Archive for the ‘remixes’ Category

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His Mustache Gives Him The Power of Disco

Thursday, April 21st, 2011

A couple months ago I ranted about what I thought were some major problems with new vinyl releases. You can read that post here. My main points of contention were either vinyl records that didn’t include a digital copy, or records that did include digital copies, but they were of poor quality with lousy ID3 tags. Some “Hall of Shame” examples I cited were El-P’s Weareallgoingtoburninhellmegamixxx3 and Kanye West’s latest.

Now I want to tell you about a positive example: the Foo Fighters’ latest release, Wasting Light.

This may be the greatest new vinyl purchase I have ever made.

Much has been made of how the Foos recorded Wasting Light. No digital equipment was used. They laid it down on analog tape in Dave Grohl’s garage.  Since it was made on analog I wanted to hear it on analog, vinyl was obviously the way to go with this one.

I ordered one from Amazon last week and it finally arrived. From the second I opened the box I was ecstatic. On the cover of the album was a sticker that said the following:

45 RPM Edition – Full Length Vinyl
Recorded entirely on analog tape in Dave’s Garage.
Includes a HI-RES DIGITAL COPY (320 kbs MP3S) of the album specially cut from the original vinyl recording!
PLEASE PLAY AT MAXIMUM VOLUME.

Fuck. Yes.

They got it right. All of it. They nailed it completely. Not only did they deliver a reference quality analog recording on 45 RPM vinyl (45 RPM tends to sound better than 33 1/3 RPM), but they included an exact, better than CD-quality digital copy. And to top it all off, the album itself is actually damn good, one of their best.

Thanks Dave!

But enough about grunge, let’s talk about disco!

Every track on tonight’s post is from a bootleg vinyl compilation called Electronic Dancefloor Classics 2, which consists of nothing but songs that Giorgio Moroder produced, performed, or remixed. I just bought it last week, but I’m pretty much convinced it’s one of the best dance records in my collection. Behold its awesome.

Giorgio Moroder
Knights In White Satin
From Here To Eternity (Extended Mix)
Tears
Battle Star Galactica (Disco Version)
A lot of my friends are younger than me, and most don’t really follow “classic” dance music, so they don’t know who Giorgio Moroder is. Whenever I bring him up and someone asks who he is, I usually say, “you know electronic pop music? He did that.”

That may be an exaggeration, but it’s a slight one. In 1977 he brought electronic dance music to the mainstream with Donna Summer’s “I Feel Love,” but as these tracks show, he was refining his electronic pop sound well before that.  His 1976 cover of “Knights In White Satin,” while remarkably goofy, is remarkably good as well, and light years above most of the disco drivel that was polluting clubs at the time. “From Here To Eternity,” taken from the album of the same name, is the perfect blend of instrumental disco fluff and electronic experimentation done right; no doubt it was an influence on countless electronic producers and musicians to follow. His version of the Battlestar Galactica theme is mind-numbingly stupid, but it’s stupid in all the best ways – embracing the horns and other cheesetastic elements of disco and laying over even cheesier electronic bleeps and bloops over it.

But the real highlight here is “Tears,” although it’s a stretch to even call it a disco tune. It’s from Moroder’s 1972 sophomore record Son of My Father, and it has more in common with the work of Ennio Morricone and Italian prog-rockers Goblin than anything that you might hear on the dance floor at the time. But that’s what makes it so utterly brilliant. I mean, the track is nearly 40 years old at this point, and I still haven’t heard anything remotely like it – unless you want to count DJ Shadow’s “Organ Donor,” which liberally samples from the tune.

And it’s so bloody simple! That’s why it’s so goddamn amazing. It’s just a loop that is slowly built upon. It starts out quiet with a woman’s voice and a simple organ melody, but soon they are overpowered by an ever-building army of drums, guitars and keyboards until the whole thing just…climaxes in a glorious electronic orgasm. I have never, ever heard anything build as perfectly as this track does. If I heard this on a dance floor I would lose my shit. People would have to carry me away. How the hell is this song out of print? It should be in the Smithsonian, in the section marked “Fucking Awesome.”

Munich Machine
Space Warrior
Moroder released a few albums as Munich Machine. The first, while featuring an incredible cover, it is dated and seems restrained compared to most of his other work. A Whiter Shade Of Pale, his sophomore release as Munich Machine from 1978, is spotty as well, but it also includes some tracks that are batshit nuts. “La Nuit Blanche” is a disco reworking of “Also sprach Zarathustra” AKA the song from 2001, and “In Love With Love” features some of the best vocoder work this side of a Peter Framptom solo. Both albums are in print and work picking up despite their troubles.

This track comes from Munich Machine’s third album, 1979’s Body Shine, which is out of print. I don’t have that record, so I can’t testify to its overall quality. I can safely say, however, that this track is one of the best I’ve heard under the Munich Machine name. It’s groovy beyond compare, matching slick guitar licks with a pulsing electronic sound in a way that many synthpop bands would in the coming years.

Sparks
Beat The Clock (Giorgio Moroder Remix)
Sparks’ one-of-a-kind insanity fits well with Moroder’s non-stop pulse-pounding tempo in this remix. The original version was on the 1979 album No. 1 In Heaven, which Moroder produced. A lot of rock bands tried disco in the late-70s, but Sparks were one of the only ones to do it right, no doubt because of the help they received from Moroder. They were already manic and kind of nuts, so the fast tempos and odd sounds of Moroder’s production was a perfect match (made in heaven).

Japan
Life In Tokyo (Extended Disco Mix)
Japan is a band that I am just now getting into. So I can’t say that much about them. I do know that they started out as a glam-rock band in the mid-70s, but as the decade progressed they embraced their electronic side more and more, eventually becoming one of the founding fathers of the New Romantic movement that spawned Duran Duran. Moroder produced the original version of “Life In Tokyo,” which was first released as a non-album single in 1979. That version doesn’t have the drum and synth overdubs that this one has, and is actually more of a low-key tune. Both versions are excellent, this one is just a little funkier.

Eurythmics
Sweet Dreams (Giorgio Moroder Version)
Eurythmics + Giorgio Moroder = too much awesome for one mind to stand. Stand back, this track may cause your brain to explode.

Posted in Eurythmics, Giorgio Moroder, Japan, remixes, Sparks | 15 Comments »

The Indie Man is still The Man

Tuesday, April 19th, 2011

First things first: another Japan benefit album. This one is a little more indie, but it’s super-diverse and features artists from all over the world. Check it out.

I’ve also went ahead and add a section to my sidebar listing all the Japanese benefit albums, complete with links as to where you can get them.

I planned on posting a lot more from my Record Store Day stash tonight. But one of the Record Store Day founders commented on my last post and politely asked me to chill with that, so I will. Check out that post for his comment, as well as my response.

However, I did tell him I would be posting one more Record Store Day release. I just can’t withhold something so weird…

Duran Duran
Girl Panic! (David Lynch Remix)
Yes. That David Lynch. The director of Eraserhead, Wild At Heart, Mullholland Drive and Lost Highway has gotten into the remix business for some reason. Although assigning anything resembling reason to anything that Lynch does is probably a bold move.

His take on “Girl Panic!” (a standout track from Duran Duran’s excellent new record All You Need Is Now) is actually pretty good though, and it adds an odd ominous vibe to the track. I mean, its’ not Dennis Hopper doing nitrous while Isabella Rossellini runs around butt naked ominous, but still – it’s not bad.

Air
Sexy Boy (Radio Edit)
Sexy Boy (Etienne De Crecy Et Les Flower Pistols Remix)
Jeanne (Avec Francoise Hardy)
Sexy Boy (Cassius Remix)
That song is totally about me. These are from a 12″ single.

Posted in Air, Duran Duran, remixes | 3 Comments »

I am a Champion of Justice

Tuesday, April 12th, 2011

I wrote this post Sunday night and then forgot to hit the “Publish” button. I think that’s the first time I’ve done that sober.

Björk
Joga (Alec Empire “Empire State Of Emergency” Remix)
I had a ton of Atari Teenage Riot lined up for tonight’s post. But you can get all of it on iTunes and Amazon apparently, so there went that plan.

I wanted an excuse to talk about the group though. They have a new album coming out soon, and you can currently download two excellent new singles from it here. They are one of my favorite bands from the 90s, and I cannot wait for their new album to blow new holes in my eardrums.

Thankfully, I was able to find this remix of Joga by digging around my music library. I’ve posted this twice before, but I do not care. It’s an amazing mix. And it’s shockingly not in print anywhere at the moment, so I’m going to run with it.

This is NOT the “Alec Empire Mix” or the “Alec Empire Hardcore Mix” this is a separate, different mix. I know its been on a few different Bjork singles, but I found it on an odd comp in the late 90s called Y2k. Other cuts from that gem? “Busy Child” and Apollo Four Fourty’s remix of the “Lost In Space” theme. It’s a weird little CD.

Röyksopp
Poor Leno (Sander Kleineberg’s Northern Beach Mix)
I try to lump all the artists with umlats in their names together, makes it easier. I’m not particularly fond of this track. It’s good, but held up next to other Röyksopp singles like “Remind Me,” “Happy Up Here,” and the fucking incredible “Girl And The Robot” it just kind of pales in comparison. That, and it makes me think of Jay Leno. Fuck that guy. This remix is from a 12″.

Front 242
Tragedy â–ºFor Youâ—„ (12″ Vox)
Tragedy â–ºFor Youâ—„ (Neurodancer)
Tragedy â–ºFor Youâ—„ (Punish Your Machine Mix 12″)
Tragedy â–ºFor Youâ—„ (Slo Mo Mix)
How did I create the triangle symbol? I didn’t. I cut and pasted it from Wikipedia. It took me forever to find a place that had that thing in the fucking title of this song.  I’m not a fan of random punctuation in band/song names. Random macro characters are just too much. These mixes are from a 12″ single. Listen to them while punching something.

Tomorrow (or later today) I will have a new post. In it there will be a song that can save the world.

Posted in Front 242, Röyksopp, remixes | 4 Comments »

They call ’em fingers but I’ve never seen them fing.

Monday, April 4th, 2011

I’m getting a new turntable Tuesday!

It’s a brand new Audio-Technica AT-LP120. I’ve heard very good things about this turntable, it’s direct-drive; comes with both a USB and traditional ports; has a built-in pre-amp; and even looks suspiciously like a Techincs 1200. Hopefully, it doesn’t suck. Expect a full report later this week.

Until then, I’m not recording much vinyl. Why bother recording on my shit ION USB turntable when I know a better one is on the way? Luckily, I have some stuff saved up. Such as this acid trip of a single.

Amorphous Androgynous
The Mello Hippo Disco Show (Yo-Yo_Single Remix)
The Mello Hippo Disco Show (She Sells Electric Ego)
The Mello Hippo Disco Show (Jacknife Lee Mix)
The Mello Hippo Disco Show (Slo-Mo)
The Mello Hippo Disco Show (Hippo-Drone)
The Mello Hippo Disco Show (Trying To Make Impermanent Things Permanent)
The Mello Hippo Disco Show (The World’s In Transience)
The Mello Hippo Disco Show (Life’s A Flow)
Anamorphous Androgynous is really Future Sound of London. Although considering how prolific they’ve become as Amorphous Androgynous, maybe it should be the other way around. I remember when FSOL vanished for a few years in the late 90s. Now it seems that they are putting out a new release every few months, whether it be an “archives” release, a collection of new material, or another CD in the A Monstrous Psychedelic Bubble Exploding In Your Mind series. I just can’t keep up. It’s a bummer since I really dig FSOL, but there’s just too much! Oh well, maybe when time, money and a desire to listen to other bands are no long an issue I’ll catch up.

Speaking of the Monstrous series, I recently got my hands on the first volume and…damn. I can see why this is one of Noel Gallagher’s favorite records.

Look, I don’t do acid, but if you do, I assume that doing it while listening to that record would be a very good idea. I can say, with authority, that if you ever find yourself under the influence of prescription pain medication and looking for an album to listen to, that FSOL’s The Pulse EPs is an excellent choice. It’s also pretty good even if your not under the influence.

Anyways, these remixes of one hella trippy tune are from a CD single I bought last week. Enjoy.

Posted in Amorphous Androgynous, Future Sound Of London, remixes | 1 Comment »

Ultra Music Festival Is Evil

Friday, April 1st, 2011

Ultra Music Festival 13

Sigh. I don’t even know where to begin.

I guess I’ll start with the good stuff. With very rare exception, every DJ and band I saw totally kicked ass. If an act was playing for 50 people or 50,000, it didn’t matter, they played like they were rock stars, and their energy was always contagious. Also, when it all came together, and 75,000-150,000 were dancing to the same beat, it was truly a sight to behold and unlike anything I’ve ever been a part of. Moments like that almost made me forget about all the problems with the festival.

Almost.

I’ll start with the layout of the venue. Simply put, it’s a fucking mess. There were EIGHT stages at Ultra this year. EIGHT. This overabundance of stages created many problems, the most notable of which was noise bleed. Many of the stages were all right next to each other. So unless you were right up on the stage, you got to hear noise from the stage(s) next to you. Also, putting the stages so close to each other created crazy traffic and gridlock problems, especially later in the evening when people were rushing to get from stage to stage to catch big name acts.

This wouldn’t have been as big a problem if the all the stages were actually needed, but they weren’t. Many times the artists at the smaller stages were literally playing to no one. What’s the point? All they were doing was creating noise that hindered other nearby performances.

Then there were the grounds themselves. Most of the ground in front of the main stage was pavement. And yeah, that’s hot and not very comfortable, but it’s not that uncommon. Meanwhile, the ground in front of the live stage was mostly grass, and that’s nice, but right in front of the stage was nothing but dirt. When people dance in dirt, they cause miniature dust storms that get in your eyes, in your hair and if you’re really unlucky, in your drink. Ugh. It doesn’t take much to sod a field a few weeks before a concert. But it obviously took more than the Ultra organizers were willing to give. A common theme.

Two of the side stages had it even worse, instead of pavement or even dirt, they had gravel. GRAVEL. Have you ever tried dancing on gravel? Here’s a protip: Don’t. It fucking hurts! The little stones repeatedly got in my shoes and cut up my feet. Even worse, sometimes some asshat would run to the stage and start thrashing about like a madman, kicking little stones up into my face. That hurts. A lot.

The gravel pit dance floors were just one example that showcased the utter contempt Ultra organizers had for the audience. The restrooms were a fucking mess, just a smattering of porta-pottys off in a (very) dark corner. Getting to them was a nightmare, and if it was after dark you couldn’t see shit. Not only is this annoying, (and kind of gross) but it’s really dangerous. If I was a woman, I sure as hell wouldn’t want to wander into this poorly lit, at times sparsely populated, area – not with all the drugged out and drunken idiots milling about. I hate to think about what horrible acts probably went down around those porta-pottys.

But the biggest “fuck you” from the concert organizers to the concert goers was the water. A half-liter bottle of water was five bucks -and there were no refill stations anywhere in the park. That meant that if you wanted to stay properly hydrated during the 12 hour outdoor concert, you were looking at plucking down 20 bucks a day for water. I don’t even understand how that’s legal. The organizers of Utlra should be ashamed of themselves.

But onus for this dance-crazed clusterfuck can’t all be placed on the organizers, the assholes in attendance have to be partially to blame as well.

Truth be told, most of the people attending this festival didn’t really give a fuck about electronic music, especially any electonic music that was more than five years old. The majority of the audience talked over acts like Underworld and Duran Duran, while legends like Goldie, Ed Rush & Optical, and Hybrid played to half-empty fields and arenas. No respect for the history of electronic music was given by the audience here. They wanted to hear Top 40 club hits and nothing else. If it didn’t have a constant beat, more often than not the DJ or band might as well fuck off in their eyes.

Even worse was the treatment Erasure got. If the audience wasn’t ignoring the synthpop legends then they were actively heckling them. I heard many yells of “you suck!” and “get off the stage!” Even worse, I heard at least one drunken fucker yell “fags!”  I nearly cried.

But even responsibility for this can be partially blamed on the concert organizers. A band like Erasure, who has a cult following at best in America, should not be playing the main stage at 7:30 at night. They should be on the live stage, playing after a group like Empire Of the Sun or Royksopp. Sticking them on the main stage, between Benny Benassi and Pendulum, was just asking for trouble. Ditto for putting Underworld before Deadmau5. The jerks there to see mouseboy didn’t know who Underworld was, and they were all too high on cocaine or E (I saw more drugs here than any other place in my entire life, by the way) to be considerate to those around them. A pair of shirtless fucktards actually laughed at me for liking “Born Slippy .NUXX.” What’s it to them if I like Underworld? I just didn’t get it.

At the end of each night of the festival I came back to my hotel dejected and depressed. Sad over the fact that what should have been a great event was nearly ruined by poor planning and greed. By the last day, I had to listen to electronic music in my hotel for an hour just to work up the energy to brave the horribleness I knew I was going to endure.

Ultra is a fuck you to music fans. So here’ my fuck you back to Ultra.

Hey Ultra organizers. Fuck you. Fuck your five dollar water. Fuck your lax security. Fuck your shitty, foot-tearing gravel. Fuck your shitty stages. Fuck your poor scheduling. Fuck your horrible fucking website. Fuck your inflated ticket prices. Fuck your eyesore VIP section. Fuck your dangerous, poorly lit bathrooms. Fuck your useless sidestages. Fuck your shitty house emcee. And fuck your overpriced shitty merch.

But most of all, fuck your greed. I have never before been to a concert so obviously motivated by the bottom line. Ultra is an event designed solely to jam 150,000 people into a confined space and suck as much money out of them as possible. The people who put on Ultra don’t fucking care if the concert goers live or die. Once you give them your money you can fuck off for all they care.

So yeah, fuck Ultra Music Festival. Unless they address these problems, there is no way in hell I am ever going back to that disco shithole.

Hybrid
Airless
Airless (DJ Stephen & Jim’s Raw Traderz Mix)
Airless (DJ Tiësto’s Magikal Remake)
Even though Ultra was kind of a disaster, I still took away a lot of great memories from the festival. For example, I got to see Hybrid perform live! Hearing “Finished Symphony” live was one of the most transcendent musical experiences of my life. I will never forget it.

These three tracks by the legendary progressive trance act are from a 12″ I got in Miami. And yeah, I know that’s not a lot of music. But did you see how much I wrote? I’m tired! I’ll have more next week I promise!

Posted in Hybrid, remixes | 13 Comments »

I like my trance uncut

Thursday, March 31st, 2011

My report on the Ultra Music Festival is coming soon. It will be epic, believe me. Until then, here are a couple classics to hold you all over.

The KLF
What Time Is Love (Pure Trance Original)
What Time Is Love (Pure Trance Mix 2)
During my time in Miami I found one record store, Uncle Sam’s Music in South Beach. It’s a very good store, and if you are ever in the greater Miami area and don’t want to blow all your money on blow, I suggest checking them out. That’s where I made this awesome find. These tracks are from the very first printing of “What Time Is Love” – the one labeled “Pure Trance 1” (KLF 004T) that was deleted soon after it came out. I never thought I’d find one of these in America, let alone for less than 10 bucks. The original version of this classic track is probably the best one. So download and enjoy. The second mix is a little out there, but still damn great and worth having.

Enjoy your trance pure and expect an epic post to go along with this epic music tomorow.

Posted in remixes, The KLF | 4 Comments »

Everything Is Wrong

Friday, March 11th, 2011

So, remember how I said I was just going to let my audio difficulties slide and embrace the minor flaws of vinyl?

Yeah, that was a lie.

Out of curiosity I took a couple problem records to a friends house to see if they would sound any better on her system, which is a piece of shit belt-driven turntable she bought at Target for 30 bucks. Guess what? They totally did. So then I dug out an old turntable of mine and hooked it up to my system. It sounds like shit in its own way, but the problem I was having was absent. Which only means one thing, my turntable is totally fucked up.

It’s a maddening problem. Not all records sound bad, just some. But the ones that do really sound bad. The worst case is a track called “Beautiful Lies” from a drum and bass artist named B-Complex. Here’s a zip file with a clip from versions of the track. The one labeled “shit” is taken from my turntable, while the one labeled “good” is from a CD. Listen and compare. Any idea as to what the hell is going on here? I’ve played the record on other turntables and it sounds fine! I’ve also replaced every cable in my setup, and even replaced/cleaned/adjusted my needle and tone arm to no avail. I’m at wit’s end. I’m taking the turntable into Jerry’s to hopefully get fixed tomorow, and I will be borrowing my old USB turntable that I gave to a friend until this issue is resolved. It doesn’t sound great, but it is more than serviceable.

Okay, so this is where I’m kind of insane. Since now I know some of my recordings sound fucked up because of my turntable, I no longer can stand any of them. so pretty much everything I recorded in  the past two months is now a complete waste that won’t be on this blog until I can try to re-record them on a decent system. This is a problem. I have a few things saved up, but not much. So if I can’t get this fixed soon, expect the blog to go into “Greatest Hits” mode for a while, putting up stuff from old posts. Oh well, another excuse for me to talk about Big Country’s “Wonderland.”

Ian McCulloch
Faith & Healing (The Carpenter’s Son Mix)
Toad
Fear Of the Known
These tracks sound good enough. I’m noticing some slight distortion on the first one, but nothing worth scrapping the whole post for. Sigh. I’m so pissed off right now…

Anyways, these are good tracks recorded by the lead singer of Echo & The Bunneymen during that brief period where they existed as a band but without Ian on vocals. I like “Toad” especially.

Now if you excuse me I’m going to go drown my A/V sorrows in alcohol-infused whipped cream.

Posted in Ian McCulloch, remixes | 7 Comments »

Hell of a Good DJ

Wednesday, March 9th, 2011

Thank you everyone who gave their input in regards to my audio quality issues. After reading through all your input and doing some additional research on my own I’ve determined that the main issue is that the records I buy are usually used, and used greatly at that. I guess it comes with the territory. Still, if anyone has any specific advice on how to deal with that “lispy’ sound issue I’d be much obliged.

I also noticed that many people were making assumptions about the gear/set-up I run. So I thought I would just explain that right now to get it out of the way.

My turntable is a Stanton STR8-80, which I got used for about 80 bucks – a steal. It’s s straight-arm model, and I know that those aren’t the best for audio quality, but it’s always been a delicate balance for me when it comes to finding a turntable that can play at high quality and one that can play stratched, fucked up records. I know that straight-arm turntables can usually play more busted-up records, so that’s why I went with it over a curved-arm model.

The STR8-80 has a standard RCA cable attached to it, which I run to a pre-amp that cuts down/eliminates annoying R/F interference. Then I run the cable out of that to my computer via a RCA-to-line-in cable. Right now its hooked up to the computer’s onboard soundcard. While that’s not perfect, its not half bad either, and seems to be doing the job right now. I did a comparison between the onboard audio and my external Soundblaster and didn’t notice any difference, so I’m not going to bother with an external soundcard for now.

I use Creative’s cheapo recorder for recording the audio, and then I use Sony’s Sound Forge to touch it up and cut the raw WAV files into individual MP3s. I almost never use any automated “vinyl recording” features that touch up audio files. Sure, they can be great at removing pops and clicks, but they also remove high hats, finger snaps and any other similar sound. I do it all manually. I’m crazy like that.

Then I use MP3tag to tag the files. I used to use iTunes for this, but I was finding out that iTunes was leaving some fields black in the actual tags, and whenever I had to re-install iTunes I was losing information, which was incredibly annoying.

Nearly everything I use has been replaced at least once, and the “lispy” audio and slightly of-kilter audio balance have always followed to some extent, so until I get a really super high end turntable (i.e. A Technics SL-1200mk2) I’m now officially no longer caring about my audio quality unless there’s something free and easy that I can do to make it sound better. So, please don’t send me feedback telling me how I’m fucking everything up unless you have a no-cost, preferably software solution. I’ll give an automatic process a chance if it can fix this problem.

Or if my audio quality really bothers you then just send me a Technics SL-1200MK2 turntable for free. Hey, they’re only 600 bucks! Buy me two!

Beastie Boys
Intergalactic (Professors of Technology Remix)
Intergalactic (Fuzzy Logic Remix)
“Intergalatic” was the track I used to test my tonearm weight. The line “when I wrote graffiti my name was slop!” line was a good test of that “lispy” sound. The original version of the track had that problem pretty bad, but these remixes are fairly clean. Regardless of audio quality, they’re all funky as shit.

Hell
Follow You (Dominik Eulberg Remix)
I love Hell, the dude, not the concept of eternal damnation. I usually can’t stand minimal techno either, so the fact that I think this dude is the best DJ on the planet really says something about how awesome he is. He’s the only person not playing at UMF this year who I wish was.

Oh yeah, by the way, I’m totally going to UMF (Ultra Music Festival) in Miami this month! If anyone wants to recommend any DJ/artist let me know! There are SO MANY playing that it’s kind of hard to keep track of them all.

Posted in Beastie Boys, Hell, remixes | 4 Comments »

Trapped in Audio Connection Hell, Send Help

Thursday, March 3rd, 2011

Being an A/V geek can be a real pain in the ass sometimes.

I’ve been recording vinyl for about six years now. During that time I’ve gone through three computers and four turntables. Each change has brought me better fidelity and audio quality. But I’d never be one to claim I’m an expert at this shit. I make up most of it as I go, and pretty much do things my own bass-akwards way that involves three different computer programs and a lot of slow, monotonous, manual editing that can take forever. But I’m an anal retentive prick, so that kind of comes with the territory.

However, I recently have become completely fed up with two incredibly annoying audio problems that I cannot seem to fix, and would like any outside input.

The first is rather small, but annoying. My balance is always off. Not by a lot, just a few dB. It’s not really noticeable, I only can tell because I look at the soundwaves when I edit the tracks. It doesn’t matter what turntable I use or what needle I use, I always seem to have this problem. I’ve even tried an external soundcard and other audio cables. But to no avail. I’m assuming it MUST have something to do with my computer right? How the hell do I fix that?

The second problem is much more annoying. And the best way to talk about it is to use an example. Go to this post and download “LSI (Love Sex Intelligence) (Ed Richards 12″ Mix).” Skip to about three minutes in and listen to the loop of “LSI.” Notice how the “S” sounds generate some distortion, like everyone has a lisp or the audio levels are too high? What the hell is causing that? Now, this problem isn’t across all my records, and I mostly only notice it on older ones, so this might not even be my problem at all. Maybe I’m buying shitty records. I’m willing to accept that, most of the stuff I buy has been (not gently) used. But if anyone knows any way to minimize this problem I’d love to hear it. OH, and I’ve mucked with the tonearm’s counterweight countless times. That’s not it. That thing is perfect.

So, if anyone can help me solve these problems I’ll give them cookies. Or some music. Whatever.

The Shamen
Boss Drum (Justin Robertson Lion Rock Mix)
Boss Drum (Youth Transhamen Ritual Mix)
Boss Drum (Beatmasters Tribal Buzz Mix)
Phorever People (Beatmasters Heavenly Mix)
Phorever People (Tee’s Flying Dub)
Phorever People (Tommy D’s Swing Dub)
The final batch of Shamen tracks! Enjoy.

Bran Van 3000
Astounded (Eric Kupper Mix)
Astounded (Demon Mix)
Astounded (MJ Cole Mix)
This is some sexy shit. God damn. This track uses a previously unheard Curtis Mayfield track, and with great results. Be careful when listening to this one, it might cause uncontrollable sexiness. I still haven’t gotten off my ass and picked up either of Bran Van 3000’s last two albums. Any word out there? They any good? I love me some Discosis.  These are from a 12″ single.

Posted in Bran Van 3000, remixes, The Shamen | 10 Comments »

Never Rub Another Man’s Aphex Twin Song Title

Monday, February 28th, 2011

For the second year in a row I avoided the Oscars. The bullshit nature of award shows depresses me.

So what did I watch instead?

Dancer In the Dark.

Shit.

Seriously. SHIT. I had never seen that movie before. And while yes, it is beautiful and incredibly moving, it’s also probably the most depressing film I have ever seen.

I had to watch the “Dance Magic Dance” scene in Labyrinth three times just to foster enough positive vibes to get me out of my chair. I knew I didn’t see it when it came out for a reason. Yikes. I need to go look at some LOLcats or something before I go to bed. But until then, stupid dance music!

The Shamen
LSI (Love Sex Intelligence) (Ed Richards 12″ Mix)
LSI (Love Sex Intelligence) (Beatmasters 12″ Mix)
LSI (Love Sex Intelligence) (Shamen Alternative Vocal)
LSI (Love Sex Intelligence) (Frank De Wulf Dub Rave)
LSI (Love Sex Intelligence) (Shamen Deep Dub)
LSI (Love Sex Intelligence) (Well Hung Parliament Dub)
Spoiler! This song is about me.

ZING.

More by The Shamen, I know you’re all horribly surprised. I got one more of these in me, then I will have exhausted my entire supply of The Shamen. At least until I buy more.

Humate
Love Stimulation (Blank & Jones Remix)
Love Stimulation (Paul Van Dyk Love Club Mix)
I’m keeping it up. The love theme that is, with this excellent trance track. What this song has to do with love is a mystery, however, as it has no lyrics. It could have been called “Cheese Stimulation.”

Mmmm…cheese.

Oh, where was I? Oh yeah, these mixes are from a 12″ single. Now excuse me while I go eat some cheese.

Pop Will Eat Itself
Another Man’s Rhubarb (12″ Mix)
Another Man’s Rhubarb (7″ Mix)
Another Man’s Rhubarb (Chaotic Mix)
Leave it to PWEI to fuck my love-dovey/cheese theme all to hell. This song is…quite stupid, but in the best possible way. It starts with that very bizarre quote from the 1989 Batman movie, and then it segues into a whole “We Are the People” rant? Huh? What? Oh, Clint Mansell, you so crazy!

That’s right kids, don’t forget that Clint Mansell, Oscar-nominated film composer for films like Requiem For a Dream, The Wrestler and Moon, was the lead singer for Pop Will Eatself. That means that the man who brought us the classic theme from Requiem For A Dream also brought us “Beaver Patrol.”

Because, y’know, he’s classy.

Posted in Humate, Pop Will Eat Itself, remixes, The Shamen | 6 Comments »

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