The The have begun a trial of their MicroFidelity download system, enabling the purchase of high quality songs playable on any MP3 compatible device. The first song being made available is the very limited edition ‘GunSluts’ single (previously only available during the last The The world tour.) Check it out at thethe.com (go to SHOWROOM to download, JUKEBOX to listen).
Electronic musicians, artists and hobbyists around Manchester are strongly encouraged to get involved with SHARE when it makes it’s UK debut on Sunday, July 23rd. I’ve experienced their open electronic audio/visual jam sessions in NY and have found them to be very enjoyable. It’s fascinating to hear a constantly evolving soundscape created by people who have never collaborated together before (and sometimes have never collaborated EVER), and to experience it with live visuals.
Here are the details:
SHARE within Futuresonic Festival on Sunday, July 23rd, in Manchester, UK, with Share co-founder, Daniel Smith, in collaboration with Manchester’s own SoundNetwork.
The location is at The Museum of Science & Industry (in its ‘1830 Warehouse’ - a world’s first railway warehouse)
Share hold free, open jams and workshops in cities including New York, Montreal, San Diego and Weisbaden. You are invited to bring your portable equipment, plug in, improvise on each others’ signal and perform live audio and video.
Share provide a forum for fluid, improvised creative processes. Teaming up with the locally based SoundNetwork outfit, this is Share’s first visit to the UK.
So this is a call out… bring your laptops, guitars, bent circuits, trumpets, theremins, 16mm’s, mini Puppet theaters, projectors, kalimbas and dancing shoes to Share at Futuresonic 2006.
Come to watch and listen; come to play.
Please contact Share at discussion@share.dj or via SoundNetwork to let us know how we can help you participate.
Recently, we published an interview with Ghostigital (the new project from Einar Örn from the Sugarcubes.) Right before showtime that night, band member Curver explained a bit about the Ghostigital live set-up. We caught it on video and have posted it below.
Chiptune music / experimental musician Bubblyfish has alerted us to a short documentary about the 2006 Bent Festival held last month in New York. The focus of the yearly festival is ‘circuit bending’ - creating musical instruments by creatively modifying small electronic devices such as toys, battery powered synthesizers and cheap effects units. In addition to featuring performances, the Bent Festival includes workshops where members of the public can try their hand at circuit bending. The documentary is very interesting, and viewable online! Follow the link below to check it out.
Cellist Zoë Keating has written music for START MOBILE, a new service that sells 60 second song downloads for mobile phones. The service just launched and for the first month downloads are FREE! Keating had been a member of Rasputina, but recently left to focus on composing and performing her own material. She provided music for the new PBS documentary “Frozen Angels,” which airs this week. Zoë is currently on tour with Imogen Heap, providing accompaniment and also serving as opening act.
For more info, be sure to check out her website!
Before the web as we know it was in wide use, Chaos Control Digizine was published in Macintosh HYPERCARD format. It was cheap (actually free until the color version came out) and provided a lot of possibilities for interactivity and multimedia. These issues were posted on various online and BBS services, as well as distributed on disk (floppy!) Looking at these Hypercard issues again, they stand up pretty well (despite an overuse of Kai’s Powertools in the color editions!). To provide a peek at the origins of Chaos Control Digizine, we’ve posted issues #2 and #8 for downloading. Of course you’ll need a Macintosh to view them, as well as the Hypercard player (follow the link below if you need it.) Unfortunately, Hypercard was never updated for OSX, so it will launch classic mode. Please ignore any weirdness, such as text occasionally getting cut off due to font issues , as these ARE over a decade old!
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.
Many games designed for the Playstation 2 EyeToy camera come across as gimmicky and lacking substance, but developers Harmonix have truly managed to tap into the device’s full potential. Last year saw the release of their game “AntiGrav,” which uses the camera to track body motions and control an on-screen hover boarder . Now comes Karaoke Revolution Party, which allows players to use the EyeToy to actually create 3D models of their heads. This isn’t just a case of the game displaying what the EyeToy sees; the program analyses front and side views and creates a fully animated and interactive video game head. These models can then be applied to on-screen karaoke singers and outfitted with new hairstyles, outfits and accessories. The process is a little tedious, but the results are pretty amazing (if a little freaky.) Click here to view more photos of my wife Janet and I appearing within the game.
Chiptune music / experimental musician Bubblyfish has alerted us to a short documentary about the 2006 Bent Festival held last month in New York. The focus of the yearly festival is ‘circuit bending’ - creating musical instruments by creatively modifying small electronic devices such as toys, battery powered synthesizers and cheap effects units. In addition to featuring performances, the Bent Festival includes workshops where members of the public can try their hand at circuit bending. The documentary is very interesting, and viewable online! Follow the link below to check it out.
Cellist Zoë Keating has written music for START MOBILE, a new service that sells 60 second song downloads for mobile phones. The service just launched and for the first month downloads are FREE! Keating had been a member of Rasputina, but recently left to focus on composing and performing her own material. She provided music for the new PBS documentary “Frozen Angels,” which airs this week. Zoë is currently on tour with Imogen Heap, providing accompaniment and also serving as opening act.
Before the web as we know it was in wide use, Chaos Control Digizine was published in Macintosh HYPERCARD format. It was cheap (actually free until the color version came out) and provided a lot of possibilities for interactivity and multimedia. These issues were posted on various online and BBS services, as well as distributed on disk (floppy!) Looking at these Hypercard issues again, they stand up pretty well (despite an overuse of Kai’s Powertools in the color editions!). To provide a peek at the origins of Chaos Control Digizine, we’ve posted issues #2 and #8 for downloading. Of course you’ll need a Macintosh to view them, as well as the Hypercard player (follow the link below if you need it.) Unfortunately, Hypercard was never updated for OSX, so it will launch classic mode. Please ignore any weirdness, such as text occasionally getting cut off due to font issues , as these ARE over a decade old!
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 
