(313) New Yorker: Sound Machine
http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/musical/2012/04/30/120430crmu_music_frerejones? currentPage=all Sound Machine How did a pop band end up in a museum? by Sasha Frere-Jones April 30, 2012 On an August night in 1981, the German band Kraftwerk played at the Ritz, on East Eleventh Street in Manhattan, in support of its latest album, Computer World. The only instruments onstage were actually machines: reel-to-reel tape recorders, synthesizers, keyboards, and a calculator. All four members of the group had short hair and dressed identically, in black button-down shirts, black pants, and shiny shoes, which made them look more like valets than like musicians. That didnt bother them, as they didnt like the idea of being a bandor even musiciansand often referred to themselves as operators. For the song Pocket Calculator, one member triggered percussion with a drumstick. Another used a Stylophone, a metal keyboard played with a small stylus. Florian Schneider, a founding member, played the calculator, which was wired into the sound system, so that pressing the keys made audible beeps. His partner, Ralf Hütter, who is the only remaining original member of Kraftwerk, sang the lyrics of the song in a monotonean approach that he calls Sprechgesang, or spoken singingand played a small Mattel keyboard. By pressing down a special key / it plays a little melody, he intoned. Schneider responded by playing something sort of like a melody with the calculator. At one point, Hütter bent down and let the audience play the keyboard. Recently, Hütter said, I wanted to show them that anyone could make electronic music. That year, songs from Computer World were played on urban radio stations in New York, such as Kiss-FM and WBLS. The Bronx d.j. and hip-hop pioneer Afrika Bambaataa was in the audience at the Ritz. He had found Kraftwerks 1977 album, Trans-Europe Express, in a record bin several years earlier. I was just looking at these guys on the cover and saying, Whoa, whoa, what the hell is this? he told me. Wow! Somethings here thats very funky, and I got to play it for my audience. He added that Kraftwerks battery of gear at the Ritz made it look as if they were playing washing machines. (Because of the difficulty of re-creating their recordings with such complicated equipment, the band has visited the U.S. only seven times in its forty-two-year history. Now they use laptops.) The following year, Bambaataa, along with the musician John Robie and the producer Arthur Baker, combined the beat of Numbers, from Computer World, and the melody of the title track from Trans-Europe Express to create Planet Rock, an early hip-hop song that spawned a small clutch of genres, including electro, Miami bass, and Brazilian baile funk. Computer World, Kraftwerks masterpiece, sold less than a million copies, yet its influence has been surprisingly broadeven Coldplay, for its single Talk, from 2005, has used a melody from the album. One song on Computer World, called Home Computer, has a distinctive, ascending arpeggio that feels a bit like bubbles rising quickly through mercury. That arpeggio shows up in LCD Soundsystems single Disco Infiltrator, from 2005. Its also referenced in Missy Elliotts Lose Control, from the same year. A few days ago, I was walking through SoHo and passed the Uniqlo store, with its painfully fluorescent lighting, which illuminates only slightly less fluorescent clothing. Nicki Minajs hit Starships, a savvy combination of dubstep and traditional house, was bleeding onto the street. When I listened closely, I realized that this version was actually a mashup with one of the many songs that has used Home Computer s arpeggio. Maybe it was Kraftwerk, or LCD Soundsystem, or Missy, or someone else entirely. It didnt matterthe sound still signifies newness, joy, and some kind of ascent. It turned out not only that anyone could make electronic music but that almost everyone wanted to. Kraftwerk is perhaps the only group that played the Ritz in 1981 that sounds entirely current today. Plenty of people saw the machines coming, but nobody else has listened as carefully to them, or documented their strengths as lovingly. This month, the Museum of Modern Art opened a retrospective of Kraftwerk, its first for a musical act. In the six-story atrium, Kraftwerk played an abbreviated version of its repertoire, in chronological order of its albums, on eight consecutive nights. The shows cherry-picked from each, followed by an hour or so of the groups best-known songs. These arent concerts, Klaus Biesenbach, the chief curator at large for the Museum of Modern Art, who organized the exhibit with the curatorial assistant Eliza Ryan, explained. Its a retrospective; its curated. They arent playing everything they ever recorded, any more than we could fill the museum with every photo Cindy Sherman has ever taken. Demand for tickets overloaded the Web site
Re: (313) New Yorker: Sound Machine
Thanks for the article! Being one of those sad people who missed out on a ticket, I thought i'd treat myself a trip to NYC to go see the exhibit at MoMA PS1 this past Saturday. Man was I disappointed. I assumed incorrectly that there would have been an exhibition of old photos, artworks, memorabilia and whatnot. I quickly learnt that the exhibit was Kraftwerk music vids playing in a big dome. Speakers were sooo distorted that I could only stay in there for a whole of 10 mins. Probably my fault for not researching the exhibit info before booking the 5 hour flight. I really needed a t-shirt that said, I went to the Kraftwerk exhibit and all I got was this lousy T-Shirt. Carry on... -- Patrick Wacher On Sunday, April 22, 2012 at 11:47 PM, Fred Heutte wrote: http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/musical/2012/04/30/120430crmu_music_frerejones? currentPage=all Sound Machine How did a pop band end up in a museum? by Sasha Frere-Jones April 30, 2012 On an August night in 1981, the German band Kraftwerk played at the Ritz, on East Eleventh Street in Manhattan, in support of its latest album, “Computer World.” The only instruments onstage were actually machines: reel-to-reel tape recorders, synthesizers, keyboards, and a calculator. All four members of the group had short hair and dressed identically, in black button-down shirts, black pants, and shiny shoes, which made them look more like valets than like musicians. That didn’t bother them, as they didn’t like the idea of being a band—or even musicians—and often referred to themselves as “operators.” For the song “Pocket Calculator,” one member triggered percussion with a drumstick. Another used a Stylophone, a metal keyboard played with a small stylus. Florian Schneider, a founding member, played the calculator, which was wired into the sound system, so that pressing the keys made audible beeps. His partner, Ralf Hütter, who is the only remaining original member of Kraftwerk, sang the lyrics of the song in a monotone—an approach that he calls Sprechgesang, or “spoken singing”—and played a small Mattel keyboard. “By pressing down a special key / it plays a little melody,” he intoned. Schneider responded by playing something sort of like a melody with the calculator. At one point, Hütter bent down and let the audience play the keyboard. Recently, Hütter said, “I wanted to show them that anyone could make electronic music.” That year, songs from “Computer World” were played on “urban” radio stations in New York, such as Kiss-FM and WBLS. The Bronx d.j. and hip-hop pioneer Afrika Bambaataa was in the audience at the Ritz. He had found Kraftwerk’s 1977 album, “Trans-Europe Express,” in a record bin several years earlier. “I was just looking at these guys on the cover and saying, ‘Whoa, whoa, what the hell is this?’ ” he told me. “Wow! Something’s here that’s very funky, and I got to play it for my audience.” He added that Kraftwerk’s battery of gear at the Ritz made it look as if they were playing “washing machines.” (Because of the difficulty of re-creating their recordings with such complicated equipment, the band has visited the U.S. only seven times in its forty-two-year history. Now they use laptops.) The following year, Bambaataa, along with the musician John Robie and the producer Arthur Baker, combined the beat of “Numbers,” from “Computer World,” and the melody of the title track from “Trans-Europe Express” to create “Planet Rock,” an early hip-hop song that spawned a small clutch of genres, including electro, Miami bass, and Brazilian baile funk. “Computer World,” Kraftwerk’s masterpiece, sold less than a million copies, yet its influence has been surprisingly broad—even Coldplay, for its single “Talk,” from 2005, has used a melody from the album. One song on “Computer World,” called “Home Computer,” has a distinctive, ascending arpeggio that feels a bit like bubbles rising quickly through mercury. That arpeggio shows up in LCD Soundsystem’s single “Disco Infiltrator,” from 2005. It’s also referenced in Missy Elliott’s “Lose Control,” from the same year. A few days ago, I was walking through SoHo and passed the Uniqlo store, with its painfully fluorescent lighting, which illuminates only slightly less fluorescent clothing. Nicki Minaj’s hit “Starships,” a savvy combination of dubstep and traditional house, was bleeding onto the street. When I listened closely, I realized that this version was actually a mashup with one of the many songs that has used “Home Computer” ’s arpeggio. Maybe it was Kraftwerk, or LCD Soundsystem, or Missy, or someone else entirely. It didn’t matter—the sound still signifies newness, joy, and some kind of ascent. It turned out not only that anyone could make electronic music but that almost everyone wanted to. Kraftwerk is perhaps the only group that played the Ritz in 1981 that sounds entirely current today. Plenty
(313) Detroit Techno - live jam
hey all, not one to usually start a mail, apologies if some consider this spam or not allowed to post tracks but here goes... knocked up a afternoon techno jam and thought i'd share it here. feedback/abuse welcome :) http://soundcloud.com/thomas-lang/thomas-lang-amazon cheers, tom
(313) New Music...
I hear there's a little road trip coming up for some of us, so I thought I'd make something to pair it up with. Check out the new FS release (FS005) I finally got around to finishing and enjoy... - Luis http://luisgabrielaguilera.bandcamp.com/ -- - GABRIEL'S FIREhttp://www.amazon.com/Gabriels-Fire-Luis-Gabriel-Aguilera/dp/0226010678 - LGA BANDCAMP SITE http://luisgabrielaguilera.bandcamp.com/ - LGA DJ MIX ARCHIVES http://planerecordings.com/lga - LGA EDUCATION SCOOPS http://issuu.com/luisgabrielaguilera Wisdom is not obtained with the discovery of self-indulgent delectation at the turn of each page. Wisdom is obtained when one is willing to endure with humor and compassion a slight bruising of the ego, moving ahead by correcting whatever faulty notions and formulas to life have been accumulated over time, remembering and recognizing what has been good all along. Otherwise, the beast within remains the same. And what a bore that is. ~ Luis Gabriel Aguilera -- - GABRIEL'S FIREhttp://www.amazon.com/Gabriels-Fire-Luis-Gabriel-Aguilera/dp/0226010678 - LGA BANDCAMP SITE http://luisgabrielaguilera.bandcamp.com/ - LGA DJ MIX ARCHIVES http://planerecordings.com/lga - LGA EDUCATION SCOOPS http://issuu.com/luisgabrielaguilera Wisdom is not obtained with the discovery of self-indulgent delectation at the turn of each page. Wisdom is obtained when one is willing to endure with humor and compassion a slight bruising of the ego, moving ahead by correcting whatever faulty notions and formulas to life have been accumulated over time, remembering and recognizing what has been good all along. Otherwise, the beast within remains the same. And what a bore that is. ~ Luis Gabriel Aguilera -- - GABRIEL'S FIREhttp://www.amazon.com/Gabriels-Fire-Luis-Gabriel-Aguilera/dp/0226010678 - LGA BANDCAMP SITE http://luisgabrielaguilera.bandcamp.com/ - LGA DJ MIX ARCHIVES http://planerecordings.com/lga - LGA EDUCATION SCOOPS http://issuu.com/luisgabrielaguilera Wisdom is not obtained with the discovery of self-indulgent delectation at the turn of each page. Wisdom is obtained when one is willing to endure with humor and compassion a slight bruising of the ego, moving ahead by correcting whatever faulty notions and formulas to life have been accumulated over time, remembering and recognizing what has been good all along. Otherwise, the beast within remains the same. And what a bore that is. ~ Luis Gabriel Aguilera
(313) track id -- random wav file someone sent me ;-)
Someone want to claim this? It's kinda good! http://www.cornwarning.com/xfer/UnknownArtist-InMyWorld.mp3
Re: (313) New Yorker: Sound Machine
Glad you mentioned that Patrick. I was going to check it out this weekend. I'll probably just go now to see DJ Harvey - which isn't such a bad thing I guess. Any other 313ers in NYC this weekend up for it? bg *Benn Glazier* b...@glzr.info b...@glzr.info www.BennGlazier.com www.twitter.com/BennGlazier www.facebook.com/BennGlazierPhotography http://www.twitter.com/bennglazier +44 (0) 7714 3000 18 On 23 April 2012 18:28, Patrick Wacher pwac...@gmail.com wrote: Thanks for the article! Being one of those sad people who missed out on a ticket, I thought i'd treat myself a trip to NYC to go see the exhibit at MoMA PS1 this past Saturday. Man was I disappointed. I assumed incorrectly that there would have been an exhibition of old photos, artworks, memorabilia and whatnot. I quickly learnt that the exhibit was Kraftwerk music vids playing in a big dome. Speakers were sooo distorted that I could only stay in there for a whole of 10 mins. Probably my fault for not researching the exhibit info before booking the 5 hour flight. I really needed a t-shirt that said, I went to the Kraftwerk exhibit and all I got was this lousy T-Shirt. Carry on... -- Patrick Wacher On Sunday, April 22, 2012 at 11:47 PM, Fred Heutte wrote: http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/musical/2012/04/30/120430crmu_music_frerejones ? currentPage=all Sound Machine How did a pop band end up in a museum? by Sasha Frere-Jones April 30, 2012 On an August night in 1981, the German band Kraftwerk played at the Ritz, on East Eleventh Street in Manhattan, in support of its latest album, “Computer World.” The only instruments onstage were actually machines: reel-to-reel tape recorders, synthesizers, keyboards, and a calculator. All four members of the group had short hair and dressed identically, in black button-down shirts, black pants, and shiny shoes, which made them look more like valets than like musicians. That didn’t bother them, as they didn’t like the idea of being a band—or even musicians—and often referred to themselves as “operators.” --
Re: (313) New Yorker: Sound Machine
Dj Harvey was absolutely amazing when he played in Chicago recently... Highly recommended!!! ~David On Mon, Apr 23, 2012 at 4:51 PM, Benn Glazier b...@glzr.info wrote: Glad you mentioned that Patrick. I was going to check it out this weekend. I'll probably just go now to see DJ Harvey - which isn't such a bad thing I guess. Any other 313ers in NYC this weekend up for it? bg *Benn Glazier* b...@glzr.info b...@glzr.info www.BennGlazier.com www.twitter.com/BennGlazier www.facebook.com/BennGlazierPhotographyhttp://www.twitter.com/bennglazier +44 (0) 7714 3000 18 On 23 April 2012 18:28, Patrick Wacher pwac...@gmail.com wrote: Thanks for the article! Being one of those sad people who missed out on a ticket, I thought i'd treat myself a trip to NYC to go see the exhibit at MoMA PS1 this past Saturday. Man was I disappointed. I assumed incorrectly that there would have been an exhibition of old photos, artworks, memorabilia and whatnot. I quickly learnt that the exhibit was Kraftwerk music vids playing in a big dome. Speakers were sooo distorted that I could only stay in there for a whole of 10 mins. Probably my fault for not researching the exhibit info before booking the 5 hour flight. I really needed a t-shirt that said, I went to the Kraftwerk exhibit and all I got was this lousy T-Shirt. Carry on... -- Patrick Wacher On Sunday, April 22, 2012 at 11:47 PM, Fred Heutte wrote: http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/musical/2012/04/30/120430crmu_music_frerejones ? currentPage=all Sound Machine How did a pop band end up in a museum? by Sasha Frere-Jones April 30, 2012 On an August night in 1981, the German band Kraftwerk played at the Ritz, on East Eleventh Street in Manhattan, in support of its latest album, “Computer World.” The only instruments onstage were actually machines: reel-to-reel tape recorders, synthesizers, keyboards, and a calculator. All four members of the group had short hair and dressed identically, in black button-down shirts, black pants, and shiny shoes, which made them look more like valets than like musicians. That didn’t bother them, as they didn’t like the idea of being a band—or even musicians—and often referred to themselves as “operators.” --
