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shriekbackmusic · 3 years ago

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1000 BOOKS: track-by-track by Carl & Barry (see previous post for credits and lyrics)

SPACE IN THE BLUES (CARL MARSH)

Very often - well, almost always, actually - my first step in building a Shriek song is injecting lyric fragments from a notebook into a sympathetic host groovelet. In this case, I had a few lines, including ‘be not afraid of beauty / do not avoid the light’ and ‘I am shimmer and glare / I am vanishing rare’, both of which made it to the final draught, and the over-arching - and, indeed, over-arch - working title, ’the sum of all our follies’, which didn’t, though it kinda tells you where I was at. So I clearly needed something pretty epic, quite downtempo, dramatic - or even melodramatic - and, the lyrics seemed to be suggesting, something in a 6/8 or 3/4 rhythm. Listening through the 20-30 grooves we’d spawned in our 2-day jamming session in October 2020, I think there was only one candidate with the required 6/8 feel, and, luckily, it fit - sometimes it’s great when there’s no choice: it saves so much time.

The improvisation had been given the working title ‘Space Blues’ because it was, well, spacey and bluesy, with a fair bit of Dave Gilmour-esque echoey guitar noodling. That was soon stripped out; I asked Martyn to send me a cleaned-up version of the drum groove and I started structuring the song over that. However, by the time we were in the rehearsal room in May 2021, I still wasn’t sure where the song was going - I had three distinct sections evolving, all quite promising, but not really unified lyrically or melodically: it sounded like there might actually be two separate songs there. It took a few hours in my hotel room in Eastbourne to get the three melodic/lyric parts to sit together as a unified verse/chorus and then expand the lyric to three verses. I ended up with this big, torch-songish thing where each verse surged unstoppably towards a cliff edge where our overwrought narrator would fall off… or through… what, exactly? I had no idea what that would be until I realised - either through desperation, luck, synergy or the benevolence of the Shriekback über-spirit - that, with a minor tweak, ‘Space Blues’ could become ‘the space in the blues’ and I could fall through that. Yippee: demo vocal recorded on phone, job done.

Except… I had no guitar or keyboard with me that night, so I couldn’t hack out the chord progressions. So the next day I sang it to Barry as we sat around the piano, old-school stylee. Which we hadn’t done for a long time… if ever, come to think of it. Barry’s first take on it was full-on Berlin/Paris cabaret, which was a hoot but unfortunately didn’t quite work with my melody, so we got it down to the verse/chorus you hear on the record .Barry wrote the middle eight later.

UNHOLINESS (CM)

Like several tracks on the album, Unholiness began as an improvisation in a writing session at Echo Zoo i October ’20. As is a fairly standard practice for us now, - WFH veterans that we are - I sent Martyn some edited clips from the jam which he used to build a drum track which formed the bedrock to develop the song (no change there, then). I put down a rhythm guitar first, for groove and vibe; the next thing to go on, oddly perhaps, was the multi-tracked ‘yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah’ vocal - it was a clear idea I had in my head and defined a certain part of the character of the song, so it went in early, as did the brassy synth part, which picked the bones out of some of Barry’s keys from the improvisation to make a hook. That was enough to sketch out the core vocal/lyrical ideas; I thought these might have to be extensively revised later, but as it turned out they survived pretty much intact. Finally, I had great fun putting on a nifty bass part - so much fun I even posted a video of it (it’s here, should you be following the trail - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DkVTWuOqc3M).

So far, so funky. My only reservation was whether I was too far back in the Shriek-funk comfort zone when we had an intention to explore a new landscape of glitchy loops, unpredictable fx and a plugged-in electro-Mart. Hmmm…

Christoph and Martyn excelled putting the drum track together in the studio - the former obsessively swapping snares, changing mics and tuning the kit between practically every take, Martyn playing with impeccable technique and feel. Bang. Christoph was also particularly smitten with a little bit of rhythm guitar I’d left hanging around on the outro of the demo, for its groove and attitude (whatever, dude): that became the source of the dual rhythm guitar parts. Barry put down fabulous keys, mainly some Hammond that managed to both push up the rhythm and swirl into nooks and crannies in the groove. Apart from my disappointment at having my bassline voted out in favour of Scott playing it (“it’s a no-brainer” - bloody cheek!), all was going well.

So, an easy one, right? Well, not quite. Christoph was on a quest for the secret key to unlock the track, whether it was in a rhythm guitar phrase or a Hammond riff, so there was quite a bit of tidal flow. He requested a guitar solo NOW, so I did one, which I wasn’t allowed to redo, so hey, a one-take wonder. That’s what happens if you give someone a Producer hat - great responsibility is handed over, great trust is required. And we got there in the end, sassy Sids’ vocals an’ all.

The track sits in the album either as a funky outlier or as a sort of link back to Shriekback’s core DNA. Either way, it grooves like a mofo.

PORTOBELLO HEAD (Barry Andrews)

'I'm gonna have to dissect my own head'

Well yeah, I think we've all been there. Heads are good - Celtic heads, Riddley Walker (sorry but I insist) 'hedds on poles and ripe for telling' (also ‘The Head of Orpheus’) and, more geographically apposite - the head of Bran the Blessed who guards London against the oncoming of enemies - now, they say, buried under Pentonville ('pen' in welsh means ‘head’) Road. And, let's not resist the line of least resistance - the squishy hippy mind set of the pre-Julia Roberts inhabitants of Notting Hill - Portobello Head is a real condition, man..

A comic book thing perhaps - anyway, the point is our hero's sheer abjectness: cock block him, infect him, cuff him to the radiator - truly the dude is on his belly, rolling around on the leatherette in the fumes of burning rubber. What a fucking rotter.

The multi-synth/sampled, mad-as-a-balloon ending was my attempt to respond to Christoph playing us a Franz Ferdinand tune (forgot which) where the standard rocky instrumentation morphs into a technology-driven smeltdown.

In our version I like how a gazillion squirming plastic snakes burst out of the guts of the song and slither off into the night. WTF happened there?

Slowly at First Then All At Once (BA)

…was Hemingway’s reply to the question: ‘how did you go bankrupt?’ Then I heard it applied to the HBO show about Nazis taking over America (no, silly, it was a ‘what-if’ thought experiment set in the 40’s) and I thought that this template - a slow ramp up then a swift ascension, followed by a long decline culminating in a rapid plummet, is the pattern for a whole bunch of things.

I guess also I was thinking of the Pareto curve - the savage law (or maybe more of a guideline - a savage guideline) that obtains in the pitiless game of Monopoly and, indeed, Life - it explains why most of the vinyl in the world is used by Adele, for instance.

It struck me as interesting that there can be mathematically coherent laws which govern human behaviour just as they define the parameters of physics. I like maths, I think, because I really, really don’t understand them (qv. ’37’).

So it’s a very intelligible song for us, I think. Nice and clear. The music also is pretty trad: those straightforward chords with their hymn-like progression.

Its first encounter with the band had Mart going full-fat Power Ballad on its ass - massive drum sound wreathed in reverb and tubular bells - was it overegging the old pudding, I wondered? Christoph curated the present version, distressing further the already pretty lived-in loop the song was built on (from the Chase Bliss Mood pedal, since you ask, my new bff) and reducing the drums to Mart’s reined-in, best-behaviour brush/soft-beater combo.

The verses, rather like Nemesis, have a bullet point, issue-based organisation to them:

V1 is Love: falling/not falling in.. I question the metaphor. Isn’t it more that we suddenly notice it’s there and, heartbreakingly, when it’s not anymore? As in all these examples there’s usually a catalytic, propulsive event - the Reichstag Fire of Romance, if you will.

V2 is Nature - in particular the phenomenon of the Last Tree Standing - usually in November in the UK - one lonely, brave-looking fellow has somehow retained a lot of its leaves when all the others have succumbed to winter - clinging poignantly onto the summer as if to say: ‘nothing’s changed really, look - leaves! It’s still kinda August, right?’ Genetically talented or just aerodynamically lucky, he’s on borrowed time, that tree… Winter is, as they say, coming.

And suddenly, and with one last decisive storm, it’s here.. and all the trees look the same.

V3 - and here come the fascists - I pick a pair of representative tyrants: Ubu Roi - the fictional fat dude with the spiral on his stomach (merdrrrre was his catchphrase (Eng Trans: 'shitttrrr'). And Mu’ammar (Gaddafi).

A pair of right little charmers.

The point, I tried to make in as non-inflammatory way as possible (for after all it is just a pop song) is that - well, you know it by now, if you're ever going to - look after your democracies - they're not, by any means, a given and there are those who are (and how best to say this?) just cunts and we should really try and keep ‘em in check, before they get out of hand.

V4 - this time it's personal - our narrator foetally curled and thumbsucking in the terrible presence of these inexorable laws - contemplates the 'Ultimate Decline': these days very much along the Slowly at First model - you get old, then you get sick, then you go into hospital and you recover but not quite back to where you were before. Repeat for a few times until one day.... it's usually a Fall isn't it? - and then one condition which has tenaciously (albeit precariously) maintained - Being Alive - is instantaneously replaced with... you know - the Other One.

Good Disruption (CM)

This didn’t get its title for a while - it started off as the rather prosaic New Recording 16 - but I did want to try a couple of different things. The twangy, picky, surf-ish guitar tone isn’t one that I use a lot, and I haven’t really pulled out that whiny singing voice since, I dunno, Jam Science? Well, not as a lead vocal, anyway.

I don’t want to go into the lyrics too much here, but I suppose a note would be useful. I had noticed that ‘disruption’ had become a become almost a generic (and generally positive) term for ‘shaking things up’ in almost any context - business, politics, art - and ‘disruptor’ was being self-proclaimed as a title by those fancying themselves as being on the cutting edge of radical change; I’ve even seen it used in peoples’ LinkedIn profiles. However, it also seemed like a lot of real disruptors weren’t working for the general good, ‘disruption’ in these cases meaning ‘wilfully vandalising existing stable paradigms’ through self-interest, ignorance or hey, just for the hell of it. Yes, I’m talking about you, Donald Trump, amongst others.

Then I found the little parable about the ants in the jar which had sprouted on the internet. Essentiall, it goes:

‘If you put 100 black ants and 100 red ants in a jar, they will co-exist peacefully. However, if someone shakes the jar, they will fight to the death, the black ants thinking the red ants are the enemy and vice versa, when in fact the real enemy is whoever shook the jar.’

You can find this trotted out all over the place to illustrate different conflicts - Black/White, Male/Female, Right/Left etc.. It’s such a neat little picture that no-one seems to care whether it’s actually true or where it first originated. I think I first saw it on a website called The Good Republican, which no longer seems to exist (maybe unsurprisingly), but it’s been attributed to all sorts of people, notably David Attenborough (it definitely wasn’t him). I just found it interesting as an example of how things are spread and appropriated and how the dissemination process becomes a kind of disruption in its own right.

Anyway, back to the studio and, in this case, a relatively straightforward build on Martyn’s once again excellent drums. The guitar sound posed some issues for Christoph, however: he loved the sound on my demo version, which was built in Logic, recreating the pedalboard sound I’d created in the writing room, and he in turn recreated it (ish) in the studio for me to play and expand the parts. I think I liked the result, although the sound was harder and brighter, but Christoph elected to use the parts from the demo, favouring sound over performance, arguably. Somewhere in the mixing process we also effectively lost a synth part I’d put on; having now lived without it for a while, I think that was a mistake, as it leaves the chorus vocal somewhat exposed and unsupported. (You just get a taste of it right at the end, pretty much the last thing you hear.) It’s that Producer trust/responsibility thing again…

To make up for that, we get some fabulous keyboards - squiggly synth and groovy, atmospheric organ: Barry’s not a Manzarek fan at all, but he gets his Doors on here. And of course The Sids, gamely chanting along to the, erm, disrupted middle vocal section, straight-faced but flexible. An interesting tangent, then, but worth pursuing further…? We’ll see, I suppose…

EVERYTHING HAPPENS SO MUCH (BA)

'That might as well happen' says Ryan George the Youtube comic as his Hollywood script writer pitches plots at his (thinly disguised doppelganger) movie executive. Every far fetched and arbitrary thing that happens might as well (happen).

https://youtu.be/PrAT_ncXr7M

Reality, of course, does not flinch from arbitrariness or ridiculously impausible content. A commonplace comment over the last few years has come in these variations: 'if this was in a film you'd say it was too over the top/on the nose/ downright unbelievable.'

I mean check this out:

‘The conspiracy theorists behind Frazzledrip believe that Hillary Clinton and former Clinton aide Huma Abedin were filmed ripping off a child’s face and wearing it as a mask before drinking the child’s blood in a Satanic ritual sacrifice. Supposedly, the Hillary Clinton video was later found on the hard drive of Abedin’s former husband, Anthony Weiner, under the code name ‘Frazzledrip’.

So yeah. The wheels have come off on the Crazy Train, people. So, it’s no wonder that our poor narrator is driven to consult (in the bridge section) his spirit guide or an oracle to get a bit of perspective.

The whole tune was extrapolated from the little Mood pedal loop with which it begins - started off as a piano, as I recall. Really is paying for itself, that thing..

Different Story (CM)

This, the most ‘pop’ song on the album, started from Barry’s catchy little piano riff. It’s essentially a boy-meets-girl ditty, about how that’s a timeless story and yet different for everyone. What’s been different during the past couple of years, of course, is that boy couldn’t meet girl. That lack of personal contact has left story arcs hanging, and it’s become apparent that that narrative is not only a description of reality but somehow part of its fabric, so removing it has left a bigger hole than we perhaps would have expected. We have filled it in remotely, by Zoom and social media and by creating our own internal stories, but the lack of human face-to-face interaction has left a huge disconnect for some. In this song it’s the young: I can’t imagine what it would have been like to be so isolated when I was, what, 20-21 - there may not have been a Shriekback, for a start!.So the pop song is followed by a reflective passage about the ways we create and modify our stories and, through those, our realities, with a respectful nod to those we’ve loved and lost in these strange times.

Musically, the initial groove was developed into a loping, rattling thing that for a while clattered along so happily that it was the longest track on the record, until it was reeled in to an appropriate length for its pop status and is now the shortest track on the album. Still, there’s always a remix…

There was some sparring around the bassline - whenever Barry worked on the track he took out my bass guitar and used the keyboard bass; I did the opposite. Eventually we worked out the plot for a hybrid, switching between the two for different sections: a risky strategy, but it works. For the big chorus chord progression I decided not to do my usual Big Chord trick, but went for sharp chords cutting across instead. I sort of wish now that I’d done both: there’s a reason I always use that trick… oh well. The Sids are on point, of course - quite unusual choices, intriguingly dodging the obvious.

Now the story starts again…

1000 Different Books (CM)

This trippy thing emerged from improvisations using loops and atmospherics generated by the battlestar of new hardware that Barry auditioned, accumulated and harnessed during lockdown (quite obsessively, really, but someone’s gotta do it). From the start, it seemed to resist the structuring that we imposed on other tracks, going a different way every time we played it, so much so that we decided to let it be the only one that would continue to be developed through improvisation in the studio. If I may quote myself from a recent interview (indulgent, perhaps, but I think this nails it): “I’m usually fine with this idea, but in this case I sort of lost my nerve, mainly because it was too hard to develop a lyric and vocal over such a random piece… and, unlike the early days, we didn’t have unlimited time to follow ideas through. So it was structured, although there was more improvisation and layering than on some other tracks. At various points we had extensive piano sorties, a fair bit of feedback guitar, then it got reeled into what you hear. I really like the organic shifts in tone and rhythm, and how the drums work in a way you might not immediately think of as a Shriekback groove.”

1000 Different Books clocks in as the longest track on the record. I thought about shortening it, but again the organism resisted - I tried editing out the second verse (“rolling back the mind…”), the only lyric I considered potentially expendable, but a simple edit damaged the organic development of the track underneath: an actual remix would have been required, and we’d gone beyond the time and budget for that, so we have 5:19 of sonic evolution to live with forever. Nice.

The title, as you may already know by now, comes from a quotation from Andrei Tarkovsky’s Sculpting In Time - “A book read by a thousand different people is a thousand different books”, which seemed appropriate not only for the alternative realities of our fractured times but for the multiple interpretations that any Shriekback release inevitably attracts (me reading reviews: “oh, so that’s what I was on about”). In this case, it’s a reflection along the lines of ‘what have we done with all this time, why are we still here, what’s next?’, a coda of sorts to Space In The Blues: we cry into the future, but at least there is a future.

WILD WORLD (BA)

Wild World was a bit of a turn-up - right at the end written very quickly with no big struggles (see also: Exquisite Corpse, Bernadette, Hubris) - like it just wanted to burst out. So weird how that happens and yeah, a gift. From.... our boiling interiors, the Universe? She-Ra? Wotan?

We may never know..

The use of the vocoder - completely unplanned - was just from improvising with the Big Rig (the coral reef of quirky musical equipment accreting and mutating constantly in my living room) and the way it lets me sound prettier than I can can usually sound (v much as on 'Evaporation' from Care). It was the prosthetic I needed, clearly.

How it becomes alien and impersonal like Laurie Anderson's answering machine was not really intended - I worry that it's a screen to hide behind but I wasn't about to fuck around with it since it obviously - on one level anyway - 'worked'.

My son Finn's song 'One Piece at a Time' was an influence - that idea of a beneficent, forgiving world - and the Martin Amis notion (from 'The Information') that pretty much everywhere in the Universe would kill you in seconds if you went there but this place doesn't - that's a very elemental kind of love isn't it?

'God's World' by Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892-1950) should also get a shout-out:

O world, I cannot hold thee close enough!

Thy winds, thy wide grey skies!

Thy mists, that roll and rise!

Thy woods, this autumn day, that ache and sag

And all but cry with colour! That gaunt crag

To crush! To lift the lean of that black bluff!

World, World, I cannot get thee close enough!

Long have I known a glory in it all,

But never knew I this;

Here such a passion is

As stretcheth me apart,—Lord, I do fear

Thou'st made the world too beautiful this year;

My soul is all but out of me,—let fall

No burning leaf; prithee, let no bird call.

(btw does everyone collect pebbles? I reckon they do...)

#1000 Books #shriekback #trackbytrack #christophskirl

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disease · 3 years ago

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Musick to Play in the Dark Vol 2 by Coil

After leaving London in 1999 for the sleepy seaside retiree town of Weston-super-Mare, Coil co-founders John Balance and Peter “Sleazy” Christopherson set up shop in a palatial eight-bedroom estate to pursue the outer reaches of the group’s heightening cabalistic chemistry. Among the staggering string of late-era masterpieces they produced is lunar opus Musick To Play In The Dark, widely hailed as an artistic zenith upon its release. The sessions that birthed it were in fact so fruitful that a second LP took shape during the creation of the first one. Aided by the recent addition of Welsh multi-instrumentalist engineer Thighpaulsandra, Coil mined further into the recesses of surrealist eldritch electronica Balance termed “moon music” – post-industrial spellcasting at the axis of narcotic and nocturnal energies. Musick To Play In The Dark² spans a full witching hour of bad acid sound design, synthesizer voyaging, opiated balladry, Luciferian glitch, and subliminal hymnals, alternately ominous, oracular, and absurd. Scottish gothic icon Rose McDowall guests on vocals for two tracks but otherwise the album is a hermetic affair, tapping into the group’s limitless insular synergy. Opener “Something” is stark and incantational, a spoken word experiment for windswept voids. “Tiny Golden Books” unspools an aerial whirlpool of cosmic synth, both whispery and widescreen. “Ether” is an exercise in funeral procession piano and intoxicated wordplay (“It's either ether or the other”), while “Where Are You?” and “Batwings – A Liminal Hymn” lurk like liturgical murmurings heard on one’s death bed, framed in granular FX and flickering candlelight. As a whole the collection skews more muted and remote than its predecessor, as if having grown accustomed to the nether regions of these darkening seances. But music box hallucination “Paranoid Inlay” captures the group’s oblique comedic side, always glimmering beneath: over a warped, wobbly beat Balance intones an opaque narrative of serenity, Saint Peter, and suicidal vegetables, accompanied by spiraling harpsichord and stuttering squelches of electronics. “It seems concussion suits you,” he repeats twice, like a macabre pickup line, before dictating a dear diary entry about risks and failures, finally concluding with as close to a self-portrait as Coil ever came: “On a clear day I can see forever / that the underworld is my oyster.”

released April 8, 2022

#RELEASE RADAR #coil #musick to play in the dark² #dais records #industrial #experimental #electronic #music #bandcamp #text

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x--daughters-of-darkness--x · 4 years ago

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Evanescence: “Guitarists need to be honest. Use your voice. We don’t need fake – we need humanity and real people”

Jen Majura and Troy McLawhorn wax lyrical on the high-octane gear, influences and themes behind the band's upcoming fifth album, The Bitter Truth

The Bitter Truth, the fifth full-length from Evanescence set for release in March 2021, will be their first album of new material in a decade. The American arena group led by singer/keyboardist Amy Lee had already released three singles, though the record’s completion was stalled by the virus pandemic that dominated headlines for much of the year.

The first sessions took place at the beginning of 2020 with rock super producer Nick Raskulinecz [Foo Fighters, Rush, Alice In Chains] in his Nashville studio, spawning the tracks we’ve heard so far – Wasted On You, The Game Is Over and Use My Voice. Then, of course, came Covid, putting an end to safe travel and forcing virtually all plans to change.

For the members in America, it was incredibly problematic. For German guitarist Jen Majura, who joined in 2015, it was an absolute nightmare. Nevertheless, the group kept chiseling away and fleshing out their parts for album number five.

When Guitar World tracks down Majura and co-guitarist Troy McLawhorn towards the end of 2020, things are still very much in the process of being finalized...

Looking back now, that session in Nashville must feel like a very long time ago!

Majura: “Definitely! What hit me so hard was that we’d recorded that first chunk of songs and waved goodbye at the airport, thinking we’d be back in a couple of weeks. And then suddenly this pandemic hit, airports were all shut!

“I had never felt more apart from my friends in the States than since this all started. It’s so unnatural for me not to be there! I’m very old-school – I like my tube amp and 4x12 cabinet. I like to sit in the studio with the humans I’m working with and creating in the moment.

“Being away from Amy and the boys while working on material has felt so unnatural to me, but that’s the we have to do it and we have to make the best out of it. The time we spent with Nick in Nashville was the happiest ever.

“It felt amazing to see these songs coming to life – you have this idea but when you are all in a room creating, things change and become better, you end up trying out different ways. It’s such a vibrant and beautiful way of working. But I get it, there’s this thing called corona, so you know…”

This will be your first album working together on new material. How do you go about splitting guitar parts?

McLawhorn: “Whenever we’re jamming, if someone comes up with up something cool, they play it. There’s no set thing. So far I’ve probably played the majority of the lead guitar – if Jen comes up with something she is always welcome to play whatever it is. It’s a good working relationship. The first batch of songs, the first three that came out, were done in one session before the coronavirus hit. We were all together for those ones.

“But then Jen flew home back to Germany and we were supposed to tour in Europe, but it all got cancelled. Everything we’ve done since then has been without Jen with us, we’ve been kinda flying sessions back and forth. I probably played a lot of the guitar on the album, but she’s been coming up with cool ideas and putting her stamp on it too.”

The Game Is Over definitely feels like the heavier side of Evanescence…

McLawhorn: “There’s a lot of good stuff like that on this one, stuff that people will be surprised by maybe. There’s a fair amount of that aggressive type of music, but it’s a good mixture. So far everyone’s heard the lighter side of the album, like Use My Voice and Wasted On You… but then there’s The Game Is Over. It was a lot of fun to play and there’s more heavy stuff on there too!”

Majura: “That bridge is so heavy, I love it! It’s going back to the real rock roots and having lots of fun. When you have a low-tuned guitar you have to be a bit careful – you can’t just smash your strings but they will warp a bit.

“I remember forcing myself, especially during the bridge, to play gentle even though it had this badass attitude. It took me a couple of takes… the first ones were completely out of tune [laughs]!”

Jen, it must have been a rollercoaster five years for you. How did you end up getting the gig?

Majura: “What happened was that I was playing bass in another band, not really being happy as I’m a guitar player. We happened to play two festivals, one in Germany and one in the Czech Republic. And it turns out Testament were playing the same days as us.

“I’m a huge Alex Skolnick fan, so we ended up talking and keeping in touch. A couple of days later, I got this very mysterious email from him saying, ‘Jen! Some friends of mine are going to contact you and I can’t reveal too much but I think it’s something you should say yes to!’ I was wondering what the hell he was talking about…

“And then a day later, I got this email from Evanescence’s management asking if I would be interested in… and I didn’t even finish reading the email. I just immediately replied ‘Yes!’ and sent it. That was a total no-brainer.

“So this was around July 2015 and the next evening I was on the phone with Amy talking. She invited me to come visit her in New York and hang out. I thought, ‘Okay… cool!’ and three days later I was on a plane flying to fuckin’ New York wondering if this was really happening. It was insane.”

Did you bring your guitar?

Majura: “I didn’t! I asked her if I needed to bring one and she said, ‘Nah, I know you can play, I’ve seen plenty of videos – let’s just hang out!’ And that’s exactly what we did for the next three days. Hanging out, long walks and talks, going out for dinner or to a concert. Becoming friends and getting to know each other on a more human relationship kind of base.

“I realize now that’s the biggest deal when you have to replace a member. A band is a family. I’d like to quote Rob Zombie on that, because he said it in the movie Hired Gun!

“Finding a good player is the easy part – the world is full of virtuosos. You also need someone who can commit to touring, being on the road and that whole lifestyle. The third and last thing, also the toughest, is that you need people you can stand hanging out with 24/7.

“Concerts are only 90 minutes – what about all the other hours in the day? You need to all fit together. Within those first few days with Amy, I realized we both had a strong work ethic and know exactly what we want, which is beautiful.

“She’s a very strong character. I appreciate her musicality and personality too, she quickly became one of my best friends because we laughed about the same things and then figured out we both love Sex and the City [laugh]! I am so grateful and thankful to have experienced everything I have with her and the boys.”

Troy, you’ve been a member of Seether and filled in for Sevendust on some tours, but you’ve been an on/off member of Evanescence for over a decade now…

McLawhorn: “Yeah, to be honest, I never really left Evanescence. We have big breaks between albums. When I did my first tour with the band, Amy told me she was taking a long break, probably around four or five years. I just went out to find something to do in the meantime and ended up playing in Seether for a few years…

“When it was time for me to leave, it coincided with Amy being ready to do another album. And it was a huge coincidence. I ended up in New York and went to Amy’s house. I was having trouble in Seether and wasn’t happy there, and she said she’d love me to come work on the new album. That’s how it all went down.

“There seems to be some pretty long breaks in between albums with this band but I think that’s part of Amy’s creative process. She likes to take her time when she’s writing the lyrics. The final product always turns out really nice that way, so why mess with it?”

What can you tell us about the gear responsible for the guitar sounds on this album?

Majura: “I signed up with Synergy Amps in November last year. When I joined, I think Steve Vai was the only big name working with them, but I figured if it’s Steve Vai it’s gotta be fucking great. So I went over to check their amp out and I was very skeptical. It looks like a tube amp but with all these holes and parts missing!

“But I plugged in, hit one chord and realized it was actually phenomenal. They’ve sent all the different modules to me, like the Diezel, and the perfect solution for me was the Friedman HBE. It has the perfect rock and roll sound for my solos but it also has the mighty depth of high-gain stuff too – which are all frequencies you need for Evanescence.

“I was originally expecting I’d go with the Diezel one, but the Friedman felt more right for me. I’m very open-minded when it comes to technology. You have two modules, each with two channels, so you get a four-channel amp made out of your favorites.

“For example, I could combine a Vox AC30 Brian May sound with a Diezel VH4. It’s phenomenal what they’ve managed to open up for us musicians in terms of sound options. It’s been my tour rig and studio rig ever since.”

McLawhorn: “I used a combination of different things on this album. On The Game Is Over, it was basically my live setup which is an Orange Rockerverb 100, with an analog pedalboard.

“A big part of the tone I get from the amp comes down to a 10-band EQ I use to boost the mids on the lead channel. That’s about it – I don’t really use overdrive pedals or anything like that and probably use less gain than most modern guitarists. I almost use EQ to find a modern sound, instead of more gain.

“I also have a Fractal Axe-Fx III, which I’ve used here and there on the album, especially for clean parts – it’s really good for that. I’ve done some overdubs with the II as well, stuff that has a lot of effects or sounds really wet – Axe-Fx is great for that, too. I also have a 1969 Marshall Superbass 100 which we split with a Bogner Ecstasy or Uberschall, and used for the rhythm tracks on a couple of songs.”

And how about for guitars?

Majura: “I’ve been with Ibanez for many years now and I’m very happy. They deliver the most perfect instruments. You pick up an instrument and either like it or not. Some of them seem to instantly merge with your system – you become one – and that is true of most Ibanez guitars, at least for me.

“Of course I’ve played Les Pauls and other things, but they’re really not my style. I have so many Ibanez guitars now. I think the AZ series was such a smart move – the family is even bigger and better now… Look at players like Tim Henson, who is just amazing. He makes me feel so old. He’ll be nailing it and I’m at home just playing along to AC/DC or something!

“For pedals, I stick with the Line 6 Helix pedalboard because I remember at my first rehearsal in 2015, they would tell me certain parts would need a chorus or flanger or this or that. At the end of the rehearsal I had a battery of pedals in front of me and realized I couldn’t do it. I’ve never been a pedal dancer. I went to Line 6 asking for a solution and they were just about to come out with the Helix… it was perfect.”

McLawhorn: “I was using a baritone PRS SE. I changed the pickups out, but that’s it – I love the guitar and how it plays. I tried a few different sets, most by Seymour Duncan. One of my seven-strings has a Seymour that my tech put in on the road and I don’t know which one it is! He just found it in my guitar coffin and asked if we should throw it in. It stayed for the rest of the tour – it was probably a JB, who knows!

“But the one on the record is the Distortion (SH-6). I really like how they sound. At first, they were a little hot for what I like – I tend to prefer somewhere in between modern metal and classic rock. It felt like really high gain, way too much, especially when switching from my other guitars. But he really lowered the pickup down and that fixed everything, making everything super-tight and adding some nice mids.”

Use My Voice has a really powerful message behind it…

Majura: “Yes! Another thing that connects me and Amy very strongly is that we both went through moments in our careers where males would tell us, ‘You’re just a girl – what do you know?’ It’s time for strong women – in rock or wherever – to stand up and say being good at a craft has nothing to do with gender. It’s been happening for way too long.

“That feeling of our voices being suppressed needs to change, because every voice matters. We’re all the same. It does not matter if you are male or female or transgender… humans are humans. I think we should spend more time understanding why we’re the same. Use My Voice is an important message for women to stand up and be heard.”

Where do you think your influences differ as guitar players?

Majura: “The first guitar hero I had at around 10 or 11 was Steve Vai. He was so revolutionary in terms of what he’s done for the guitar world, both sound-wise and crafts-wise. Electric guitar wouldn’t be what it is today without Steve Vai.

“I respect him so much for how he feels and talks through his instrument. He’s influenced my thinking about a lot of things. He’s an amazing person, not just an amazing musician.

“Then I got into Nuno Bettencourt, who plays for the sake of the song instead of showing off. Which is what I tried to do on my first solo album, Inzenity, everyone expected a shred album and it wasn’t. I played for the song. If it didn’t require a guitar solo then fine, I’d just leave it. I didn’t need to prove to the world how good I was.

“Nuno also has the percussive style of playing, which brings this tone that I really like. And finally, Angus Young. I’ve been playing in an AC/DC tribute band for four years and I love his playing.”

McLawhorn: “A lot of them for me were the classic players while I was growing up. So Ace Frehley for sure… KISS were like Slipknot for us who grew up in the '70s [laughs]! Then there’s Jimmy Page and Jimi Hendrix. Tony Iommi as well, he was a massive influence on me as a kid.

“Eddie Van Halen was a huge influence on me, too – it was very sad that we lost him so early and so young. When Van Halen came out, I started taking guitar very seriously. The bluesy side of his playing always appealed to me but he also had all that technical prowess, too. A very inspiring guitar player for so many people.”

What advice can you offer anyone out there hoping to become a good session player?

McLawhorn: “You need to know how to communicate with people. I’ve done sessions with some Nashville guys that have this shorthand way of writing music. Reading music and knowing theory is always important… I wish I knew more myself.

“It puts you at ease walking into a session knowing you read and play anything back. I can’t really do that – I just really really listen and learn things by memory. I can read some music but that’s going back to trumpet at high school [laughs]. So I rely on communication always!”

Majura: “I think guitar players need to be honest. Use your voice. Be real. Be pure. We don’t need fake, we need humanity and real people. What I love about people like Mattias IA Eklundh is he’s just himself. He’s pure and innovative in a really interesting way.

“I’ve gotten to know guys like him, Guthrie Govan, Richie Kotzen and Jeff Waters – they’re all awesome and very honest players. I think one should never think one has seen it all and learned it all.

“We need to keep in mind we’re all on a journey in search of becoming better. In terms of advice, I always have to say being open to different styles is so important. There’s something to learn every day. You should never stop trying to improve to make the world a better place. You should never stop learning… that’s what makes you human.”

#Jen Majura #troy mclawhorn #Evanescence #2021 interviews

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thestartline · 5 years ago

Text

“Ray” May 2020 Issue - Stray Kids Interview (Hyung line)

Commonly known as “SKZ”, Stray Kids the group that needs to be payed attention in 2020 finally made their Japan debut after successfully holding their showcase at the Yoyogi National Gymnasium last year December! Spread across 10 pages, we will thoroughly analyse the 8 members!

Q, What makes Stray Kids unique?

LK: That all 8 of us have completely different colours. Depending on the members that are put together, the colours differ, and when all of us are put together, we are able to demonstrate an even larger amount of synergy.

CB: When many different colours are put together, it usually ends up black. However, in our case, it doesn’t become black but the colours we individually have can be seen.

IN: I also think another charm is the difference between how we are on stage and off stage! On stage, everyone is passionate and cool, but off stage, wre are very loud and cute.

Q. Tell us some memories from last year’s showcase!

BC: It was a performance not long after the official lightstick was released, but STAY’s were shaking the lightstick and I can’t forget that picture.

HN: I was really happy that they sang out songs with us!

SM: As the lyrics are in Korean, I think it was difficult for them to sing it, they sang along with us.

CB: I can’t forget everyone watching us as they shook the lightsticks.

Q. Is there a song you’d like to recommend from your Japanese debut album?

HJ: Double Knot. It’s a very powerful song, and when listening to it, you naturally feel as if you gain strength. If you want to feel like that, I recommend this song!

FX: My Pace has a good beat and is a song that gets you hyper, but the lyrics has the message “There’s no need to rush, it’s okay at your own pace”. Anyone can lose sight of their own pace, so I believe it is a song that can be understood by many people.

Q. Are there any activities or goals you’d like to accomplish through Japanese promotions?

FX: I’d like to go on variety programs, and also go around Japan!

LK: Would it be Han and Changbin that’ll be the most successful on variety programs? Haha

CB: I want to practise Japanese a lot, and do some free talking at a concert.

LK: Our goal is to have a dome tour! If we can stand on a dome stage, I want to prepare unit and solo stages and create a cool stage!

HN: We’re aiming to become artists that can have a good influence. We hope we can be like that for everyone!

Stray Kid’s back pillar! Reliable all-rounder leader - Bang Chan

Born on October 3rd, 1997. Blood type O. From Australia. Leader of the group, respected by everyone and organised. In charge of lyric writing, song making, producing, as well as rap, vocal, and dance.

#Vampire_Leader

SM: He’s very pale and looks like a vampire!

#A_great_leader

HN: (In Japanese) “A great leader”

CB: Even if there is no time, he’d try to get everything completed. Han and I would go “Ah, we can’t do it” and tend to give up, but he doesn’t do that. He also takes care of the mental sides of the members.

Q. Tell us something surprising about the members!

BC: Seungmin is really mischievous. He suddenly comes towards me and goes “Waaah!” and he often does really weird stuff haha.

Q. Is there any Japanese piece you like?

BC: The movie “My Tomorrow, Your Yesterday”. The general atmosphere of the movie is warm and I like that.

Q. If you become another member for a day, who would it be?

BC: I want to become Felix and play games! Because Felix is always doing games haha. I also want to savour that nice voice of his.

Q. What do you think is the most important aspect to accomplish a dream?

BC: Always think about the future, and live the present. Depending on how you live in the present, you future changes, You can’t go back into the past, so I look towards my dreams with an open perspective.

Q. What is your charming point?

BC: I’m very athletic. I used to swim and play football at Australia, I can do anything!

Q. How do you switch up when you’re tired or feeling down?

BC: I talk to the members. Even by just being with them, I can feel happier and joyful. When I talk to them about my worries or just anything in general, I feel a lot brighter. When I’m feeling down, Seungmin plays tricks on me but it does help me feel better haha.

Q. What is something you always bring with you on foreign schedules?

BC: My computer that I use to write songs. I always have it with me, and I make songs in foreign countries as well. I made some today too.

Q. What is a Japanese word you learnt recently?

BC: 「役に立つ」(”To be useful”). I learnt it in Japanese class, and I used it once.

Q. Is there a place you’d like to go in Japan?

BC: Osaka! Sana from Twice who is a senior at the company is from the Kansai prefecture, and she told me a lot of stories when we were trainees. I want to get to know the culture of Osaka!

Q. If you weren’t a singer, what do you think you would be doing?

BC: Either an athlete or actor. I used to go to a performing arts school in Australia. I got accepted through a music exam, but I was also interested in acting. Or, I would have been a football player or swimmer!

The 4D Ikemen who has charms that cannot be stopped - Lee Know

Born on October 25th, 1998. Blood type O. From his powerful performance, impressive dancing skills, and flowery appearance, he is nicknamed the “Dancing Gem”. On the other hand, he tends to say unique things and is called as a peculiar.

#The_Tsundere

HJ: He is often teased and made fun of, but at times, he shows how helpful and caring he is and I’m amazed. Although he acts as if he doesn’t care, he has a heart. I think thats a nice quality of his.

#Guardian

FX: He is exactly the “brother”. During practise, he watches us warmly from the back. I’m still studying Japanese, and there are time when I fumble for words during ments, but [Lee Know] helps me secretly, and always supports me without large actions.

Q. What is your charming point?

LK: My entire existence. Please focus on me on stage when I’m sweating and getting sexier and sexier.

Q. What is the first you do after you wake up in the morning?

LK: I drink lactic acid bacteria! Apparently it is good to boost bowel movement and immunity. As I have gotten older, I feel like I get tired easily so I drink it these days haha.

Q. What is a Japanese word you learnt recently?

LK: 「リノさん、今何をしていますか？」(Lee Know san, what are you doing right now?). I take Japanese class at Korea, and I was learning this exact phrase haha.

Q. If you become another member for a day, who would it be?

LK: By elimination method, it’ll have to be I.N. haha. I also want to experience the love the youngest member receives. When I think I.N. is cute? Anytime when his eyes aren’t open! By that, I mean when only he is sleeping haha.

Q. What do you think is the most important aspect to accomplish a dream?

LK: To work hard. I believed chances will always come to everyone, but there is no use if you are not prepared to grab that chance. Thats why I think it is important to work hard to prepare to grab those chances.

Q. If you weren’t a singer, what do you think you would be doing?

I think I would be fishing from a water reservoir, fighting a battle with myself. Although I’ve never done it before haha.

Q. Is there any Japanese piece you like?

LK: I like everything! (In Japanese) I like anime the most, and I really like “That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime”. Its about an corporate worker who dies and becomes reborn as a slime. Its fantasy but there is a love story as well, and its really great!

Q. Anything you’re into these days?

LK: CrossFit. I started it to diet, but I’m really into it now. I watch clips and experiment with it. Its difficult, but it helps me to release stress by adding weight to my body. I think its important to completely rest when resting, and to really go for it when you’re working out. Thanks to CrossFit, I’ve gained physical strength, and this helps me during performances as well.

Q. How do you switch up when you’re tired or feeling down?

LK: I do pushups. After about 5 sets of 10 pushups, my body gets warmed up. It makes me feel better when I’m banking up my muscles.

Q. Is there a place you’d like to go in Japan?

LK: Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium. There are both whales and sharks so I’ll like to see them! Okinawa is famous for its beaches, so I’ll like to go there as well.

“I love dark” but a rapper filled with cute charms - Changbin

Born on August 11th, 1999. Blood type O. Known for his super fast rapping, he is a skilled rapper. Along with Bang Chan and Han, he is part of the producing unit “3RACHA”. He also has a cute side of being teased by the younger members.

#A_reliable_brother

BC: Changbin had a really big heart! (In Japanese)

SM: He’s a reliable brother.

BC: Yeah, he’s younger than me but he seems older sometimes. Although he can be quite mischievous at times haha.

CB: Yeah, I like pulling tricks.

HN: We all ignore you though.

BC: He’s annoying haha. (In Japanese)

Q. What is your charming point?

CB: The difference between me on stage and everyday life. On stage, I seem charismatic and give off a dark image, but off stage I’m completely different! I’m usually bright and easy to engage with.

Q. How do you switch up when you’re tired or feeling down?

CB: These days I’ve been trying to talk to the members. I recently realised its better not to bottle it up by myself. I talk to my sister or with the members. I talk the most to Seungmin. Seungmin really relies on me, and although he is younger, he is also reliable and gives me good advice.

Q. What is something you always bring with you on foreign schedules?

CB: Vitamins and apple juice. I need to take care of my health. It’s really good for the body if you drink apple juice in the morning”

Q. What do you think is the most important aspect to accomplish a dream?

CB: Its important to think about why you want to accomplish that dream in the first place. Its also important to have the mindset “I’m moving towards my goal”, to not be swayed by others, and to trust the passion you have in yourself. Along with STAY’s, I want to have this mindset and accomplish my dreams!

Q. If you weren’t a singer, what do you think you would be doing?

CB: I think I’d be playing around. Even then, I think I would have been making music. When I was younger, I wanted to be the president, a scientist, and a elementary school teacher. I was interested in many occupations, but I never thought about it carefully.

Q. Is there any Japanese piece you like?

CB: If its anime, I like “Crayon Shin-chan” and for music, I like ONE OK ROCK’s “Clock Strikes”!

Q. Tell us something surprising about the members!

CB: Han is actually really clean. He showers a lot. And, he’s really clever! He doesn’t seem as if he’s thinking much, but he’s thinking really deeply and also really imaginative. He’s thinking a lot, and that allows him to write the lyrics to a song in an hour.

Q. If you become another member for a day, who would it be?

CB: Hyunjin. He’s tall and good looking. If I were him, I would be walking around holding a mirror haha.

Q. Is there a place you’d like to go in Japan?

CB: To a ryokan. When we did a concert in Japan, my parents came and went to a ryokan without me. They sent me pictures, and I was really envious!

Q. What is a Japanese word you learnt recently?

CB: 「ぴえん」(t/n the pleading face emoji). At a fan sign, a Japanese fan told me!

Behind his cool visuals, there is a passion and hard work - Hyunjin

Born on March 20th, 2000. Blood type B. The “visual centre” that all the members agree on. His speciality is dance, and along with Lee Know and Felix, he is part of “Dance Racha”. A hardworking dancer.

#An_hardworking_artist

FX: His passion towards performances is amazing, and he is always thoroughly prepared. He really wants to show who he is, his own colour. Depending on the song, he is able to show his cute or sexy side, his skills get better and better each day!

#Lukewarm_water

LK: He is between cold water and hot water. Although he may seem cool, he is passionate and his heart is warm. With his cool exterior, he makes lukewarm water.

IN: He is like warm water. Because Hyunjin hyung is really hot! Really, he is always hot and sweating. He really is a warm person.

Q. What made you the most excited recently?

HJ: On New Year’s Eve, we had a party with all the members! In Korea, we all turn a year older on New Year’s, so we got together to celebrate I.N. who is now legal! We ordered and ate a lot of food. What I want to eat on my birthday? I want to have my mother’s seaweed soup!

Q. What is your charming point?

HJ: I’m a hard worker. I stand on stage because I work extremely hard. I really try to change the mood depending on the performance, so please pay attention to my dancing!

Q. Is there any Japanese piece you like?

HJ: “Inazuma Eleven”. It’s a football anime. I used to play football when I was younger and I loved playing it with my friends.

Q. How do you switch up when you’re tired or feeling down? HJ: I let it flow according to the time. I think most things can be resolved when time passes. I usually let things flow, but when its really hard, I watch a sad movie and cry watching it.

Q. What do you think is the most important aspect to accomplish a dream?

HJ: Hard work and the environment around you. I think I’m here right now because I had many older brothers and sisters who helped me when I was a trainee. There were a lot of things I wasn’t good at or didn’t like, and it was tough, I was able to come this far because there were many people that supported me.

Q. If you weren’t a singer, what do you think you would be doing?

Overwhelmed by my studies and I might have been stressed haha. I wanted to be a interior designer and used to study maths seriously. I wanted to design a house and live with my parents.

Q. Is there anything you’re into these days?

HJ; Listening to 80′s Korean music. I write lyrics, so I was interested in the lyrics of old songs. After listening to many songs, I realised there are really good songs, and I’m into it these days.

Q. If you become another member for a day, who would it be?

HJ: I want to become Felix and speak english fluently!

Q. Is there a place you’d like to go in Japan?

HJ: I want to travel Tokyo with my parents. I want to go to a CD shop and show them my photo and say “I’m here!”.

Q. What is a Japanese word you learnt recently?

HJ: 「なるほど」(”I see”). I think 「なるほど」is the word I hear most frequently in Japan.

!! Take out with credits; @yarn1003 on twitter !!

#Stray Kids #SKZ #Bang Chan #Lee Know #Changbin #Hyunjin #SKZ2020

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fxasker-blog · 7 years ago

Text

How do I place a pending order in Trading Platform with FXDana?

How do I place a pending order in Trading Platform with FXDana? Read More http://fxasker.com/question/dd26ee71154646ac/ FXAsker

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kynky · 6 years ago

Audio

STRICTLY DRUM&BASS. AUG 2018 UPDATE

Tracklisting

Africa – Klinical

All Ganja Man – Serum, $pyda

All The Way Up – Deekline, Specimen A

Atrophy – Memtrix

Believe in Me – Hamilton

Blind in Light – Memtrix

Borovicka - Original Mix – Teddy Killerz

Breaking Point – Mean Teeth

Breathe - Instrumental – Voicians

A Broken Heart – Dom & Roland

Bull It – MSDOS

Carnal Mind – L-Side, Ras Tweed

Chibaku Tensei – Reso

Civilization – Macky Gee, DJ Phantasy, DJ Fresh

Claws – Emperor

Creeper – Critical Impact, Break, Skibadee

Crystal Clear – Nymfo

Dark Dreams – Sustance

Dark Machine - Original Mix – Synergy

Deathray – Evol Intent

Deep in My Heart - DJ Marky & Dr Meaker Remix – Dr Meaker, Lorna King, DJ Marky

Designer Drugs – Circuits

Don't Walk Away – Flowidus, Edde

Echoes – Apex

Enemy (Gydra Remix) - Instrumental – Blue Stahli, Gydra

Everybody's Got to Learn Sometime - I Need Your Loving – Abacus, Cimone

Exhale – Levela

Fall from Grace - Technimatic Remix – Blu Mar Ten, Kite, Technimatic

Frequency – S.P.Y

Front Left – Benny Page, Eva Lazarus

Ganja Man (Jaydan Remix) – Krome, Time

Ghetto – Unglued

Ghost Note – Dub Head, M.Justa

Give Up the Ghost - Calibre Remix – Zed Bias, Nasrawi, Disco Puppet, Calibre

Glue Gun – Fox Stevenson

Good Thing - Danny Byrd Remix – Kideko, Danny Byrd

Gravity – Delta Heavy

Hayati – Sabrepulse

Heartless – Bad Company UK, Dan Lancaster

How Will I Know – Signal

The Howling – Peanut, RIOT

The Hustler - Technique Summer 2018 Sampler – Drumsound & Bassline Smith

I Need a Riddim – Murdock

Ice Station Zero – Bad Company UK, Kill The Noise, Mat Zo

In the Night – Muzzy, Sullivan King

Interstellar – TC

Intravenous – Calyx & TeeBee

Kilimanjaro – Drumsound & Bassline Smith

Kong – Dark Soldier, Ray Keith

Lightspeed – Prolix

Lost Victory – Signal, Disprove, Fre4knc

Lv – Need For Mirrors

Mariana – Arkaik

Massacre - Original Mix – Agressor Bunx

Moose Knuckle - Majistrate Remix – Heist, Majistrate

More Than Human – Cyantific, DC Breaks

Murderer – Spirit

Muskox – Mefjus

Navigante – Emperor

New Horizons – Protostar

North Pole Cold – Jayline

Old Days – Benny L, Pastry Maker

The One - InsideInfo Remix – Mampi Swift, InsideInfo

Optech – Icicle

Outer Planes – Icicle, Proxima, Ben Verse

Paint By Numbers – Hybrid Minds, Charlotte Haining

Pick Up the Pieces - Skeptical Remix – Zed Bias, Boudah, Skeptical

Pinball – Shyun

Rebels – Trei, Tali

Reverse Coded – Merikan, Inward, Hanzo, Randie

Right Here, Right Now - Friction One in the Jungle Remix – Fatboy Slim, Friction

Rolex – Volatile Cycle, Kyrist

Ruckus – Bad Company UK, $pyda

Shag - VIP Mix – Dossa & Locuzzed

Shockwave – Kanine

Shut Up – Hamilton

Signals - Original Mix – Synergy

Sinkhole – Mefjus

Slap! – Dossa & Locuzzed

Slappo – Rene Lavice

Something – Fox Stevenson

Species – The Prototypes, TC

Steel Drum – Upgrade

Still Lost ft. Khiva – Khiva, The Upbeats, Truth

Stomp – Paul T & Edward Oberon

Subtleties - Album Sampler Bonus – Onemind

Techno – Dimension

There For You – Culture Shock

This Style – SHY FX

Thunder – Dub Elements

Toe Punt – T>I

Toprock – Paradox

Truth in the Skies – Juno, Innate MC

UFO – Brain, Novaglitch

Urban 64 – Hillsdom

Wanna Feel Love - Octo-Pi & Dr Meaker Remix – Dr Meaker, Yolanda, Octo-Pi

Welcome To The Fire - Smooth remix – SLANDER, Sullivan King, Smooth

Welcome To The Future – Cyantific

What – Zombie Cats

Whip Slap II – Dimension

SHARE. SUBSCRIBE. HIT SHUFFLE!

#drum and bass #drumandbass #dnb #d&b #drum & bass #drum&bass #bass #spotify #edm #playlist #music

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atombombbaby · 7 years ago

Photo

Photorealistic Commonwealth with settings customized for me by L00ping, the mod author.

Mods shown (that I can remember):

Natural and Atmospheric Commonwealth (with “Climate” turned off - using for certain additional FX and tweaks, and yes, I may playing with saturation and redness in a couple of these shots)

Vivid Fallout - All in One

Vivid Weathers (Natural Bright, no season limitation)

True Storms - Wasteland Edition

Weather Synergy - True Storms and Vivid Weathers Merge Patch (TS priority)

PRC - PhotoRealistic Commonwealth (with its attendant plugins, and tweaked for Vivid Weathers, with no blur effects, and an edited blackpoint to make shadows a little less dense so that I can actuall SEE things in them)

Brighter Settlement Lights

Brighter Wasteland Workshop Lights

Regrowth Overhaul (the old 9.7 version)

Oh, my own Cait and Piper tweaks from my mod NPCs Are Not Cartoons

Various “non-graphic” mods shown include various armor, settlement, and so on mods, including Elianora’s latest armor compendium, Heather by Llama32, Ruddy88′s Scouter, and I’m sure a few others that I’m forgetting in the moment.

Oh, and of course “Classic Dogmeat,” to make Dogmeat into a blue heeler like the original from the first game. (Also makes him look a lot like the heeler I used to have.)

#fallout 4 #fallout 4 mods #rob plays fallout 4 #rob plays the fallouts

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djs-party-edm-italia · 8 years ago

Text

Denon si prende Laidback Luke come testimonial... E inizia la sua guerra con Pioneer

Denon DJ, a leading manufacturer of premium DJ products and solutions, today announced that world-renowned DJ, record producer and industry influencer Laidback Luke has joined forces with Denon DJ and changed his rider for their all-new, groundbreaking SC5000 Prime media player and X1800 Prime club mixer.

Recognizing a critical need in the professional DJ space for equipment that delivers unprecedented levels of performance, ease of use, musical file organization and complete system synergy, Denon DJ’s Prime Series units represent the future of the professional DJ experience. The SC5000 professional media player with 7-inch multi-touch display, outstanding creative performance capabilities, 24-bit audiophile sound, powered by Denon DJ’s incredible Engine Prime music management software.

The X1800 Professional 4-channel club mixer with OLED screen, Sweep and BPM FX and LAN connectivity with multiple SC5000s. The Denon DJ Prime Series is a perfect match for the exciting, energetic DJ style of Laidback Luke. His unique talent for performing has earned him an incredibly enthusiastic following and the recognition of his peers, who have repeatedly acknowledged him as one of the most gifted live performers and influential A-List DJs in the world.

That kind of talent and spontaneity demands equipment that responds instantaneously to the creativity of the artist. They can’t be slowed down or restricted. When the performer knows there are no equipment-based bounds, then a universe of possibilities opens up. That’s why Laidback Luke chose to partner with Denon DJ Prime. Luke said: “The Denon Prime Series is an organic fit for my DJ sets. It’s functionality is extremely intuitive and it’s performance delivers exactly the quality that I need.”

Paul Dakeyne, Denon DJ Brand Manager said of Luke; “As one of the world’s most creative and expressive live DJ’s, Laidback Luke is constantly setting the standard, raising the bar. He needs equipment that is a natural extension of his thoughts, equipment that instantly transforms his inner feelings and spontaneity into sound. The Denon DJ SC5000 and X1800 Prime units remove all performance obstacles and pushes new boundaries for Laidback Luke to explore.”

U.S. retail pricing is as follows: SC5000—$1899, X1800—$1899. They are available now.

For more info, visit www.denondj.com.

About Denon DJ Denon DJ is a leading manufacturer of equipment for professional and mobile DJs. Since the introduction of their first dual-rackmount CD player in 1992, Denon DJ has provided premium, innovative solutions for world-class performances night after night. Denon DJ is a member of the premier family of brands known as inMusic.

About Laidback Luke From his origins in the house and techno underground to his current more eclectic style, Laidback Luke has always been a leading light in music of the present day as well as the future. The Dutch hero continues to enjoy a hugely varied and consistently noteworthy career in the game. With a reputation as a serious talent scout and for being one of the nicest guys around, he has built himself a mightily impressive musical empire that has touched the highest reaches of the music industry.

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jessicakmatt · 5 years ago

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The 9 Best Highlights From NAMM 2020

The 9 Best Highlights From NAMM 2020: via LANDR Blog

It’s the most wonderful time of the year—for music gear news and announcements.

The NAMM (National Association of Music Merchants) 2020 trade show just concluded.

With every serious gear company in attendance, there was so much breaking news that it’s hard to keep track of every single juicy reveal and teaser.

That’s why we’re going through the top 9 most exciting NAMM highlights of 2020.

1. UAD LUNA

I’ll dive right in with one of the biggest and most surprising announcements of NAMM 2020. Universal Audio is building a DAW!—or something very close to it.

UAD LUNA is the groundbreaking new recording environment based on the respected analog-modelling technology in the Apollo series of interfaces.

There aren’t too many details available yet, but LUNA will integrate deeply with the UAD Apollo hardware.

It will also have multi-track tape emulation and Neve-style summing built directly into the mixing environment.

And perhaps the most exciting reveal—virtual instruments! If UAD’s plugin expertise is anything to go on, their instrument plugins should be top notch.

2. Behringer synth reveals and releases

Behringer has been hard at work disrupting the synthesizer market in the last few cycles.

But this year’s showing was particularly mind-blowing. Behringer’s upcoming releases could put some of the most sought after electronic instruments of all time in your home studio.

Here’s what Behringer announced or debuted at NAMM 2020

2600 (ARP 2600 clone!)

RD-6 (TR-606 clone)

System 55 Eurorack modules (Moog modular clones)

System 100 Eurorack modules (Roland modular clones)

The extremely low prices Behringer have achieved are raising some eyebrows. But there’s no doubt that their analog synthesis gear is the most accessible on the market.

The extremely low prices Behringer have achieved are raising some eyebrows.

Will Uli take over the world?

3. Great things from Korg

Korg has also been busy creating equipment with high expectations from the gear community.

The Korg Wavestate is a welcome update to the well-loved 90s era Wavetstation that promises even more powerful multi-timbral wavetable synthesis.

There are full-sized versions of the MS-20 coming in four different colours, intriguing DIY kits and even an update to the legendary Keytar!

But Korg’s most exciting news might be the no compromises reissue of the ARP 2600.

This beast of a monosynth packs all the enormous sound of the original into more practical package with modern conveniences.

But it’s certainly on the high end of the price range at a sticker shocking €3999.

With the announcement of a Behringer version at roughly the same time it will be interesting to see how Korg’s spot-on recreation that spares no expense will fare against a much cheaper edition.

Just when we thought it was all over Korg teased the Opsix, a brand new 6-operator FM synth that was only displayed behind glass—exciting!

Just when we thought it was all over Korg teased the Opsix, a brand new 6-operator FM synth that was only displayed behind glass.

4. Fender/Squier offsets, paranormals and alternate universe

It was a spectacular year for unlikely combos and non-standard configurations over in Fender-land.

CBS era Teles back with a 60s thinline with classic stylings and the smart looking 70s custom featuring an all new take on the Seth Lover Wide Range Humbucker pickup.

80s shredders are also seeing a resurgence with the retro-styled, Floyd Rose equipped Limited HM Strat.

The Parallel Universe line continued its convention defying weirdness with all sorts of unexpected mashups:

Spark-o-matic—Jazzmaster with Firebird vibes

Jazz Strats—odd looking combination of Stratocaster and Jazzmaster

Tele Magico—stylish 3-saddle Tele with Fender gold foil pickups.

Uptown Strat—aFender McCarty?

Troublemaker Teles—80s Les Paul stylings on a Tele

Maverick Dorado—Vintage 60s mojo

The affordable Player series revived the late 70’s “Lead” models in single coil and humbucker configurations, as well as some beloved short scale offsets like the Mustang and Duo-sonic.

Meanwhile, Squier’s own Paranormal 2020 series leaked, with product pages surfacing for P90 equipped baritone and thinline Cabronitas, offset Teles, dual humbucking Supersonics, Tornados and pastel Cyclone IIs.

If that weren’t enough, Squier Starcasters are on the way at a ridiculously affordable price-point—just $399 USD for the well-appointed Classic Vibe edition.

It was a spectacular year for unlikely combos and non-standard configurations over in Fender-land.

5. Antelope’s enormous converter

Antelope is pushing the channel count envelope again with an unprecedented 64 channels of AD/DA in a single converter unit.

The 2U behemoth Galaxy 64 is also the most powerful configuration of Antelope’s Synergy Core DSP platform yet, boasting 12 ARM chips for real time mix processing.

I can’t imagine too many workflows where all 64 channels would be in use simultaneously, but the technology is seriously impressive.

The Galaxy 64 also confirms another one of the most prevalent trends seen at NAMM this year and in the interface market in general—network capabilities.

Antelope’s flagship sports network connectivity over the Dante standard, something we’ve seen from Focusrite, Avid and others in the past.

6. The Eurorack boom continues

The Eurorack scene shows no signs of slowing down, despite persistent claims of a growing market bubble.

Behringer’s aggressive entry into the market may be shaking things up, but boutique manufacturers are still developing unique and great-sounding modules.

One of the most exciting developments came from the guitar pedal universe.

The Empress Zoia Euroburo edition brings all the power of the Canadian company’s semi-modular digital sandbox to the format.

Here are the Eurorack highlights from NAMM 2020

ElectroSmith Daisy

Animal Factory Orobas Tube VCA

Earthquaker Afterneath Module

WMD Performance Mixer

Bastl Instruments/Caspr Electronics Waver

Frap Tools Brenso

The Eurorack scene shows no signs of slowing down, despite persistent claims of a growing market bubble.

7. Pedal sized guitar amps

The recent boom in compact power amplifiers has resulted in lots of interesting gear, including the powerful pedal/lunchbox sized amps on display at NAMM 2020

Each promise big tone in tiny, easily giggable packages:

Orange Terror Stamp is the tiniest terror from Orange yet.

The Victory V4 Amp is a powered edition of the British boutique builder’s popular Victory preamp.

Bluguitar Amp X is a pedalboard amp designed to create great vintage guitar tones in a small and portable format.

8. Innovative boutique pedals

Left field guitar pedals have been another fixture of the NAMMscape for years.

2020 is no different with innovators like Chass Bliss, Pigtronix, Walrus and Beetronics debuting exciting new offerings.

Here are my picks for the most interesting guitar pedals released this year at NAMM:

Chase Bliss and Meris collaborate on the CXM1978, a pedal version of the legendary Lexicon 224 digital reverb

Pigtronix offers its respected Infinity Looper technology in a compact form factor

Walrus debuts a super hi-fi digital delay

Rainger FX made a pedal that somehow creates overdrive by analyzing liquid (???)

Old Blood Noise Endeavours Visitor lets you explore modulation in parallel.

Beetronics releases an aggressive fuzzy overdrive with their signature (and bizarre) insect stylings.

Left field guitar pedals have been another fixture of the NAMMscape for years.

9. The return of the stage piano

The humble stage piano is getting a fresh lease on life with new models from Dexibell, Viscount, Roland, Yamaha and Korg.

The Yamaha YC61 looks especially exciting with its slider-style drawbar registration, sample based instruments and onboard realtime FM synthesis for classic DX tines.

The Viscount Legend 70s offers an interesting take on the format with an intriguing modular concept and retro styling.

Each piano will include a basic module, but expansions can be added later to create the perfect stage piano for your needs.

NAMMaste

NAMM is an exciting time of year for gear aficionados and music tech fans. With all the fresh releases and breaking news, it’s easy to get lost in the flow of new products.

Who knows, one of them will make it into your workflow in the coming year.

The post The 9 Best Highlights From NAMM 2020 appeared first on LANDR Blog.

from LANDR Blog https://blog.landr.com/namm/ via https://www.youtube.com/user/corporatethief/playlists from Steve Hart https://stevehartcom.tumblr.com/post/190427675059

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usajobsite · 6 years ago

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Innovativ softwareudvikler til udvikling af ny data-portal - Brkop

Vr med til at udvikle og drifte Energinet DataHubs nye dataportal for elforbrugere og tredjepartsaktrer. DataHub er et centralt og uafhngigt it-system, som ejes og drives af Energinet. Udover at samle milliarder af oplysninger om el-kunder, forbrug og priser, hndterer DataHub al datakommunikation mellem aktrerne i elmarkedet. Din nye arbejdsplads bliver p vores hovedkontor i Fredericia, hvor der er hjt til loftet og hj faglighed. Vi ligger tt p motorvejsnettet, og der er velfungerende krselsordninger fra bl.a. Aarhus og Odense.

Udvikling og drift i tt tvrgende samarbejde

My Data Access (MDA) er et projekt, som har til forml at lette adgangen til forbrugernes egne data i Data-Hub, men ogs deres mulighed for at give tredjeparter adgang til disse data med henblik p at kunne levere konkurrencedygtige energiydelser til forbrugerne. Udover det konkrete ml om at udvikle og idriftstte to nye portaler, udgr projektet ogs en strre ramme, hvor Energinet har lagt et strategisk fokus p at arbejde med data. Energinet satser p bne og lettilgngelige data, fordi vi tror p, at energidata skaber innovation og vkst samtidig med, at det bidrager til en effektiv grn omstilling i den digitale tidsalder. Som en del af MDA-gruppen kommer du derfor ogs tt p vores andre data-projekter, som fx vores open data portal Energi Data Service (EDS) svel som internt rettede initiativer.

Du bliver en del af afdelingen IT BI og Dataleverancer, som er placeret i Energinets it-organisation. Afdelingen danner rammen om Energinets tekniske data-ekspertise, og du vil derfor indg i et fagligt strkt BI-, ETL- og DW-milj. Til dagligt arbejder du og din MDA-kolleger dog i hj grad sammen med kolleger fra Da-taHub-enheden, som ansvarlige for MDA-portalerne, men der er ogs et tt samarbejde med bl.a. afde-lingens egen informationsarkitekt. Din primre opgave er i frste omgang at indg p fuldt blus i afslutningen af MDA-projektet. Projektet startede op fr jul og forventes afsluttet efter sommerferien 2019. Herefter skifter fokus til drift og videreudvikling af platformen, ligesom der afhngigt af dine kompetencer og interesser bliver mulighed for at kaste dig over nye projekter inden fx Energi Data Service, open source projekter m.m.

Gld dig til et job i en it-enhed, som med over 150 medarbejdere er en af Trekantomrdets strste it-arbejdspladser. Vi lgger stor vgt p trivsel og udvikling og tilbyder, udover en konkurrencedygtig ln, gode personaleforhold med blandt andet bonusordning, fitness, forsikringer og ikke mindst en meget aktiv personaleforening. Til gengld forventer vi, at du lever op til vores vrdier og optrder engageret og ansvarligt med vilje og mod til at gre en forskel.

Nysgerrig .NET-udvikler med forretningsforstelse

Du har en relevant videregende it-uddannelse, fx datamatiker, og brnder for at levere den gode ls-ning. Du har formentligt et par rs erfaring, men kan ogs vre nyuddannet. Projektet benytter blandt andet C# og TypeScript, men det er ikke et krav, at du har erfaring med disse. Det vigtigste er, at du har lyst til at udvikle dig og tilegne dig ny viden. Dine erfarne kolleger str klar til at hjlpe dig.

Du kommer til at arbejde med drift og udvikling af en lsning, som er afgrende for Energinets evne til at udstille data sikkert og effektivt, s det er vigtigt, at du bde er kvalitetsbevidst og i stand til at tnke nyt. Da en del dialog omkring udvikling og drift foregr p engelsk, er det et krav, at du behersker engelsk bde skriftligt og mundtligt. Som person er du nysgerrig, brnder for at udvikle systemer med hj kvalitet og trives med at skulle vre med til at udvikle noget, som er nyt for Energinet. Vi vgter fllesskab i afdelingen hjt, og det er derfor vigtigt at du har lyst til at bidrage hertil.

Ansgning og kontakt

Send din ansgning med cv og andre relevante bilag via linketsenest 10. juni 2019. Vi forventer at holde samtaler 18. juni 2019. Har du sprgsml til jobbet, er du velkommen til at kontakte afdelingsleder Lars Trier Husted p telefon 61 24 02 13. Du kan lse mere om vores virksomhed p www.energinet.dk og besge DataHub p https://energinet.dk/El/DataHub og evt. www.energidataservice.dk.

Energinet Forretningsservice understtter Energinet-koncernen med ydelser inden for IT, HR, Beredskab, Riskmanagement, QHSE, Indkb samt konomi og Facility Service. Hos Forretningsservice arbejder vi p at opn synergier p tvrs af Energinet og bidrager til flles vrdiskabelse. Vi er datterselskab i Energinet-koncernen, som varetager samfundets interesser, nr Danmark skal forsynes med el og gas, og energisystemet omstilles til grn energi. Vores kultur hnger tt sammen med vores samfundsansvar. Vi bestrber os p at lytte, involvere og dele vores viden. Kun sdan vil vi lykkes med effektiv udvikling af fremtidens grnne energiforsyning. Med afst i vrdierne tillid og mod, lgger vi Innovativsoftwareudviklertiludviklingafnydata-portal-Brkop from Job Portal https://www.jobisite.com/extrJobView.htm?id=581848

#Job Portal

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thewebofslime · 6 years ago

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Bob Iger marked the historic occasion of Disney’s purchase of 21st Century Fox with a lengthy memo to staffers that was candid about the challenges of the massive integration of people and cultures that lies ahead for the media giant. “I wish I could tell you that the hardest part is behind us, that closing the deal was the finish line rather than just the next milestone,” Iger wrote in the note titled “A Historic Day for Our Company,” sent to staffers shortly before 10 p.m. PT on Tuesday, less than an hour after the $71.3 billion transaction formally closed. “What lies ahead is the challenging work of uniting our businesses to create a dynamic global entertainment company with the content, the platforms and the reach to deliver industry-defining experiences that will engage consumers around the world for generations to come.” Employees from the 21st Century Fox ranks also received a message from Disney’s HR department offering a list of “Day One Essentials” for adjusting to the new company. Iger did not directly reference the sizable number of layoffs to come as Disney and Fox consolidate redundant operations and restructure others, but he acknowledged that changes are on the horizon. Estimates of the number of job cuts across the enlarged Disney and the slimmed-down Fox Corp., which formally opened its doors Tuesday, have ranged from 2,000 to as high as 4,000. RELATED Disney Completes 21st Century Fox Deal: Timeline “Our integration process will be an evolution, with some businesses impacted more than others,” Iger wrote. “We’ve made many critical decisions already, but some areas still require further evaluation. We may not have answers to all of your questions at this moment but we understand how vital information is, and we’re committed to moving as quickly as possible to provide clarity regarding how your role may be impacted.” As Disney and 21st Century Fox became one, staffers from one of Disney’s newly acquired divisions — FX Networks — gathered Tuesday night at New York’s Bowery Hotel for the after-party following the premiere screening of “What We Do in the Shadows,” the half-hour vampire dramedy set to premiere March 27. The macabre motif at the party — guests strolled past a man lying in a coffin on the way in — seemed appropriate as the Fox era passed into history for FX staffers. Some expressed a sense of melancholy at the transition. One executive even took a long look at his Fox corporate ID badge and wondered out loud if it would still work on Wednesday. Others expressed the widely held view in Hollywood that FX’s corporate association with Fox News had become untenable, from both a moral standpoint and from a business point of view. “Good riddance,” said an FX staffer. Here is Iger’s full memo: I’m proud to announce the acquisition is complete and 21st Century Fox is now part of the Walt Disney Company. I’d like to welcome our new colleagues, and thank employees on both sides of the deal for your patience and perseverance as we worked through the lengthy acquisition and regulatory process. As you know, Disney has never been short on ambition. We’ve never been satisfied with the status quo, and our vision for this transformative era is our boldest yet. We are rapidly transforming our company to take full advantage of evolving consumer trends and emerging technology in order to thrive in this new and exciting time. Our acquisition of 21st Century Fox was driven by our strong belief that the addition of these great businesses, brands, franchises and talent will allow us to move faster, reach farther and aim higher, especially when it comes to building direct connections with consumers. I wish I could tell you that the hardest part is behind us, that closing the deal was the finish line rather than just the next milestone. What lies ahead is the challenging work of uniting our businesses to create a dynamic global entertainment company with the content, the platforms and the reach to deliver industry-defining experiences that will engage consumers around the world for generations to come. We’ve spent the past year exploring the new opportunities and synergies generated by bringing our two legendary companies together. Leaders across both organizations have worked closely together to understand how to best unlock this potential and unleash innovation and creativity to generate long-term growth. We’re confident in our integration strategy and in our ability to execute it effectively; and we’re inspired and energized by the new possibilities. Our integration process will be an evolution, with some businesses impacted more than others. We’ve made many critical decisions already, but some areas still require further evaluation. We may not have answers to all of your questions at this moment but we understand how vital information is, and we’re committed to moving as quickly as possible to provide clarity regarding how your role may be impacted. Having been on both sides of numerous acquisitions during my career, I have deep appreciation for how this one impacts everyone involved, on both a personal and professional level. I understand the challenges, and I ask for your continued patience in the days to come as we combine this collection of great assets to create the world’s premier entertainment company. Bob

#TheWebOfSlime

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