This weekend my electronica band Revival Revival is doing some shows for the first time in many months. We’ll be doing a lot of what my non-electronic-musician friends consider to be cheating. The lead vocals and guitar will be live, as will some of the synths. Everything else will be canned, recordings played back from [...]
Filed in Autobio, Hardware, Improvisation, Music, Recording, Software
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Also tagged authenticity, electronica, guitar, Improvisation, lionel richie, michael jackson, midi, miles davis, pro tools, reason, remixes, revival revival, songwriting
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Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Meet guitarist and producer Nile Rodgers, one of my favorite musicians in the world. He founded Chic along with the late bassist Bernard Edwards, and he’s on Twitter. Nile Rodgers has led an action-packed life. As a teenager, he played with the Sesame Street band, and then with the Apollo Theater house band, where he [...]
Filed in Dance, Key Musicians, Music
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Also tagged bass, bernard edwards, chic, dance, david bowie, disco, duran duran, eighties, funk, gremlins, guitar, hip-hop, madonna, nile rodgers, Sampling, sugarhill gang
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Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Here’s a live rendition of Imogen Heap’s song “Hide And Seek.”
Filed in Hardware, Improvisation, Music, Recording
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Also tagged authenticity, autotune, brian eno, electronica, harmony, imogen heap, Improvisation, interface, keybs, midi, Music, remixes, Sampling, synths
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DJ Kool Herc describes “Apache” by The Incredible Bongo Band as the national anthem of hip-hop. “Apache” includes a famous drum and percussion break that has reliably put bodies on the dance floor through hip-hop’s prehistory:
Filed in Copyright and Authorship, Music, Sampling
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Also tagged apache, breakdancing, copyright, dance, digging the crates, dna, double dee and steinski, drum n bass, drumming, Evolution, funk, goldie, grandmaster flash, hip-hop, history, kool herc, mashups, memes, missy elliot, nas, questlove, roots, Sampling, seventies
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Couple of exciting memetic hybrids circulating around the web right now. First, here’s a techno track using samples of Pixar’s Up, which is one of the best and saddest movies ever. Thanks Mike for alerting me to the remix’s existence. Remixing songs is all well and good, but remixing movies, that’s where it’s at.
Filed in Music, Sampling
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Also tagged america, animation, audio editing, chris isaak, dj earworm, electronica, kevin kelly, lady gaga, memes, movies, pixar, remixes, revival revival, Sampling, up, video editing
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Monday, December 28, 2009
I don’t get to movie theaters much. But as part of the new family plan to enjoy ourselves on Christmas, I went to see Avatar in 3D with a bunch of relatives. I went in intending to dislike it, and came out having thoroughly enjoyed myself. So much for my hipsterish snobbery. What’s interesting to [...]
Filed in Copyright and Authorship, Sampling
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Also tagged aliens, america, anne mccaffrey, avatar, capitalism, gaia hypothesis, green, james cameron, mashups, memes, military, movies, native americans, originality, racism, roger dean, scifi, south park, the abyss, the matrix, white people, yes
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Monday, November 23, 2009
One of the biggest copyright failures of copyright law ever is the The Verve’s song “Bitter Sweet Symphony.” The distinctive string sample comes from an orchestral arrangement of “The Last Time” by The Rolling Stones. Doesn’t sound much like the Verve, does it? Here’s the Andrew Oldham Orchestra‘s version, the sample will jump right out [...]
Filed in Autobio, Composition, Copyright and Authorship, Music, Music Business, Sampling
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Also tagged allen klein, andrew oldham, bitter sweet symphony, copyright, digging the crates, fail, hip-hop, james brown, law, originality, remixes, revival revival, richard ashcroft, rock, rolling stones, Sampling, staples singers, the verve, uk
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Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Here’s Revival Revival’s arrangement of Lionel Richie’s classic “Dancin’ On The Ceiling.” Ohhh What A Feelin’ Revival Revival vs Lionel Richie vs Michael Jackson mp3 download, ipod format download Vocals, guitar and bass by Babsy. Beats, loops and production by me. The beat is from “Billie Jean.” We love this song. Here’s the original.
Filed in Music
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Also tagged autotune, billie jean, dance, eighties, guitar, lionel richie, michael jackson, remixes, revival revival, rock, Sampling, typography
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For a long time, “Human Nature” was not my favorite song on Thriller. It took me many years to wise up to how awesome it is. Maybe it’s a gender thing. I played it for Anna last night and she swooned instantly over the delivery, arrangement, melody, the whole thing worked for her. I’m slowly [...]
Filed in Composition, Emotion, Music, Sampling
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Also tagged jazz, michael jackson, miles davis, nas, quincy jones, remixes, rnb, Sampling, swv, thriller, toto, tupac
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Saturday, October 3, 2009
Okay, so we’ve all firmly established that he’s not exactly Mr Personality. President Obama called him a jackass. Even before he disrupted the MTV awards, a lot of my friends disliked him intensely. This dislike crosses racial, class and gender boundaries. And yet, I like Kanye’s music better than just about anything that anyone is [...]
Filed in Emotion, Key Musicians, Music, Race and Identity
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Also tagged autotune, depression, drum machines, electronica, Emotion, hip-hop, kanye west, lil wayne, masculinity, posthuman, remixes, t-pain, taylor swift
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