This is the future: A green roof that grows food. Lufa Farms now feeds 2% of Montreal with the food they grow on this green roof and others.
What’s the music like?!?
Songs For Children mashes up metal, IDM, experimental, jungle electronica, and childrens melodies all into one weirdly intense experience. Seriously. It’s like Melt Banana and Messugah and Judy Garland got into a massive fight involving switchblades and there is blood and body parts everywhere.
Don’t judge this book by it’s cover: Songs For Children is without a doubt the most demented album you will ever hear.
Who is The Sidekick Rulz?
According to the Austin Museum of Digital Art, this is who The Sidekick Rulz is:
Who’s inside the costume? Who’s behind the mask? And why is he dancing around like your little brother jacked up on too much soda pop? Nobody knows who The Sidekick is; he prefers to remain anonymous, an enigma. Austin, Texas is his home base - that’s all we know for certain. His music could either be the soundtrack to an 8-bit video game or they could be playing on a boom box in a home video of people smoking crack.
The Sidekick’s music is the soundtrack to your favorite 8-bit video game, built from dreams, humor, and a pixel smashing vitality. His EM Records debut album, “SAGA!…the story of a boy and his computer,” is an aural reminder of a time when Super Mario ruled the screen, electronic music was the sound your Nintendo made.
The Sidekick’s new record Songs For Children is probably the wildest, most kinetic, most joyful, most demanding, most insane album of 2020, if not the decade, and it can be all yours on September 9th.
Deep, dark, and nightmarish, IT\AM is sure to enthrall you with an intense wall of sound and epic piano. Checkit!
Ready to get your absurd-funny on? The Mumbler’s soundtrack might just fit the bill:
I was talking to a friend of mine recently, and I asked him for a little advice. He’s really good at giving hard truths. He doesn’t hold back. Everyone needs a friend who doesn’t fuck around. This friend is also an incredible actor and knows the landscape of the entertainment business, how people are in it.
I lamented that I would receive news from people I knew in the business, what they’re doing, how cool it was that they created this or that, name drop name drop name drop, what projects are coming up for them, etc. It always seemed like these statements, these imperatives, were all to get me check out what they’re doing and see how cool it was and congratulate them. Something bugged me, so I asked my friend for a good hard truth.
My friend said this: “It’s not a bad thing to expect a friend to ask you how you’re doing. If they don’t, are you sure they’re your friend?”
And then he sent me this video:
I hadn’t laughed that hard in a long time… much needed!
I kinda feel like I need to rock a smoking jacket like Esa Pekka Salonen:
So get your disinfecting on!
https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/davewirth/crisp-lips-original-motion-picture-soundtrack
I've been a big fan of the Avenson Audio STO-2 stereo pair since 2005. I met Brad Avenson at a party years ago, and he is still such a nice guy. When I ordered the STO-2 pair from them recently, one of the guys there said they could send me a pair to use while I’m waiting for my very own pair to come along. He apologized because COVID-19 had basically disrupted how fast they could get mics done. Stellar customer service. Plus, they’re Texas peeps, so I was cool hanging for the time being.
Were the mics worth the wait? Yup. Totally.
The STO-2’s are mics that I’ve wanted for years because I first experienced them on a piano part I was recording in the Bubble, Frenchie Smith’s old studio on East 7th street (he’s since moved). I thought the mics sounded magical. They are pure mics, completely transparent. Seeing as how I didn’t have any mics that just picked up sound and replicated it perfectly (it annoyed me that I never heard what I wanted to hear when I used any of my old mics), the STO-2’s were on my list for years.
I recently got paid for a composing gig, so I decided to get the STO-2’s. What a treat!. First off, This is the box they came in:
Hard not to feel like royalty when I open the box. Also, they look like the tiny gun from Men In Black that packs a whollop:
The STO-2 On A Piano - Low
So now the tests!
All microphone tests were done via Mogami gold cables, the Audient iD44 interface, and was recorded 48/24. No processing was done to preserve the details of the microphones themselves (ie, no compression or EQ).
6 Inches From Source, 18 Inches Apart, Direct
I particularly like the stereo spread on this one, though my pedal needs a little oil. The direct sounds very present.
6 Inches From Source, 18 Inches Apart, 45 Degrees
Notice how this is just a tiny bit more mellow? I like this one the most. Feels great.
6 Inches From Source, 46 Inches Apart, Direct
Super wide stereo spread on this one. You can hear the squeaky pedal in the left.
1 Foot From Source, 36 Inches Apart, Direct
I like how the sound has a little bit more time to develop on this length. Still, the STO-2 manages to carry the weight nicely.
1 Foot From Source, 36 Inches Apart, 45 Degrees
A little more demure, a bit shy, which is something I like in sound! It could fit in beautifully.
1 Foot From Source, 50 Inches Apart, Direct
Really love this one. It has this incredibly large field of sound, and it’s given time to bloom.
3 Feet From Source, XY
Though the stereo field is not as pronouced here as it was in the previous examples, this type of configuration could work great in the right situation.
4 Feet From Source, XY
Starting to capture more of the room on this one. I think that the carpet started to dissipate the sound of the piano blooming towards the mics.
5 Feet From Source, XY
Gorgeous. I like this sound a lot more. It’s so far in the back of the audio bubble. It could really fit if I wanted a piano further back in the recording.
6 Feet From Source, XY
A little noisier than all the others. I was a bit careless with the preamps, but oh well. I like how the sound comes together none-the-less. It really gives the impression of sitting in the room without any hype. How many mics can do that?
Wow, I want to test more!
I am excited about these mics! They are solid so far, and I only tested them on the bottom of a piano so far. I want to do some tests on the top of the same piano, and will do so when my stereo bar arrives in the mail.
I’m smitten with the STO-2’s. So happy!!!
I think my high school psychology teacher was only trying to help when he gave me this:
If you want to know what it’s like to be Jon Bon Jovi in the time of the coronavirus pandemic, here he is, washing dishes and caring for the poor.
Totally badass. Well done, sir!
Recenty composed some music for some behind-the-scenes featurettes for Nowheres Wolf: A Call Not Answered, a brilliant short film by Suzanne Moulton.
So awesome!!!
No one wants to talk about death, but when musicians play music for people in hospice, you can’t deny how awesome that is:
Wayne Miles has not got the energy to open his eyes, but a faint smile flickers across his face as he silently mouths the words to the John Denver song Some Days Are Diamonds.
The 59-year-old Glasshouse Mountains man is dying from cancer, and amid the pain and grief music provides solace.
The former truck driver's love for country music is being nurtured by music therapist Tracie Wicks.
She sits with him at his bedside, strumming a guitar or playing the keyboard, and crooning Slim Dusty and John Denver songs that fill the dedicated music room in the Dove Palliative Care wing of the Caloundra Hospital.
This orchestra helps those who are deaf to feel the vibrations of music.