Brahms Joke

If you don't get it check out the fifth paragraph of the wikipedia article under the the Section Music of Brahms, titled Works, and this as well if you are not well versed in mathematics.

Bipolar Junction

After battling with Ticketmaster.com for twenty minutes or so, I am the owner of two highly coveted tickets to see Bon Iver @ the Music Hall of Williamsburg. I can't remember the last time I put forth this amount of effort into acquiring concert tickets (or swearing at a web interface for that matter). Admittedly, when such a struggle ends well the buyer's high is almost as satisfying as the show itself. This event also sparked an interesting conversation with a more senior engineer at work. Back in his youth, during the infancy of the internets show tickets were sold the day of the event. Concert-goers would have to wait in line at the nearest ticketmaster outlet, which was usually one per city. However, it was not desirable to have kids waiting overnight to hold a place in line, so a random-ass bracelet system was invoked. Numbered bracelets would be given out the day before the show to guarantee a place in line. Then prior to the show bracelet numbers would be called at random and you could receive your ticket. All that waiting in line just to get to the bingo table. I thought it was interesting anyway. Enjoy some equally random tunes below.

Name that Phenomenon

What is the name of the phenomenon that happens when two people walking down the street meet each other, hesitate and move in the same direction, sometimes it happens twice, rarely three times.

I think it was mentioned in Science of Sleep, if you own that movie.

Google has failed me on this one. See if you can search better than I can.

It's not L'esprit de l'escalier
nor the Pauli Effect
and definitely not the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon

-paul

Butoh and Antony and the Johnsons

I wrote a few post ago about the latest ep from Antony and the Johnsons. The Ep is called Another World. Released on Secretly Canadian Records label (based out of Indiana :) ) . There are some cool tracks on there, the surprise highlight being "Shake That Devil" which is quite a departure from the simple piano laden songs of past recordings.

Take a listen here:


Exploring further on the cover of the EP there is a picture of a Butoh Dancer. Uninformed on movement of Butoh, I looked it up. And below is what I found.

Yea so??? Its is quite a departure from what I know about dance, even interpretative dance. For more info on butoh, consult your search engine by typing "Butoh wiki" it's sure to have some interesting information.

On the note of interpretative dance, remember this?



Keeping on track with weird Japan and music, check out Naked City's Black Box album. It is inspired by the S&M porn industry in the 80's in Japan and it well... it's interesting to say the least.

Going a little off the topic, Mike Patton who worked with Naked City mostly on their live shows. Formed the band Fantomas, which is a collaboration between Patton Buzz Osborne, Trevor Dunn and the drummer from Slayer, Dave Lombardo. They have a sound is very similar to that of Naked City which is nice if you like grindcore/spaz rock, becasue Naked City is no more. One my favorite things of Fantomas' is their remix of Bjork's "Where is the Line".


Which brings me to something I was very happy to see happen, and will allow me to finish this post. I always thought Bjork and Antony, who this post started out about should do a collaboration. Well it turned out they did too, and on the Bjork's latest Volta, two tracks appeared "The Dull Flame of Desire", and "My Juvenile".





...You're Welcome :)

Microcastle

Animals. My apartment and band names seem to be full of them lately. After reading an interview with Bradford Cox, the lead singer of Deerhunter, I decided to give this band a second chance. Deerhunter's 2007 release Cryptograms received wild reviews but somehow still seemed like noise to me. So on yet another morning commute I set out onto Brooklyn's mass transit system to once again pass or fail on Deerhunter.


A strange affected intro, and the second track hit me like a ton of feathers. This is not the noise-rock indie band I had constructed in my head. I was hooked instantly. Microcastle has been on repeat about 5 or 6 times this week. Tracks on this album seem to be much more concise and planned out, which for this band I prefer. The previously mentioned article likened them to the Strokes, which is evident at times but there's definitely a more laid back vibe here. My favorites so far are Agoraphobia and Nothing Ever Happened.

So I bought some drums

Spur of the moment, sitting in my office, I decided to see what was available in my area. Craigslist presented me with a great (cheap) starter set just a few minutes away from my house. I ran down after work, picked them up, and now I've got a drum set sitting in my living room.

It terrifies me. I haven't really sat down at it yet; it's so damned loud. Come Monday I'm checking out a practice space nearby. Anyone know anything about drums? Wanna come jam with me? Leave me a comment and I'll get back to you.

Chuck Music Programming Language

I first came across Chuck at Electro-Music.com, which deserves a post of its own, on electro-music there is a sub forum for the Chuck Language.

what is it? : ChucK is a new (and developing) audio programming language for real-time synthesis, composition, performance, and now, analysis - fully supported on MacOS X, Windows, and Linux. ChucK presents a new time-based, concurrent programming model that's highly precise and expressive (we call this strongly-timed), as well as dynamic control rates, and the ability to add and modify code on-the-fly. In addition, ChucK supports MIDI, OSC, HID device, and multi-channel audio. It's fun and easy to learn, and offers composers, researchers, and performers a powerful programming tool for building and experimenting with complex audio synthesis/analysis programs, and real-time interactive control. * from the Chuck website

Chuck Website

Wiki

One of the main developers (and all of the references in the Wikipedia article) is Ge Wang, below is his introductory speech at Stanford University.


I am looking forward to using this in the future, I think my first program will be implementing prophet '08 specific midi program for my latest synth purchase.

SparkElectricArchitecture

It's Monday again and I'm at work suffering through an interminable morning meeting. Profits and losses are read off mechanically from a spread sheet and met with bobble-head nodding faces. Across the conference table, Eric is doodling geometric patterns on his weekly calendar print-off. He starts with a triangle and spreads outward symmetrically, adding lines and circles and shapes to create a tapestry that fills the entire page. He does this every week. My mind begins to wander and I'm thinking about David Salmela's Duluth Sauna.

He has an amazing way with shapes. Each line breaks at just the right point to create a cleanliness of geometry that is rivaled by few other designers, especially in the US. The economy of architectural language is astounding. A rectangle, a triangle, and a cylinder; arranged with such care and control that I can't help but feel this is what design is meant to be. It is simplicity. A house to take a sauna, then move to the deck to relax in the landscape. Blending with nature. Blurring the line.
I take this image and try to keep it at the forefront of my mind as I pushpullpinch walls and roofs of the building I'm designing now. Chipping away at the 8 million dollar block of stone in front of me. I tell myself, keep it simple. I tell myself, use golden geometries. I tell myself to remember the elegance of that program; a man takes a sauna in the landscape. It doesn't have to be more complicated then that. A lesson learned at 200 square feet is just as relevant at 35,000.

Keep is simple, keep it elegant, make it sing.