Archive for 2013
The Synthetic Dream Foundation
They Who Breathe Darkness
A band formed by Brett Branning, TSDF is a Gothic/industrial oriented project, creating loads of personal work and many remixes for various bands including Suicide Commando, Grendel and In Strict Confidence.
While the sound is quite different(headlining 2008 Goth Con, you know what to expect), the example I would like to show you is an amazing merge of audio and video, creating something different, something which could go further than the traditional definition of "music video". And that is why I like it, its brave, its new and its trippy. And that's how it should be.
Plastikman
Richie Hawtin
 |
| Plastikman logo |
This guy right here is no "new stuff" around the people who enjoy electronic music. In fact, remember the Belleville Three that I wrote about some time ago? Well, believe it or not, this guy belongs to the pretty much the same era, the second wave of Detroit techno's artists.
One of of the most known minimal techno artists, he delivers abstract and minimal sound, under the pseudonym "Plastikman".
Having a father who was interested in electronic music, Richie Hawtin was introduced to Krawtwerk at an early age, this probably had something to do with him falling in love with the Detroit techno scene, and becoming a DJ at the age of 17.
 |
| Richie Hawtin in the "cage" |
During his career he has won numerous awards, many of which were awarded for his exceptional live performances, in which he gets in a sort of a cage, with tons of equipment inside. The deal is this, on the outside, the walls of the cage are monitors, playing intense visualizations which blend with the music, creating an amazing effect!
All in all, he has made a huge impact on the electronic music scene and I urge you to listen to the unique sound that he makes...
Detroit techno
The Belleville Three
I have an interesting find, a whole movie on YouTube, which explains the way Detroit techno came to be.
This should be interesting for any electronic music fan out there, because this already is music history.
 |
| Belleville Three |
Also, I’ll provide a short description of the birth of techno for anyone who isn't interested in the movie itself.
So basically, it all started around 1980s in Detroit. The thing that made it different from the electronic music of the day (house mostly) was the focus to repetitive sounds of factories, the technic sounds that it produced. At the time it seemed really futuristic.
The people that are held the most responsible for the creation of this music were three school friends, also called “The Belleville Three” (consisting of Juan Atkins, Kevin Saunderson and Derrick May).
One of the first records to make it worldwide was Derrick’s “Strings of life” and it can really give you a good feel what was techno back then.
It has been said that the sound of Detroit techno was mostly influenced by bands like Yellow Magic Orchestra, Kraftwerk, Bootsy, Parliament, Prince and The B-52’s.
A funny quote from Derrick May, in which he described Detroit techno as a “complete mistake, like George Clinton and Kraftwerk caught in an elevator, with only a sequencer to keep them company”.
For anyone interested in more detail, I highly recommend the movie!
Jeff Mills
The Wizard
Jeff Mills, or "The Wizard" is one of the most known Techno artists of today. His skills at the decks are mind blowing and his minimal techno sound is completely unique.
His journey began in the early 1980s, in Detroit, as a radio show "The Electrifying Mojo" DJ with the pseudonym "The Wizard". Later on, he and "Mad" Mike Banks founded the "Underground Resistance" label, which was famous not only for its music, but for the original idea to appear in public wearing sky masks and combat suits. Jeff Mills is also the founder/one of the "Purpose maker", "Tomorrow" and "6277".
 |
| UR in combat suits |
He also released a DVD "Exhibitionist" which features him mixing on three decks (his perfect mixing technique can be seen here on Youtube).
Mills is releasing records and tearing up clubs even today, at the age of 48.
His sound is unique, with themes like space being the most common. The only thing that probably all of this records have in common is the rather small amount of sounds used in them, it's mostly very minimal.
PS. He is also one of the rare "non-mainstream" artists that actually made it on MTV(video at the top), gotta give him a thumbs up for that.
 |
| Jeff Mills |
Amon Tobin
With the current technological progress, it is great to see some musicians making use of it.
The reason why I bring him up here this time is because of his astonishing use of video mapping techniques that are projected onto a large cubic structure from which Tobin performs. As he told to Wired Magazine "The idea was to integrate myself, quite literally, into an audio and visual presentation of the album,".
This technology creates a surreal illusion and a new way of presenting audio and video. Personally I am very excited to see more of this type of performances and I can't wait to see it live. But for now, a fresh HD video for anyone interested.
Tag :
amon tobin,
visual
Roland 303 Update : Documentary
A quick update to my last post about Roland 303 here. This is a short twenty minute documentary about the synthesizer in discussion.
GAS
Mat Jarvis
Some amazing space travel right there eh? This is why I love electronic music so much. You can create any damn sound you want. No limits.
This amazing artist has only released one album and several other records. All of his tunes share this deep ambient vibe. Definitely something to chill with.
And the video was created to show the relative sizes of the universe. The interesting thing is, not only we are infinitely small, but we are also infinitely large...
The acid machine
Roland TB-303
This post is about a legendary piece of equipment, something that defined a whole wave of electronic music.
Originally, this little box was designed to help guitarists with their practice. However, little did they know, that this wont be the reason why this synthesizers price has pretty much gone up five times since it's release. Yep, a synthesizer from 1980's that would cost around 400$ is now worth around 2000$.
What has made it so popular? This sound...
Yes, this screeching sound produced by over driving the synthesizer. This item is so loved by electronic music enthusiasts that it is even listed in "The Guardian" one of the 50 most important events in electronic music!
The interesting fact is, that even thought it did help a lot of bands with the bass line, it got popular for actually using it the wrong way, over driving the box, while playing repetitive patterns.
With the help of this tool, acid house emerged in the 1980's. After that, it has spread to many other styles of electronic music and even in to the pop culture(Madonna's "Ray of light", Prodigy's "Smack my bitch up" ) . It has become a "hip" thing to have, but as there were only about 10 000 unit's available, Roland released another synthesizer labelled MC-303. But even this release did not satisfy the crowd of musicians craving for acid. Therefore, many clones emerged, seeking to get a slice of the popularity that the TB-303 created.
A unforgettable piece of equipment that is still loved today. Have some acid children!
The interesting fact is, that even thought it did help a lot of bands with the bass line, it got popular for actually using it the wrong way, over driving the box, while playing repetitive patterns.
With the help of this tool, acid house emerged in the 1980's. After that, it has spread to many other styles of electronic music and even in to the pop culture(Madonna's "Ray of light", Prodigy's "Smack my bitch up" ) . It has become a "hip" thing to have, but as there were only about 10 000 unit's available, Roland released another synthesizer labelled MC-303. But even this release did not satisfy the crowd of musicians craving for acid. Therefore, many clones emerged, seeking to get a slice of the popularity that the TB-303 created.
A unforgettable piece of equipment that is still loved today. Have some acid children!
Gasaffelstein
Gesaffelstein
Damn, it seems that electronic music is inside the French blood... I bet electronic music will be called a national treasure in France in the 22nd century.
The video it self is brilliant.The raw energy, the style! I can confidently say that I have found myself a new favorite.
Tag :
france,
Gasaffelstein
Privacy policy
The privacy of our visitors to http://electronicbreath.blogspot.com is important to us.
At http://electronicbreath.blogspot.com, we recognize that privacy of your personal information is important. Below is information on what types of personal information we receive and collect when you use and visit http://electronicbreath.blogspot.com, and how we safeguard your information. We will never sell your personal information to third parties.
Log Files
As with most other websites, we collect and use the data contained in log files. The information in the log files include your IP (internet protocol) address, your ISP (internet service provider, such as AOL), the browser you used to visit our site (such as Internet Explorer or Firefox), the time you visited our site and which pages you visited throughout our site.
Cookies and Web Beacons
We do use cookies to store information, such as your personal preferences when you visit our site. This could include only showing you a popup once in your visit, or the ability to login to some of our features, such as forums.
We also use third party advertisements on http://electronicbreath.blogspot.com to support our site. Some of these advertisers may use technology such as cookies and web beacons when they advertise on our site, which will also send these advertisers (such as Google through the Google AdSense program) information including your IP address, your ISP , the browser you used to visit our site, and in some cases, whether you have Flash installed. This is generally used for geotargeting purposes (showing New York real estate ads to someone in New York, for example) or showing certain ads based on specific sites visited (such as showing cooking ads to someone who frequents cooking sites).
DoubleClick DART Cookies
We also may use DART cookies for ad serving through Google’s DoubleClick, which places a cookie on your computer when you are browsing the web and visit a site using DoubleClick advertising (including some Google AdSense advertisements). This cookie is used to serve ads specific to you and your interests (”interest based targeting”). The ads served will be targeted based on your previous browsing history (For example, if you have been viewing sites about visiting Las Vegas, you may see Las Vegas hotel advertisements when viewing a non-related site, such as on a site about hockey). DART uses “non personally identifiable information”. It does NOT track personal information about you, such as your name, email address, physical address, telephone number, social security numbers, bank account numbers or credit card numbers. You can opt-out of this ad serving on all sites using this advertising by visiting http://www.doubleclick.com/privacy/dart_adserving.aspx
You can choose to disable or selectively turn off our cookies or third-party cookies in your browser settings, or by managing preferences in programs such as Norton Internet Security. However, this can affect how you are able to interact with our site as well as other websites. This could include the inability to login to services or programs, such as logging into forums or accounts.
Deleting cookies does not mean you are permanently opted out of any advertising program. Unless you have settings that disallow cookies, the next time you visit a site running the advertisements, a new cookie will be added.
