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Thursday Throwback – June 23, 2011

Sorry for the lateness of this throwback but I had a corp event today that went well into the evening.I think today’s throwback is actually the first house track I’ve posted. This was my favourite house track when I was like 16 (are 16 year old boys supposed to have favourite house tracks… ?)I had it on a mix I recorded from the Planet Rave radio show – one of the shows that introduced me to techno and house music. I remember my electronics teacher used to let us play music in class and I played this mix, much to the confusion of the class. Oh well. (I still miss the smell of electronics class though – burnt plastics and solder… mmm.)I listened to a fair bit of house via the radio at the time but was drawn to the loopier stuff so this track was right up my alley (Madame B “It’s Not Enough” also comes to mind). Although the track is fairly simple the part A and B thing keeps it from dragging on too much. And all the layering keeps the ears occupied anyways.
So here we go… the Todd Edwards dub mix of St. Germain “Alabama Blues” c. 1996:

P.S. Dr. Beardsley remix in the works – we’ll see how that pans out 🙂

Enter Dr. Beardsley

Dr. Beardsley is my latest pet project – an alter ego for heavier stuff. Bassy techno & house to start with but I might touch on some drum & bass.I spent this past weekend coming up with several sketches for a live set – some might be fleshed out into full tracks, some may remain just live performance pieces. Here’s a super raw mix-down of a few of them: Dr. Beardsley teasers by SnugSo far it’s all 100% raw analog basslines – no post-processing or anything. This will hopefully be a key part of the Beardsley sound: raw & gritty.I hope to go primarily in the direction of the third clip as I feel this is a bit more accessible, although the harder stuff is fun as hell too and really nostalgic for me (I used to DJ a lot of hard techno) so I’m going to try to find a reasonable balance.Watch the SoundCloud for more teasers and hopefully stay tuned for some live performances!Biography:

Dr. Beardsley’s patients have a 25% survival rate. He finds this statistic disappointing – he was hoping for zero.

If you listen to Dr. Beardsley’s music he will write prescriptions for you – prescriptions for ANYTHING you want. (Dr. Beardsley is above the law. In fact, he pioneered modern law, but that’s a story for another day)

Beardsley grew up eating Swedish Berries and listening to Swedish techno. He chose the medical profession as means to raise money for his early retirement. His credentials include a degree from Dr. Nick’s back alley Medical School and countless hours of exploratory surgery on neighbourhood pets.

Beardsley first started tinkering with electronic music at work. On lunch breaks he would rig up broken EKGs to an old sequencer he bought at a garage sale. Eventually he would go on to purchase more appropriate tools, but he still has a special place in his heart for the sound of a modded EKG.

He would also go on to invent a form of hard techno called “Beardstep” as a backlash against the dubstep movement. It was extremely popular with middle-aged housewives, which he still finds himself having to fend off everywhere he goes.

Thursday Throwback – June 16, 2011

I’ve been helping with several indie game projects lately so it seemed only fitting to post another retro video game track for today’s Throwback.

The first Castlevania game was released when I was only 6 (!), so I was a bit too young for it then, but by the time Super Castlevania 4 came out I was all over it.
I remember my Grandmother buying it for me as a gift, along with my Super Nintendo. It was definitely an exciting time in my childhood, and I was one of the first of my friends to have a SNES so I had that to lord over my little snot-nose bratty friends 🙂

I actually chose the game based on the back of the box (similarly, this was also my strategy for video game rental). We didn’t have Metacritic or ShopSavvy in those days. All we had was Nintendo Power, and unfortunately I didn’t always have a subscription.

Like Mega Man, Castlevania is one of those series that’s renowned for its soundtracks. This particular track, while short, definitely sticks out to me as one of the catchier tunes. Along with random Christmas songs – and Krust’s “Warhead” – it pops into my head at least once every few weeks for as far back as I can remember.

So here ya go – “Bloody Tears” from Super Castlevania for SNES c. 1991:

Preview: Silence Farm

Here’s a preview of my remix/mash-up of Saafi Brother’s “Wellness Farm” and “Together in Silence”. Still a ways to go, but I think it’s a solid start.

As you can hear I’ve chosen to go in a completely different direction than the originals. The concept for mashing up these two tracks came to me a little while ago but I didn’t have any specific idea of what I wanted to do with it until I started working on it.

My plan for the second half is to lose the chord progression, get kinda synthy/out there for a bit, and then end with the progression/lead. I already have the second half more or less worked out, just need to refine it a bit more before sharing.

Silence Farm (clip) by Snug

As always, if you enjoy what I do please spread the word.

Thursday Throwback – June 9, 2011

In honour of a remix/mash-up I’m working on, this week’s Throwback is going to be a 2 for 1!

I was first introduced to the Saafi Brothers in the mid to late 90s. I wasn’t much into them at the time, although I was impressed by the blue coloured vinyl on which I was hearing them 🙂

Many years later, for whatever reason, I decided to check them out again. It was then that I truly came to appreciate the real depth of their material. The archetype of their sound is a combination of psytrance, dub and downtempo. Although this has since become a fairly common sound it would have been pretty unique at the time. You might say they were pioneers in this regard.

Occasionally they produce more dance-floor-oriented tracks, but in my opinion, their strength lies in the more cerebral stuff. These are really tracks for reflection and introspection, which is probably a big part of the reason I’m drawn to them.

“Together in Silence” from Mystic Cigarettes c. 1997:

“Wellness Farm” from Midnight’s Children c. 2000:

If you enjoy these tracks I’d suggest you also check out Summerhills (from Liquid Beach c. 20303) – it’s a shining example of their subtle approach to building up tracks. Oh and stay tuned for more details on my remix/mash-up of these two songs 🙂

Thursday Throwback – June 2, 2011

Happy June everyone. Even if I didn’t have a calendar I would know it’s June because I saw a June Bug the other night (coincidentally in May, but whatever). It was flying into our front door as if it wanted to be let in. We didn’t let it in.

…

I’m going to go in a much different direction this week. I don’t listen to a lot of rock these days but Doves are definitely on the top of my list in terms of rock bands that I can appreciate. I first found out about them around the time “Some Cities” was released. I was drawn to it because of all the little things that set it apart – very well produced, great guitar work, interesting instrumentation, neat little hooks, lots of detail in the mixing.

The song ideas themselves are relatively simple but all these things combined really take them to a whole new level – “greater than the sum of its parts”. Overall I would say this album has had a profound impact on my rock/pop writing for The WAX, more so than anything else as of late.

I wouldn’t say this is necessarily my favourite Doves song – the little breaks are a little bit too fromage for me – but I chose this because of the ending (@2:52), which is quite possibly one of my favourite moments in a “rock” song (I use the term loosely – is this even really rock?). It’s infectious, it’s deep, and it doesn’t try to be anything. To me that’s the epitome of good music.

From Some Cities c. 2005, “Someday Soon” by Doves:

Thursday Throwback – May 26, 2011

Quick throwback this week – I’m in Ottawa on a work trip/mini-vacation with the wife.

I told myself I wasn’t going to post this track but I’d really be doing the throwback series a disservice if I didn’t. So here’s the track which made Bad Company (UK) a house-hold name in the drum & bass scene, circa 1998:

That is all.

Thursday Throwback – May 19, 2011

This week’s throwback isn’t about a single track, but a collection of tracks. Approximately 728 hours worth of tracks to be exact. To be even more exact and way less ambiguous it’s about an Ottawa-based radio show called Futurhythm.

Futurhythm has been on the airwaves every week since 1997. Until last night, that is. For last night the needle was lifted from the record for the last time. Okay I’m being a bit melodramatic but seriously it is like the end of an era in the Ottawa drum & bass scene.

The show was only in its infancy as I was getting seriously into drum & bass but I credit both the show, and host Karl Haze, in solidifying my interest in the genre. I remember a specific mix-tape ripped from the show with tracks from John B’s Visions LP (1997), Renegade Hardware’s Quantum Mechanics LP (1998) and other tracks from the era. Of course I immediately rushed out and bought them all 😉

In time I found my own sound, but Futurhythm definitely played a role in shaping that sound. My hat goes off to Haze for his 14 years of dedication. Dude is like a Godfather of the Ottawa drum & bass scene.

I remember him playing Krust’s “Warhead” at a warehouse rave. Playing alongside him at a jungle party in the weird little venue on Besserer Street. And of course listening to the show on Wednesday nights while driving downtown to go to Urban Pressure @ Atomic!

So here we go. A retrospective mix from Haze…

http://postmobills.com/khaze/Karl_Haze-Urban_Pressure_Flashback_Session(Dec_2009).mp3

Track-listing and more info available here: http://turnawayskull.blogspot.com/2009/12/new-mix-karl-haze-urban-pressure.html

As he himself might say, big ups to the one they call Haze! EZ.

Thursday Throwback – May 12, 2011

(Sorry for the delay – Blogger was down last night when I tried to post)

I’m going to post up some more video game music this week. And some pretty “out there” stuff at that. But then if you’ve played the game you’d know the whole thing is pretty out there (in a good way).

This is quite possibly my favourite tune from the game. A lot of the tracks are really catchy/kitschy/whatever but – at the risk of being dubbed a lonely rolling ball of flowers – I would say this is the only one that’s “beautiful”.

@2:40: I imagine this is what it would sound like if a bunch of angels got together and threw an oldschool rave in a warehouse in the sky. And Jesus was there… at first kinda standing in the corner, behind a cloud, all awkward and shy like. But by the end of the night he would get into it hardcore, and totally bust out some crazy moves. I just know he would.

Anyway, here we go… from Katamari Damacy for PS2 circa 2004:

Thursday Throwback – May 5, 2011

Okay, back to drum & bass, and another one I totally forgot about until just now.

I was so all about this track in 2001. I’m sure I dropped it in every single set for a while. Love: the pads, the percussion, the weird delayed/reverbed vocal clip and of course the growls in the second drop. Hate: YouTube encoding.

Usual Suspects remix of C4C’s “Research”. Released on Renegade Hardware:

Do yourself a favour: if you enjoy this track, grab a high-quality copy… and a sub 😀