Randomn3ss

 Hello again, it is time to continue through the veritable jungle of artists and genres that lend themselves to the “Electronica” theme!

 Oldies “electronica” hits that you may have heard of include Donna Summer’s I FEEL LOVE (70’s) and Soft Cell’s TAINTED LOVE (80’s). In my opinion, one of the greatest (if not THE greatest) electronic band coming out of the 70’s is Kraftwerk. A quadruplet of fellows from Germany using synthesizers almost exclusively, they revolutionized the way in which the electronic genre was perceived. Their music has been covered and remixed by everyone from Coldplay (Kraftwerk song “Computer love”) to a hard rock band out of Slovenia named Siddharta.

Another electronic hit of the 70’s was the single  POPCORN by Kingsley, yet another surprise U.S. hit out of Europe. Both of these artists are classified, strangely, as DANCEPOP. The difference in sound from 70’s to 2000’s dancepop is incredible. Kraftwerk is also classified as ALTERNATIVE. Alternative is the genre that happens when the individual listening to the music throws their hands up in the air and exclaims, “what IS that????” It seems to happen frequently in less mainstream electronica as my favorite band growing up, Joy Electric (A single fellow from the San Francisco area who uses no instruments, no straight vocals, not even a drum machine, only a synthesizer) is also classified as ALTERNATIVE.

One of the aspects of electronic club music that even I cannot stand is what I refer to as “RAVE MUSIC”, or HARD TRANCE. I cannot even provide you with a sample artist because I find this genre so hideous. If you take a normal trance song and crank up the speed dial until it sounds like the chipmunks, congratulations! You now have a soundtrack that thousands of 15 year olds wearing glowsticks and not much else will gyrate to until the wee hours of the morning! How do I know this? Uh… personal experience? I admit that I too am a lover and wearer of glowsticks.

An interesting and less popular type of “hard” electronica is HARD HOUSE. Try DJ Icey, he has a more INDUSTRIAL flavor without the whiney emo (Stay tuned for Electronica part 3 where I discuss industrial electronica).

All right, we’ve covered the basics, now it is time to branch off into more interesting types of electronica! Stay tuned, next week I’ll deal with INDUSTRIAL, IDM, PSYTRANCE, HOUSEFUNK and DOWNTEMPO.

 Until then, here is some bleeping and blooping to keep you happy.

Zero 7 - moody lite rock grooves, the have an unbelievable remix of Radiohead’s “Climbing up the Walls”

Scooter - As close to “rave” music as I can listen to, uptembo bouncy and repetative.

Sasha (& John Digweed) - I mentioned Sasha last time in regards to his single “Xpander”, but “Wavy Gravy” and “Clubbing Seals” (haha) are also worth mentioning. He often works in tandem with John Digweed and when he does the sound is less electronica and more funk.

Ratatat - Rock electronica. This is one of those crossover artists who I feed to individuals who are against the electric sounds on principle. They create a very interesting fusion.

Massive Attack - One of the few artists that seems to sit well with the general public. They are best known for their collaborations with Portishead.

I have a particular… shall we say, “obsession” with the sounds that emanate from synthesizers. Whether you are a lover or a hater (there seems to be very few individuals in-between) I wish to expand your knowledge of the genres contained within. If you hate electronica, it is quite possible that the extent of your contact with it has been in conjunction with RADIO AIRWAVES. I wish to assure you that those songs are NOT all sweet sweet synthesizers have to offer you. I will be doing a succession of posts on this topic, at the end of each I will list a few less-than-mainstream electronic acts worth checking out. Alrighty! Here we go!

Most of the bubblegum bleeping songs that have hit the radio are classified as EUROPOP. Conveniently, as much of this sound comes from Europe! Examples include BLUE by Eiffel 65 and the ever popular BARBIE GIRL by Aqua. Or if it is not from Europe it tends to go by DANCEPOP, such as Alice Deejay’s BETTER OFF ALONE. Also included in this list would be most of the infinite Madonna ditties and remixes that have proliferated themselves on the airwaves over time. If you hate this genre… believe me, I understand. I can’t say that I haven’t sung along at the top of my lungs to BARBIE GIRL… I have. But that is not to say that I don’t have a deep seated appreciation for the awfulness of what I am singing along with. If you are willing to give the more modern Euro-Electronica a chance, try Royksopp’s “The Understanding” (Norway) or The Notwist’s “Neon Golden” (Germany).
The most popular Electronica of this decade is found in the clubs. Trance, House, Drum and Bass, etc. DJ Tiesto, Paul Oakenfold, Paul Van Dyk, these are a sampling of the most popular DJ’s on the globe at this moment. It gets more confusing as, different songs by an individual artist may go from Trace, to Progressive Trance, to Progressive House. If you have ever been confused by the differentiation between a genre and a “progressive” version of that same genre… join the club. I personally favor PROGRESSIVE TRANCE out of all of these genres, I find it the most complex and melodically interesting. Though, those that claim that every single song has the same drum and snare sounds… YOU ARE NOT WRONG!!! A classic Trance song any electronica lover must own is DJ Sasha’s “Xpander”.

TECHNO: The broadest term for electronic music available today. If you aren’t sure what it is, heck! Call it techno! Crystal Method, or if you are interested in extremely complex techno or ‘hard’ techno, try Aphex Twin.

 Alright! I am signing off for now. Until next time, cut your aural sensors on these…

BLUETECH: Downtempo electronica reggae?

ULRICH SCHNAUSS: atmospheric. His album “Train’s Passing By” well defines the mood of his music.

SOUNDS FROM THE GROUND: Ethnic chillout  grooves

DIRTY VEGAS: You may know them from their single “Days go By” or “One more Time”. The rest of the album is spectacular

Add it onto the list! I have a new guilty pleasure.

That’s right… in addition to gossip blogs, novelizations of episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation, and Sting’s solo albums, you can add Miley Cyrus.

Yep - that’s right. I’ve got a crush on Hannah Montana.

Alright, so it’s not really a crush (despite her cute, vaguely jail-bait MySpace pics), but I cannot stop listening to her single “See You Again.” It perfectly describes all of my high school interactions with boys (as well as most of my current interactions with boys). The stuttering, the grasping for words, the assertion that, yes, next time I see you, I will redeem myself! However, my best friend is not named Leslie. How do I know that Miley’s best friend is Leslie? Thanks to the best lyric in the song: “You asked what’s wrong with me/My best friend Leslie said/’Oh, she’s just being Miley’.” Yeah, that’s how.

I first stumbled upon this song on my friend Kristen’s MySpace page. Now, Kristen works for a rock radio station and one of it’s most ball-busting DJs, so I assumed it was meant to be a joke. So, I laughed and was like, “Kristen is a tool.” However, this week she has a Mims song on there, so I’m guessing maybe she’s really coveting a job at Q102. Anyway, I never actually listened to the song, but instinctively knew the name when I heard it played on, where else, Q102. I was driving to Allentown and flipping during commercials/moments of static and was like “This song has a really good beat… it’s so cute… fuckin’ a, it’s that goddamn Hannah Montana song.”

So I did what any other rational, rock-loving 24-year-old would do: immediately added it to my MySpace and paid $0.99 to download it on iTunes.

Go listen to this musical excuse for crack at Miley’s MySpace here.

So you have the iPod (or any MP3 player) loaded up with all of your favorite music and want others to be able to listen to it with you wirelessly, there has been no easy solution until now. What Aerielle has done is create a small, in-line wireless transmitter that you place between your headphones and mp3 player, it then broadcasts over a 2.4GHz RF to anyone within about 30 feet of you that also has an i2i Stream plugged into their headphones, allowing them hear everything you do.

My first thoughts on this product were wow, finally a way to share music on a plane ride with my friends who got booked 2 rows behind me. Then other ideas of sharing music started to sink in, like in a school library across a table while studying or even for 2 kids in the back of a car who want to listen to something other than what their parents have on.

They come with an internal rechargeable battery, it is oddly powered by a USB computer cable though, but a wall charger is promised to come out soon.

I can’t seem to find an answer anywhere on their site, but I’m also thinking you could broadcast wirelessly to any sort of small stereo speakers that has 1/8th headphone jack, which would be really cool to do. Then it would be possible to control the music played at a party from just about anywhere in the room.
They should be available in January 2008 and prices are set to be $70 for one or $120 for two with skins available for around $10. Keep glued here to Randomn3ss for more info on these.

Checkout the old-school dance moves the cop busts out in this promo video too.

i2i Gear official site: i2igear.com

Now that I’m (kind of) an adult, I don’t really get to make a Christmas list anymore. There are fewer presents under the tree and more cards with some cash in them. It’s not that I’m complaining - money is great - but it’s more fun to open gifts than to buy them for yourself. There are a few choice things I would like to see under the tree this year. Sadly, much of what I would like could be filed under “practical and boring” but, being female, I think I can find some frivolous things to throw in there.

Dear Santa:

I was only naughty on a handful of occasions this year, so I think I’m deserving of the items on this list. I mean, the naughty-ness occurred in the company of good friends and was all in the name of fun. If there was any naughty-ness that was not in the name of fun, I was too drunk to remember it so it doesn’t count. I’m pretty broke, so if you could like, pass this on to people who are loaded, that would be great.

1. A humidifier. I’ve had this persistent sinus infection for the past three weeks and I think it’s partially because of how dry the heat is in my apartment (it’s also due to drinking). But, I think this would help. This one is fancy and cute and from The Sharper Image. It’s also $150. Something between this and “cup of water next to the bed” would be stellar.
2. The Led Zeppelin 2-disc retrospective. I’m really into them lately and would love to have it in my music collection. I can’t get “Kashmir” or “Immigrant Song” or “All of My Love” out of my head lately (and I even like some of Robert Plant’s solo stuff). I’ll also take an iTunes giftcard. I’m kind of a music whore.
3. My computer is dying. It’s a six-year-old Toshiba Satellite laptop that has been very good to me, but is definitely in its last days. The CD drive doesn’t work and I’m pretty much out of disk space on my hard drive. Since I blog, I kind of need a computer (and it’s nice to have a portable one at that). I realize that I could get a regular Windows OS laptop for way cheaper, but I am sick of viruses and popups and installing extra programs to prevent the aforementioned. I just want to buy a computer, have all my files transferred, and call it a day. I want a Mac. Not only are they extremely sexy, but they are easy to use and don’t get all funky from rogue programs. I’ve decided on the 15″ MacBook Pro - it has a matte screen (unlike the 13″, which only comes in “glossy” which is damn annoying). However, I am really sad that it doesn’t come in black to match my two iPods and Bose speakers. Yes - color is important to me. Don’t judge.
4. Because you can never go wrong with this gift… but I can’t guarentee it’ll last past New Year’s.
5. A job with health benefits. I don’t think that’s a whole lot to ask for. Right, Santa? And yeah - that’s a picture of Steve Jobs… get it? JOBS?? HA! Also, if he reads this, it might help my case with getting that MacBook.
6. Maynard James Keenan. You don’t need to put him under the tree, just undress him and leave him tied to my bed, please. He can keep his cowboy hat on. Thanks.

---

I find that rather than wasting time getting to know someone over continuous awkward dates, it’s far easier to figure out compatability by inspecting one’s iPod.  Seriously - my last boyfriend had Paris Hilton and Feist on his.  Analyzing this immediately could have helped me avoid a painful breakup (he was also in the armed forces… can’t you get kicked out for having Paris on your iPod?).  Below are my snap judgements on music that might be on your man’s pod and what this says about him.  And don’t worry ladies - you’ll get your shot at judgment!

Paramore

This guy watches a lot of MTV and is easily influenced by the media.  He’s going to be sensitive and might be a ”crier.”  He’s not gay, so you’re good on that front; he really likes girls and has no problem with empowered ones (since he’s obviously drooling over their singer).  Oh - you might want to check his ID though because he’s also definitely 16.

Tool

Okay, this one is tough because you could be dealing with several types of guy.  You’re either dealing with a dude with superior taste in music, a meathead who likes to get drunk and fight, or a goth.  Use your sense of sight first - if he’s wearing a full-length black trench, eyeliner, wide-legged pants with chains and you’re in a polo and it’s summer - he’s a goth.  If he also listens to Bauhaus and calls himself “Raven,” he’s definitely goth.  Now, if your fingernails are painted black, you don’t look anyone in the eye because they ”just don’t understand you,” and you resent your father, this is the guy for you.  We move on to the meatstick - if you see the guy at a Tool concert and he’s got a shaved head and is wearing the band’s tshirt, he’s a meatstick.  He also listens to classic rock and wishes The Howard Stern Show was still on E!.  This dude isn’t a bad choice if you’re from Jersey and don’t mind getting elbowed in the face in the pit.  Onto the third and most preferably option - he’s just a guy with killer taste in music.  Awesome.  He also listens to Alice in Chains, Nine Inch Nails, outgrew Dave Matthews but still appreciates the old stuff, and suggests you make an iTunes playlist of Tool for when you guys go running.  If he has the Puscifer CD and brings a bottle of wine from Caduceus Vineyards, he’s definitely a true fan and a keeper. 

Fall Out Boy

Oh man.  Let me warn you now - your breakup is going to suuuuuuuuuuck.  At first, he’s going to be really into you and seem normal, albeit a little sensitive.  Sensitive seems good, though, right?  No - he’s actually just going to be really indecisive and kind of a manwhore.  About three weeks into it, he’s either going to a) lose interest or b) develop 900 complexes about your relationship and get weird.  He’s then going to flaunt other girls in front of your face, but still flirt with you on MySpace.  In fact, he’ll probably move you from first on his top friends to, like, 7th just to annoy you. 

Kanye West

Is he black?  Keep him.  Is he white and wearing a baggy white tee fives sizes too large?  Dump him.

DJ Tiesto

You’re going to have amazing, drugged up sex.  A lot.  Buy lube.

Amy Winehouse

He refuses to get coffee anywhere other than Starbucks and even then, it’s only non-fat lattes.  He owns at least one Burberry scarf and isn’t afraid to pair it with a turtleneck.  The hair is probably longish and he only shaves every three days, if that.  He’s also only a year through his PhD in Philosophy, so unless you’re financially stable, this is not the guy for you.  He also probably looks better in skinny jeans than you do - a fact you will come to resent which will ultimately lead to your break up.

Nick Lachey/98 Degrees

Spends most of his free time at the gym or the bar.  Will rarely spend the night after hooking up.  When he finally does, he’s going to bring his own hair gel because he uses more expensive product than you do.  In fact, he might also have bigger tits than you too - that’s the downside to massive pecs.  He has at least one meaningless tribal sun tattoo on his shoulder blade.  Owns lots of collared shirts and “vintage” tees from Urban Outfitters.  Not great with commitment, unless you are under 5′9″ with no body hair or cellulite and fake boobs.  Judging by recent naked pics of Nick’s girlfriend Vanessa Manillo, you’re probably not going to have to waste money on Brazilians anymore.

This is all I’m going to write for now, but I have a few more artist-related generalizations in my head that I can’t wait to expound upon.  One final word of advice - if you come across a NKOTB song - run.  Just run.

The title of this post is self-explanatory and somewhat self-indulgent because maybe, just maybe, if I share these songs with you and someone else listens, then I won’t have them stuck on repeat in my head.  It’s kind of like that movie The Ring, but with less death.  Here is my current internal juke box:

M.I.A. - “Paper Planes”

Damn you, MTV, this is the first of two songs that I fell victim to as a result of your week-long overkill campaign of a particular artist.  This week it was London-by-way-of-Sri Lankan MC M.I.A., who is generally annoying and polarizing.  Critics either love her or hate her - rarely have I seen a review that was like “Eh, it’s okay.”  I, for one, thought her music was generally un-listenable and too avant-garde for its own good.  She fused to many influences into a muddled and jumpy club banger for people with Tourette’s and the artsy critics fucking creamed themselves over it.  However, these people can’t dance either.

Then I heard “Paper Planes.”  Fucking unreal.  Anyone who can make gunshots the hottest hook since Kanye sampled Daft Punk earlier this summer belongs on my iTunes.  However, this was the only song I can bear to buy off the album.  Whatever, so she 10% doesn’t suck.  Go listen.

Alicia Keys - “No One”

Again, damn you MTV for your guerilla marketing and fuck me for succumbing to it.  Two weeks ago they featured Alicia Keys and one song (yes - one freaking song) on a week’s worth of ads.  Well, apparently Alicia doesn’t need another single, because “No One” is still stuck in my head and catchy as hell and I broke down and bought it and can’t stop playing it.  Again, I wouldn’t necessarily get the entire album.  Keys’ voice is emotive and generally beautiful, but this song melds R&B sentiment with strong female sensiblity and a vocal hook that sticks in the brain long after first listen.

Ps I’m not linking to any of Alicia’s websites because apparently it was her MySpace that got hacked and sent out a nasty MySpace bug.  I don’t know how computers work so I’m not risking it, sorry Miss Keys.

Puscifer - “Queen B”

“Queen B” is the first single from Puscifer’s debut album V is for Vagina, released in late October.  Puscifer is the side-project for Tool frontman Maynard James Keenan, who I someday would also like to handcuff to my bed and have my way with.  I’m cute, call me.  Anyway, Puscifer is wonderfully absurd, alternately moody and melodic, and occasionally a divergence into religious sermons.  The single “Queen B” seves as Maynard’s ode to voluptuous women, celebrating their “saddlebags” and riding them into the night.  Take note: listening to this song will make you want to have sex.  Kinky, slow, drugged-up sex with a little spanking with a leather riding crop thrown in for good measure.  Or else you’re just going to masturbate like every other night. 

Oh, and Maynard: you can get a “hell yeah” from me anytime you like. 

First thing this morning I checked to see if anything new was on the popular invite only bittorrent tracking site Demonoid.com only to see this message

The CRIA threatened the company renting the servers to us, and because of this it is not possible to keep the site online. Sorry for the inconvenience and thanks for your understanding.

Now I’m going to go out on a limb and assume they will come back online at some point, this isn’t the first time the CRIA has threatened to shut them down. I’m also going to assume that when they do come back online, they will have their servers hosted in a different country.

So after what I thought was a clever message to the masses regarding the demise of OiNK turns out to be a subtle hint for a new, member only, invite only bittorrent tracking site. Waffles.fm is, from what I understand, very similar to how OiNK was run, only they were never quite as big and are now feeling the strain on their servers as their membership grows.

From what I’ve read around the blogsphere, they are a bit more strict as well, which is fine, I never had many problems with OiNK and honestly, I’ve been able to find almost everything I need on Demonoid as of late. That said, I am interested in an invite, so if anyone has one to share, or wants to trade a Demonoid invite, please use the contact form to get a hold of me, I’ll gladly show you my ratio on Demonoid.

Even with invite only, closed membership, free to use private tracking sites, more than a half dozen other torrent trackers have popped up to fill the void that OiNK has left. All have been open to the public and all are gaining in popularity. This is not the end of torrent tracking site, and as mentioned before, searching Google will often lead you to just about anything you are looking for.

A week ago bittorrent tracking site OiNK was raided by police and shut down, the owner has said that he has done nothing wrong, owns no music illegally himself and didn’t make people pay to access, only accepted donations to keep the site going. With all of this noise, The Pirate Bay is making attempts to bring OiNK back online, this time as boink.cd. As covered before, it won’t be member only, it won’t have all the content from OiNK and it isn’t officially associated with the OiNK owner at all.

Sometime in the last day or so, The Pirate Bay peoples posted up this funny image on boink.cd:

The title for the page reads: oink.cd – the number 1 site in the world for waffle recipes, under the image of the waffles is this hyperlink,

These are the waffles that taste really good according to google.

This is a really interesting marketing method. Thousands of bloggers and forum dwellers have been covering what happened to OiNK and that boink.cd would be taking over. That means that thousands of people are viewing the boink.cd site, which is in turn, using Google to show music lovers what to use instead of OiNK. It may be one of the greatest marketing ploys this decade – showing the RIAA and others that one torrent-tracking site isn’t destroying the music industry; Google itself enables people to find that which they are seeking. It is absolutely brilliant.

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