The Audiozine

My friend (and former bandmate ever-so-briefly) Erik Carter has a new collab website called Type/Code. Erik says:

Type/Code is a collective of similar-minded, emerging designers, developers, and artists that came together after a series of collaborations while studying at Parsons School of Design in New York City. Each member holds their own set of specialities and interests ranging from custom lettering and graphics, to creating compelling experiences, all the way to writing efficient server code. As a group we work to realize the possibilities created by the seamless integration of technology and design.

Really enjoying the posts so far (amen, re: coffee cup lid design).

Also, an immense source of enjoyment over the last 24 hrs.

And finally, gotta say lately I've been wondering if I feel the same way about this site as Zirafa does about Midnight Parking. All logic tells me to shut this thing down.

After yet another long dormant period, the Audiozine Listening Series shudders back to life. Two aural delights this time:

1) Dirty Projectors – Stillness Is The Move
Yes, this track has been out for a while. In fact, the full album leak’s been out for a while. That doesn’t change the fact that this song is a hugely auspicious sign that Bitte Orca, the latest offering from the Dirty Projectors, will be among the year’s better collections. Two notable points about “Stillness…”: a) it features a killer vocal that, for once, utilizes melisma, vibrato, and other elements that seem directly pulled from modern R&B; b) the track’s combination of huge drums, synthesized bass, spidery and spare guitar licks, and pop-friendly vocal strike me as being a delightfully warped take on the spare nursery rhyme-like quality of the last few years of hip-hop and R&B. A grayer shade of white, maybe?

2) Wintry Mix 2008-2009
Since last fall I’ve been playing around in my spare time with some really barebones free DJ software, mostly blending hip-hop and other danceable genres. Last winter, I decided to blend some songs outside of the dance music world in an attempt to catch the feeling of the season. From a mixing standpoint, there’s really nothing notable going on. But when I dug the mix up earlier this week, it seemed like something people might enjoy. Runtime is approx 30 minutes.
Tracklist:
D. Lissvik -- Track 6
Arthur Russell -- You and Me Both
Autechre -- Altibizz
Flying Lotus (orig. Kanye West) -- Love Lockdown Remix
Erykah Badu -- My People
Jaylib -- Starz
Slum Village -- Fall In Love
Jape -- Floating
No Age -- Keechie
Portishead -- Hunter

1) Peace to Plan 9 on the Corner. I missed the memo that Saturday May 24th was their last day open, so I wasn't able to make a final, hugely symbolic purchase (probably Chuck Berry or Charlie Parker...). It was nice having a decent record store within walking distance, picking up tons of cheap used vinyl (which I should get around to uploading), making friends, hearing about shows, and on+on.

2) R.I.P. Satellite Ballroom. I can't even begin to remember how many great bands, big and small, that I saw at this wonderful place. An absurdly incomplete list: Wolf Eyes, Animal Collective, Silver Jews, Cataract Camp, Les Savy Fav, The Books, Grizzly Bear, Bonde Do Role, Battles, !!!, Acid Mothers Temple, Deerhoof, Danielson, Chuck Brown (wind em up Chuck!), Cat Power, Ostinato, MEN, Mas Y Mas. I caught my last show there on Thursday night. The lineup was great although the highlight for me was the headlining set by Truman Sparks. Somehow, after 7 years in the area, I had not yet seen T.S., usually because I was busy with work or travel just about every time they have played in the last few years. They played a set that churned, shuddered, and hurtled forward at all times and it was the first straight up rockin' show I've caught in a long while. Anyway, peace to the Ballroom and the many good nights I spent there soaking up great music and making good friends.

3) Farsheed nearly saw Totally Radd!! at the Smell in L.A. quite recently. He ended up missing the show, but read on via that link and be amazed by Neil Schuh and his peculiar blend of alcoholism and 8bit technology.

4) I am reading a well-written, compelling book by Drew Daniel of Matmos. The book is in the 33 1/3 series and it is about Throbbing Gristle's 20 Jazz Funk Greats. You can read a great interview with Drew Daniel discussing the book and TG at length here.

5) Autechre. I've been listening to even more Autechre.

feeling gross for the last few days, called in sick to work, hoping it clears up soon.

On a study break today, noticed a stream of the first track from Autechre's upcoming full-length, Quaristice. Far more lush and accessible than most of Autechre's output since LP5, but hardly a sellout. Unlike most reviewers, I have tuned out Autechre since Confield not because they had grown too abstract or cold, but because I just wasn't that interested in hearing their excursions further down the electro-rabbit hole. For the last seven years, I have been listening to more jazz, hip-hop, soul, and top 40 music -- music that connects the head, heart, and hips seamlessly. In that time, the indie rock world has started to embrace minimal electronic musicians like Ricardo Villalobos, "local" electronic music scenes such as Dubstep, electro-rock-crossovers like Justice and Simian Mobile Disco, as well as bands, like Animal Collective and Battles, that represent a new rock-gone-electronic aesthetic that furthers and deepens the musical palette of 90's Warp/et al artists. And both aboveground and underground hip-hop/R&B has been moving into electronic music territory -- everything from T-Pain+Akon's robo-crooning to Clipse's dystopian crack-rap to Rihanna's emotionally cold pitch-corrected pop anthems to nearly every single Timbaland production from the last few years.

I wonder if the new Autechre album will be hailed as a "comeback". My prediction is that Autechre will put out a disc that is every bit as experimental as their last few, but that returns melody and emotion to their list of aesthetic concerns. Meanwhile, the rock/electronic listenership will have grown sophisticated enough to appreciate these abstractions instead of dismissing them as so much navel-gazing. And, hey, I might just snag a copy of Quaristice and join in the fun.