Puck

I’ve been listening to Clothesline Revival’s Of My Native Land for a couple of years now and I love it. Clothesline is Conrad Praetzel and Robert Powell, some fine guests and a bunch of public-domain field recordings by the legendary John Lomax and others. The field recorded vocal tracks are by Leadbelly and others.

Unlike, say, Moby’s effort to go old-timey,which comes off like, well, a house DJ trying to go old-timey, Praetzel and Powell are true musicians–they never push the originals places they don’t want to go. Praetzel is responsible for the beats and he’s correct to refer to himself and Powell as “neo-traditionalists.” Instead of fast-forwarding the country, roots and blues tracks into the future, the duo take downtempo electronica and psychedelia into the Wayback Machine. The result is lush, understated and emotionally intense. The intensity hits its highest peaks in “Turtle Dove,” with its gorgeous vocal by Wendy Allen, and the slide-guitar vs harmonica smackdown “Wade in the Water.” (If anybody can clue me in about where to get more Wendy Allen–much, much more–I’d be grateful.)

In short, Of My Native Land is highly recommended. Check out the samples, along with a couple full songs in mp3 format, on Praetzel’s site, Paleo Music.

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I think the general public, that gang of knavish sprites, is finally catching on to the hell that is digital rights management. The issue appears to be slowing creeping into the mainstream press. (Other than news about kids and single moms being sued by the RIAA, I mean.)

I could be wrong. Easily. Have sales of iPods really declined? No. And if jah people were really concerned about the creative commons (and DRM is the anti-cruise of creativity), they’d stop buying iPods. (I just bought a Sansa; it’s OK; at least as good as any generation of iPod I’ve tried.) In any case, I blame DRM Hell on the Beatles breaking up and the “Sue Me, Sue You Blues.” (Copyright is an old bane, by any measure. Victor Hugo, the modern inventor, was clear that ownership should only extend through the lifetime of the creator; screw the blood-sucking heirs.) Continue Reading »

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Riverfalls remix by DJ Funken Wagnalls

I mixed up The Sea and Cake for an acidplanet contest back in 2003, but it was only posted on AP for a few days before I realized that I had entered it in the wrong category and took it down. Listening to it again for the first time in years, I still think it’s a good mix, so here you go: download or stream, as you please. You’ll find the original version of “Le Baron” on their One Bedroom album. Their new album, Everybody, was just released, with the usual lineup, on Thrill Jockey. Funkendub says check it out–they’re one of the best bands going.

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a musical offering by DJSkrotekkki

I’m not sure what all goes on in the mind of DJSkrotekkki, but it is surely wondrous strange. I’ll let him speak for himself:

My latest assault on the sonic front emerged from the trenches of a creative block. After countless months had come and gone without any progress being made on another music project, I thought something less demanding and more “fun” might un-jam the rifle, knock loose the crust of mud, blood, sweat, and grime that had accumulated on it during its time on the battlefield - something like… a cover song. Being a fan of the sardonic, ironic, and just plain hilarious (and being unsure of my own vocal abilities), Right Said Fred’s “I’m Too Sexy” seemed to be the perfect target. The fact that I’d had the idea in my iron sights for a while didn’t hurt either.

The song’s structure is such that I could throw all sorts of things into my rendition of it, providing an opportunity to experiment with a plethora of production tactics. And test my pipes.Honestly, I’m not sure how to gauge the vocal performance. Given the constraints (or were they restraints?) I was working within, I suppose they’re okay. After all, they are intended to be humorous and definitely succeed in that regard.

More work went into the music than I’m willing to admit - or type about. However, I will list the hardware and software used and abused during the (de)construction of the song: bass guitar/amp, guitar/amp, microphone, Goldwave and Fruityloops. I also sampled the kick from Nine Inch Nails’ “Closer”, drums and sounds from Skinny Puppy’s “Left Hand Shake”, various sounds from Microsoft Instruments, and of course, a Timothy Leary interview.

Bring your lawn chairs and enjoy the battle.

And here’s DJSkrotekkki’s “I’m2Sexy” for your download and/or streaming pleasure.

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Beatmeister James Greathouse writes:

Terrence McKenna reads the opening to Finnegans Wake by James Joyce.

Made with Audacity and Sony ACID XPress 5.0 (both free).

Made on a Dell I rescued from a dumpster with a 930 MHz Intel Pentium III processor and 512 MB of RAM. All I did was add a CDRW drive rescued from a dead computer and reinstall the OS. It is hooked up to a 20″ Trinitron monitor pulled out of a dumpster. The keyboard, mouse and powered speakers came to me the same way.

I would hope that the mention of James Joyce and Terrence McKenna speaks with more meaning than anything I could say. If these artists go unknown to the audience then I have little expectation that my musings would prove illuminating. It seemed appropriate to me to use Finnegans Wake in a layered mash up. Truthfully, I doubt any other text could be more relevant to such a process.

This is placed in the genre of general semantics. The great debt semiology owes to general semantics recently came to my notice. Thank you Alfred Korzybski for saying, “The map is not the territory.” Anyone who reads Roland Barthes ought to find this meaningful. And if you don’t read Barthes, then the meaning is still up for grabs, isn’t it?

When you die, hearing is the last of the physical senses to remain.

Greathouse submitted two versions of Shot; I like them both (especially The Fall in First Shot), so here they are: First Shot and Second Shot.

Learn more about Terrence McKenna here–and download goodies, including more of McKenna reading Finnegans Wake.

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Here’s “Stein’s Box” for your listening pleasure. I’m not sure how to categorize this piece: is it techno? trip-hop? drum ‘n’ bass (without the bass)? “Stein’s Box” was inspired by reading Gertrude Stein’s prose-poetry, especially “A Box” in the Collected Writings of Gertrude Stein. Your humble DJ adapted Stein’s words, recorded the vocal and produced the song.

Here’s a sample of the text DJ Funken Wagnalls used in “Stein’s Box”: “Out of kindness comes redness and out of rudeness comes rapid same question, out of an eye comes research, out of selection comes painful cattle.”

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Help yourself to the MP3 of “I Think the Government Is Watching Me.” This may be the world’s shortest rap song. Cottonmouth and I recorded this a couple years back; it’s been languishing on a hard drive for far too long. The image is from Robert Edward’s film Paranoia.

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I’m reviving Puck, which I published as an ink-on-paper magazine back in the 1990s when there were still trees. I’m looking for a few good contributors. Interested?

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Liz and Jay continue to kick out the jams: their latest project–actually one that they’ve been involved in for many years, but that is now seeing the light of the digital day–is a collaboration with Willie Nelson. Yeah, *that* Willie Nelson: he of the tao and the beater guitar and all. “The Willie Nelson Peace Research Institute believes in the Promise of Peace on Earth in Our Lifetime as the Birthright of Our Global Human Family.” Amen to that, brothers and sisters. I’m saying, check it out now–while you still can. The site is full of great ideas that ought to get your compassion flowing. Here’s a verse from a lyric by Willie and Amy Nelson:

There is a peaceful solution. It’s called a peace revolution.
Now let’s take back America.
There’s a war and we’re in it, but I know we can win it.
So let’s take back America.

Now check out Willie singing the whole thing a cappella.

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One of my favorite writers, Peter Gelman, is up to his old tricks. He’s done up some real nice podcasts, including one of his novel “Skull of the Robot.” Pete’s also a bicycle activist with a wry and dry (and possibly extra-planetary) sense of humor, so don’t miss “Mysteries of the Bicycle Explained.” Pete’s site, Danger Quest Mysteries, has more juicy goodness, so check it out, ‘k?

Long-time Permeable Press fans will remember Pete as the author of “Flying Saucers Over Hennepin” which Paul di Filippo, writing in Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine, described thusly: “Serious frivolity is in short supply today … Gelman spins a hilarious tale that addresses crucial dilemmas of our modern existence via a rubber chicken upside the head.”

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