#roland tr-77

[thesunlounge]

Reviews 201: Il Guardiano del Faro

Several weeks ago I covered Choice Works 1982 - 1985, Time Capsule’s loving, informative, and visually gorgeous Yuji Toriyama retrospective. But Yuji wasn’t the first balearic hero of years past to get this special treatment, as Time Capsule had a few months prior released a deluxe reissue of Il Guardiano del Faro’s Oasis. This cinematic epic was crafted by Federico Monti Arduini and a few friends in 1978 from his seaside paradise of Porto Santo Stefano, and sees Poly and Mini-moogs, string synths, e-pianos, drum machines, echo boxes, and tape recorders uniting for a radiant waltz through mirage-shrouded desert dreamworlds. There are ambient disco burners, swooning Italian film orchestrations, proto-new age and post-classical expanses, exotic jazz fusion adventures, and moody Morricone/Alessandroni-style spaghetti western guitar meditations, all working together to achieve Federico’s goal of helping the listener understand that “inside, they are vulnerable and emotional but stubbornly alive.” Of course, the liner notes are detailed and captivating, tracing Federico’s development from a child piano prodigy through to his early flirtations with and subsequent abandonment of classical music and onto his later professional triumphs and successes as a solo artist. And his transformative meeting with Robert Moog is given special focus, with the essay contextualizing Federico’s pioneering use of Moog synthesizers in Italy and explaining how they allowed him to abandon restrictive and traditional forms of musical expression in favor of wide-eyed experimentation and intuitive solo exploration. 

Il Guardiano del Faro - Oasis (Time Capsule, 2018) “Sinfonia al sole che nasce” is an enchanting lullaby for the birth of the sun, with golden drops of Rhodes piano moving through vibrato waves alongside crystal healing tones. We then transition into aching solo synth-strings…angelic and gleaming, hymn-like and heavenly…until a sunrise piano arp enters and weaves feathery strands of light while futuristic harpsichords skip on sunbeams. All the while, contrabasses and cellos join in as the song works itself into gentle climax of aquatic new age bubbles and pastoral strings that float the soul. Tulio De Piscopo joins Federico for “Miss Springtime (…Mia),” which begins in a humid noir groove. Smoke shrouded Rhodes pianos hover above electro and acoustic cymbals that splash through twilight atmospheres and Tulio subverts his characteristic funk power with a sunset drum stroll along an idyllic stream. Smooth fusion basslines walk up and down the scale and swooning theremin-sounding synths trail the piano melodies, bringing vibes of (The) Ventures in Space as well as Haruomi Hosono’s “Tropical Trilogy” as we find ourselves in a surfy sci-fi waltz on an exo-planetary moon beach. There’s a passage of mediterranean mesmerism where seaside reed melodies evoke romantic gondola rides and classic Italian cinema…the swooning balearica presaging the work of Bonnie & Klein by decades. Elsewhere, tom fills and overlapping string dreamscapes break down into funk jam-outs that feature fragile pianos tearing it up alongside fried fusion leads that approximate interstellar saxophones…everything scatting on galactic currents as waves of synthesized solar light purify the mind.

Tulio appears again for “Non una corda al cuore,” which recalls the melodic sunbirth themes from the opening track on wavering Moog fluids that dance and harmonize in the air. Skittering electro-cymbals move beneath vaporous string orchestrations and paradise bass walks until Tulio crashes in with a pounding and regal beat…the soft echoes and reverbs in the mix giving his massive fills a three-dimension quality. Ethereal brass sections play solar spells overhead as the multi-tracked melodies begin ascending ever higher through realms of rainbow luminescence and Federico continues overloading the mix with aching layers of Moog and lustrous piano squiggles while sometimes allowing searing solos to break free from the euphoric haze, their jaw-dropping leads of slow motion majesty wrapping around the towering beats in a way that looks ahead to the earth-shaking power of early 2000s post-rock. Waves of harmonic wonder and sun-soaked melody unite to carry the spirit to impossible heights…the heavenly power bringing tears and stealing breath from the lungs. And Federico is not content to just blow you away with white light power, rather, he insists on completely obliterating the mind and body, leaving nothing behind but pure alchemical essence, which then floats freely upon the plodding drum smashes as everything else is wrapped around by starshine symphonies and hyperreal colorclouds.

“Lady Moon” is one of my favorite discoveries of recent memory…a gorgeous and heart-breaking meditation for the dust-caked western guitar of Johnny Farina. Federico joins in with subdued e-piano mysticisms and ghost organs swell in the background while cold winds blow over expansive desert vistas. A blood red sun descends below the horizon as immersive washes of synthesized light ascend, at times recalling Pink Floyd’s “Welcome to the Machine,” only as if transmuted to faraway lands where cacti reign and lizard and snakes crawl across sun-baked expanses of cracked sand. Johnny’s moody guitar continues holding down a ghost town shuffle while also being nearly overwhelmed by sweltering waves of arid synthesis and overhead, buzzards circle as they await the demise of some tormented soul wandering in desolation. A glowing web of synthesized string beauty initiates “La ragazza che amava il mare e il vento” while soft psychedelic slides and etheric light trails diffuse through swirling phaser clouds. It’s a blissed out ambient utopia of cosmic drama and sea-worn beauty…the title roughly translating to “the girl who loved the wind and sea”…and as the song progresses into a new age fantasia, you can almost feel her deep longing for the salty gales and crashing waves of an ocean of dreams.

Tulio appears one last time in “Disco Divina,” his stoned and spaced out disco groove supported by deep bubbling basslines while hypnotizing washes of cymbal swelling radiance overtake the mix. Outer-dimensional harpsichords bang away and dance through the night with sprightly space leads, while wailing vocal synths evoke a sort of angel opera. Massive tom smashes fly through the air as synths pan and move like intelligent liquids and all the while, the string orchestrations grow increasingly massive and eventually consume the mix with Arabic incantations. As it all comes together, we find ourselves in a faraway mystical land…some sort of camelback adventure on an alien planet where vibed out e-piano fusion solos glide on soul sweeping strings that emanate from the rocks of a mysterious desert palace. We then head further into an Arabic fever dream with “Oasis.” Swinging electro-drums and mystical string melodies waft over wobbling tuba synths that dance through exotic patterns. Splashing toms work around hissing cymbal cascades while the pianos and synths lock together for dueling snake charmer leads…everything eventually giving way to insectoid noises swarming around synth leads that fry the brain. During a jaw-dropping climax, paradise strings grow to epic levels of cosmic wonder…their dreamy exotica and immersive psychedelia evoking Omar Khorshid, only swapping his surf guitars for majestic synthesized symphonies. It’s the sonic equivalent of a sandstorm building in a blood red sky, its gusting winds washing over extra-terrestrial temples while alien druids cast spells against the violent torrents of nature.

“Immenso mare, immenso amore” provides a welcome come down from the ecstatic adventurism of “Oasis” as it allows us to float gently on a swinging Roland TR-77 shuffle. Tropical hand drums and hissing cymbals glide on aquamarine currents while humid tropical nightscapes are evoked by the gorgeous string synth weavings. Sometimes heatwave blasts of wavering magic flow over the body while at other times aching violins and violas sway together in the moonlight alongside golden piano chords that seem to swim through pools of polychromatic light. The vibrant euphoria continues building as brain-piercing feedback synths solo alongside the sad songs of an interstellar seabird flying alone through a world of dreams. And the melodies are so suffused with warmth and blinding spiritual light as everything moves together for a paradisiacal slow dance upon sea-foam clouds, climaxing with an absolutely maddening synth solo that contrasts the pastoral ambiance and gliding beauty beneath it with atonal liquid fire and mind melting runs up and down the scale, all wild skronking clusters of electronic chaos and fusion explosiveness raining down upon a heart-melting submarine drift.

In “Zenith,” Federico’s amorphous string movements float upon skittering electro-drum propulsion. Imagine fast motion beat hypnotics comprised of tribal toms, wood blocks, and static metal blasts that all fly together on comet tails, resulting in the kind of tripped out machine drum magic associated with 70s krautrock or lofi 90s space rock. Everything in the mix is smothered in echoes and hazy reverb and those scorching harpsichords appear once more to solo over it all…moving through thick puddles of phaser liquids that cling to the futurist tones as they climb towards the heavens. There are haunted space whistles that flow like strands of interstellar gas…as if Alessandro Alessandroni was blasted through a galactic vortex and then allowed to let loose his cinematic western melodies from deep within a dense cloud of pink and blue. And through it all, primordial string orchestrations evoke Kubrick’s “The Dawn of Man” while being intercut with mysterious detective film atmospherics. The “Finale” of Oasis  sees a return to the melodies and dream spells of opener “Sinfonia al sole che nasce,” this time with nacreous strands of Rhodes piano floating alone while creating gaseous bass bubbles and meditative vibration waves that shimmer and swirl…giving life and movement to Federico’s daydream melodies for an ethereal coda.

(images from my personal copy)

[shrimpkardashian]

I have a list of ~900 albums from 2019 that I still want to eventually listen to / review [IMPOSSIBLE PROJECT ALERT]

For this project (already 125+ releases deep), which is just impossibly daunting and makes me head hurt. IDK how to streamline this process or is any “critic” out there really listening to “all” the good music? It’s impossible I guess... BUT needless to say, these have made this list from an even larger pool of music that I either listened to briefly and immediately dismissed or (gasp!) never even came across my radar (radar = many many music blogs I follow via RSS). 

Anyway, because I’ll most likely never get to this (whatever this is, an Xgau parody or something)... Here is the list (please ignore some of my notations/typos):

1 matana roberts, coin coin chapter four 2 jeffrey lewis 3 negativland 4 camedor 5 the darkness 6 jai paul [leak] 7 shikoswe 8 anatolian weapons 9 cakedog, doggystyle 10 carly rae jepsen (LP, plus single w Gryffin) 11 parsnip 12 the comet is coming 13 girl in red 14 ezra furman 15 the kvb 16 freddie gibbs & madlib 17 say sue me (single) 18 denzel curry 19 fatamorgana 20 vivian girls 21 wobbly, monitress 22 helado negro 23 anamanaguchi 24 paul demarinis 25 comet gain 26 personal best 27 king princess, LP? big little lies single 28 marble arch 29 mini dresses 30 matt christensen 31 jade bird 32 black mountain 33 body meat 34 pat, Love Will Find A Way Home 35 acid arab 36 the 83rd 37 common holly 38 wicca phase 39 mark ronson 40 spirit in the room, single 41 rebe, “pienso en ti a todas horas” [just a single?] 42 a giant dog, neon bible cover LP 43 hey collosus 44 moon king (meh/ or *) 45 vanity productions 46 velvet negroni 47 g perico 48 budokan boys 49 skryptor 50 oscar scheller 51 the muffs 52 larry gus 53 these new puritans *** 54 angel olsen 55 bleu nuit 56 meatraffle 57 josephine wiggs 58 jennifer vanilla 59 big|brave 60 rico nasty 61 friendship, dreamin' 62 mike, tears of joy 63 bellrope 64 gbv 65 machìna, archipelago 66 toy, songs of consumption 67 ayankoko 68 the intelligence 69 drahla 70 corridor, junior 71 urochromes 72 david hasselhoff 73 aMAZONDOTCOM 74 kehlani 75 ne-hi EP (final) 76 avey tare 77 bonnie "prince" billy 78 battles 79 snapped ankles 80 mannequin pussy 81 toro y moi, soul trash 82 twen 83 self discovery for social survival comp 84 bad heaven ltd 85 eric frye 86 the mattson 2 87 duncan park 88 pure bathing culture 89 arthur russell, iowa dream 90 wild pink 91 flaming lips 92 pan amsterdam 93 flaural 94 knife wife 95 hannah peel & will burns 96 klein 97 meat puppets 98 tnght 99 james ferraro 100 royal trux / ariel pink 101 new rain duets 102 black marble 103 sui zhen 104 liam the younger 105 the mountain goats, welcome to passaic 106 frank hurricane and hurricanes of love 107 sebadoh 108 xylouris white 109 lindstrøm 110 franck vigroux 111 joyero 112 dorian electra  113 ride 114 crumb, jinx 115 nonconnah 116 cup, spinning creature 117 brutus 118 bjarki 119 khotin 120 alexander tucker 121 gunna 122 operator music band 123 tony molina 124 nanami ozone 125 sad planets 126 bemydelay 127 laurie anderson et al, songs from the bardo 128 teebs 129 deerhunter, timebends 130 tr/st (2 LPs) 131 dolores catherino 132 liturgy 133 floating points 134 sasami, LP + xmas EP 135 trikorder23 136 moor mother 137 have a nice life 138 la dispute 139 lingua ignota 140 lina tullgren 141 earl sweatshirt 142 entrail 143 alexander noice 144 shock narcotic 145 rakta 146 munya 147 el drugstore 148 buck gooter 149 caribou, single - more? 150 rosenau & sanborn 151 kevin abstract 152 pile 153 e for echo 154 animal collective, new psycho actives vol. 2 + live album 155 harlem 156 sudan archives 157 lil peep, posthumous ep 158 young guv, i and ii 159 orville peck 160 75 dollar bill 161 institute 162 tove lo 163 the chocolate watchband 164 foie gras, holy hell 165 french vanilla 166 chuck cleaver 167 kollaps 168 spirits having fun 169 game 170 badgirl$ 171 medhane 172 alberich 173 show me the body 174 the night watch, an embarrassment of riches 175 inus, western spaghettification 176 pregoblin, singles? 177 ra ra riot 178 de lorians 179 kool keith 180 kaspia & stride 181 glen hansard 182 dpeee 183 berlin taxi 184 foghorn 185 ionnalee 186 american sharks 187 sitcom, dust single 188 pip blom 189 j balvin & bady 190 fenella 191 tanya tagaq 192 sean o'hagan 193 j robbins 194 peter ivers (comp) 195 neon indian, not sure if single is part of larger proj? 196 triad god 197 yeule 198 roland tings 199 schoolboy q 200 ava luna EP 201 fried eggs 202 drugdealer 203 half japanese 204 todd anderson-kunert 205 emily reo 206 christelle bofale 207 brion starr 208 jan jelinek (reissue) 209 peaer 210 devin townsend 211 vik 212 young m.a 213 default genders 214 night lovell 215 rocketship 216 kim gordon 217 ellen arkbro 218 george clanton and nick hexum [single?] 219 the minus 5 220 penguin cage 221 felicia atkinson 222 take offense 223 moon duo 224 chemical brothers 225 nef the pharaoh 226 daniel norgren 227 unkle 228 pup (?) 229 baroness 230 velvet bethany 231 resavoir 232 gruff rhys 233 lana del ray 234 empath 235 burial and the bug, flame 2 236 russian baths 237 quelle chris 238 corpse flower 239 roy montgomery [reissue] 240 clinic 241 a.g. cook, [single] 242 why? 243 beck 244 francis lung 245 thom yorke 246 warmduscher 247 uv-tv 248 aa bondy 249 max richter, ad astra ost 250 younghusband 251 stereo total 252 julie's haircut 253 aa matheson 254 eartheater 255 kelly moran 256 mana (seven steps behind) 257 c.h.e.w. 258 sarah mary chadwick 259 midsommar ost 260 beabadoobee 261 life, a picture of good health 262 dumb, club nites 263 dame dolla 264 endless boogie 265 burna boy 266 lungbutter 267 wand 268 future punx 269 yves jarvis 270 kim petras [LP, halloween EP] 271 bts world 272 pikelet 273 panda bear, single 274 samiyam 275 red river dialect 276 ryan pollie 277 ryuichi sakamot (reissue) 278 jackie mendoza 279 dark blue 280 jay som 281 stephen mallinder 282 neutrals, kebab disco 283 foodman 284 capitol, dream noise 285 new pornographers 286 mark korven, the lighthouse ost 287 gauche 288 the japanese house 289 cave (re-issue) 290 ybn cordae 291 the vacant lots 292 arwen 293 rhucle 294 lil b, @ least 2 releases? 295 tea service 296 chai 297 black pumas 298 program, show me 299 marika hackman 300 sonny and the sunsets 301 lillie mae 302 mean jeans 303 the stroppies 304 poppies 305 twin shadow 306 vanishing twin *** 307 portrayal of guilt [EP + split single] 308 lucki [2 lps] 309 absolutely free 310 girl band 311 black midi 312 torche 313 perfume (best of) 314 white denim 315 clipping 316 the hu 317 big business 318 metro crowd 319 ex-vöid, 7" 320 broken social scene 321 lil pump 322 uranium club 323 doon kanda 324 hesitation wounds 325 sorry girls 326 bibio 327 red mass 328 the shins, single 329 lil keed 330 yeasayer 331 bts / blackpink KPOP 332 galen tipton, fake meat 333 the world, reddish 334 lanark artefax, ep 335 ladytron 336 g.s., schray 337 just mustard [single, more?] 338 mdou moctar 339 rangers, spirited discussion 340 tyson meade 341 dj nate 342 kelly lee owens 343 bambara 344 kilo kish 345 lusine 346 ralph heidel / homo ludens 347 psychic graveyard 348 homeshake 349 wives, so removed 350 proto idiot 351 let’s eat grandma, ost ep 352 foals 353 caroline shaw & attacca quartet 354 juan waters 355 mount eerie with julie doiron 356 mestozi 357 patio 358 oh baby, the art of sleeping alone 359 earth 360 haybaby 361 anna meredith 362 the caretaker (6) 363 rich brian 364 sunn o))), [two LPs] 365 alessandro cortini 366 ty segall 367 injury reserve 368 elucid 369 budos band 370 tim hecker 371 waqwaq kingdom 372 william doyle *** 373 innercity ensemble 374 filthy friends 375 prurient 376 shlohmo 377 bon iver 378 sean henry 379 yeesh 380 faye webster 381 megan thee stallion 382 squid, town centre 383 simulation (hausau mountain) 384 flying lotus 385 horse jumper of love 386 rap, export 387 lansky jones 388 the gonks 389 cate lebon 390 rome fortune 391 chain cult 392 empty set 393 big thief (2 lp's) 394 laura cannell [and polly wright album ?] or is there just a laura c album too ? }} 395 froth 396 thugwidow 397 organ tapes 398 the new pornographers 399 zonal 400 bbg baby joe 401 whitney 402 guards 403 anemone 404 sheer mag 405 nots 406 fujiya & miyag 407 kool aid, family portrait ep 408 frankie cosmos 409 kaputt 410 quelle chris 411 operators 412 marco benevento 413 elvis depressedly 414 school of language, 45 415 rob burger 416 pozi 417 redd kross 418 randy randall 419 yatta 420 hide, hell is here 421 bobby krlic, midsommar ost 422 planet england 423 kev brown 424 robedoor 425 tropical fuck storm 426 haram, 9/11 ep 427 candy, super-stare single 428 sly and the family drone 429 kevin morby 430 porches, rangerover [single] 431 odae 432 pottery 433 saint pepsi 434 slowthai 435 iggy pop 436 swans 437 iLOVEMAKONNEN 438 mukqs 439 feels 440 luke temple 441 oli xl 442 orphan swords 443 post pink 444 deli girls 445 nilüfer yanya 446 idk, is he real? 447 interpol 448 priests 449 galcher lustwerk 450 smokepurpp, various? 451 kindness 452 ex hex 453 sampa the great 454 methyl ethel 455 ellis, the fuzz ep 456 jeanines s/t 457 water from your eyes 458 twin peaks 459 sam cohen 460 fontaines dc 461 spiral stairs 462 the hecks 463 nicola ratti 464 four tet, various (inc. "wingdings" alter ego side proj) 465 holy ghost 466 half stack 467 cherubs 468 juana molina, forfun EP 469 jpegmafia 470 bedouine 471 fury 472 melvins/flipper 473 the curls 474 izambard 475 heart eyes 476 drinking boys and girls choir 477 big search 478 glenn branca 479 rose elinor dougall 480 bat for lashes 481 young knives, [single, more? 482 hot chip 483 alex lahey 484 hemlock ernst & kenny segal 485 dj seinfeld 486 joni void 487 rema rema 488 spencer tweedy 489 trash kit 490 dry cleaning [2 ep's] 491 mega bog *** 492 saudade 493 monster rally 494 wilco 495 chromatics, LP + EP 496 slayyyter 497 maral 498 blarf 499 pernice brothers 500 la neve 501 marie davidson 502 tredici bacci 503 deathprod 504 lowly 505 russian circles 506 angel witch 507 fires were shot 508 amy o 509 q da fool 510 clams casino 511 automelodi 512 paradox 513 dababy (2) 514 david kilgour 515 missy elliot 516 baby smoove 517 boris 518 thanks for coming 519 yves tumor [single w/] 520 ΜΜΜΔ 521 falcon/falkland 522 noel wells 523 ecstatic vision 524 amyl & the sniffers 525 barrie 526 bianca scout 527 katie dey 528 prince rama 529 control top 530 duster, comp + new LP 531 foxes in fiction 532 slowthai x denzel curry [single] 533 the murlocs 534 plaid 535 ela orleans 536 gobby 537 cfm 538 carla del forna 539 pale spring 540 pixx 541 širom 542 lightning bolt 543 cate lebon & deerhunter 544 channel tres 545 sigrid 546 help, s/t 547 shellac, live 548 crack cloud, pain olympics (ongoing) / s/t (2018) 549 notes underground 550 fat white family *** 551 gloop 552 equiknoxx 553 nakhane 554 czarface meets ghostface 555 the rubinoos 556 shannon lay 557 tim heidecker 558 droneflower 559 john vanderslice 560 your old droog 561 bats, alter nature 562 zvi 563 justus proffit 564 lower dens 565 anna of the north 566 yg 567 holly herndon 568 good fuck 569 clark, single 570 charli xcx 571 the nativist 572 low life 573 jonsi & alex somers 574 kazu 575 günter schickert 576 odonis odonis 577 kelsey lu (+ remix EP) 578 young thug 579 thaiboy digital 580 hatchie 581 hiro kone 582 cocorosie 583 sabiwa 584 oh sees 585 rex orange county 586 311 587 erland cooper 588 jtamul 589 the brilliant tabernacle 590 free love, extreme dance anthems 591 jeff lynne's elo 592 dutch courage 593 booji boys 594 giggs 595 ceschi 596 inter arma 597 psychic sounds ensemble 598 eli kezsler EP 599 thelma 600 haiku salut 601 julia jacklin 602 otoboke beaver 603 colin self 604 mark mulcahy 605 rosalia, single "a pale" more? 606 chris lott 607 royal trux 608 weyes blood 609 mikal cronin 610 hissing tiles 611 grace ives 612 vic bang 613 nick cave 614 sugar world [single] 615 herzog 616 offset 617 mike adams at his honest weight 618 real life buildings 619 aldous harding 620 pye corner audio 621 doja cat 622 bleached 623 book of shame 624 kate davis 625 i was a king 626 pendant, through a coil 627 joseph arthur 628 great grandpa, four of arrows 629 modern nature 630 stef chura 631 spaza, s/t great 632 the alchemist 633 pond 634 aiden baker, etc 635 kirin j. Callinan 636 possible humans 637 greys 638 kizuna ai 639 little simz 640 big bend 641 membranes, what nature gives… 642 young nudy 643 car seat headrest (live) 644 seahawks 645 dumbhop's party 646 julien chang 647 pacific yew 648 pharmakon 649 lomelda 650 versing 651 olden yolk 652 mekons 653 the dream syndicate 654 the gotobeds 655 amy klein 656 bABii 657 bill callahan 658 grlwood 659 van dale 660 ziúr 661 delicate steve 662 debby friday 663 dehd 664 south city hardware 665 kesha 666 (sandy) alex g 667 computer slime 668 fka twigs 669 rob halford, celestial 670 dean hurley 671 school of language 672 nicolas godin 673 blue hawaii 674 leggy 675 ceremony 676 his name is alive 677 third eye blind 678 sadgirl 679 ariana grande 680 skepta 681 dylan moon 682 jay mitta 683 the drums 684 kero kero bonito, ep 685 charly bliss 686 lee renaldo etc 687 rina mushonga 688 ulla straus 689 cherushii & maria minerva 690 slaughter beach, dog 691 maps 692 dj shadow 693 tool LOL 694 diiv 695 pixies 696 cuco 697 black peaches 698 subhumans 699 gurr 700 cashmere cat 701 brockhampton 702 fire-toolz 703 lambchop, LP + EP 704 messthetics 705 neuland 706 westkust 707 haelos 708 sturgill simpson 709 maria usbeck 710 king gizzard (2) 711 earthgang 712 paranoid london 713 fet.nat 714 bethlehem steel 715 neil young with crazy horse 716 tengger 717 guerilla toss 718 spelling 719 lizzo 720 wiki 721 dr00p, mkULTRAHD 722 ghost orchard 723 jane weaver 724 usa/mexico 725 carl stone 726 richard dawson *** 727 rafael toral 728 test dept 729 sacred paws 730 big krit 731 mallrat 732 jenn champion 733 moE/Mette Rasmussen, tolerancia picante 734 facs 735 yung lean, single (blue cup) and ep, more? 736 pissgrave 737 moodyman 738 sing sinck, sing 739 tyler the creator 740 sleater-kinney 741 dean blunt, zushi 742 cursive 743 barker, utlity 744 gemma 745 octavian 746 pronoun 747 girl ray 748 julia shapiro 749 nodding god 750 daniel saylor 751 jakob ogawa 752 richard youngs 753 diät 754 w00dy 755 omar souleyman 756 vōx EP 757 topdown dialectic 758 penelope islea 759 gbv 760 glass beach 761 james hoff, hobo ufo 762 euglossine 763 dream ritual 764 terry allen 765 office culture 766 ghostie, devour 767 beat detectives 768 red channel 769 octo octa 770 julien baker [toyko single] 771 shackleton as "tunes of negation" 772 sons of raphael 773 lena raine 774 fitted, first fits 775 velf 776 cvn 777 black country, new road, [2 singles only?] 778 chief keef 779 andrew bird, LP and EP 780 tamaryn 781 vagabon 782 zelooperz 783 brian jonestown massacre 784 angel dust 785 pere ubu 786 vatican shadow, church... 787 spencer radcliffe 788 mr muthafuckin exquire 789 earth to mickey 790 beak> 791 byron westbrook 792 major murphy 793 nicole yun 794 the divine comedy 795 sote, parallel persiao 796 the radio dept. 797 prince daddy & the hyena 798 mudhoney 799 truth club 800 shura 801 underworld, drift 802 lil texas 803 that dog 804 gary wilson / r. stevie moore 805 divino nino 806 spiral heads 807 claire cronin 808 devendra banhart 809 c.y.m. EP 810 dude york 811 sangri 812 vegyn [2 lp's?] 813 brooke candy 814 caroline polachek 815 hurt valley 816 O.L.I.V.I.A, modo avion 817 ziúr 818 pepper mill rondo, it's christmas time 819 ben vida 820 nick hexum/george clanton 821 meara o'reilly 822 tyler holmes, devil 823 blood incantation 824 guenter schlienz 825 gavilán rayna russom 826 loraine james *** 827 lithics, Wendy Kraemer EP 828 navel, ambient 2, in space 829 the proper ornaments 830 jon hopkins & kelly lee owens, single 831 julianna barwick 832 park hye-jin 833 bea1991 834 men i trust 835 erika de casier 836 ducks unlimited 837 lyzza 838 refused 839 jim o'rourke, to magnetize ... 840 analemma, 2 singles on a comp? 841 zack fox, "the bean kicked in" 842 real life rock n roll band 843 prefab sprout 844 daniel lopatin, uncut gems ost 845 kaytranada 846 the voidz, 2 song single + video? 847 grandaddy, single (add scissors icon) 848 dark thoughts, must be nice 849 loose nukes 850 sam mallet 851 very good, adulthood 852 henge, nothing head 853 kaleidobolt 854 nebula, holy shit 855 terminal cheesecake 856 uzeda 857 wet tuna 858 sean mccann 859 black dresses, love and... (2nd LP) 860 nefew 861 taylor swift ??? 862 lala lala, the lamb 863 jenny lewis 864 33EMYBW 865 blood orange, angel's pulse 866 caterina barbieri *** 867 yusu 868 white reaper 869 rozi plain 870 bamboo, daughters of the sky 871 seragina steer 872 clear channel, hot fruit 873 patience, dizzy spells 874 mope grooves, desire 875 current affairs, object & subject 875 comfort, not passing 876 bill orcutt 877 bonnie baxter 878 carl stone 879 thurston moore 880 alameda 5 881 john zorn 882 the membranes, what nature gives... 883 meemo comma 884 ana roxannne 885 whistling arrow, s/t 886 dis fantasy 887 giant swan, s/t 888 buck young, buck ii 889 abdu ali 890 ifriqiyya électrique 891 $hit and $hine, doing drugs, selling drugs 892 ghold 893 theon cross 894 yao bobby & simon grab 895 solange *sure whatever ok 896 the comet is coming 897 the utopia strong, s/t 898 karenn, grapefruit regret 899 brìghde chaimbeul 900 nav, bad habits 901 chance, big day 902 nostalgia critic's the wall 903 uboa, the origin of my depression 904 hobo johnson 905 ana frango elétrico 906 dorian electra

[tr21sa]

100 evergreen albums - most significant and those that had the greatest impact on TR21 creativity a.k.a. 100BestAlbums by TR21. 💽💾📀🥰☺️😁 So what follows [random order without any pushing] : 1) Red Snapper - Prince Blimey 2) Public Enemy - Fear Of A Black Planet 3) Stereolab - Transient Random-Noise Bursts With Announcements 4) Tricky - Pre-Millennium Tension 5) Innerzone Orchestra - Programmed 6) Dub Pistols - Point Blank 7) Primal Scream - XTRMNTR 8) Bass Communion & Muslimgauze - bcvsmgcd 9) Beastie Boys - Licensed To Ill 10) Art Of Noise - In Visible Silence 11) ICE - Bad Blood 12) Public Image Ltd - First Issue 13) Love And Rockets - Love And Rockets 14) Dj Cam - Mad Blunted Jazz 15) Pitchshifter - Industrial 16) Bowery Electric - Beat 17) DJ Food - Kaleidoscope 18) Black Grape - Stupid, Stupid, Stupid 19) Napalm Death - Scum 20) Throwing Muses - Red Heaven 21) Terry Hall & Mushtaq - The Hour Of Two Lights 22) Roni Size - In The Mode 23) Death In Vegas - Dead Elvis 24) Dead Can Dance - Dead Can Dance 25) Darkside - All That Noise 26) Glory B - Sunday Island 27) Flanger - Templates 28) Killing Joke - Extremities, Extremities, Dirt And Various Repressed Emotions 29) David Holmes – Bow Down To The Exit Sign 30) A1 People – The Yellow Album 31) Shellac - 1000 Hurts 32) Goldie - Ring Of Saturn 33) Indian Ropeman - Elephantsound 34) The B-52's - Wild Planet 35) Ian Brown - Golden Greats 36) Amon Tobin - Permutations 37) The Charlatans - The Charlatans 38) Dom & Roland - Through The Looking Glass 39) Blur - 13 40) Johannes Heil - Heilstyle 41) Swell - Everybody Wants To Know 42) Porter Ricks - Biokinetics 43) Happy Mondays - Bummed 44) Chemical Brothers - Push The Button 45) Fred Schneider - Just...Fred 46) Absent Minded - Extreme Paranoia In Stocktown 47) Kasabian - Kasabian 48) JaMC - Honey's Dead 49) Josh Wink - Herehear 50) The Fall - I Am Kurious, Oranj 51) 808 state - Don Solaris 52) Suede - Sci-Fi Lullabies 53) Minus 8 - Beyond Beyond 54) Portishead - Portishead 55) The Damage Manual - >1 56) Protector - Urm The Mad 57) John Lydon - Psycho's Path 58) Artist Unknown - Future 59) Bjork - Vespertine 60) Main - Motion Pool 61) Lionrock - City Delirious 62) Lamb - Lamb 63) New Fast Automatic Daffodils - Pigeonhole 64) Broadcast - The Noise Made By People 65) Graham Coxon - The Golden D 66) MC Conrad - Vocalist 01 67) Jestofunk - Universal Mother 68) Knowtoryus - Covert Operation 69) Isotope 217 - The Unstable Molecule 70) P.J.Harvey - To Bring You My Love 71) Black Star Liner - Bengali Bantam Youth Experience! 72) Luke Vibert - Big Soup 73) The Long Blondes - Someone To Drive You Home 74) Lunatic Calm - Metropol 75) Calexico - The Black Light 76) Front 242 - Tyranny >For You< 77) Ultramagnetic MC's - Critical Beatdown 78) Mazzy Star - Among My Swan 79) TRS-80 - The Manhattan Love Machine 80) Swayzak - Himawari 81) Ponga - Ponga 82) Alec Empire - Low On Ice 83) Plaid - Double Figure 84) Red Aunts - Saltbox 85) Karkowski, Furudate - World As Will III 86) Yello - You Gotta Say Yes To Another Excess 87) Speedy J - Ginger 88) Pixies - Trompe Le Monde 89) Sarcofago - I.N.R.I. 90) Aphex Twin - 26 Mixes For Cash 91) His Name Is Alive - Ft. Lake 92) Les Gammas - Exercices De Styles 93) Metamatics - NeoOuija 94) The Wiseguys - Executive Suite 95) AIR - Premiers Symptomes 96) Stereo MC's - 33-45-78 97) FSOL - ISDN 98) Pieter Nooten, Michael Brook - Sleeps With The Fishes 99) Bertrand Burgalat - The Sssound Of Mmmusic 100) Kraftwerk - Computerwelt

[loopsanddoodles]

Loop Doodle #77: Be The Drivers Guide

Piloting a vehicle can be a simple task, but it helps knowing what you might encounter along the way. In your journey there are many guides, but sometimes you gotta take the turn and be the guide. Help someone get to where they need to be.

Sequentix Cirklon

Keith #McMillen K-Mix

Oberheim TVS Pro

#Oberheim DX Stretch

#Yamaha TG33

#Eventide H9 - Chorus

#Roland #TR-606

Roland VT-3

#Jomox T-Resonator II

Jomox MBase 11

Jomox M.Brane 1_1

#Moog Taurus 3

#Kurzweil K2000R - ARP Samples

[deepartnature]

Stop Making Sense - Talking Heads (1984)

"Stop Making Sense is a 1984 American concert film featuring a live performance by American rock band Talking Heads. Directed by Jonathan Demme, it was shot over the course of four nights at Hollywood's Pantages Theater in December 1983, as the group was touring to promote their new album Speaking in Tongues. ... Lead singer David Byrne walks on to a bare stage with a portable cassette tape player and an acoustic guitar. He introduces 'Psycho Killer' by saying he wants to play a tape, but in reality a Roland TR-808 drum machine starts playing from the mixing board. ... With each successive song, Byrne is joined by more members of the band: first by Tina Weymouth for 'Heaven' (with Lynn Mabry providing harmony vocals from backstage), second by Chris Frantz for 'Thank You for Sending Me an Angel', and third by Jerry Harrison for 'Found a Job'. ..."

Wikipedia

YouTube: Stop Making Sense - Trailer

YouTube: Stop making sense (Concert) 1:27:47

2008 September: Talking Heads, 2011 June: Talking Heads: 77, 2011 August: More Songs About Buildings and Food, 2011 October: Fear of Music, 2012 January: Remain in Light, 2012 April: Speaking in Tongues, 2012 June: Live in Rome 1980, 2014 December: "Road To Nowhere" (1985), 2015 May: And She Was (1985), 2011 August: David Byrne: How Architecture Helped Music Evolve, 2012 January: The Knee Plays, 2015 October: My Life in the Bush of Ghosts - Brian Eno / David Byrne (1981), 2016 August: Fear Of Music: Amazing Early Talking Heads Doc From 1979, 2016 June: Performance (1979)

[yasbxxgie]

On January 30th, 1973, only six months after the break-in at the Democratic National Committee headquarters in the Watergate office complex, five men were tried and convicted of conspiracy, burglary and violation of federal wiretapping laws. That, of course, was not the end of the matter, as the trail lead directly to President Nixon himself. That same January, veteran soul and R&B singer Roy C. Hammond released a politically charged 45 called “Impeach The President,” a rock-solid drum workout with a funky guitar riff that perfectly captured the zeitgeist. He might have seen the writing on the wall for Nixon, but little did he know that the first four bars of the song were destined to become an iconic hip-hop drum loop, sampled in over 696 songs.

The slew of ’80s and ’90s hits built upon “Impeach” reads like a list of rap classics – MC Shan’s “The Bridge,” Audio Two’s “Top Billin’,” “Jump” by Kriss Kross, “The Rebirth of Slick (Cool Like That)” by Digable Planets, “I Get Around” by 2Pac and “Unbelievable” by Biggie Smalls, to name just a few. Even dance and pop acts from Soul II Soul to Janet Jackson have utilized that song’s boom-bap, and you know a beat is special when master lyricists like Chuck D. (“Rebel Without A Pause”) and GZA (“As High as Wu Tang Get”) reference it in their rhymes. The making of “Impeach The President” and its enduring influence not only illuminates an important chapter of hip-hop history, but it also provides yet another familiar tale in the perpetual struggle of artists to get fairly compensated for their work.

Known for such hits as “Shotgun Wedding” (Blackhawk Records, 1965) and “Don’t Blame The Man” (Mercury, 1973), Hammond cut “Impeach The President” with a bunch of all–black high school musicians from Jamaica, Queens whom he dubbed The Honey Drippers. He doesn’t even remember the drummer’s name now, but says, “I had to spend many hours with him after school, but he turned out to be pretty good.” Recorded at Broadway Recording Studios in Manhattan – in the same building that currently houses the Ed Sullivan Theater – “Impeach The President” was too controversial for Mercury, to which Hammond was signed at the time, so he released it on his own imprint, Alaga Records. Without the promotional power of a major behind it, it went on to sell only a few thousand copies and was relegated to the stacks of obscure funk 45s.

Flash forward to the T-Connection, a popular hip-hop club on Gunhill Road in the North Bronx. In 1980, Aaron Fuchs, the founder of hip-hop label Tuff City Records and one of the early journalists to write about hip-hop, was the guest of Bronx DJ Afrika Bambaataa. “When you see a guy coming to a gig with a little laptop and you remember what it was like to see Bambaataa and his posse come to a gig with four or five guys carrying crates of records behind him, it was very tribal, man, a whole ’nother experience – very post-gang,” says Fuchs, now 69. “He [Bam] showed me the extraordinary respect of letting me see his records,” he continues, and “even with certain stuff scratched out, I knew enough about music and its history to fill in the blanks.” Among a record collection that Fuchs calls,“the most expansive panoply of the musics that nurtured hip-hop,” he identified a 45 of “Impeach The President,” with Alaga Records’ trademark red and yellow label.

“‘Impeach’ was cultish,” says Fuchs, “It kind of separated record purchasers from crate-diggers.” Always trawling through the lists of distributors’ cutouts, he managed to score a 50-count box of “Impeach The President” for the bargain price of 25 cents a copy. “What I did was, if I’d go to the Roxy and I had a new record for Afrika Islam, I’d throw in a couple copies of ‘Impeach,’” says Fuchs. “I never got into or was able to get into greasing people or paying people off, but I could really live with using that type of stuff as currency.”

Based in Long Island City at the time, Fuchs started working with a young, up-and-coming DJ/producer from the nearby Queensbridge projects named Marlon Williams AKA Marley Marl, one half of the very first commercial rap radio show, Mr. Magic’s Rap Attack, on New York’s WBLS-FM. Also an intern at Unique Studios in Manhattan, Marley was just cutting his teeth on production and had a small set-up in his sister’s apartment in the projects that included a four-track, a Roland TR-808 drum machine and two SDD-2000 sampling digital delays by Korg. In 1984, Marley would produce a track for Tuff City artist Spoonie Gee called “Take It Off.” Interviewed by Dubspot in 2013, he recalls, “Fuchs said, ‘Here, I can’t pay you for this Spoonie Gee session, but you can take this pile of records.’ In that pile was “Impeach The President.”

According to Fuchs, “Marley was voracious, and as soon as I gave him something, it was used one way or another.”

Marley went on to sample the Honey Drippers’ kick and snare (with accompanying ghost notes) to each of his SDD-2000s, adding a hi-hat and a kick from the 808 to bolster the sampled kick. He shaped a hook by sampling a reverbed horn fanfare from The Magic Disco Machine’s 1975 record “Scratchin’,” and reversed it to play backwards so it sounded like a stab of pure noise. Finally, he brought in his cousin Shawn Moltke AKA MC Shan to christen the track with lyrics.

“The track ‘The Bridge’ was made not to be a record. It was made as intermission music for the Queensbridge festival that we had in Queensbridge Park in 1984,” Marley says. “Now the first time the track played everybody’s heads turned. Everybody was like, ‘Wow, it’s a song about Queensbridge.’ Everybody was like, ‘Play it again, play it again.’ It was so popular that day that we played it in the park, one of my nephews took the tape and spread it around Queensbridge. Everybody in Queensbridge had a copy of that song and it wasn’t a record yet. I had to do something about that.”

Though “The Bridge” was made in 1984, it only saw the light of day as a release in 1986 on Bridge Records, becoming an instant classic. Marley, who helmed a crew of now legendary artists known as the Juice Crew – featuring Shan, Biz Markie, Big Daddy Kane, Roxanne Shante, Craig G. and Masta Ace – went on to use the “Impeach” beat on many subsequent productions, including such certified rap hits as 1986’s “Eric B. Is President” by Eric B. & Rakim and 1986’s “Make The Music With Your Mouth, Biz” by Biz Markie. He even accidentally handed the beat over to the competition when BDP made “The Bridge Is Over” the following year.

“The funny story about ‘The Bridge is Over’ is that I had met BDP for the first time at Power Play studios when they was playing their demos for Mr. Magic,” says Marley. “So he went into the room, the music was very loud. He did not like it at all, so it got really, really heated. In the rush to vacate the studio, I forgot my famous drum reel with all my drum sounds on ’em. Fast forward, I’m listening to the radio and I hear this song called “The Bridge Is Over” utilizing my drum sounds. I was like ‘Yo! That sounds like my drum sounds. Who’s that?’ ‘That’s them kids that Magic dissed in the studio the other day.’”

By the time “Impeach The President” appeared on the DJ-friendly Ultimate Breaks & Beats series – Volume 11, released in 1987, to be exact – the cat was out of the bag, and that break was on its way to becoming a standard building block for rap tracks. In that year alone, it was used in “I Got An Attitude” by Antoinette, Dana Dane’s “Dana Dane With The Fame,” Cool C’s “Juice Crew Dis” and Audio Two’s mega-hit “Top Billin’.” Fuchs even took his own stab at a version, getting Spoonie Gee to drop some lyrics on a track called “You Ain’t Just A Fool, You’s An Old Fool.”

Ironically, Fuchs decided to go after his old buddy Marley, who had produced two hits from LL Cool J’s comeback album on Def Jam, Mama Said Knock You Out, in 1990. “Around The Way Girl” and “Six Minutes of Pleasure” both used elements of “Impeach The President,” to which Fuchs claimed to own the rights in a New York Times piece on April 21, 1992. He eventually settled out of court with Def Jam for what he describes as “low to mid-five figures.” Of course, these were not the only songs at the time that sampled “Impeach,” and Fuchs went after other artists and labels as well. “There were some lawsuits that had to be filed,” as he puts it, “but eventually it got to a point where it became business as usual.”

During this time, Roy C. Hammond had moved down to Allendale, South Carolina, where he currently runs a record shop. One day while listening to the radio, he heard the song, “Luv Me, Luv Me” by Shaggy and Janet Jackson, a cut from the How Stella Got Her Groove Back soundtrack that was released in 1998. He immediately recognized his own song in the mix, and after doing some calling around was able to track down Fuchs, who had authorized its use in the movie. It turns out the two had met back in 1968 when Hammond was singing tenor in The Genies, a doo-wop group, and Fuchs was a young reporter for Billboard and Cashbox.

“He said, ‘Look, I’m trying to make you some money.’” recalls Hammond, 77, of their reunion 30 years later. “I said, ‘Hell, you should have got in touch with me.’ He had it listed with ASCAP and I’m a BMI writer, so I went over and questioned them about it, and they took it out of there immediately.” It still means that from 1990 through 1998, Fuchs was profiting off “Impeach” without even trying to track down Hammond.

“And he was tellin’ me how much money I was going to make,” Hammond continues, with Fuchs eventually persuading Hammond to sign a five-year licensing deal for the track. Fuchs sealed the deal with a $500 check that apparently bounced.

But Fuchs tells a different story. “You know what’s crazy?” he says, “I never made a deal specifically for ‘Impeach.’ I do all kinds of reissues if you look at my catalog. I put stuff out from the ’40s to the ’80s, you know? And I actually put out a Roy C. album. He had had two albums on Mercury – one was called Sex and Soul and the second album was called More Sex and Soul. And then he had a bunch of stuff he had done independently. So, you know, I had a few things by him and that was one of them.”

“I didn’t authorize none of that,” Hammond maintains. “After he got a contract to license it [‘Impeach’] for five years to give it out to different people for beats, he was supposed to pay me, and he didn’t pay me.” Ask Fuchs, however, and Hammond profited, “hugely.”

Hammond has since taken Fuchs to court several times but hasn’t been able to receive the compensation he says he deserves, and puts it down to the failings of his lawyers, of which he’s gone through several. “The one in New York asked him [Fuchs] for half a million dollars or something, and we wind up getting $100,000,” he says. “And the most I got was $40,000 after lawyers fees.” That was ten years ago. “Just a few months ago,” Hammond adds, “I talked to this attorney and after that Fuchs sent me $32,500. Now that’s the biggest I ever got from him.”

But he is not bitter in the least. “I feel great that I contributed something [to hip-hop]” says Hammond. “But I’m still going to fight this guy, and I’m going to find a good lawyer that’s going to be honest and bring this thing in front of a jury.”

Editors’ Note: Following the publication of this story, RBMA Daily received an email from Aaron Fuchs, the president of Tuff City Records, contesting Marley Marl and Roy C. Hammond’s claims. Fuchs denies Marley Marl’s claim of nonpayment for the recording session of Spoonie Gee’s “Take It Off.” He also contests Marl’s quote from the Dubspot interview regarding a “pile of records,” stating that “I have never offered any DJ or producer ‘a pile of records,’ but rather specific records that I curated and deemed to be of value either to their production needs or fund of knowledge.”

Fuchs also states that Marley Marl was not named as an individual in his 1992 lawsuit against Def Jam, which was filed in response to the label’s release of songs produced by Marl on LL Cool J’s Mama Said Knock You Out LP. Furthermore, Fuchs states that agreements made with Hammond prior to 1998 were accompanied by advances, and seeks to clarify that “No check I ever wrote to Hammond or any other artist has ever bounced.”

[musicpron]

Roland Juno 106 Analogue synthesizer with all new voice chips Clean tidy Juno 106 with full set of new Analogue Renaissance voice chips installed. Its also been fitted with new 230v transformers. Its had a deep clean and is in super shape. Its had a full service and re-tune to factory specs. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Roland-Juno-106-Analogue-synthesizer-with-all-new-voice-chips-/263030517706 There are a couple of small spots of abraded paint on the RH lower edge of the front panel, but other than that there are no serious marks in the paint. Everything works how it should. No crackles or pops, no hanging notes....no problems. I wont post but your welcome to collect, or contact me, I may be able to bring to you. Lots of other synths available. Restoring Japanese analogue gear is my hobby:- Korg Polysix with midi 230V £1150 Korg Delta 230V (see other listing) Korg PE1000 230V£700 Roland TR-66 Rhythm machine 230V £225 Roland Juno 106 230V (see other listing) Roland Juno 106S 230V £725 Yamaha SK30 (110V with transformer) £850 Akai GX-77 Open Reel Tape Recorder- restored (110v with transformer) £550

[auroraaboraaborealis]

Ikutaro Kakehashi, an engineer and entrepreneur who used a defective transistor to generate the distinctive sounds of the Roland TR-808, a drum machine that transformed contemporary music, died on Saturday in Japan. He was 87.

His death was confirmed by Scott Hunter, a project manager at ATV Group Corp. USA, the American division of Mr. Kakehashi’s current company, ATV. Colleagues at Roland Corporation, the musical-instrument company he founded and ran for four decades, and musicians worldwide paid tribute.

Mr. Kakehashi’s drum machine — officially the Roland TR-808 Rhythm Composer but known to musicians and listeners as simply the 808 — was by no means Mr. Kakehashi’s only accomplishment. He built Roland, which he founded in 1972, into a company that makes hundreds of widely used instruments and audio devices, and led it as chief executive before founding a new audio and video electronics company, ATV Corporation, in 2013.

Mr. Kakehashi also helped revolutionize the way music is conceived and produced when he collaborated with Dave Smith, the president of a competing company, Sequential Circuits, to develop MIDI, the Musical Instrument Digital Interface that allows the vast majority of electronic instruments built since the early 1980s to interconnect.

The impact of 808 was loud and lasting. Roland claims it is heard on more hit records than any other drum machine, including tracks by Michael Jackson, Prince, Marvin Gaye — whose 1982 song “Sexual Healing” was largely constructed with an 808 — and Kanye West, whose album “808s and Heartbreak” was named after it.

Beyoncé, Madonna and Eminem, among many others, have mentioned the 808 in lyrics.

The 808 was widely embraced in hip-hop, particularly after the release of “Planet Rock” by Afrika Bambaataa & Soulsonic Force in 1982. In “808,” a 2015 documentary about the device by Alex Dunn, Public Enemy’s producer Hank Shocklee said, “It’s not hip-hop without that sound.”

Introduced in 1980 and discontinued in 1983, the TR-808 — TR stands for “transistor rhythm”— was an analog device that made frankly artificial drum and percussion sounds: tinny handclaps, hissing high-hats, a dinky cowbell. But it was portable and could be programmed by untrained musicians, and with circuits that included the specific defective transistor, the 808’s bass drum sound held thunderous low frequencies that could shake up clubs.

With the tone and decay controls on the 808, the bass drum sounds could also be sustained and broadened to suggest subterranean melodies.

The sounds of the 808 continue to be heard in R&B, pop and electronic dance music, and they are starkly in the foreground in the current production style called trap.

Those 808 sounds, however, are likely to be sampled rather than generated by an original machine. Only 12,000 TR-808 Rhythm Composer units were made, because as semiconductor manufacturing improved, the distinctively defective transistor became unavailable.

“No way to come back!,” Mr. Kakehashi explains in the documentary.

Roland moved on to the TR-909, which added MIDI control; it found its own devotees. And there were many other instruments to come. 

MIDI works silently but its legacy is equally pervasive. MIDI is a shared communications standard that allows synthesizers, computers, keyboards and other devices from countless manufacturers to interact with one another. It sends information about sounds — pitch, duration, attack, decay — to the instrument (or computer) that will translate the information into the actual tone, giving countless electronic instruments a universal language and allowing musicians flexibility, control and the ability to mix and match all sorts of equipment.

In 2013, Mr. Kakehashi and Mr. Smith received a Technical Grammy Award for their work on MIDI three decades earlier.

Mr. Kakehashi was born in Japan in 1930. Drawn to engineering from a young age, he built his own shortwave radios while in high school during World War II. After the war, he started a clock- and watch-repair business that moved into radio repair.

He began experimenting with making musical instruments in the 1950s, and eventually his Kakehashi Radio Shop became Ace Electronics, which started making electric organs in 1960.

In 1964, Mr. Kakehashi developed the FR-1 Rhythm Ace, an early drum machine. An improved version, with preprogrammed patterns, was picked up by the Hammond organ company in 1967 as a module for its instruments, and Mr. Kakehashi and Ace entered a partnership with Hammond. But he was a minority shareholder in Ace, and left after a management change.

He started Roland in Osaka, Japan, in 1972; its first product was its TR-77 rhythm box. Roland introduced the first compact synthesizer in Japan, the SH-1000, in 1973, and went on to offer a vast assortment of keyboards, guitars, drums, amplifiers, speakers, effects and other devices under Mr. Kakehashi’s leadership.

Its rhythm boxes continued to evolve, and as electronic dance music spread, Roland’s TB-303 bass synthesizer, TR-808 and TR-909 all found enthusiastic users, as did its Jupiter and Juno synthesizers and Boss effects pedals.

Mr. Kakehashi marked his 30th year at Roland with an autobiography, “I Believe in Music,” in 2002; his second book, “An Age Without Samples: Originality and Creativity in the Digital World,” was published this year. There was no immediate word on survivors.

Mr. Kakehashi was still inventing new devices. His final project at ATV was the aFrame, described as an “electro-organic” percussion instrument and played like a hand drum.

“Music is as old as the shepherd with his panpipes,” he wrote in his autobiography, “but now it also is as new as the space age.”

[boogieblog-blog1]

Ikutaro Kakehashi dies at 87 :(

The innovator who founded the Roland Corporation, the company behind the TR-77 Rhythm Box, The SH-1000 synthesiser & the one who came up with the term MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface). 

His inventions have made history and have been pivotal in the electronic music industry. His stamp is felt throughout almost every piece of music we hear and listen to today. 

RIP Ikutaro Kakehashi 

[mku7tra-blog]

Dusting off the #vintage #roland tr 77 for an Mk U7tra track

[teachingenglishuniverse-blog]

Movement By Saman

Where does our story begin? It begins here. It's 1970 in Germany and Kraftwerk have released their first album. Their music would go on to influence three young men ten years and 4160 miles away. The Belleville Three known as Juan Atkins, Kevin Saunderson, and Derrick May met as high school boys. While most people think of Techno as a product of Germany, the belleville three were the inventors of the genre, thanks to them the “Detroit sound” would go on to influence the world.

Techno is the by-product of the working class, in Detroit. It was an extension of black expression. It was their voice. However, it gained popularity in Europe, Particularly in Germany where it was transformed and shipped back to Detroit. However, its power is beyond that of music - techno and rave culture the world formed environments of inclusivity, acceptance, and tolerance. Techno also played a critical role in solving Detroit's urban problem. The Belleville three were directly responsible for reaching out from the country's most besieged city to make connections to an international community of concerned techno tourists (Vecchiola, 98). The importance of the Belleville Three for the city of Detroit, and its black community was unprecedented. The Belleville Three were committed artists who were dedicated to giving Detroit a space for creativity, expression, and imagination. A place of bliss & freedom.

So imagine being in the shoes of three young black men in a racially heated 1980's rural American town. It’s the last year of Jimmy Carter's Presidency. In interviews the three claim that their gravitation towards each other was rather natural.  In an interview with Reynolds, Saunderson says, Because the town was still “pretty racial at the time, we three kind of gelled right away" (Reynolds, 14). Atkins, Saunderson, and, May's fathers all worked in car factories. In fact, Belleville was a town known for its automobile factories. In the 1980's working in a automobile factory was also one of the most lucrative jobs someone without a post-secondary degree could obtain. "Everybody was equal in the workforce," as Atkins explained.

But it would outside the community of automobile workers the three boys were excluded. Perhaps it was because of their music taste. “We perceived the music differently than you would if you encountered it in dance clubs. We'd sit back with the lights off and listen to records by Bootsy and Yellow Magic Orchestra. We never took it as just entertainment, we took it as a serious philosophy," recalls Derrick May (Reynolds, 15).

Through their curiosity of a world created by simulated instruments and foreign synths, the Belleville three were born. Techno was born. Under the name Deep Space Atkins and May began djing in Detroit's club scenes. Quickly their records began circulating around the states. The three traveled to Chicago, the birthplace of house music. In Chicago they were greeted by house legends Frankie Knuckles and DJ Ron Hardy. This journey became quintessential in developing the detroit sound. By mixing Kraftwerk's machine sounds, YMO'S synths, and the melodies of Chicago House, the three created Detroit Techno. To Atkins, May, and Saunderson, Techno was reflective of post-industrialist Detroit. That's when No UFOS was born. The first Techno song.

The First Vinyl from NO UFOS 

The music world was not ready for this cultural shift. From the early days of Synthpop groups such as Ultravox surfaced. These new wave bands made use of the Roland TR-77 machine and synthesizers, which of course, was made famous by Giorgio Moroder. With the creation of these machines music quickly changed. Instruments began disappearing, and weird sounds were being created with obscure machines.

Roland TR-77

Early Synthesizer Boards

All this was happening while disco was on the verge of dying. While widely popular, the pop & rock world did not approve of disco as a genre of music and so it was forced into underground clubs. Disco clubs were also a place for latino & black men and women to express themselves. It was an important place for the LGBTQ community at the time. In other words, disco clubs were a safe-haven for differences. Close to its later years it became widely popular, widely commercialized, and more and more gentrified. Perhaps disco's demise was also due to its affiliation to recreational drugs. But just as Disco was dying, house was born in Chicago and techno was born in Detroit and both genres were born in black communities.

So how did Techno reach Europe? How did it shift identity and come back to America as the grandfather of the rave scene? The implications of Techno are far beyond the simple fact that it was just another genre of music. Techno was initially shipped out to Europe through Neil Rushton who approached the Belleville three in Detroit and asked if they could circulate their music in UK clubs. This is precisely when Saunderson decided to dub the genre Techno.

In Europe, Techno began its own culture. In Germany on July 1989, The Love Parade was born. 150 people marched the streets of Germany to Techno music. Dr. Motte (Matthias Roeingh), the founder of the Love Parade was a well-known name in the German Party Scene, he created the Love Parade as a protest for peace. It was a direct response to the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. Like disco, techno wanted to create a space of tolerance, acceptance, and love. A space where people could come together, not be separated by political and ideological differences. To build on this Becker writes, "Another important aspect of Techno music in Europe is the huge mass events such as Dortmund's Mayday, Amsterdam's Innercity, or Berlin's Love Parade. Of particular interest, not least in the United States, is the lack of violence or trouble at such events" (Becker, 62).

At the age of 24 Sven Vath opens a club. Vath's Club Omen would play a critical role in establishing early rave culture and builds on Dr. Motte's ideologies. Vath would also continue to cultivate Techno. By the late 80's Sven Vath releases Death in Paradise, his debut album. The first techno album. It sounded a little like this. Clubs began opening everywhere in Europe, Germany, France, the UK, and Italy had developed some of the greatest clubs in the world in the 1990's. And techno was at the forefront of this movement. However, in France and the UK something special started happening at the same time.

The rave was born. The term itself was coined in the UK, where drum and bass music was born. In London, Drum and Bass parties were known as raves. Like Techno, Drum and Bass was a sub-genre of Electronic Dance Music (EDM). However back then nobody called it EDM. It was just Drum and Bass, or Techno, or House. I digress... raves started out as local parties, and once a term affiliated close to Drum and Bass it became the new home for Techno and House music. 

Raves were different than clubs in the sense that a rave was generally held in an abandoned property. In fact, my first rave was in a giant warehouse. It was all locally curated. The most attractive of venues generally being big abandoned warehouses. Raves were also more secretive than clubs but not as exclusive. The problem with clubs was not everyone was accepted in a club, but the rave became a party like disco. Early Raves were dj'd by locals. But eventually they attracted names worldwide. In fact, people would hold underground house Raves in Paris and would book popular house DJ's from Chicago to come DJ. But raves were always unlicensed, underground, and completely off the grid. Jerrentrup points out the most important part of the rave as well, " From this premise, we can discern its decisive measure of value: a techno piece is per se 'good' when it animates the most possible people to long-lasting, loose or imaginative dancing. It should thereby emanate 'good vibration'  for all, whether the piece has a meager musical structure or not. But when it shows even more qualities beyond this, all the better" (Jerrentrup, 68).

Getting an invitation was difficult. Actually, the directions to raves were usually paged an hour before the event started. So the events were usually spread through word of mouth. This is what a rave looked like. Raves quickly became affiliated with drugs. Recreational drugs such as cocaine and ecstasy became abundant. Like disco culture it has always received stigma because of its enabling environment towards party drugs.

But Saunderson, Atkins, and May have all advocated that drugs are not necessary to participate in good music. The most  important part of this story is that rave culture slowly became a sub-culture movement. Like many music movements ravers also held onto an ideology. The motto of the rave, the motto of techno, has always been inclusivity. It was has always been a collaboration of culture and identities. So it seemed quite natural that the motto of the rave scene became peace, love, unity and respect. Ravers were the hippies of the 1980's.

It didn't take long for Techno music to begin connecting the world. In Paris, a young Parisian duo known as Daft Punk created a new sound for Techno. Their debut track, "The New Wave," changed Techno forever. By the 2000's due to techno's popularity the Belleville three created the very first Techno festival. They named it, "The Detroit Electronic Music Festival." Although Coachella was still larger in scale, DEMF (now known as Movement) attracted 1 million visitors from across the world and DJ's from all over the globe. This is particularly amazing when considering this statistic: "Detroit is not a primary tourist destination for international visitors. In 1999, only 1.7 percent of overseas travelers to the US visited the state of Michigan" (Vechhiola, 96). Techno had finally successfully stood by its motto. The city of Detroit also embraced the festival with open arms stating it filled the city with youthful energy.

Since the 2000's festivals around the world have been growing in size and popularity, EDC (Electric Daisy Carnival) in Las Vegas has grown to a capacity of 300, 000 people annually and features seven stages. It doesn't exclude a single sub-genre of electronic dance music. Tommorwland in Belgium is now one of the biggest festivals in the world. Ultra Music Functions in Miani and Toronto has Digital Dreams. The point is, it doesn't matter where you go across the world, there's a dance music festival everywhere and they all cherish and attract an international audience. Perhaps one of the most beautiful sights is seeing a sea of international flags. Look at what I mean.

Tomorrowland (Belgium)

The genre of EDM now has the responsibility of maintain its inclusive culture. But perhaps this is the inherent power of music. If we look at jazz, hip-hop, soul, or whatever genre you choose, music always connects us together. Perhaps this is the inherent power of music - it has the ability to break our man made boundaries. It doesn't not see race, culture, or ideas of difference, rather it sees unity. The night when the bass dropped for the very first time in some secret club in Detroit, the world had truly changed