#rabbit triangle effect loop

[purplesaltyskies23]

vortex me in the horizon, catch each forest in fires descending to the sun, how magnificent earth can deliver.

crashed in debate in the hell of a loop forever stuck on over drive.

hypnotized speed refracted in soul transfusion.

mirror effect of life's priced heart,

elements of me soul sold and forever in graved into this doom on earth.

klhax.

[a-flickering-soul]

what is spg?

(this is an invitation to info dump)

I'm going to be honest, Anon, this is kind of a terrible ask to get because I genuinely don't know where to start. The thing about SPG is that the lore, worldbuilding, and backstory is incredibly intricate and at times quite tragic, but the nature of the live act that actually composes Steam Powered Giraffe is at its core a stand-up comedy act with some singing at times performed by essentially clowns that move funny. SPG is a fandom that by design is meant to mock you for deepifying something that seems like it shouldn’t be deepified, but in fact has been deepified since 2009. I know this is an open invitation but I do still have some sense of pride, so I promise you that I am going to do my damndest to keep this a readable length.

The general 'gimmick' of SPG is that this is a band comprised of three members (The Spine, Rabbit, and a third or fourth member that rotates out depending on the era) and they've been performing since they were built back in 1896 (you know, back when it was still illegal for women to read and write, and all the me-men dressed like Mr. Peanut) (*looks into the camera like I'm in The Office*). They are played onstage by real live people in incredibly intricate face paint, costuming, and (my personal favorite) physically act as the automatons they're playing, which leads to this really interesting uncanny valley effect that I personally find really entertaining to watch. Also, I really like the music! They span quite a few genres (American folk, motown, and rock, to name a few), and they have consistently really tight harmonies and nice lyrics! I've been looping their discography for quite a while, because there's just a lot of variety! Very much recommend and I will release my ranking of their albums or songs WITH reasons why at the slightest provocation.

Pretty cool, pretty fun. The lore, though, is where it gets fucking batshit. These robots are so fucking sad dude I can think about them and unlock hidden emotions. I promise to god this is all canon even though they will misrepresent their own lore and make it incredibly hard to find. Basically, you could listen to Brass Goggles and get the broad strokes, but really, it all starts with a love triangle back in 1896.

A young up-and-coming scientist, Peter Walter I, and his friend Thaddeus Becile, were both madly in love with an incredibly bright young chemist, Delilah Morreo (who, coincidentally, was a lesbian, but unfortunately for them neither of them knew about her Boston marriage). Delilah, sadly, hubrised herself into an early grave, but not before sparking a war of invention between the two men to catch her eye. Walter, pushing the boundaries of steam power at the time, strove to create sentient artificial intelligence, while Becile pivoted towards weaponry.

With Delilah's death, however, this once-friendly rivalry spiraled into anger and resentment. Becile, in his own attempts to win her attention, had previously discovered the unearthly Green Matter--similar to Blue Matter, but more unstable, with a necromantic bend. In an attempt to keep up with him, Walter discovered Blue Matter in a rift from an alternate dimension--a powerful, generative substance that could imbue a mechanical body with life. With this, he created our Steam Man Band as we know them today. They were initially meant to catch Delilah's eye, singing and dancing to entertain her, as well as a giant steam-powered giraffe automaton (Delilah, apparently, had a fondness for African savannah wildlife), but, of course, were never seen by her while she lived.

Now, this Green Matter could be found in the newly-discovered Rock Candy Mines of Africa (please for the love of god bear with me), and as Becile became more and more unstable, he sought to take control of this power source in attempts to bring Delilah back to life (he does, in fact, succeed, but not in the way he intended) and seize control. This is where the first of the many wars the robots serve in takes place. The Weekend War was fought between the necromantic zombified armies of Becile, and the steam-powered automatons of Walter--it lasted a single weekend, but was sufficient enough to prevent Green Matter from falling into the wrong hands, and to traumatize a whole bunch of very young, very new AIs.

From then on, the robots bounced back and forth between trying to fulfill their original life purpose--to sing, dance, and entertain--and being drafted into wars in order to aid funding for the slowly-growing Walter Robotics. They fought in three further wars, being WWI, WWII, and (I know.) the Vietnam War, before eventually refusing to fight in any further conflict and pivoting entirely to performance

That's the main background, and this is already at 800 words, but man. Man. I could say so much more. There's so much lore, and I haven't even gotten into their Patreon yet to get to the really deep cuts. Delilah Morreo is an immortal vampire hunter now. Rabbit is literally trans and her power source created a rift in spacetime. There is someone named Pomene who seems important but I can't find any traces of them anywhere. There is a whole fantasy world with different cultures and races and magics that just rarely gets brought up. Uncle Ralphie (from the literal outro of 'Steamboat Shenanigans') is a real character who is known. I haven't even touched on the Vice Quadrant, which is a space opera spanning two alternate timelines where a huge space lady and a lost astronaut fall in love maybe? And there's an evil astronaut there too and space whales and some twunk who can swap between timelines?

This is why I've been here for seven months. The lore is infuriatingly complex and ridiculously hard to track down and insanely tantalizing to me. And then I watch their live stages and it's like. Fart jokes. I can't overexplain enough how this makes me feel. And the music fucks. That's 1000 words, and I'll cut it there, but I am so so willing to explain anything from SPG's lore that I can so please send me asks literally anyone about anything relating to SPG I am DYING in here please for the love of god--

[captainsiegrid]

Storytellers, a rec list

GodOfLaundryBaskets

- [Podfic] Intrinsic and [Podfic] Contingent - One Piece

I am absolutely floored by these. All the voices brought life to an already fantastic work, but these podfics are GodOfLaundryBaskets' babies and I am giving this rec to them for their absolute god-level narration and absolute perfect edit job. It makes me hate the moment it ends, I could listen to GodOfLaundryBaskets' voice forever.

Man, it makes me want to keep recording! It's an absolute honour to have been included in this project.

Kudos to Kawaiibooker for writing more-than-side-character-Bepo into an actual LIVE character with emotions!

- [Podfic] This Tornado Loves You - 魔道祖师 - 墨香铜臭 | Módào Zǔshī - Mòxiāng Tóngxiù

My first ever Modao Zushi podfic. Actually...my first time ever listening to a podfic. I was very sceptical at first because I had so many reservations about the proper pronunciations of the character's names (never mind I also suck at those because, well...Chinese. BUT! I fell in love with GodOfLaundryBaskets' voice instantly! Their intonation is just so beautiful!

- Hang in there - 镇魂 | Guardian (TV), Untitled Goose Game (Video Game)

Hilarious brought to you by GodOfLaundryBaskets' literal God's voice. The delivery of Lao Zhao's distress was flawless and absolutely hilarious, I swear!

Oceantail Podfics

- [PODFIC] Let it Flow Though You - Avatar: The Last Airbender, Avatar: Legend of Korra

Oceantail's voice is so sweet and cute, but she manages to surprise me every time with her dynamic approach to intonation. Even the serious and emotional parts felt all the more serious for it, her voice made Zuko's emotions feel even more real!

- [PODFIC] Day 1: Past and Present - Tales of Zestiria

Ok, so I'm gonna be painfully honest here: I hate this fanfiction, even though I wrote it (particularly because I wrote it!) so I thought I'd podfic it to try and hate it less.

Didn't work.

The only things that made me not hate this horrific, mistake riddled thing are Sorey and Mikleo's voices. Seriously, I wanna rewrite the whole thing so that Oceantail and lysandyra can speak more!

When I set out to podfic this, I had certain voices in mind, like anyone would. Someone must have heard my plea, because I got the best cast I could ask for. Working with them was so good I want to do it again soon!

lysandyra

- [Podfic] the sound of your heart - 방탄소년단 | Bangtan Boys | BTS

The work that made me go listen to BTS! While recording this I was completely confused.com! But when I listen to it I am SOOTHED! lysandyra's narration and God-like pacing is quintessentially smooth that you could spoon out a dollop and use it to sweeten your tea.

- [Podfic] an approach - Marvel Cinematic Universe

I love how lysandyra goes from smooth to expressive at the drop of a (hat) line so seamlessly! Specially Betty's lines!

Akaihyou

- [PODFIC] Feeling Blue - Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe

Akaihyou's tone sets a dramatic and emotional pace to this work that makes you wanna curl up in a blanket burrito and listen to it in a loop in spite of the words being said and I have absolutely no clue how she does it!

Also, sound effects! Absolutely genius!

- [Podfic] The Sunburn Squad - Captain America (Movies)

This podfic + blanket burrito + bucket of popcorn = an equally satisfying experience as watching a film.

No more saying is needed. Go listen, now!

P.S.: ""Bullshit," Clint coughed." ---- I'm never getting over this!

cheshiretears

- Feeling Blue (Podfic) - Voltron: Legendary Defender

I absolutely HAD TO include this one!

It isn't just voices you hear in podfic works. You hear also the sound that "blood, sweat and tears" make when editing is done as beautifully as this!

- Jelly - Haikyuu!!

No, I have not forgotten how to read silently and no, I have not forgotten about my beautiful volleyball babies.

I had actually read this before VOICETEAM and totally forgot until I was working on these recs. I love how she keeps the poly alive by mentioning the Kuro and Kenma through the fic and I adore how she nailed adorable chaotic and hyperactive owl baby!

eafay70

- [Podfic] Mrs. Pollifax and the Family Connection - Mrs. Pollifax - Dorothy Gilman

THE. MOST. ADORABLE. NJ GRANDMA. EVER! How even!!!

- TOS OT3 - Star Trek: The Original Series

I didn't know what a "filk" was...now I know...AND I CAN'T GET OVER IT! Hilarious doesn't even begin to describe this. 2:55 minutes of artfully arranged lyrics and 10 minutes later I'm still in stitches!

P.S.: Baskets, you narrate, you do characters and now you sing?! Leave some talent for us mortals! X'D

- In Which Kirk Speaks German - Star Trek: The Original Series

She has 3 recs because ADORABLE!!!! That "Please~!" AAAAAAHHHHH

minnabird

- [Podfic] Sunlight - Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: Thrawn Series - Timothy Zahn (2017)

HER SHERLOCK ACCENT! I CAN'T! LOVED!

I can't emphasise just how fun this was! I wish to work with minnabird and Akaihyou again!

Also: The Bloopers! X'D

- almost, but not always - Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling

This will hurt you! And it will be ok because minna wrote it so wonderfully sweet you would easily believe she's also a mother...

alstroemeria_thoughts

- Let if Flow Through You [PODFIC] - Avatar: The Last Airbender, Avatar: Legend of Korra

I chose this podfic because, like Oceantail, alstroemeria_thoughts' voice is small and cute and I was very inclined to see how she managed it. I sear, talent comes in small voices! I don't know how she does it, but she 's a master at keeping a clear pronunciation in spite of her speed! I was always advised to read slowly because fast is an enemy to clear reading, but astra is just excellent at reading fast and making it sound pleasant!

- [Podfic] (un)Official Marine Rules and Regulations - One Piece

My first ever live recording session and it was FANTASTIC!

We already know I worship GodOfLaundryBaskets, but you HAVE to listen to alstroemeria_thoughts' list off rules like you're a peasant if you don't follow them! It's bloody hilarious! I mean "Justice does not have a concrete shape, and if it did, it would not be something as pedestrian as a triangle. Get it right." will make you beg her to step on you. Literally!

Halbereth

- Google says WHAT?! - Marvel Cinematic Universe

My dudes, I'm making this a podfic. It is criminal that it isn't one yet. This is absolutely hilarious!

P.S.: "his dad had had a bad habit" ---- I wanna read this sentence!

- local / regular - Marvel Cinematic Universe

The intonation here is beautiful! It's is like listening to the actual person telling her own story?! I wanna meet he Mamma!

EXTRA:

lunatique

- [PODFIC] 10/10 WOULD MARRY - 镇魂 | Guardian - priest, 镇魂 | Guardian (TV)

The biggest full cast and most ambitious podfic I have EVER been part of and it's INCREDIBLE!

This thing pushed me down the Guardian rabbit hole with a kick and no parachute and I'm cackling all the way down.

Go. Listen. Now!

[secretradiobrooklyn]

SECRET RADIO | 10.3.20 & 10.10.20 Combo

Secret Radio | 10.3 & 10.10 | Hear it here.

Liner notes by Evan except *, artwork by Paige

1. The Modern Lovers - “Roadrunner”

Can there be, can there ever be, a better hittin’ the road song than this? Not to me, not to us. “I’m in love with modern moonlight… I’m in love with the radio on” This song brings everything that makes rock so fundamentally exciting: the straightforward beat, electric guitars, electric keys, that sense of complete freedom with your gang in the backseat singing the chorus. 

2. Swell Maps - “Full Moon In My Pocket”

It pains me to admit that I cannot remember the name of the pasteup guy at the Rocket who used to tell me about the bands he loved, and that he thought I’d dig. I was so, SO into Pavement at the time, head over heels, and he did a great job of acquainting me with some of their precedents, handing off tape comps with songs from Young Marble Giants, Au Pairs, Swell Maps, and so much more. One of the tapes had this song, in two versions actually: this one, and an a cappella version, which sounds very poncey except it was the same take as this, bouncing with reverb and attitude. On our long drive from the woods to the city, a full moon hung in front of us like a carrot on a stick, and I started singing this song before I even realized it. Whatever the name of that super-awesome pasteup guy (Tom? I feel like it was Tom), I just want to tell him: I’m sorry, I’ve always been bad at remembering names, but I’ve never forgotten those tapes. Thank you.

3. Assa Cica - “Yokpo Wa Non Kpo Hami” 

When we were first getting into Beninese rock, it was Antoine Dougbé who pulled us down the rabbit hole. I figured we couldn’t be alone — his songs are the standouts on “Legends of Benin.” But there’s practically nothing to be found. I eventually found myself at Discogs, marveling at the sheer number of names that T.P. Orchestre Poly-Rythmo went by and sifting through music looking for signs of Dougbé. I eventually found this album, and not just the voice but the whole style of the band convinced me that Assa-Cica was somehow another name Dougbé went by. After some discussion, Paige and I bought our first Beninese record. In the weeks that it took to arrive, we learned a lot more about Dougbé, including the fact that he’s not actually the singer on those songs! But also I don’t think Assa-Cica is the singer on this song either! We did turn out to love every song on this record, but this one is my personal favorite, just a barnburner with disco roots. Every time I listen to it I try to imagine the cultural and personal forces that brought it into being, and it only gets more absorbing.

4. Eko Roosevelt - “Me To A De Try My Own”

T.P. Orchestre research also brought me to an album they did with Betti-Betti (or Beti-Beti), a Cameroonian singer whose tracks eventually led to Eko Roosevelt. I don’t get down with all of the music of his that I’ve heard, but this one just brings a smile to my face every time. I love the patois he sings in, where recognizable words rise suddenly out of the bubbling disco bass and the good-natured horn sections. I would never have guessed that hunting for African voodoo funk would eventually reveal a path to appreciating disco… but I’m glad that it has. I mean, I spent whole years of my life thinking that horns had no place in rock music, so what the hell do I know? 

5. Jacqueline Taïeb - “Le coeur au bout des doigts”

6. T.P. Orchestre Poly-Rythmo - “Non Gbeto Do Mahu Tche”

This 7” is from that rich early period of T.P. Orchestre (this one is I think from ’72) where the arrangements are hand-drum heavy but the organ and guitar are funk. The vocal is — I don’t know what it is, it’s a genre I hadn’t heard until I heard this band in this period. 

7. Los Wembler’s de Iquitos - “Llanto en la Selva”

8.  Iggy Pop “The Passenger”*

I’ve always thought this was one of Iggy Pop’s finest outside of his work with Stooges. I think I also always liked it because I am most often the passenger. I really really don’t like driving. I really avoid it. I have a driver’s license but boy do I not like to use it. There aren’t really a lot of songs about riding in the passenger seat that are positive or cool that I can think of besides this one and Art Brut’s “I Love Public Transportation”.

This album also makes me think of Shena’s old place on Damen Ave. in Wicker Park Chicago. This record and of course Bowie’s “Let’s Dance”.

 Hope you had a great birthday Shena!

9. Jacques Dutronc - “Les Gens Sont Flous”

The things that gets me about the song are: that single bass note that plunges every time in the verse, the shaker in the chorus, and that freakin triangle hit that happens on the coolest possible beat throughout the entire song. I fully intend to lift that idea into another song if I can find the right spot for it.

10. Jimi Hendrix - “Third Stone From The Sun”

This goes down as one of the greatest rock recordings in history. Every time I swoon at the guitar phrases, the bass line, the drums, the weird low chaos of his slowed down vocals. Truly a masterpiece, capped off by the final minute of beautiful noise that sounds like planets in motion.

11. Björk Gu∂mundsdóttir and tríó Guðmundar Ingólfssonar - Gling-Gló - “Bella Simamaer”

12. Ayalew Mesfin - “Gedawo (The Hero)”

The first 20 seconds of this song are crucial, because it establishes the 4/4 rhythm that’s coursing under the 3/4 handclap. That is such a killer rhythmic feel I can hardly stand it. I only wish they’d pull out the handclap in the middle, just for a handful of measures, and then bring em in again. Meanwhile, Mesfin’s vocal approach is so intense! 

Entr’Acte - “Phantom of the Opera Entr’Acte”*

We figured we needed an Entr’Acte to denote the change in vibe from trying to stay alert and amped on the turnpike to being back home in Brooklyn. Half of this broadcast was made in the front seat of the van on our drive back to NY after our recent visit to the Midwest where we stayed in the woods the majority of the time with a couple of runs to St. Louis to pick up Banh Mi So and tofu Laap. 

Evan and I have this thing we call “Disney Reptile Brain” but before that I should explain, Evan and I have this other thing we call “different high schools.” We have an age difference that we mostly don’t notice but every now and then there will be some cultural touchstone and one of us is like “What!? You don’t remember that!?” and we’re like “Ahh, different high schools!” So something like, the year 1994, Evan might remember it as when Kurt Cobain died, and I’ll remember it as the year “The Lion King” came out.

So, Evan missed all the of the major releases by Disney from that time – Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, Lion King, etc. – and thus he can see how ridiculously bad these remakes are in a way that I can’t. He says that you have to “Disney Reptile brain” to fully see the movie, that you have to have the animated version playing in your mind’s eye at the same time you're watching these “live action” remakes or they don’t make any sense. And it’s true, for me and lots of other people I know born between 1984 and 1990 we experience this when watching these films, like you already know it so well and know what’s going to happen it’s more like some sort of ritual, incantation, or reenactment of a feeling.

So, that’s Disney Reptile Brain. And if you’re like, wait, but this is Phantom of the Opera and that’s not Disney. You’re right, but it turns out Reptile Brain is a thing that can happen with musicals and ALW stuff is perfect for it. (Evita! Evita!) I am helpless when I hear this music which I got into around the same time that I was devouring Disney VHS, even though I hear it now and it’s SO. SILLY. But when I hear this melody, I’m like right there, on the boat with Christine and the Phantom. I’m like a cat picked up by the scruff and I’m just completely engrossed and I can’t unlearn that feeling. If you’ve seen Phantom at all recently, it is straight up hilarious kid stuff, like how it starts with an auction of lot #666, and the phantom is like this super moody broody guy who writes passive aggressive notes to everyone. I now can hear it as so funny and so square, but what you’re hearing on this track is my reptile brain in full effect. 

Next time this music comes around, we’ll get into how Christine is Professor X and Magnito is the Phantom...

14. Sunny Blacks Band - “Holonon Die”

Ha! I said plenty about this song on air. Suffice it to say I’ve been getting obsessed with Meloclém and his performances. It’s really hard to find out anything about him, so this early track makes me really happy. I think this is sung in Fon.

15. Yo La Tengo - “False Alarm”

Alongside “Third Stone from the Sun,” another of my all-time favorite recordings ever. Yo La Tengo was a key protein in learning about rock music, starting with the album  “Painful” and hitting a peak not just on this album but specifically this song. Alongside a vivid memory of Sean N., I helplessly air-keyboard to it, air-drum to it, dance my face off. By that final phrase I’m all worn out.

16. Meas Samon & So Savoeun - Hits Collection

We don’t really know anything about this song, including its title. It’s from a cassette called “Hits Collection.” We know Meas Samon from other sources, but I have no idea what they’re talking about and what is happening in this song, though I will say the tape warping on the entire fabric of the track is absolutely delicious.

17. Syna So Pro - “Fengyang Song”

I feel so proud of Syna So Pro and St. Louis introducing this track. The first time we saw her perform this song was live at El Leñador, and it was a knockout. She (they?) used a looping pedal situation to build this huge harmonic structure in real time. I believe she may be studying Chinese, but I know she’s studying Chinese music. There’s this and one other amazing Chinese song in addition to her many songs in English on her album “Vox.”

Nino Rota

18. Fela Kuti - “Open & Close”

I would listen to this whole song just for the Tony Allen solo in the early middle — but I also love how the song is so long that even a solo as particular as that one gets swallowed back up into the totality of the track (though he has many amazing passages throughout). The emotional equilibrium of the horns is cautiously optimistic. And I find myself thinking about the passage that goes “Let me tell you a story: open and close,” and how “open and close” is a narrative in action right there in three words. What was open has closed. It’s clearly a big change, a serious shift. Once open, now closed. Why? What changes as a result? Did anyone get hurt in the closing?

19. France Gall - “Celui Que J’aime”*

In the theme of “songs that got away” (see “Muxima”) this is one that I was thrilled to find again! I heard it on Jeff Hess’s show on KDHX many years ago. It set me on a France Gall odyssey. I bought albums and collections, and none of them had this song. I think her tone is probably my favorite female vocal tone, and she’s also one of my favorite singers in her delivery. This one is very different than some of the other stuff I associate with her but I think it’s still my favorite of hers.

20. Ely - “As Turbinas Estao Ligadas”

Now Again Records put out a collection called “Brazilian Guitar Fuzz Bananas” and it’s got as much tone as the title boasts. Credit due to “vinyl archaeologist” Joel Stones for tracking down songs like these and putting them within reach. This is one among several favorites and a true hit.

21. Tulia - “Pali się (Fire of Love)”

Speaking of true hits: welcome to the world of EuroVision, where music is a medium for international competition. This song is Poland’s entry for 2019. We spent an amazing week with our friends Phil and Archie driving between Cambridgeshire and London singing along with all of the finalists of that year’s competition. It’s a fascinating idea, this vote-based international struggle turning into a final victor that somehow expresses the zeitgeist of ALL OF THOSE COUNTRIES TOGETHER — because it’s not just Europe, it’s Israel and Australia. Also amazing is that this isn’t just some scheme cooked up in the reality TV era: this has been going on for decades. In fact, France Gall was the EuroVision winner in 1965 — for Luxembourg!

22. Luigi Tenco - “Ciao Amore Ciao”

Likewise, this song was in international competition. It was sung by Egyptian-born French superstar Dalida. We saw an eponymous movie about her at the St. Louis International Film Festival in 2017 and she was a completely engrossing character. I’m not totally sold on this song as she sings it — but I love Luigi Tenco’s version. And man what a looker! He died young by his own hand, and she died too young by her own hand, and that is about as French as it gets.

23. Marijata - “I Walk Alone”

“This Is Marijata” is the sound of Ghana in 1976. I was talking about Marijata with Josh Weinstein recently, and he reminded me of this song and how much I dig it. It’s got that slow burn organ in the background, the slightly clumsy percussion in the foreground, those freighted vocals — but when it gets to the chorus, as the organ hook gives way to the horn hook, that’s when it truly hits its stride. And by the time we disappear into the fadeout, it has become fully epic. 

24. Lijadu Sisters - “Life’s Gone Down Low” 

To my ears it really feels like this song could have been released this year, rather than in 1976. What the hell was going on in West Africa that year? I feel like we could put together a great mix of songs just from that single year from Nigeria, Ghana, Benin and Ivory Coast. The Lijadu Sisters (Taiwo and Kehinde, actual identical twins) put out their first album in 1969; by their third album, “Danger,” the source of this song, they were huge stars in Nigeria and played with Ginger Baker, Art Blakey, and so on. They eventually moved to Harlem and lived together their whole lives, until Kehinde passed a little less than a year ago. 

25. Os Kiezos - “Muxima”*

As mentioned, I heard this song in a video work by Alfredo Jaar at the Art Institute of Chicago. You can read about the piece here. I learned that “Muxima” is an Angolan folk song and in the video of the same title there are, I believe, 5 different versions of the song. One particular one – the one that pulled me into the room where the video was playing on loop – was a gorgeous vocal arrangement.  I even tried shazaming it. No dice. So I wrote it down and started looking for the song, the particular arrangement. I bought a collection of Angolan music because I saw the song on it. That’s the one you heard on this broadcast and it is a recording that I now really love. I periodically keep looking for other versions of the song, hoping I’ll come across that missing version though. I thought I got close this week when I found Duo Ouro Negro’s version. (Worth checking out!) That one from the video though, still haunts me! It’s been 9 years now, I wonder if I would recognize it but I think I would. I guess the next thing I can try is a shot in the dark email to Alfredo Jaar. This is and one other song share the top spot of “songs that got away” the other one is some beautiful song that was coming from a small radio from a group of old Puerto Rican guys who were playing cards on the sidewalk on South 3rd street in Williamsburg. We were touring through and staying with our friend in that neighborhood and as we were moving the van I heard this beautiful song coming off the sidewalk. Those guys had great taste. 

[thetonecontrol]

Here’s The Scoop, Band Names Are Bad 

Fender Mahogany Offset Tele (stab: MS Consider the Raven)

Jazzmaster body, tele bridge assembly and pickup, P90 Neck pickup 

Mahogany body and neck. Rosewood fingerboard. 

Special run from Fender Japan for European markets 

EUR 1125 or about $1285 as of 8/20

https://www.gearnews.com/fender-mahogany-offset-telecaster-limited-european-run/ 

EVH 5150 Chorus (stab: Caroline Shigeharu)

https://www.jimdunlop.com/product/evh30-7-10137-09701-8.do?sortby=ourPicks 

Controls for Intensity, Tone and Volume. Mono in, Mono/Stereo out

Input and output level toggles. Handy for front of the amp as well as FX loop

Could go stereo FX loop if you want. FX send from one amp to the input, then 1 return back to amp 1 and other back to amp 2. 

Very still chorus, if your Intensity is set low it’s pretty much just a stereo image moving very slowly 

Pedal Genie

JHS Bonsai $229 

Matthew Effects The Architect $190

Bodacious Brian’s big, big rigs and also sometimes little rigs too; but also, also sometimes bass rigs, too... a little bit! 

Brian Gower of Plane Without A Pilot

Righteous Ryan - Pladask Elektrisk and Drolo Update. Previously featured in Ep. 86 (stab: Bogner Harlow)

Tåken Asynchronous Delay $235

Dual head delay with random modulation 

Breaks up a traditional delay’s linear and predictable behavior

Relay based true bypass

Effects loop (Labyrinth!) 

Fabrikat $300

100% inorganic, experimental multi-effects processor with 16 algorithms focusing on granular synthesis and modified sample playback. 

Aimed to be both a traditional pedal and a desktop device 

It’s more or less a time based pedal. It does lots of sampling of your signal and then manipulates it in a few different ways. 

Spinoff of a pedal they make called the FORM

Drolo Moon Rabbit Phaser! $230 euro

6 stage phaser with tap tempo and envelope follower 

8 LFO shapes: ramp up, ramp down, square, triangle, sine, hypertriangle, random step, and random slope.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lJClkaySvgExpression input

Controls for envelope, rate, range, depth, feedback, mix, and shape

http://www.davidrolo.com/product/moon-rabbit-tap-tempo-envelope-phaser/

[chaj]

via vallandingham.me

regl is a technology meant to simplify building awesome things with WebGL. Recently, Mikola Lysenko, one of the creators of regl, gave a great talk at OpenVis Conf that got me wanting to spend more time with WebGL and regl in particular - to see how it could be applied to my data visualization work.

With this tutorial, I hope to share my brief learnings on this wonderfully mystical technology and remove some of that magic. Specifically, how do we make the jump from the interesting but not so applicable intro triangle example:

To using regl for some sort of data visualization? At the end of this tutorial, hopefully you (and I) will find out!

We will start with the triangle. Try to understand WebGL and regl in the context of this example, then work to modify it to expand our understanding. We will cover some basics of WebGL and shaders, setting up your development environment to work with regl, and then explore a subset of regl’s functionality and capabilities.

The final result will be a data stream visualization:

This falls short of the amazing regl visualizations Peter Beshai has recently produced and discussed recently, but hopefully this tutorial can serve as a stepping stone towards this greatness.

And if you want to just skip to the results, I’ve made a bunch of blocks to illustrate the concepts covered:

Plain regl triangle

regl triangle in a loop

regl triangle moving

regl triangle using props

Displaying dots with regl

Data Stream with regl

What is WebGL?

First, it might be useful to step back a bit and talk at a high level about WebGL and regl and what they are good for. If you know all this, feel free to skip ahead.

As the wonderful Mozilla Developer Network so succinctly puts it, WebGL - or the Web Graphics Library - is a way to create interactive 2D and 3D visuals in a web browser with just Javascript. It is a low level API that utilizes the canvas tag, and can be used to make some pretty impressive stuff.

WebGL has a lot going for it. Its supported in many browsers, it can be crazy fast as the code is executed on the GPU, and there are lots of impressive examples to get you started.

But it is also a crazy confusing API for folks just getting started who are not familiar with these types of systems. WebGl is a graphics pipeline that includes a number of steps that are used to get an image rendered to the screen. The API is very low-level and it can take a lot of work just to get something on the screen.

What is regl?

The regl framework simplifies the task of developing WebGL code by providing a more functional interface. It takes cues from the React world, providing a consistent and familiar way to pass state and properties into the WebGL code.

So, you still have to write some WebGL, but the parts that you are responsible for writing are simpler, isolated, and have a defined signature.

Throwing Shade with Shaders

The WebGL code you still need to write are known as shaders. Shaders are functions written in a special C-like graphics language called GLSL or OpenGL Shading Language (OpenGL being the standard WebGL is based on).

There are different types of shaders, specifically two types:

Vertex shaders

Fragment shaders

Each type is responsible for configuring a different portion of the WebGL rendering pipeline. You need to implement both to make a complete

A Vertex shader is given each point (vertex) of the thing that is being rendered (triangle, sphere, rabbit, dataset) and its job is to determine the position of each of these vertices in WebGL space. If we ponder this idea from a data visualization / D3 perspective, this is kind of like implementing the most specific d3.scale ever. Each vertex is a data point, and the shader is a scale that maps each input point to a location in space and time for your specific visual.

A Fragment shader deals with the visual display of the things rendered in the WebGL pipeline to the screen. Specifically, they need to set the color for each pixel that is being displayed. (Why is it called a fragment shader and not a pixel shader? Good Question!).

As an aside, shaders are called shaders because fragment shaders are used to control lighting and other special effects when using GLSL in game development.

We won’t go into the details of GLSL in this tutorial, but hopefully the simple shaders we use aren’t too confusing. I’d suggest reading a bit of The Book of Shaders if you haven’t seen GLSL at all before - it provides a nice smooth introduction (though it focuses soley on fragment shaders).

As an aside, The Book of Shaders also has a great shader editor you should check out that includes all sorts of nice features. You can learn more about it here.

Here are some other resources that I shamelessly borrowed from, and might cover these concepts more elegantly than me:

WebGL Fundamentals

HTML5 Rocks Shader Intro

Setting up an Exploration Environment

Before we put our pedals to the metals in implementing these concepts in our very own regl program, let’s take a moment to setup an environment that helps facilitate an exploration of these new technologies in a way that doesn’t incite us to throw our computers into the ocean out of frustration.

My solution to reducing frustration with new technologies is typically to supplement existing tools I like with new features. To this end, I’m going to suggest some Atom plugins to use that could make working with GLSL code easier for you.

But there are many other approaches! Feel free to ignore these recommendations and skip ahead, if you have a different methodology for WebGL development.

Also, I’ve included Blocks for each of the steps in the tutorial - which work without any additional setup - so if you don’t want to setup your coding environment now, you could just start forking those!

Atom Packages for GLSL Fun

Here are the Atom packages I would recommend using as we get started. Each can be installed via Atom’s “Preferences” menu.

First, grab the language-glsl package for some nice syntax highlighting of our GLSL code. Initially our GLSL code will be written inline as strings, but eventually we will write this code in .glsl files, so this package will come in handy then.

Next, you might be interested in the autocomplete-glsl which gives you handy autocompleting of GLSL types and functions. It even provides links to the documentation for each function!

Finally, I never leave home without a linter - and linter-glsl provides nice inline warnings and errors in your code so you can catch them early and (hopefully) avoid hours of glaring angrily at your screen just because you forgot a ‘.’ somewhere (it might still happen though!).

To get the linter working, you need to install glslangValidator - which if you are on a Mac and use homebrew you can do easily:

brew install glslang

A Baseline for good regling

Ok, after far too much yawning, let’s get to some code. Here we will add the necessary JS packages to our development environment - so again skip ahead if you are just working with the Blocks for now. Most of this section is a rehash of the lovely from nothing to something in WebGL blog post by Ricky Reusser - so feel free to use the original source.

First, let’s create a new Javascript project using npm init:

mkdir regl-start cd regl-start npm init

You can just hit enter to select the defaults for the project if you like - or tweak them as necessary. This command adds a package.json file to our new regl-start directory. We will use this file to manage the npm packages we will use.

Some Nice-to-have Packages

We will install a few packages to get things up and running quickly. The commands to run inside your project are:

npm install --save regl npm install --save-dev browserify budo

...