Randomn3ss

Hello again! Hope the electronica suggestions I’ve provided have kept you satisfied between posts. Now we get to dive into the FuN genres! 

PSY-TRANCE: This is electronica on drugs…Isn’t most trance on drugs you ask? Yes, I agree with you, but I am referring to trance on a DIFFERENT sort of drugs.. An example would be the artist Hallucinogen, or my personal favorite, the Israeli “Infected Mushroom”. Also I would include the UK’s “Shpongle” (he also does solo work as “Simon Posford”) as well as “Astral Projection” and “Juno Reactor. Dark Soho is less popular, though their song “The Fusion” provides a wonderful soundtrack for driving 100mph on the freeway. This music is… intense. There is a lot of bass and a lot of sound waves that are manipulated in such a way as to give the sensation of aliens drilling at your brain. A whole new concept of ‘expanding your mind’ perhaps? 

 
IDM: This stands for Intelligent Dance Music, though it is arguable how ‘danceable’ these tunes really are. Purely synthetic and claiming a range between electronic elevator music and someone’s twisted joke of an emergency alarm system, one of the best examples can be found in the artist “Autechre”.  IDM is a strange genre, not really inclusive but for a few exceptions, it mainly names a specific sound, but few artists limit themselves solely to that sound. For example, the popular Death Cab For Cutie is occasionally slotted under IDM. Autechre is quite an experience as the IDM sound is bent to include jazzy riffs and hip hop beats. Anyone who is familiar with the workings of a synthesizer will recognize this genre as the most ‘raw’. That is, the effects a synthesizer can produce, such as the arpeggiator, which turns a single note into a “flurry of sounds” is easily recognizable within the music itself. Honestly, I find IDM the most difficult to describe, I recommend checking out the sound sample on Amazon.com.

DOWNTEMPO: Also accused at times of being elevator music, this genre is also known as CHILLOUT. It is more focused on atmosphere creation than on the music itself, though some downtempo can be quite involved and conducive to heavy introspection. Zero 7 provides a general example. Try Mum for a more complex experience. Boards of Canada is a good choice as well. If you are looking for the soundtrack for sweeping landscapes and powerful aspects of nature, try the Icelandic group Sigur Ros. Sigur Ros is more often slotted as AMBIENT, though, truthfully, they are a genre all their own, somehow combining NEW ROCK, AMBIENT, and massive orchestral arrangements.

 
INDUSTRIAL (DANCE): Grinding, depressing, with often apocalypse style motifs, this is not stuff for the faint of heart… or those with little patience for emo. Apoptygma Berzerk is my personal favorite, though VA nation is generally more popular. If you are familiar with the chain store “Hot Topic”, this is the sort of electronica that you might find playing on their stereo system. For those of you unfamiliar, Hot Topic is a goth/emo/fairy/bondage/gamer store popular here in California.

 
I do not have an official title for this genre, I would refer to it as HOUSEFUNK, specially created for such artists as DAFT PUNK and BASEMENT JAXX. Daft Punk in particular can have a DISCO flavor at times.

All right, thank you all for your interest, that will be all for now. Please feel free to comment and suggest music (I am always fiending for more), or if you find a new artist you like from these articles, please tell me! I would love nothing more.

 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

The iPhone just keeps getting better. I updated my phone just two days ago. This update has been the biggest one since September.

The new features on the phone are even more exciting than the new season of American Idol!

I can now rearrange the icons on the homepage. They do a cute little jig on the screen when you hold an icon down for a second. Also, I can make “web clips” enabling me to add a website onto the main page.

Google Maps now accesses my location by cell phone towers and wireless internet. It pinpoints your location on the map which you can save. There is also a new feature to view the map in a hybrid function. This means the map shows a satellite and street name perspective. Real time traffic is a fantastic feature added as well.

The strangest new function that has come to Apple is iTunes movie rental. You are able to do this via computer or iPhone. I don’t understand why anyone would want to watch anything on a such a small screen. I can hardly make out the videos on YouTube. In anycase, you are able to rent it through iTunes. The rental will download onto your phone with an expiration date when you sync it.

The best thing about the January ‘08 iPhone update is multiple person text messaging. I can finally send one text message to a ton of people. This would have been handy on New Year’s when I had to send about a million different text messages to a million different people.

I am now waiting for a copy and paste function.

I honestly can still say this phone treats me well and I have no regrets still. I can’t wait for the next update!

In the spirit of the Macworld 2008 keynote address which announced four new products and services, all of which can be recapped through this live feed from Gizmodo, I present to you the simple question, How addicted to Apple are you?

I’m not that addicted and doubt that I’ll increase my score anytime soon.

Personally, I’m bored with this years announcements and nothing makes me want to jump out of my seat and scream, “I want that! How on earth did I live without it?” I really like some of the features of the newly announced Macbook Air like the black, backlit keys, but not enough to sell my still smells like new Macbook to get one.

So how addicted to Apple are you?

With all the hub-bub about Randomn3ss turning 1 yesterday, I totally forgot to cover the iPhone release one year anniversary as well. It still amazes me when friends of mine will get all giddy when they pull one out of their pocket and, with glee show me how cool it is. I’m not all that impressed, still. It’s big, over-priced and, well its too big still.

When I was a kid the thought of getting something in the mail was great, no matter what it was. As a grown man in my late 20’s, fetching the mail usually means looking at another bill or some worthless piece of mass marketing where someone is trying to sell me something. Yesterday was no disappointment, getting two bills and an AT&T cell phone brochure. This one is a full magazine sized, stapled in the middle and 25 pages thick, clearly they spent money on this. Since I’ve been interested in upgrading to a smart phone and the one I’ve been eyeing up was just released, I glanced through it to see if specs were listed or some more product shots. Disappointed that the phone I was looking for wasn’t listed, I was about to toss the magazine until a quarter page article stuck out, it was an add-on to an article about texting with your teens. What follows is what AT&T has translated from text messages.

Basic

• YT? - Are you there?
• - Big smile
• 4E - Forever
• F2F - Face-to-face
• GR8 - Great
• LMK - Let me know
• N2K - Need to know
• U@? - Where are you?

Intermediate

• DHYB – Don’t hold your breath
• FFR – For the future reference
• ILBL8 – I’ll be late
• KThxBye – Okay, thanks. Goodbye!
• RB@U - Right back atcha
• PTMM – Please tell me more
• *vin – Starving
• SC$ - Success

Advanced

• B3 – Blah blah blah
• FTBOHM – From the bottom of my heart
• GD&R – Grinning, Ducking and running
• HB2U – Happy birthday to you
• TTYL – Talk to you later
• Y3 – Yadda yadda yadda
• MHOTY – My hat’s off to you

Am I that old to think most of this shit is nuts? Unless you are on a smart phone, making half of the special characters is a bigger pain in the ass than actually typing it out. Now I’ve done more than 6,000 texts in a month, I’m very capable of texting, none of my friends use any of these stupid shortcuts. In any event, the article points to lingo2word for translations, it is where I learned how to say, dis S realy Fkng lamo.

Just over 10 months ago there were rumors of the $100 hand-crank laptops coming to the westernized world, now the price has doubled and there is no hand crank.

The One Laptop per Child Foundation was created to give computers at a very low cost to third world countries, to boost learning levels and help further develop these countries. As mentioned in my previous article, I think sending food and / or sending aid that will teach them skills is a bit more important, but this cause has a value, and is continuing to make headlines. Sadly, they are making headlines for the wrong reasons, the price has soared from $100 per laptop to $200, and there are rumors it may go has high as $250 or $300 over the next 6-8 months.

Source: Reuters via Gizmodo

Apparently lawsuits against those who download pirated music aren’t the only thing we have to worry about, a fire extinguisher could also come in handy.

Thanks to Janelle for sending me this link. I don’t know of anyone who isn’t impressed with a Rube Goldberg machine, this one spans an entire house, while not the prettiest of machines, it does an amazing amount of tasks to do one simple thing.

« Previous entries