Trailer for Upcoming Bitcrush Album

If you couldn't tell from any of my mixes, n5md is one of my favorite record lables. It just so happens that the label head, Mike Cadoo, has just released a bit of  teaser trailer for his new Bitcrush album Of Embers. After viewing it, I think you'll understand why I'm very excited for this release.

Mike also has another one of his projects, Dryft, with an upcoming release slated for sometime next year. This will be greatly anticipated as well.

New Album and Single From port-royal

*Picture by Marina Borella

I only just discovered port-royal several months ago from the mail-order page of one of my favorite labels, n5md.  The album, Afraid to Dance, was released in 2007 and after listening to it for the first time, I was instantly hooked. I felt cheated that I had only discovered them recently and had missed over a year of listening opportunities. I've never been good at colorful music descriptions or album reviews, so I'll quote from the n5md site. In reference to Afraid to Dance :

"...the ironically-titled follow-up to Flares sees the band bringing their clipped, crystalline beats (and latent shoegaze tendencies) to the fore, balancing chill-room accessibility with frenetic shifts in style (from house to slowcore) to create their most popular record to date."

Well said.

port-royal has just released their newest album, Dying in Time, and I find it quite amazing. The production work on this is top-notch. The way they are able to blend those ethereal textures and the tight, punchy beats so flawlessly is really jaw dropping. This album is easily going to be in my top 10 of the year, and is well on it's way of reaching my list of all-time favorites.

They've released their first single with video. I'll leave the flowery language out and just let the music and video speak for itself. You can purchase the album direct from n5md in digital download or CD. I always recommend selecting the HQ version for youtube music videos, but due to the length of the song (9+ minutes), the HQ version gets cut off at just over 6 minutes.

I Like it Deep, Hard, and Rough

My mix, that is.  I just wrapped this mix tape up with a selection of some of my favorite artists. Most are new, but there's a smattering of older tracks in there that fits the theme I was going for. If you like your music with massive basses, crunchy beats, and aggressive atmospheres, well then I suggest you grab this right away and crank the volume. This is quite the opposite of the Chill and Groove mix, so if you're looking for relaxed listening, this isn't for you. I'm also not sure how music classifications go these days, but I think the title fits the material.

I welcome any feedback. I have to say this one was particularly challenging given the vast tempo differences between the tracks and the variety of genres. It was done in-the-box using Ableton Live 8 and it's various native effects.

If you find any of these tracks tickle your fancy, please check out the band/label links about purchasing the music. Most of these can be found from your favorite digital distributor. I recommend buying direct from the artist or label and skip any middle men.

Filch - I Like It Deep, Hard, and Rough Mix (192kbs)

Filch - I Like It Deep, Hard, and Rough Mix (320kbs)

Tracklist :

00:00 Chrometaphor - Gridlock - n5md
03:45 Lost and Falling  - Totakeke - Tympanik
09:25 Big Brick Dicks Covered in Sick - Keef Baker - Hymen
13:30 Hardcore Robo - Spark - n5md
19:20 MnO2 - Mlada Fronta - mf distribution
22:30 0008 - Hecq - Hymen
26:10 Domination (Lm) - Converter - Ant-Zen
31:10 Glassblower - Download - Subconscious Communications
33:25 #00162 - Cloaks - 3by3
34:55 Urethra - Milligramme - Parametric
38:00 Ulverized Substance - Architect - Hymen
45:15 Mikrometik - NKVD - Parametric
49:10 Jabberwok V7 - OOO - Sublight Records
52:57 Mound (Fully Conscious Mix) - Kone - The Record Company
58:35 Love and Caring - Crystal Castles - Different
61:05 Lullabies From the Cliff - Stendeck - Tympanik
64:14 Einstein-Rosen Bridge - Venetian Snares - Planet Mu

Update on Monday, September 21, 2009 at 5:48PM by Filch

Note : The tracklist is in the Lyrics tab of mp3 tag

Amazing Shadow Puppetry Video

A friend of mine, Jack Spatafora, over at Aestheticized linked up this video and I had to share it. The imagery in this video is superb and from what I'm reading from the youtube description, this will be turned into a short film. I for one am very excited for that.

The music is by the band Little Dragon. At first it was purely the video that attracted me, but each time I watch this, the track grows on me more and more. I'll definitely be checking out more of their material.

Headphone Commute : Intelligent Breakcore Mix

I got a tweet linking me over to the Headphone Commute blog. This was a very pleasant discovery as I've found that this is a great blog.  There is a kick butt Intelligent Breakcore Mix available for download here. Add this site to your RSS reader of choice and download this mix.

I'll be posting a departure from my previous mixes myself. They've been mostly downtempo/chill vibes as of late, but I'm currently working on an aggressive and dark mix of some very cool tracks I've been turned onto recently. I'm getting my hard-core groove back.

New Sound Design Tutorial with Live's Operator

Hot off the presses comes a brand new tutorial from NicksTutorials.com .  It's over 4 hours of sound design and technique focusing on the Ableton Live Operator instrument. What's nice is the FM knowledge gained here will carry over to any FM related synthesis hardware or program.

 

I happen to possess Nick's other Ableton Live tutorials and I can safely say that these are top notch, quality videos. You will certainly get your money's worth.

Creating Minimal Percussion in Ableton Live 8 Using Collision

I just found a great tutorial over on youtube by Dubspot. They are an electronic music production and DJ school located in NY. While this focuses on minimal percussion sounds, you also get a taste of some of the things that Live's Collision synth is capable of. I recommend checking this out.

The History of Ableton

One of the founders, Robert Henke, of what is arguably now the most popular music creation tool in use today, Ableton Live, has put up a historical account of how the application came into fruition and how it has evolved to todays version.

Ableton Live : A Historical Reference

Meshing Resolume Avenue Live Visuals with Ableton Live Audio

CDM has posted a really good tutorial from Resolume on using Ableton Live to control Resolume Avenue. You get the best of both audio and visual tools together. Looks like the multimedia equivalent of a Reeses Peanut Butter Cup.

Check it out.

Danger Mouse Releases Blank CD Album

You probably remember him most from his mash-up of the Beatle's The White Album and Jay-Z's The Black Album into what is known as The Grey Album. Then you also may remember EMI slapping cease and desist letters on him and it getting plenty of news coverage. And if you were like me, you went and sought out this "illegal" album as a result.

While Danger Mouse has been releasing music as a collaboration with Cee-Lo Green under the moniker Gnarls Barkley, he has been unable to release any solo material due to his ongoing lawsuits with EMI. Or has he?

Originally broke by one Andrew Dubber, the new Danger Mouse album is an art book with a blank CD-R.

So what's up? No music? Well, sort of....    Here's an official statement from Danger Mouse :

Danger Mouse's new project Dark Night Of The Soul consists of an album length piece of music by Danger Mouse, Sparklehorse and a host of guest vocalists, along with a collection of original David Lynch photography inspired by and based on the music.

The photographs, which provide a visual narrative for the music, are compiled in a limited edition, hand numbered 100+ page book which will now come with a blank, recordable CD-R. All copies will be clearly labeled: 'For Legal Reasons, enclosed CD-R contains no music. Use it as you will.'

Due to an ongoing dispute with EMI, Danger Mouse is unable to release the recorded music for Dark Night Of The Soul without fear of being sued by EMI.

Danger Mouse remains hugely proud of Dark Night Of The Soul and hopes that people lucky enough to hear the music, by whatever means, are as excited by it as he is.

There are no official sources for getting this music, but if you know certain people (*cough*) or belong in some social network groups, you may be in luck. And if you don't, NPR is graciously hosting a stream of the album as we speak.