Disappointed by a legend

In the last week, I made a new addition to my studio. I placed an ill-calculated bid on a Korg Triton Rack module/sampler expecting to be outbid and accidentally won the auction. As I already own several ‘ROMpler” type instruments I was keen to find out how the equally loathed and revered Triton stood up to its Roland and Yamaha counterparts. It is an expensive way of finding out I will grant you, but find out I did.

As I unpacked the box, I could not help but notice the Triton had a floppy drive. My experiences with Akai samplers and their floppy drives led me to feel a deep sense foreboding. Having wired up the Triton I let it play through its nasty demo tracks and perused the thick instruction manuals. There were some nice sounds but nothing my Fantom or even my JV-1080 could not conjure up.

On delving into the various menu’s and editing pages, I became increasingly disorientated and bemused by the Triton (even with manual to hand). Whilst I do not consider myself as a dedicated enthusiast of any one particular manufacturer, it became obvious that the Triton was neither as easy to set up or as flexible as similar Roland products I own. This is in part due to the fact that the Triton was produced in 2000 and my workhorse Fantom X has only just been superseded. Similarly, the Triton is a damn sight better than my old Yamaha SY85. Yet the Triton is still convoluted and restrictive with no discernable sonic advantage. When I realised that the Triton will not even store settings for its “Multi” mode in non-volatile memory I gave up tinkering.

So the Triton is about as popular as a ginger step child in this studio. Its only hope of redemption are the expansion boards which I am awaiting. A brief scan of the instruction manual suggests I may have to load the program data for the sounds on the boards from a floppy each time I boot up (surely this can't be true?). Roland expansion boards are simple 'plug in and play' affairs which require little or no tinkering, naively I expected every manufacturer to be able to make ROM expansions this easy to use.

This experience has taught me to treasure the flexibility and ease of use of my Fantom X8 and confirmed my long held belief that Korg haven't produced a decent synth since the M1. The long awaited Korg expansion boards will decide the Tritons fate next week.

B12 return

In 1992 the fledgling record label “Warp” began releasing a series of albums titled the “Artificial Intelligence” series. Described as “electronic listening music”, this succession of releases was the perfect antidote to the post-rave chart fodder that came to represent electronic music in the early nineties. 

 

As a lover of innovative electronic music, I devoured each release with great zeal. Whilst the albums by Speedy J, Black Dog and Autechre were not wholly to my liking, those by Polygon Window (Richard James/Aphex Twin) and B12 most certainly were. In fact, I still regard “Surfing on Sine Waves” and “Electro-Soma” as two of the greatest albums in the genre. Despite my love for “Surfing on Sine Waves”, the majority of Richard James’s other work is not to my taste. Yet in the case of B12 it seemed there were no other releases to like or dislike. I spent a great deal of time in the 1990’s looking out for another B12 record that never appeared. Before the advent of the internet, it was difficult to monitor low-key artists who used multiple pseudonyms. For a long time I had no idea B12 even used the names Redcell, Musicology etc. Therefore, it is no surprise that I completely missed B12’s second album “Time Tourist” in 1996. I recently acquired “Time Tourist” and whilst it is not quite on a par with its predecessor, it is still a very good record. The song “Epilion” ranks as one of my favourite B12 tracks. B12 are not exactly prolific though. 

 

Following a 12-year break, they decided to release their third album “Last Days of Silence” in May this year followed by the “Last Days of Silence Remixes” album. These two releases see B12 moving from the Detroit tinged techno and ambience of “Electro-Soma” to pounding IDM. Both albums are once again very good with “Magnetic Fields” and “32 Line Up” being stand out tracks. Not content with these two albums B12 are set to release the entire catalogue of their own label on seven double CD sets. For lovers of IDM and aficionados of electronic music this is very exciting news. Now if you will excuse me I wish to travel to another dimension via “Soundtrack to Space” once again.

I lost something....and gained some monitors

Today I lost 2 and a hlaf hours of my life to visual and aural torture.

I could have spent this time watching paint dry, staring at the wall or hammering rusty nails into my penis; all of witch are favourable to watching the film "Southland Tales". I don't care if you like it, as I will never be swayed. It's dire.

However, in order to salvage some enjoyment in my remaining free time, I decided to try out my new studio monitors. I have always known that you simply can't record your own music usng conventional loudspeakers. Subsiquently, I have used some very cheap "Mini Monitors" for many years. But recently I noticed that the tweater cones had been punched in (probably during a traumatic house move), thus I plumped for some new Tannoy Reveal 6 monitors.

Having purchased 'budget', but never the less, 'proper' studio monitors I thought I had better put them through their paces. Obviously I bought these monitors because they look very cool but how do they sound?

The first thing I notice about these cabinets is that they produce a lot of bass. Yet it is not the bass a conventional Hi-Fi speaker might generate. These monitors seem to emit a heart thumping and clear bass tone that might be too much for some. With these monitors also being so much larger than my old Gale Mini Monitors they also provide better stereo definition and slightly higher volumes. There is definitely more punch from these new monitors. All in all I'm very pleased with them.

The only draw back is their size. These new monitors make me realise just how powerful the Gale monitors are when you consider their size. Still I had a good time listening to some of my favourite tracks and managed to forget about "Southland Tales".

Beat Dis - RX-7

As part of my near constant eighties nostalgia trip, I developed GAS (Gear Acquisition Syndrome for
those of you non-synth geeks out there) for a Yamaha RX-7 drum machine. 

My first encounter of this machine was through my first keyboard a Yamaha PSS-680. The PSS-680 featured some low quality PCM samples taken from the RX-7. Listen to the album “Below the Waste” by The Art of Noise and you’ll hear these nasty sounds popping up all over the place. The real RX7 and its distinctive snare featured most prominently on the Bomb the Bass’s hit “Beat Dis” from 1988.  

I spent many months chasing these things on eBay only to baulk at high prices or dodgy sellers. I eventually acquired an RX-11 for £5: good, but not what I was after. Having given up on the real thing, I decided to perform one last search for samples on the internet. Wouldn’t you know it I found the full set of RX-7 samples available for free download. Having loaded them into my Fantom X8, I now have a virtual RX-7 and RX-11 at my finder tips. The internet really is great you know. Does anyone want to buy a RX-11 drum machine?

Writers block and the bass drum boom

Whilst trying to write some new tracks today I hit a brick wall. Complete block. Nothing was working, every four or eight bar loop I created sounded terrible. In the face of this difficulty, I decided to revert to methods used many years ago with my former band mate: steal something from The KLF. I plumped to start my chord pilfering from “The White Room” album. Listening to the track “Last Train to Transcentral” brought memories flooding back: sweaty nightclubs, day-glow t-shirts and whistles abound. Those were the days.

 Then THAT bass drum sounded. 

Possibly the greatest bass drum ever committed to tape blew the cones on my monitors inside out and made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.  “The White Room” came out when I was about 17 and still at school. One of our favourite hobbies at the time was trying to destroy the schools stereo and recording system with THAT bass drum. I still have not worked out quite how they recorded this kick. Listen to the track from about 3min 30sec during the drop out with the string riff, then 10 seconds later it comes. Whilst it distorts slightly on any sound system its power is truly immense. One kick drum makes this CD a worthy purchase.  Thus, my attempts to overcome writers block descended into adding as much reverb to 909 kick drums coupled with explosion noises as my monitors would take. I spend ages trying to recreate THAT kick. I still have no idea how they did it. It’s a truly amazing album and a truly astounding kick drum. I haven’t created a new track yet but I do have about 20 reverb drenched kick drum samples. Hey ho.

Soulwax: "Nite Versions" - A Classic

Whilst compiling my list of favourite albums for my last.FM page I wrote a paragraph about the album “Nite Versions” by Soulwax. In this text, I muse that there are not too many remix albums that have a film or documentary made about them. When you also consider that this album spawned a 120-date tour that visited Europe, South America, Japan, Australia and the USA, you have to wonder what is going on. 

The phenomenon of the ‘remix album’ was born in 1979 with Sly and the Family Stone’s album “10 Years Too Soon”. This album took many of Sly Stone’s hits from the 1960’s and presented them in a contemporary disco style. Next came electronic music pioneers such as Soft Cell who released remixed versions of tracks from their 1982 album “Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret” as “Non-Stop Ecstatic Dancing”. Hot on their heels were The Human League with “Love and Dancing”, a remix album of their hit record “Dare”. The concept of a remix album was firmly established by the success of “Disco” by Pet Shop Boys in 1986. 

Since the 1980’s, remix albums have flourished with many artists and continue to sell steadily. Groups such as Nine Inch Nails have released a subsequent remix disc with all but a few of their studio albums. Soulwax are clearly paying homage to the format’s eighties history with the title of their album as Duran Duran often used the title “Nite Version” for their dance remixes. The parent album from which the tracks for “Nite Verions” are taken is 2004’s “Any Minute Now”. 

On paper, the album looks great. Soulwax members include brothers David and Stephen Dewaele of “Too Many DJ’s” fame along with drummer Steve Slingeneyer and bassist Stefaan Van Leuven. With production maestro Mark “Flood” Ellis and mixing genius Alan Moulder at the controls what could go wrong? Well quite a lot actually. 

The album sounds messy and disjointed and to a lover of electronic music, its sound veers too close to a type of ‘indie grunge’ for my taste. However, the failings of the original album serve to amplify the glory of its remixed counterpart. I initially discovered “Nite Version” as I heard the tracks “Another Excuse” and “Compute” on the Xbox 360 game “Test Drive Unlimited”. When I eventually acquired the CD I thought it was pretty good. The original “Any Minute Now” album, which I bought simultaneously, soon began collecting dust, but I was drawn back to “Nite Version” again and again. Initially, I loved three or four of the tracks, but I soon stopped skipping “E Talking” and “Slowdance” et al and began to appreciate the album in its entirety. Within time, this appreciating became love and then the love became obsession. There was only one CD in my car last summer.

Level 42 live. Never to be missed.

The last time I saw the Level 42 perform was during their ‘Greatest Hits’ tour of 2002. The only disappointment of this tour was that founding member and keyboard virtuoso Mike Lindup was absent. His return in 2006 meant that I simply had to see them during their 2008 UK tour.

On the 15th of October the band were playing the newly refurbished Sheffield City Hall. My only visit to this venue had been in 2000 and it was a distinctly underwhelming experience. However, the new oval hall is much improved. It was a pity that the stewards would not allow either dancing or photographs. Luckily, the majority of the audience broke with these conventions with encouragement from the band.

The concert itself was brilliant. Seeing Level 42 perform live is an essential part of following the band, as their musicianship is simply stunning. I will never tire of seeing Mark King’s inimitable bass playing. You watch his right thumb for an hour and a half solid. Seriously.

However this would be something of a waste as the energetic Gary Husband (drums) and genius of Mike Lindup (keyboards) are equally mesmerising. Rather than rattle through their ‘Greatest Hits’ the band chose to acknowledge that they represent more than their 80’s chart success and presented some of their best album tracks, extended instrumentals and tracks chosen by fans via their website. Some of those less familiar with these ‘obscure’ selections could be seen sitting down and ruminating over the extended instrumentals ‘Man’ and ‘The Pursuit of Accidents’ only to be brought to their feet to sing ‘Running In The Family’. Yet everyone seemed to enjoy and appreciate what they heard whether it be chart hit or not. When experts like Level 42 perform music, an audience will respond to the pure skill and dedication on show regardless of their familiarity with the material.

At the end of the show the band did not simply walk off but spent some time at the front of the stage shaking hands and chatting with their dedicated fans. A nice touch sincerely meant. I know it was sincere because I was lucky enough to meet Mark King and his brother Nathan (guitars) outside the venue afterwards.

One of the greatest live bands in the world. Even if you are not overly familiar with their work you should never pass up the opportunity of seeing them in the flesh. It’s a wonderful, life affirming experience.