#York Electronic Studios

[zef-zef]

Cinema for the ear!

Trevor Wishart - Red Bird (A Political Prisoner's Dream) (York Electronic Studios, 1978; Sub Rosa, 2015)

[omenmarquez13]

At all times Omen aka Brea Vinci

[mello-t-befan]

The video accompanying this project (turn the english subtitles ON ^^)

If, like me, you grew up watching the animated series of the 2000s, those broadcast on Disney Channel should be among your favorites. There was a bit of everything : spin-offs for the films of this experimental period of the studios, "Kim Possible" for the adventurers among us, "Buzz Lightyear of Star Command" for space-opera fans and urban fantasy fans were entitled to "American Dragon: Jake Long" !

In my new pitch, the world would be mostly like how it is in the original series. Except that not all dragons have the charge of a specific territory. This is the role of the Dragon Protectors, trained and formed to defend magical beings and humans from each other. And if a Potential is particularly worthy, then the Great Council of Dragons designates them as some place's Protector and entrusts them to a familiar spirit, in charge of assisting them in their task. Under the tutelage of his maternal grandfather, Jake Long learns to control his dragon powers in New-York City so that he can become its Protector in the future. And as in the original series, it will be a semi-follow up story in which Jake will become aware of the responsibilities of a Dragon Protector, learn more about the magical world and face the setbacks of the transition to adulthood.

Name : Jake Long Age : 13 Occupations : middle-schooler, dragon in training Territory : New-York City Power/Abilities : acrobatics, skateboarding, dancing, transformation, ochre-colored flames, sharp senses, improvisation, flying, fighting Likes : skating, rap, hanging out with his pals, winning, his family, magical beings Hates : studying, losing, bullies/show-offs, his loved ones being hurt, the Huntsclan, the Dark Dragon

To read how I would rewrite him, just check the pitch ^^

Name : Luong Lao Shi Age : 60s Occupations : electronics store owner, ex-Dragon Protector Territory : Hong Kong (formerly) Power/Abilities : transformation, white flames, sharp senses, flying, fighting, magical knowledge, tinkering Likes : his family, magical beings, reading, disco Hates : his loved ones being hurt, the Huntsclan, the Dark Dragon, insolence, scammers, bad drivers Name : Fu Dog Age : 600 (approx.) Occupations : ex-familiar, pet/therapy dog Dragon charge : Luong Lao Shi Power/Abilities : speech, bipedal walk, magical knowledge, alchemy, bargaining, spying Likes : his family, magical beings, betting, winning his bets, romance, enjoying life Hates : his loved ones being hurt, the Huntsclan, the Dark Dragon, losing his bets, having debts, getting scammed, talking about the past

In my new pitch, Lao Shi is the former Protector Dragon of Hong Kong and Fu Dog was his familiar spirit. Except that after being seriously injured in his duel against the Dark Dragon, Lao Shi had to stop everything and Fu Dog was deprived of most of his powers for not having properly protected Lao Shi. Years later, as Jake shows that he inherited the dragon powers from their family, Lao Shi decides to train him to become the New York Protector Dragon and be ready should the Dark Dragon ever return. But is he really doing it to protect Jake, or is he doing it for revenge... ?

Name : Trixie "Trix" Carter Age : 13 Occupations : middle-schooler, DJ in training Territory : New-York City Power/Abilities : acrobatics, skateboarding, dancing, music mixing, improvisation, marketing Likes : her family, skating, being DJ, rap, hanging out with her pals Hates : her loved ones being hurt, biology, bullies/show-offs, stereotypes Name : Arthur "Spud" Spudinski Age : 13 Occupations : middl-schooler, busboy Territory : New-York City Power/Abilities : acrobatics, skateboarding, dancing, computer science, research, improvisation Likes : his family, skating, eating, rap, hanging out with his pals Hates : his loved ones being hurt, proving his intelligence, bullies/show-offs

In my new pitch, Trixie would be the band’s main music fan and would be the amateur DJ at the school parties; so I gave her a headset. For Spud I want to take the "lazy and weird but brilliant" approach. Namely that he pretends to be an average student -AVERAGE, not stupid- to camouflage his intellect known only to Jake and Tracy. That doesn’t stop him from playing with the school machines to have fun anonymously. The both of them will be Jake’s best friends since elementary school and then his partners once informed of his magical identity. Moreover, they will guarantee a certain simplicity/normality in the regime sometimes too strict to which Lao Shi submits him.

Name : Rose Age : 14 Occupations : middle-schooler, Huntsmaster's ward and apprentice Territory : New-York City Power/Abilities : acrobatics, combat, improvisation, weapons handling, dancing, acting Likes : reading, acting, variety music, being with friends Hates : magical beings, dragons, suck-ups, broccoli

In my new pitch, I would like to focus a little more on her heel-face turn. Rose grew up in hatred and disgust of magical beings, who were always designated as natural errors by the Huntsclan. Especially Dragons who, with their power of transformation, are insults to Humanity -from the Hunters' point of view, I mean. She's therefore convinced to act in the interest of mankin by helping these genocidal poachers. And when she learns that the boy for whom she developed a little crush is actually one of those monsters she was taught to kill on sight, you can imagine that her vision of life and the rest collapses in a huge crash. Will Rose accept to change her vision of things, or will she sink into the darkness she's always known ?

[marimayscarlett]

'The Persistence of Memory' turns 3 years old today 💿🎶

On the 12th of November, 2024, Richard released his fourth Emigrate album with the title 'The Persistence of Memory'. (The release date was initially set for November 5 but was pushed back a week.)

This album is especially significant in Richard's career and for Emigrate as a whole. It emerged as a form of dynamic, active therapy for Richard, who fell into a deep depression after the 2019 stadium tour, which left him riddled with self-doubt. He questioned whether music was still for him or if he should walk away from it altogether.

"Inside me, various wars were raging, and I felt like I had to stop making music. I couldn’t see any purpose in it anymore. It was a really hard crash landing, unlike anything I’d experienced before. There was a real emptiness inside me. Even for us, this stadium tour was something new. And when everyone tells you how great and good you are, whether it’s true or not, you feel like you’re in withdrawal once it’s over. I had to find my way back to earth."

Even before the COVID pandemic began, Richard had already retreated into a form of isolation, unaware that the pandemic would intensify this feeling. To actively combat and process these emotions, Richard delved into his musical archive, taking a journey into the past. Through various demos, song parts, and ideas he’d accumulated since Emigrate's early days, he found his spirits lifting and regained inspiration.

"My present was unpleasant, and my future was empty. So I immersed myself in my past. It was the only thing I had. I stumbled upon all these old songs and ideas and took another close look at them. They helped me move back into the present and finally look forward to the future again—a time travel back to inspiration."

The album was recorded at Sky van Hoff studios and Richard’s own Studio Engine 55 Berlin. His creative process involved reworking old lyrics, re-arranging songs, re-recording parts, and generally polishing up existing tracks.

The oldest of these songs is 'Freeze My Mind' which is 20 years old at the time of the album's release and is also Richard’s oldest song for Emigrate. He had reportedly written it with his then-wife Caron Bernstein around 2001. “I wrote ‘Freeze My Mind’ in New York City; it must have been around 9/11. I was living in New York at the time and saw the second plane hit the tower. Watching people fall from the tower deeply affected me.”

'Bloodstained Wedding' originated in 2007 and 2011 and was inspired by his time in New York, while 'Hypothetical' previously featured on the album 'Silent So Long', was now sung by Richard himself instead of Marilyn Manson. Richard transformed 'Always on My Mind' into an epic rendition of the classic Elvis song with Till Lindemann, and he reworked 'Come Over' at the encouragement of his son, Merlin, who was enthusiastic about the song. 'I’m Still Alive' had already existed since the first Emigrate album (originally titled 'Yeah Yeah Yeah'), and the music video fittingly combines old footage from 2007 with new clips from 2021.

Richard did not shy away from serious themes on this album. 'Rage' addresses the difficulty of reentering social life after the isolation of COVID, a struggle Richard personally experienced. 'You Can’t Run Away' was written in response to numerous messages from fans expressing suicidal thoughts and sharing how much his music had helped them.

Richard mentioned that he views this album as a kind of closure for this Emigrate era: “This album might be the end of an era, the close of a chapter before something new begins.” While working on this album, he collaborated with Andrea Marino on electronic remixes, although he did not release them, hinting instead at a future electro album to explore this genre more fully.

The album artwork, depicting Richard’s head in a galaxy-like nebula, was created by Arnaud Giroux. It symbolizes the album and the creative process itself - “It’s about creating worlds and looking at things from a different perspective” as Richard describes it. The title itself was inspired by the painting by Salvador Dali with the same name.

One of Richard's announcement of his new album on his IG Profil:

The Persistence of Memory was a process that started 14 years ago. After a rough period in my life, it became clear to me that now is the right time to put it out. The process to get to a point always interested me more than the point itself, struggling to get somewhere and constantly pushing boundaries makes me feel alive. I AM STILL ALIVE. "THE PERSISTENCE OF MEMORY" out this Friday. Credit: @tobias_ortmann

Some additional quotes by Richard from interviews he gave around the time of the release:

Would you let your Rammstein colleagues listen to an Emigrate album before its release? "No, definitely not. (laughs) Though someone like Flake would probably be very open to it. We have a lot of respect for each other and regularly stay in touch. For instance, I often listen to his radio show—and then call him afterward to ask what kind of weird stuff he’s been talking about again. (laughs)"

"I just realized in an interview with another magazine that every time I make an album, there’s a very dark backstory to it. It’s never that I’m just cheerfully going through life, feeling fantastic, and then think, 'Now I’ll write a new EMIGRATE album.' It always coincides with a significant change in my life."

"The funny thing was that I got the inspiration for the cover because of the song 'Always On My Mind.' When I listened to the song, I had the idea that it wasn’t actually about a relationship with a person, but rather about our planet. That’s where the cover idea came from, with the face gazing at the Earth."

sources: rammwiki web.de Berliner Zeitung Chaoszine metal.de

[archivist-crow]

Radiohead - Kid A (2000)

Twenty-four years ago today, on October 2, 2000, Kid A, the fourth studio album by Radiohead, was released. Burned out by the demands of the enormous success of OK Computer, Thom Yorke and the band incorporated more exotic sounds and influences for their next album. Drawing inspiration from electronic music, avant-garde classical, jazz, krautrock, and more, Kid A was a major departure for the band, musically, instrumentally, lyrically, and even promotionally. Though polarizing, the album debuted at number one in the UK and became the band’s first number one album in the US. Ranked by many publications as the best album of the aughts, the album is often listed as one of the greatest albums of all time.

[marvelsfavoriteuncle]

Jarvis tapes on Jason’s life (or at least what the footage tells you) 🎞️

Jason Grayson Underwood was born at twelve-oh-one a.m., April 20th, 1922

at Children's Hospital, San Francisco,

the second child of Fran and Jonathan Underwood. His sister Dolores Marie Underwood only be 5 years old.

On the 16th of June in 1929, Mr & Mrs. Underwood would divorce taking both children their separate ways.

~~~~

August 30th 1943, Howard Stark and his sister Elizabeth Stark would come into the picture, change his life forever.

Meeting both of them during the war, alongside Agent Margaret ‘Peggy’ Carter. Who would later on become his sister in more ways than one.

Eighty-seven days later Jason met James Bucky Barnes and The Howling Commanders, crossing paths on the battle field with Captain America.

~~~~

After the war ended, Jason Underwood went on to work for the SSR. He had the opportunity to work selling watches in Texas and New York, but went on to become an associate of the organization.

Which is where he met Agent Jack Thompson, Daniel Sousa and plenty of others.

However he had another job underneath his belt as him, Edwin Jarvis and Agent Carter were given a job to locate Howard Stark’s stolen items while he hide away.

The whole time, half of the country was after him.

That’s when he would met his sister once again, Dottie Underwood, A Black Widow. As she worked with an scientist and Soviet spies to frame Stark’s items as dangerous as they seemed.

It was complicated.

He was not pleased and made sure his sister was behind bar for her crimes, with working for the wrong side. But she did not care, she never did.

He shot the scientist and spies with the help of the SSR who realized who was responsible for all of this.

They freed Howard and his sister from all charges. Jack Thompson became Chief Executive Officer in New York City.

But they all know Peggy Carter deserves all the credit for the job.

Daniel Sosua was promoted to Chief in California.

~~~~~

In 1947 New York City, Chief Jack Thompson and Agent Peggy Carter of the Strategic Scientific Reserve (SSR) apprehend Soviet spy Dottie Underwood.

Newly appointed Chief Daniel Sousa of the Los Angeles SSR office meets with Detective Andrew Henry, who has discovered a woman's body in a frozen lake during a heat wave.

That’s when Jason Underwood was called from his newly acquired home in Los Angeles for the job, requesting Agent Carter to sign onto the job.

Howard and his Elizabeth Stark were living in Los Angeles as well, making films and creating new inventions for their company.

~~~~

Ten weeks after filming a new movie Howard was creating and working on the case, Jason was driving north one night to his shared studio beach cottage when something highly unusual occurred, something almost magical...

Snow fell in Los Angeles, California. Heavy winds and hail stormed all into one. The car swing over the slippery slope of the bridge as he drove onto the main water, as he tried to pull up.

But failed to get the brakes to work.

The immersion in the frigid water caused Jason's body to go into an anoxic reflex, instantly stopping his breathing and slowing his heartbeat.

Within 2 minutes, Jason Underwood's core temperature had dropped to 87 degrees...

his heart stopped beating.

He was silent underneath the table of water for 7 minutes.

At 11: 55 a bolt of lightning struck the vehicle discharging half a billion volts of electricity and producing 60,000 amperes of current.

Its effect was threefold.

First, the charge defibrillated Jason Undwood's heart.

Second,

He was jolted out of his anoxic state causing him to draw his first breath in 3 minutes.

Third, based on Von Lehman's principle of electron compression in deoxyribonucleic acid, which will be discovered in the year two thousand thirty-five, Jason Underwood will henceforth be immune to the ravages of time...

he will never age another day.

~~~~~

Of course, he didn’t know that would be a harsh yet effective condition until later.

Wrapped in a cold sweat, dizziness and fatigue were the consequences of the accident.

He was in bed for a few days at the house or made to be sat down, as a nurse took his temperature while he helped study the case.

A field of zero matter and Whitney Frost, 2 times Oscar nominee who was a scientist at heart, was behind it. They hoped it wouldn’t be the rest of mission and the caseload conditions that harmed them.

But faith had other plans.

Peggy took the rest, after her painful defeat of almost being impaled by the help,to call Jason’s sister Dottie for undercover work.

It wasn’t the best thing, but worked like a charm. Dottie left getting her cut of the money and ran.

Soon enough, Jason, Peggy and others were up for the challenge to help finish the race in their job. It was a long and difficult process for the entire team but they made it work.

Zero matter was seemingly gone. Whitney Frost was put in prison.

~~~

Weeks went by.

He studied long and hard for weeks, working with Howard, Peggy, Dr. Wilkie Jones and Ana Jarvis on cases. Figure out the answer to the questions they had from their previous research on the mission.

And the effects left behind.

Jason found nothing on his plate of studies onto what happened to him, as the years went by he noticed his friends slowly turning around with age, as he stayed the same.

It wasn’t zero matter or the previous time on trips that harmed him.

It was something else.

Some would see it differently, thinking it as a blessing that he stopped aging, others might’ve called it a curse.

It just depends on who you were talking to.

For Jason, he made the blonde sick to his stomach and want to hide behind closed doors.

As the years passed, Jason credited her unchanging appearance to a combination of a healthy diet, exercise, heredity, and good luck.

He would travel around, change his name and mind. Leave for a couple of weeks every new decade.

It was all to prevent confusion, controversy and added pressure from anyone who might’ve wanted to sent him to a lab to be tested for his status. 

To protect himself and his loved ones…

~~~~

~~~~~~~

// There’s a tale. Remember to like, comment and reblog.

|| Tags: @missstrawbs2001 @purpleprincessonfyre @meiramel @gcthvile @ask-starrk @rickb-chaos @gaminggirlsstuff @wizzzardofoz @cherrysft @luna-d-marsh @sherloquestea @rooster-84 and etc

[singlesablog]

A New Cool

“West End Girls" (1985) Pet Shop Boys Parlophone Records (Written by Tennant/Lowe) Highest U.S. Billboard Chart Position – No. 1 

There are two lines of thinking concerning the debut pop single for the seminal electronic pop band Pet Shop Boys; one, that the song is atypical of all of the hits they would ultimately create (and are still creating over 30 years later), and the other is that this is their signature song.  I am of two minds, that it is at once very them, and conversely not them at all; in some ways their first hit was a makeover of the band, whether by design, or not.  It is undeniable that in 1986 it was enormously successful, an evocative ear worm, and that the single introduced the strangely beautiful tenor voice of singer Neil Tennant, and ushered in one of the greatest pop duos ever. 

Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe met in a hi-if shop in London on Kings Road in Chelsea in 1981, and discovering a mutual love of electronic music, formed a band.  Tennant was at that time an assistant editor at Smash Hits magazine, and Chris a college student studying architecture.  Immediately, they began writing songs together in Neil’s bedsitter apartment (which I believe translates as a studio in the US).  They signed with American producer Bobby O (who oversaw rather crude Miami-tinged 80s dance music) in 1984/85; together with him they produced for the first time many of the songs that would appear on their debut Please, and the follow-up LP, Actually. “West End Girls” was released in 1985 as a 12” disco version that was much cruder and sparer; it was a minor hit in Europe and a “Screamer of the Week” on the influential 80s radio station WLIR in Long Island, New York (who's djs had a nose for new wave talent).  Nevertheless, it sank, and they spent the next year extricating themselves from Bobby O and signing with EMI, relinquishing to him some of the future royalties on many of the soon-to-be famous songs they had already written, including “West End Girls”, “Opportunities”, and “It’s A Sin” (all of which were re-recorded and eventually went top ten in the United States).  It would seem that the Imperial phase for any great band must always begin with a lawsuit.

“West End Girls” was re-released by the band in late 1985 in a much different version produced by Stephen Hague, and it immediately conquered the world, selling 1.5 million copies.  Where the Bobby O version squawked and squealed and sounded dated even then, this new track slithered on to the airwaves with a newer, more insinuating quality.  Rather than a club banger, this was now a highly suggestive track, with droning, floating synths, every effect modulated downward into an expression of cool detachment.  It was an important single not only in introducing this idea of bored aloofness from the duo, but also by permanently stamping them with the image.  No matter how hard they would try in the future to produce bombast (say, on “It’s a Sin”, a truly bezerk pop hit) they would be forever labeled as sardonic, stand-offish, bored, or sarcastic.  These are words that really translated into one idea for me: that they were actually gay, and smart, and therefore happy to play along with any narrative the public chose for them as long as people continued to buy their records.  The song’s lyrics, written by former history major Tennant, apparently reference Eliot’s “The Waste Land”, which sounds hilariously high-toned, but for the then 19 year old that first experienced it, it was clearly a coded story of gay boys clubbing on the wrong side of town, because the gay bar is inevitably on the wrong side of town, and that perhaps West End Girls is a clever wink at describing gay men crossing over. On top of all of these suggestions was a very fey British man successfully talk-rapping lyrics (a rap I can to this day successfully recite), telling a story with no obvious conclusion, because, well, you know.  It is a coded song about a coded world.  And while the Pets didn’t invent the electronic pop song, like couturiers they certainly tailored it to the measure of some very strict gay signifiers, and when I fell in love with the hit (and the band) I was already acquainted with those ideas and understood them instantly.  Of course, I did not experience the duo as detached; instead, they were stylistically and artistically brilliant, and their songs were clever, propulsive, and unique. 

Please as an album can be examined as a cohesive slice of queer nightlife in the 1980s: escaping to the city (“Two Divided by Zero”, “Suburbia”), sneering at society (“Opportunities”), fighting oppression (“Violence”, “I Want a Lover”), and, finally, reconciling to life and love, whatever that might mean (“Later Tonight”, “Love Comes Quickly”, “Why Don’t We Live Together?”).   I am sure “West End Girls” does reference “The Waste Land”, but somehow, just perhaps, Neil, the master of collage, is actually speaking more allusively to the mating habits of the male homosexual circa 1985.  Chris Lowe, for his part, made absolute certain that the songs would be played were they belonged, which was in the club, his complete obsession in every way; the electronic sounds he produced are essential to the texture of what Pet Shop Boys ended up doing better than anyone else, which was to document gay lives by dropping clues and signals to fantastic disco music while leaving out the specifics. And this is possibly why the original Bobby O version was so awfully wrong, and not really them: the duo must have discovered that they didn’t need to bang bang bang, that they could be better than that.  In fact, they actually didn’t need Bobby O at all; they could conjure up these subtle and delicious scenes all by themselves.

Sadly, Bobby O still got the money.  Kind of just like a Pet Shop Boys song, isn’t it?  

A little cynical, but true.

-

*The title of Please, which I always found entertaining, I imagined was a reference to gay men chastising one another with "Oh, Please", or "Girl, Please." This has never been substantiated. Instead, Neil was quoted as saying it was a little joke, so when a customer asked for it, they would be forced to say I would like Pet Shop Boys, Please. Hmmm. Regardless, this would still qualify as a double entendre.

-

Dropping a hairpin (verb, gay, archaic slang term): to reveal one's sexual preferences by dropping broad hints; thus keep your hairpins up, and maintaining a 'normal' mask.

Who, who wants a cocktail?  (“Opportunities (Reprise)”)

Someone spread a rumor.  Let’s run away. (“Two Divided By Zero”)

In every city, in every nation, from Lake Geneva to the Finland Station.  (“West End Girls”)

You may not always love me I may not care But intuition tells me, baby There's something we could share If we dare, why don't we?    (“Why Don’t We Live Together?”)

And you wait 'til later, ‘til later tonight.  'Cause tonight always comes.   (“Later Tonight”)

Neil Comes Out

In the early 1990s, Jimmy Somerville, formerly of the very out, gay 80s band Bronski Beat, accused Neil and Chris of Pets Shop Boys of exploiting gay culture for career purposes, and of not putting anything back.

Neil came out officially in 1994, and commenting in print on the matter, said that he resented anyone telling anyone how out they should be, or just what constituted a “contribution” to gay culture: 

“I do think that we have contributed, through our music and also through our videos and the general way we’ve presented things, rather a lot to what you might call ‘gay culture’. I could spend several pages discussing the notion of ‘gay culture’, but for the sake of argument, I would just say that we have contributed a lot. And the simple reason for this is that I have written songs from my own point of view…”

He pauses again. “What I’m actually saying is, I am gay, and I have written songs from that point of view. So, I mean, I’m being surprisingly honest with you here, but those are the facts of the matter.”

Having finally got all that off his chest, Neil Tennant pours himself a glass of mineral water and takes his sweatshirt off. He is looking distinctly pink around the gills. Maybe it’s the effect of suddenly admitting that for all these years he has been singing nothing but the truth. Or maybe it’s just the unbearable heat in here. “Well,” he says, in a voice which carries a distinct [air of]‘moving swiftly on’, “what’s your next question?”

Source: Neil Tennant in Attitude Magazine, 1994

[projazznet]

Bob James Trio – Explosions

Explosions is an album by the Bob James Trio. It was recorded at Bell Sound Studios in New York City during May 1965, and was released later that year by ESP-Disk. On the album, James is featured on piano and is joined by bassist Barre Phillips and drummer Robert Pozar. The album also features tape collages by composers Gordon Mumma and Robert Ashley.

Bob James – piano Barre Phillips – bass Robert Pozar – drums, percussion Robert Ashley – electronics Gordon Mumma – electronics

[postpunkindustrial]

Robert Ashley - The Wolfman CD

Robert Ashley was an Avant-Garde composer known mostly for composing workers for Opera and the theater. The Wolfman was a compilation of some of his early output. 

Tracks are as follows:

The Fox (1957) electronic music and voice characters adapted from a folk song by Burl Ives created, processed and mixed by [...] in his studio in Ann Arbor, Michigan The Wolfman (1964) tape, voice and feedback produced at the University of California at Davis by Composer-Performer Edition first performed at Charlotte Moorman's "Festival of the Avant-Garde", New York, fall 1964 created, processed and mixed by [...] in his studio in Ann Arbor, Michigan The Wolfman Tape (1964) tape-speed manipulation and mixes of many layers of "found" sounds used as "sound environment" by Bob James for a jazz improvisation (ESP Records, 1965) created, processed and mixed by [...] in his studio in Ann Arbor, Michigan The Bottleman (1960) tape composition with contact microphones, loudspeaker, vocal and other "found" sounds composed for a George Manupelli film of the same title; single-projection version created, processed and mixed by [...] in his studio in Ann Arbor, Michigan

Get it from my Google Drive HERE

[lboogie1906]

Donald McKinley Glover Jr. (September 25, 1983) known by the stage name Childish Gambino, is an actor, comedian, singer, rapper, producer, writer, and director.

After working on Derrick Comedy while studying at New York University, he was hired by Tina Fey as a writer for 30 Rock. He rose to fame for portraying college student Troy Barnes on Community. He stars in the series Atlanta, which he created and occasionally directs. He won various accolades, including two Primetime Emmy Awards and two Golden Globe Awards.

He has starred in several successful films, including the supernatural horror The Lazarus Effect, the comedy-drama Magic Mike XXL, and the science fiction film The Martian. He played Aaron Davis in the superhero film Spider-Man: Homecoming and played Lando Calrissian in the Space Western Solo: A Star Wars Story. He provided the voice of adult Simba in The Lion King. A filmmaker, he starred in and produced the short film Guava Island.

He signed with Glassnote Records and released his first studio album, Camp; he followed this with his second album, Because of the Internet. His third album, “Awaken, My Love!”, spawned the single “Redbone”, which peaked at number twelve on the Billboard Hot 100 and earned him his first Grammy Award. He released “This Is America”, which debuted at #1 on the Hot 100 and won four Grammy Awards, including for Best Music Video. His fourth album, 3.15.20, was released in 2020.

He graduated from the New York University Tisch School of the Arts with a BA in Dramatic Writing. He began DJing and producing electronic music under the moniker MC D (later mcDJ) remixing Sufjan Stevens’ album Illinois.

He began dating Michelle White in 2015, and they have three sons. #africanhistory365 #africanexcellence

[opera-ghosts]

Tenor Tom Burke as Mario singing an aria from Act II Puccini's opera 'Tosca'.

How pit lad Thomas Burke, ‘The Lancashire Caruso’, conquered the world but died in obscurity.

By Alan Whittaker

Few people today have heard of the tenor known as the Lancashire Caruso. But at his peak Tom Burke enthralled discerning opera audiences at La Scala in Milan and New York’s Met.

Although he was comparatively unknown in Britain, Dame Nellie Melba, one of the era’s great divas and a woman of formidable authority, heard him sing in Italy and insisted he appear as Rodolfo opposite her in a 1919 production of La Boheme at Covent Garden – a performance that earned him four encores at the end of Act One.

‘At last an English tenor with a voice of pure Italian flavour,’ enthused one critic.

Away from the opera circuit his lyrical voice and vibrant personality endeared him to packed provincial theatres in Britain who delighted in his repertoire of sentimental Irish songs and popular Edwardian drawing-room ballads such as The Minstrel Boy, Killarney, The Mountains of Mourne, Roses of Picardy, Mary, Because, Smoke Gets in Your Eyes, and You Are My Heart’s Delight. He was billed as The Minstrel Boy.

Tom’s career was as dramatic and turbulent as any opera storyline, and in the space of 20 tumultuous years he enjoyed wealth, fame and the favours of many beautiful women, only to sink into penniless obscurity as a barman in a golf club.

Tom’s early recordings are now rarities; crackling, scratchy remnants of the Celluloid Age of cylinders – as distant as the Jurassic Age from modern recording studios with their sophisticated electronic gadgetry.

But there is no mistaking the quality of the voice first heard at the coal face of a colliery entertaining fellow miners; the feeble yellow glow of helmet lamps for footlights and a huddled audience of intensely respectful coal-streaked faces sipping cold tea from tin cups, a mile underground and four miles from the pit shaft.

It was a voice that years later, when Burke was an international celebrity, intrigued King George V, not the most mentally athletic or artistically inclined monarch in Europe. After seeing Burke perform the King decided he would like to meet the singer. It was a command, not a request.

Tom’s response was not the most courteous or diplomatic. “Tell the old bugger to wait,” he told the hapless royal emissary.

It was a stupid throw-away gesture but typical of Burke who carried an invisible coal wagon of smouldering contempt and loathing for the wealthy toffs from privileged backgrounds who seemed to control the destinies of working class people without ever working or making any contribution to society or caring about the plight of poor families.

It was an attitude carved into his character from bitter childhood memories. Tom was born in 1890 and brought up in the Lancashire pit town of Leigh, the eldest of nine children of an impoverished Irish miner. Like so many of his generation, memories of his childhood, often in relentless poverty, left an indelible scar that refused to heal. Bread and margarine as a meal, no milk for a pot of tea, slum housing in Mather Lane, four children in one bed, scavenging for coal on slag heaps during the pit strikes, the queue of disconsolate decent people at the charity soup kitchen and the sight of his mother Mary patching piles of second hand clothes by candlelight. Even in ‘good times’ meat was a luxury reserved for Sunday lunch.

It was a scandalous scenario all too familiar to hundreds of poor families but light years from Sandringham or Balmoral.

As a small boy, Tom acquired a love of singing from his father, Vince, who would sit him on his knee and sing Irish lullabies. He left school aged 12 and after a year working FULL TIME in a silk mill, he became a coal miner, joined Leigh Brass Band and learned to play the cornet. But singing was his greatest pleasure.

Vince and Mary were loving parents and with two wages now coming in decided to buy a second-hand piano. Mary pawned her precious sewing machine to help pay the weekly instalments.

It was a four-mile walk from the pit head to Mather Lane and by chance a music teacher heard Tom singing as he made his way home with a group of fellow miners. He liked what he heard and was instrumental in sending the 17-year-old to a singing teacher in nearby Atherton, who suggested Tom should enrol at Manchester College of Music.

To raise the tuition fees, Tom sold tripe in pubs, entertained customers by singing, and worked as a waiter. When he was 19 he walked from Leigh to Blackpool to hear the world-renowned tenor Enrico Caruso sing at the Winter Gardens. It was a wearying round hike of some 60 miles but it inspired young Burke to dream of becoming a professional singer.

He auditioned for the Halle Choir but was rejected by the musical director as ‘too ordinary’. The orchestra’s conductor thought differently and arranged for Tom to sing for London impresario Hugo Gorelitz, who was in Manchester searching for talented vocalists. He reckoned the raw young lad from Lancashire showed promise and after an audition Tom was given a contract, told to enrol at the Royal Academy of Music in London, and pay his fees by singing at various venues selected by Gorelitz. His voice coach was Edgardo Levi and he persuaded his friend Caruso, who had popped into the Academy for a chat, to listen to his pupil.

Whether Caruso was genuinely impressed or merely humouring an old friend is not clear but over a warm hand clasp he told the wide-eyed Burke: “One day you will wear my mantle, but first you must go to Italy. There you will find your voice.”

Burke took his advice and headed for Italy with his young wife Marie, who came from a well-to-do show business family. In Milan he learned the language, lost his flat Lancashire dialect, sang in several opera houses and once stepped in as a substitute for Gigli, the world famous tenor.

The Great War of 1914-18 saw Tom back in London and ready for military service but the Army authorities decided he would be far better employed entertaining the troops than slogging it out in the infantry.

Following his appearance opposite Melba at Covent Garden he made 14 records for Columbia and during the next decade became the toast of London society.

He appeared at Covent Garden in 1920, with Beecham conducting, and the composer Giacomo Puccini, who heard him at rehearsal, was so impressed he insisted Tom be given roles in two more of his operas. It seemed as though the world was at his feet for that same year he was offered £400 a performance – the highest offer ever made to a British singer – to appear in America. He and Marie set sail for New York.

Then the wheels came off. His agent had advertised him in the States as ‘Ireland’s greatest ever tenor’ – not the smartest publicity stunt when John McCormack was around, delighting packed theatres, and proving the nostalgic voice of Home to every Irish exile in America. It was the equivalent of attempting to pass off George Formby as the new Elvis.

The critics were unanimous and venomous. “John McCormack can sleep easily,” wrote one. There were concerts in small theatres but the £400 a night flow dried up and Marie, an accomplished singer, returned to England to raise cash. She appeared in the London stage production of Showboat with the incomparable Paul Robeson. But Tom’s philandering had strained the marriage and they were divorced.

Left to his wayward ways, Tom regularly made the headlines with his drinking and womanising. There had to be questions about his judgement. Would any sensible person pick a quarrel over a pretty girl with Jack Dempsey, the undisputed ex-world heavyweight boxing champion who was known as the Manassa Mauler? Or cross a Mafia boss in a dispute involving another woman; an altercation that left Burke in hospital with a gunshot wound and a compelling urge to get out of town?

A surprise offer to return to Britain with an engagement at Manchester’s Free Trade Hall with John Barbirolli conducting was gratefully seized. He couldn’t quit America too soon and left the next day leaving a pile of debt.

Back home he visited Leigh where he was given a rapturous welcome by the adoring mining community that spawned him, but London and the bright lights beckoned. He sang to a packed Albert Hall and toured the country enchanting provincial theatre-goers. It seemed The Minstrel Boy was back in business; his American experience an unfortunate hiccup. He could afford a flat in the West End, a Rolls-Royce and a butler.

But the self-destructive streak was never far from the surface. He quarrelled with Barbirolli, agents and impresarios, and even slated the people who queued at Covent Garden to hear him perform. “They are not music lovers,” he sneered. “They go to opera because it’s the thing to do, rather like appearing at Royal Ascot. Just showing off.”

His philandering lifestyle – revolving around booze, broken promises, and attractive women – made him unreliable and on many occasions he failed to turn up for singing engagements. As a result he was shunned by agents and theatre managers and earned nothing for a year. He was an outcast.

Worse was to follow. He lost £100,000 – an enormous amount at the time – in the Wall Street Crash and in 1932 was bankrupt. By 1934 he was renting a tiny threadbare room; a washed-up, disgruntled has-been. The man who had taken Covent Garden by storm became a bookies’ runner, steward at a golf club, and a waiter.

He tried running a club in Leigh but a police raid and charges of illegal drinking forced its closure and Tom moved to Sutton, Surrey, where in 1969 he died aged 78.

A selection of the recordings he made during the 1930s with film of him entertaining soldiers wounded in the Great War can be found on YouTube including Puccini’s soaring Nessun Dorma, a rigorous test for even the most talented tenor. Tom’s version would have pleased the composer.

He is buried in the cemetery at Wallington, Surrey, and the inscription on his headstone reads: ‘Never have I heard my music so beautifully sung’- Puccini.

The glitzy, costumed world of grand opera may no longer remember the Minstrel Boy but for some time after his death a group of admirers in workaday Leigh would meet occasionally to play his records and, over a few beers, talk with pride about the local lad who became The Minstrel Boy and the Lancashire Caruso.

[kdo-three]

Laurie Anderson - O Superman (1981) Laurie Anderson from: "O Superman (for Massenet)" / "Walk the Dog" (EP) "Big Science" (LP)

Re: "for Massenet": In writing the song, Ms Anderson drew from the aria "Ô Souverain, ô juge, ô père" ("O Sovereign, O Judge, O Father") from Jules Massenet's 1885 opera 'Le Cid'.

Avant-Garde / Electronic / Art Pop / Avant-Pop

JukeHostUK (left click = play) (320kbps)

Personnel: Laurie Anderson: Vocals / Vocoder / Electronics Roma Baran: Organ [Farfisa] / Synthesizer [Casio] Perry Hoberman: Flute / Saxophone

Produced by Laurie Anderson / Roma Baran

Recorded: @ The Lobby (Laurie Anderson's home recording studio) in New York City, New York USA 1981

EP Released: on February 1, 1981 One Ten Records

Album Released: on April 19, 1982 Warner Bros. Records

[randomvarious]

1995 London Playlist (YouTube)

Back with some more gems and jams this week from the mid-90s London underground. As I continue to root through my collection and categorize more and more songs, I'm going to keep on adding other cities to post about, but just know that none of these city-year playlists are ever going to be as eclectic as the London ones. No place in the world is simply as musically vibrant. New York, LA, Berlin, Paris, and Tokyo probably come in at a close second through sixth, but they're all still so far behind London.

So this week for this 1995 update we have a drill n bass tune, a breakbeat tune, and a pair of trip hop tunes. If you don't know what drill n bass is, it's this specific form of drum n bass and/or jungle that is far more frenetic and created with an IDM type of mindset. People like Aphex Twin and Squarepusher are known for particularly excelling at it, but the great Luke Vibert makes it too, and he conjured up quite an adventure under his Wagon Christ moniker with his remix of 2 Player's "Extreme Possibilities." As a 7-minute song, this one starts out as a solid piece of nocturnal, boom-bappin' trip hop—with drums that sound like they may have been recorded live in-studio—but Luke soon grows tired of this idea and transitions fully into the drill n bass gist of things with something terrifically nutty that also seems to include sampled vocal scatting as well. Wondrously splattery madness. Originally appeared on the first of only two 2 Player releases, but then made its way onto legendary UK label Ninja Tune's Ninja Cuts: Flexistentialism comp in '96. Currently pushing 34,000 YouTube plays across a bunch of different uploads.

And then for one of those trip hop tunes, we have a song by a group from up in northeast England’s Newcastle Upon Tyne called Emperors New Clothes, whose quietly spiritual and flute-led “Dark Light” received a remix treatment from London’s Trevor Jackson, who would go on to become best known as Playgroup beginning in the early 2000s, but here, is operating under the moniker of Underdog. Jackson’s remix brings a level of murkiness to the tune, as he adds a purely vintage boom-bappin’ backbeat, a little xylo, some lonely, nocturnal trumpet, and then eventually his coup de grâce—purely wigged-out, acid-trippin’ electric guitar 🤘. In 1999, this remix would appear on French native Kid Loco’s excellent DJ-Kicks mix, and that specific version of it is the one that’s now on this playlist here, currently sitting at over 6,500 plays.

2 Player - "Extreme Possibilities (Wagon Christ Mix)" The Illuminati of Hedfuk - "The Worm Turns" Emperors New Clothes - "Dark Light (Underdog Mix)" Grantby - "Grimble"

And this playlist is also on YouTube Music.

So, this update brings us up to 14 songs that total 84 minutes. Next time I do an update for London '95, I may have a corresponding Spotify one too 🙏.

More London playlists for specific years:

1996: Spotify / YouTube / YouTube Music 1997: Spotify / YouTube / YouTube Music 1998: YouTube / YouTube Music 1999: YouTube / YouTube Music

And I'll have more from 90s electronic London next week too.

Enjoy!

More to come, eventually. Stay tuned!

Like what you hear? Follow me on Spotify and YouTube for more cool playlists and uploads!

[mackmp3]

Very long post with an intro into music I like! i have posted about most of these bands before at some point, but here's a masterpost of sorts.

@literatureisdying here it is! it is intimidatingly long sorry but I really hope you enjoy it! i tried to group the songs, they are in a more or less logical order but feel free to just pick some or shuffle.

Patti Smith - my favourite! I could talk forever about Patti I love her with all of my being. she was initially a poet and artist before turning her poems into rock and roll in the early seventies in the New York punk scene - she is very influential to just about every female rock musician since. her four earliest albums are the best, her debut Horses is generally regarded as one of the best albums ever. in more recent years she has written a series of memoirs which are also amazing and definitely worth reading even if you don’t know anything about her or her music. her androgynous style and generally i-don’t-give-a-shit punk attitude have become iconic. (***disclaimer for this part - she has one song using the n-slur, she isn’t racist, she was trying to reclaim the word but she’s white and it came off wrong. it was the wrong choice of word. she’s not racist, i don't support use of that word, the fanbase as a whole understands what she was *trying* to do and then ignores that song and moves on. this is a PSA, please no one try to argue with me about this thanks. sorry to put this right at the top.***)

Einstürzende Neubauten - German industrial band led by Blixa Bargeld, they formed in west Berlin in the early 80s and had a bit of a reputation for wrecking stuff - a lot of their early stuff is shouting in German with distorted guitar and hitting metal stuff but as they evolved they wrote some really beautiful things.

PJ Harvey - my other love! PJ is a constantly evolving artist and every single one of her albums is something different and also very good. She has an amazing voice and plays guitar and piano and has incredible stage presence, especially from 1995 with all the costumes and makeup - a lot of her songs kind of fit the ‘female rage’ vibe (especially Rid Of Me) but she does it very very well - since the mid 2000s she has done some stuff concerned with england and the folk history of it, her new album I Inside the Old Year Dying is amazing and slightly bizarre. some vaguely sapphic undertones to some of her stuff :)

Radiohead - a band to obsess over if there ever was one. They are stereotyped as being music for depressed loner virgins which is a little funny but also kind of true haha. A lot of their music is very ominous and emotional and a bit dark and pessimistic, but that’s the appeal. they are all top-tier musicians - Jonny Greenwood plays a lot of instruments including some you’ve never heard of and Thom Yorke has one of the most iconic voices, and his lyrics are just brilliant. they started off as like a britpop adjacent - prog rock sort of band but then in 2000 they released Kid A, which has not a lot of guitar and lots of ominous electronics instead - all their albums have their own distinct vibe. Thom and Jonny also have a new project called the Smile which are currently releasing and touring. 

*interlude* - This Mess We’re In by PJ Harvey and Thom Yorke - my two favourite 90s musicians make a song together!! this is from PJ pop-rock album, she wrote it but Thom sings the second part. I don’t know if they recorded this in the same studio or if she sent him a tape to sing over, but if they did do it together there are no photos of them together which was a missed opportunity if you ask me.

Hole - Courtney Love’s band. sort of riot-grrrl adjacent grunge, very angsty (a lot of this is very angsty though haha). lots of very female - specific songs which is cool. pretty intense, lots of screaming but she’s very good at screaming

the Slits - 70s feminist punk reggae band! they only made one album when they first started but it’s very cool. also quite female-centric, songs about being yourself and fighting conformity and capitalism yay

Bob Dylan - arguably the most influential figure in western music, he has like 40 studio albums but Desolation Row is my favourite song of his. he started off doing folk music, then did stoner psychedelic folk-rock and then almost died and did some country, then folk rock but with a massive band, then gospel rock, etc etc he keeps changing. very enigmatic, hard to place. still tours at age 82. famously has a kind of grating singing voice but lyrics make up for it.

Joan Baez - folk singer and activist - Silver Dagger is a traditional song from her first album - she was only 19! she has an incredible voice, really string vibrato. she was big into anti-war activism and civil rights, did a mix of covers of traditional and contemporary stuff and wrote her own songs too. played at Woodstock festival of music and arts!

Pentangle - late 60s english folk-rock band. they are all insanely talented musicians and Basket Of Light is one of my favourite ever albums - it’s all acoustic instruments but played in really interesting ways.

Led Zeppelin - they may be a band mainly enjoyed by middle aged white men but damn are they good. another band where every member is insanely talented - jimmy page and john paul jones between them can play everything with strings. blues rock - III is their best album and super underrated. songs about lord of the rings, folklore and wizard battles, because y’know, they’re also hippie nerds. some of their stuff is a bit problematic :/ Jimmy was weird and also into occultism.

Joni Mitchell - a folkpopjazz musician - very inventive guitar style, only two of her songs are in standard tuning, and she is also an amazing piano player, and has one of the best voices - she is the originator of the confessional-singer-songwriter-very-specific-lyrics-acoustic-guitar-women, she did it first and best. alas most of her stuff is no longer on spotify, she left the platform to protest antivax podcasts on the site, but everything is on youtube and there are always cds. Raised on Robbery That Song about the Midway Ray's Dad's Cadillac

Aldous Harding - she is from very close to where I live! she does completely bonkers art-folk-something with John Parish who also produced PJ. she’s wonderful. she describes her performance as ‘song acting’ more than singing. i love her. she’s so awkward.  Warm Chris was definitely my album of the year for last year.

Marlon Williams - from the same place! last year he invented a new genre, as you do, Māori disco pop, on his album My Boy. very soulful voice, he was a choir boy, used to do very folk stuff but not so much anymore.

*interlude* Nobody Gets What They Want Anymore by Marlon Williams and Aldous Harding.

SO - Aldous and Marlon were romantically involved for a while a few years ago, he produced her debut - when they broke up he wrote the album Make Way For Love about her, AND THEN invited her to sing with him on this song, he sang his part then sent it to her. so very tragic emotional and cool. BUT THEN - i saw Marlon live last year, and he BROUGHT ALDOUS ON STAGE TO SING THIS WITH HIM. FOR THE FIRST TIME. anyways i was so excited and also very normal about that. there’s a bad phone video of it on youtube but i was thrilled and also astounded to say the least. i have also been lucky enough to meet both of them :D benefits of living in a small country i guess. 

The Beths - NZ’s best indie band! lyrics are much darker than the cheerful music and backing vocals would suggest. very good vibes, their music videos are delightful as well.

Courtney Barnett - queer Australian singer-songwriter! she’s very cool, a nice mix of folkier and grungier stuff, has that sort of talking singing style - plays her own guitar, likes fitting as many syllables as possible into the line.

Björk / The Sugarcubes - the Sugarcubes were an 80s Icelandic band doing sort of new-wavey pop stuff but with bonkers lyrics - when they split Björk started doing bonkers electronic pop music. she’s delightful. she’s very good at screaming and singing wordlessly.

Spiritualized - shoegaze-inspired space rock, atmospheric alt-rock - this song borrows from Elvis

the Flaming Lips - delightful 2000s indie rock this album makes me so happy

Voom - another NZ band! indie band very good

Built to Spill - indie rock, fantastic guitar in this one

Pulp - britpop, songs about sex and despair in a way that makes it sound like an intellectual pop-culture review, if Jarvis Cocker says something weird it’s almost definitely tongue-in-cheek

Neutral Milk Hotel - bonkers indie album about loss of innocence inspired by Anne Frank. it’s a bit of a joke that people are like ‘i’m so alternative i like Neutral Milk Hotel’, it’s not as obscure as it sounds like it is.

Dean and Britta - these songs accompany Andy Warhol’s Screen tests, where people would be sat in front of a camera for a couple minutes. designed to match the vibe of the person.

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Australian gothic rock - a lot of their stuff is kinda intense, Nick had some issues, but a cool mix of *sex and death* and yearning love songs. Blixa Bargeld (mentioned above) was in the band for a while - their songs range from full sleaze to full orchestra.

*interlude* Henry Lee by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds with PJ Harvey. hehe now this song - it’s a traditional murder ballad re-written by Nick for his album Murder Ballads. he wanted a woman to sing this with him and so asked PJ - now go watch the VIDEO. like stop reading this right now and go watch the video. it is the single most romantic tension-filled video clip i have ever seen and i love it so much. they hardly knew each other at that point!! and they’re dressed the same and the touching ashajkshakjhs anyways. in one live version Nick has pink nails too hehe. they started dating shortly after this, intensely but not for very long - when she dumped him Nick wrote The Boatman’s Call and the stuff PJ wrote for him is on Is This Desire?. 

Sigur Ròs - Icelandic post-rock ambient band - very cool rolling wave of sound music, atmospheric doesn’t even begin to describe it. Svefn-g-englar translates to ‘Angels of Sleep’,  sleepwalkers. the sometimes sing in Icelandic and sometimes in Hopelanic, a made-up language

my bloody valentine - one of the first and best-known shoegaze bands - loveless took them a really long time to record but is amazing, the layes of reverb and delay - you can't ever really hear the lyrics but it’s more about the general feeling.

Slowdive - another shoegaze band, a bit lighter instrument-wise, but lyrics way more tragic. Souvlaki Space Station is a really good album.

The Smiths - original emo band for sad introverts. lots of songs about being alone and unloved, rife with literary references. tragic but in a good way. great guitar, great bass, Morrissey has good voice & good lyrics but some *problematic opinions :/*. lots of plagiarising both lines in songs from books & poetry and also using other people’s photos for album art but it’s cool. 

Sonic Youth - new york no-wave band - lots of distortion, ten-minute-plus songs etc. Kim Gordon is the bass player and lyricist/singer of some of the songs and she’s very very cool. another one of those bands with a lot of music

Rowland S Howard - he was in Nick Cave’s goth band in the 80s, this is his solo work from later, it’s pretty heavy musically and lyrically, but it’s cool. there’s just something i really like about how this sounds and how al the instruments work together.

The Cure - they’d make a goth album, then a pop album, then another goth album etc etc - the pop stuff is fun but the goth stuff is way angstier.

anyways, there’s a very long introduction to my taste in music! i hope you like at least some of it :D <3

[audio-luddite]

Nothing is real or correct.

I am making headway on the ARC amp, but it made me think.

Decades ago a rather pompous man created an audio magazine because only he knew best. Actually come to think of it that has happened several times. I am currently talking about "The Absolute Sound" from just outside of New York City in the 70s.

His concept was two fold. The sound of any component should be judged only in comparison to live performances in Jazz clubs and concert halls or some similar site. It sounds like a good idea but is it even a little realistic? The second fold was to not take advertising from manufacturers as that is a conflict of interest. That fell away after a few years as it takes money to produce a real printed magazine. A friend and I were early subscribers and devoured each new issue. I know better now.

In a symphony concert every seat in the place is slightly different. I have sat in several concert halls and listened to lots of music from different seats. It is not the same at home on the system. I find my home system sounds better than live performance in general. I guess I cannot afford the best seats, but recording engineers tend to place mikes in the best places. Yes that big drum in the back is impressive live, but the rest....

In a Jazz club all the sound you get comes through a PA system of not necessarily high end quality. And be real, you are there for the performance not the audio or should be.

In a Stadium Rock event I need ear plugs as it is always so FN loud.

So comparing a system to live is not truly valid. Whatever you get is a matter of taste and luck

Consider the rather long chain of custody the sound endures from musician to your ears.

Start with the venue. Most recordings are done in purpose built studios with usually extensive sound treatments. Likely totally unlike your listening cave. How the musicians are set up and what equipment they use is very dependent too. How many times have you seen singers and instrumentalists in isolated boxes or behind barriers in a studio so the mike they use does not conflict with the ones around them. How natural is that?

Or how about recording a Piano. You always see several mikes around pianos for Jazz or solo or small group performances. I only have two ears solidly fixed to either side of my head.

Next microphones and mixing consoles all have characteristics and a voice. The type and brand and technology of the microphone all are adjusted and tuned. The sound in the mix is adjusted to get just the right effect. Accuracy, what's that?

One of my favorite audiophile albums is Cowboy Junkies "Trinity Sessions" Nice big room with natural sound, the band set up around a single 3D microphone using the gear they use on tour and basically no mix. WYSIWYG. But if you were there it would have sounded different than the recording as you would not be where the mike was. Still likely as accurate a recording as you can get.

Another is Steely Dan's Aja. Every track is fiddled and massaged and made to sound just so coming out of the studio speaker. Very clean and totally unreal.

A very good album is Diana Krall live from Paris. Listen to the group and "see" where the mix has placed each musician. Then look at the photo of the group on stage. Not the same is it?

Then the fun really starts. Is it analogue tape and which brand of machine Ampex or Studer and which vintage? Is it DSD digital or lowly PCM? Which processor! All those have a voice.

And now jump into your media. How is the product distributed? Vinyl rules! Well that's my thing. Which master remixed the master, what plant pressed it?

Both streaming and hard copy digital are valid and can claim lower noise and distortion usually. But those are just numbers.

Each electronic device has a voice some more subtle than others. The higher you go the clearer and cleaner it gets or should at least.

Thinking of phono pickups there are so many methods and products. It is really impressive how linear and consistent those things are in spite of all that. Many writers go on and on about velocity versus displacement and when that happens I know they are full of it. It turns out that blind tests show that what some call clarity and detail is just a slightly different frequency response. Or even a resonance in a convenient place. A few db here a few db there makes all the difference.

Still I find it remarkable that I can extract as much information off of a flat disk as I do with my modest three figure phono pickup. At the very base of the issue is like choosing a microphone. People have favorites.

In the digital domain you are depending on microchips. A DAC may have exotic this or that attached to them, but all the chips come from one factory or another made by people in bunny suits. Discrete components cannot keep up to digital speeds so the chips rule.

And we have not even got to preamplifiers and amplifiers. Tube verus solid state you have to choose a tribe. Both are best and neither is. Frankly it is the place you choose the type of distortion you like. The flaw with every tube amplifier is the output transformer. They all need them and they have a major hit on the sound. The flaw with every solid state amplifier are the gain devices and the feedback used to tame them. Tubes use feedback too!

Designs that avoid or just minimize feedback just force you to accept an acceptable distortion.

As I am bouncing between the tribes now recall that tube amplifiers are rated at 1% distortion. Transistor amplifiers at about ten times less. (Sometimes tens times ten times ten less.) Much better, but not better. It is the sound of the distortion that makes the difference and the preference. Some people like different stuff.

Oh time for the worst offender, the speakers. The frequency response is pathetic compared the quality of the signal going in. Why fret about an amplifier being plus or minus 0.2 db when the speaker is plus or minus 6 db. And the room has modes and reflections and well unless you are rich enough to build very special room you just have to hope your brain gets fooled.

And that is it really. Your brain wants to be fooled. If you listen to any system long enough you get used to it and adapt. If you only listen to single ended triodes into horn speaker you come to think that is the way things should sound. And you will find a tribe to support you like a cult.

It is a flawed process from beginning to end. But it lets you experience brilliant music and performances when you want to. With care and attention to detail you can solve the puzzle in many different ways.

And no it is never like a live performance, its maybe better.

There is no best.

[my-chaos-radio]

Release: December 16, 1996

Lyrics:

Candlelight and soul forever

A dream of you and me together

Say you believe it, say you believe it

Free your mind of doubt and danger

Be for real, don't be a stranger

We can achieve it, we can achieve it

Come a little bit closer baby

Get it on, get it on

'Cause tonight is the night when two become one

I need some love like I've never needed love before (wanna make love to ya', baby)

I had a little love, now I'm back for more (wanna make love to ya', baby)

Set your spirit free

It's the only way to be

Silly games that you were playing

Empty words we both were saying

Let's work it out boy, let's work it out boy

Any deal that we endeavor

Boys and girls feel good together

Take it or leave it, take it or leave it

Are you as good as I remember, baby?

Get it on, get it on

'Cause tonight is the night when two become one

I need some love like I've never needed love before (wanna make love to ya', baby)

I had a little love, now I'm back for more (wanna make love to ya', baby)

Set your spirit free

It's the only way to be

Be a little bit wiser baby

Put it on, put it on

'Cause tonight is the night when two become one

Songwriter:

I need some love like I've never needed love before (wanna make love to ya', baby)

I had a little love, now I'm back for more (wanna make love to ya', baby)

I need some love like I've never needed love before (wanna make love to ya', baby)

I had a little love, now I'm back for more (wanna make love to ya', baby)

Set your spirit free

It's the only way to be

It's the only way to be

It's the only way to be

Richard Frederick Stannard / Melanie Chisholm / Geri Halliwell / Matthew Paul Rowbottom / Emma Lee Bunton / Victoria Caroline Beckham / Melanie Janine Brown

Songfacts:

"2 Become 1" is a song by the British girl group the Spice Girls. Written by the group members, together with Matt Rowe and Richard Stannard during the group's first professional songwriting session, it was produced by Rowe and Stannard for the group's debut album, Spice (1996). "2 Become 1" is an R&B-influenced pop and adult contemporary ballad that features instrumentation from a guitar, an electronic keyboard and string instruments. The lyrics are inspired by Hegel's theory of dialectics. Its Big TV!-directed music video, which features the group performing against time-lapse footage of Times Square in New York City, was completely shot against a blue screen at a studio in London. The backdrop was later superimposed.

Released as the group's third single on 16 December 1996, it was generally well received by music critics and was a commercial success. It topped the UK Singles Chart for three weeks, becoming the group's third consecutive chart-topper, their second million-selling single, and their first Christmas number-one single in the United Kingdom. In July 1997, the song was released in the United States, peaking at number four on the Billboard Hot 100, and receiving a gold certification by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). It performed similarly internationally, peaking inside the top ten on the majority of the charts that it entered. The song was named "Song of the Year" at the 1998 ASCAP London Music Awards.

In December 1994, the Spice Girls persuaded their former managers—father-and-son team Bob and Chris Herbert—to set up a showcase in front of industry writers, producers and A&R men at the Nomis Studios in Shepherd's Bush, London. Producer Richard Stannard was originally at the studio to meet pop star Jason Donovan, but he ended up in the showcase after hearing Melanie Brown, as she went charging across the corridor. Stannard recalls:

"More than anything, they just made me laugh. I couldn't believe I'd walked into this situation. You didn't care if they were in time with the dance steps or whether one was overweight or one wasn't as good as the others. It was something more. It just made you feel happy. Like great pop records."

Stannard stayed after everyone had left the showcase to talk to the group. He then reported back to his songwriter partner Matt Rowe that he had found the pop group of their dreams. In January 1995, Chris Herbert booked the group's first professional songwriting session with the producers at the Strongroom in Curtain Road, East London. Rowe remember feeling similarly to Stannard when he first met the group, "I love them. Immediately. […] They were like no one I'd met before, really." The session was productive as the duo seemed to get along with the group; together they discussed the songwriting process and what they wanted to do with the record.[6] In her autobiography, Brown recalled that the duo instinctively understood their point of view and knew how to incorporate "the spirit of five loud girls into great pop music".