. On the more danceable end of the spectrum is New York’s Josh Davis, aka Bit Shifter, who will soon embark on a world tour with fellow NY Gameboy artist Nullsleep. In an email interview, Josh explained a bit about what goes into making music on a device only intended to play games.

• Click here to read the interview.