What You Talkin’ Bout, Willits? Part 8

Guitarist and electronic musician Christopher Willits continues his monthly series from SoundArts studio. In this episode, Willits and Brian Schmierer talk about building a custom Big Muff pedal by altering kits you can buy online.

Tune in once a month as Christopher shows us some of the ways he produces his own music, as well as the many cool things you can do with recording software. According to Christopher, “I simply want to excite people’s imaginations and creative processes so they can more easily create the sounds and music and art they love.”

Telefon Tel Aviv Immolate Yourself

Artists who compose filmic music, much like actual directors, work between two modes: close-up and slowly panning scenery. On 2004’s micro-edit-heavy Map of What Is Effortless, Chicago-via-New Orleans duo of Josh Eustis and Charlie Cooper seemed more quick-cut and tightly framed. But after almost five years absorbing the palpable erosions of minimalism and detuning hardware synths, Telefon Tel Aviv has swapped guitars and digitally bit-crushed calculation for sabotaged analogs and tonal chronology. These 10 tracks of glamorous desolation, all bleary vocals and grainy drifts, have been strung out rather than chopped up. “Helen of Troy” is unrepentant vintage pop, basically A-Ha on a diet of oxidized melodies. The rest of Immolate Yourself‘s sonic real estate has the distending surface tension of a funhouse mirror, creating an album as glazed as it is evocative.

Drop a ‘Load on ‘Em

When you buy a $60 dollar game at the old brick-and-mortar, what are you paying for exactly? A case, an instruction booklet, and a disc that, in most cases, likely only features a few hours of solid gameplay. While most gamers and large game companies still focus on developing and marketing these big-budget titles and all of their expensive trappings, the advent of downloadable content–which many see as the future of the industry–has really opened the door for new, innovative ideas and tried-and-true content to get to consumers more quickly and with a much more affordable price tag. XLR8R takes a look at some of the best titles out there for download on your favorite consoles.

Xbox 360: Xbox Live
Castle Crashers (The Behemoth/Microsoft)
Up to four players can take on the role of Munny-esque knights out to rescue princesses kidnapped by an evil wizard and his hoard of barbarians… Sure, the story is trite, but that isn’t why Castle Crashers is awesome. This tongue-in-cheek take on old-school side-scrolling adventure games like Streets of Rage and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles mixes comical button-mashing action with a gorgeous cel-shaded look that never wears on the eyes.

Braid (Number None Inc./Microsoft)
Essentially a Mario-style platforming game, each level of Braid revolves around the concepts of time and distance. In pursuit of a princess, your character (an average guy in a suit named Tim) is able to reverse time at any given moment; each level reacts to this ability differently to constantly keep you thinking. While its name seemingly has little to do with its content, Braid’s fresh take on a tired genre–and its thought-provoking ending–makes it one of the most interesting titles in recent memory.

Age of Booty (Certain Affinity/Capcom)
It sounds like a pretty sweet porno, but Age of Booty is actually a strategy title that delves into the realm of high seas adventure! Relying on resources like gold and rum, you must navigate your pirate vessel through a series of hexes, working your way towards coastal towns in an effort to rape and plunder as many of them as possible. Okay, you don’t actually rape anyone in the game. But if recent news has taught us anything, it’s that pirates these days sure have great PR people. Who knows what all they are getting away with, those saucy drunks!

PlayStation 3: PlayStation Network
Fat Princess(Titan Studios)
Perhaps one of the most un-PC titles out there, Fat Princess is also one of the more creatively themed multiplayer titles to date. Essentially a game of “capture the flag,” Fat Princess pits teams of up to 32 players against each other; each team attempts to capture the other team’s princess and bring her back to its own base. Once there, your team must fend off the opposition while feeding the captive princess cakes and pies until she grows so girthy that she becomes near-immovable by the other team. Awesomely insensitive to the big ’uns!

The Last Guy (Sony)
With the amount of games that have focused on the forthcoming zombie apocalypse you would think that the well would have run dry by now. The Last Guy, however, proves that you would be sorely mistaken! As the titular guy, you must traverse over a dozen undead-infested cities around the globe, rendered similarly to Google Earth’s satellite imagery, searching for survivors and tactically guiding them to safety all while brain-munching nasties are in hot pursuit.

Wipeout HD(Sony Liverpool)
As one of the first games released for the original PlayStation back in 1995, the Wipeout series has become synonymous with Sony’s machines ever since. Now Wipeout HD, the futuristic racing series’ first downloadable title for the PS3, offers even more ridiculous speed, amazing control, and a soundtrack from artists like Kraftwerk and Stanton Warriors, setting the high watermark by which all other racers on the platform are measured.

Nintendo Wii: Wii Ware
Strong Bad’s Cool Game for Attractive People(Telltale Games)
This five-part point-and-click game (à la old-school Sierra games), based on the adventures of interweb superstars Strong Bad and Homestar Runner, features oodles of scenarios, characters, and in-jokes from the cartoon and enough pop-culture references and humor for non-fans to get into the ridiculousness as well. Everything from other videogames to Shaft gets the Strong Bad treatment here.

Mega Man 9 (Inti Creates/Capcom)
Of the handful of characters to have survived from the NES days, Mega Man is second only to Mario on the unfuckwithable scale. The developers of Mega Man 9 knew this and proved that a new adventure featuring the Blue Bomber didn’t need all the bells and whistles of current-gen technology. Nay! Mega Man is such a badass that he can be presented in classic retro style–and not only does this game remain relevant but it’s actually more fun to play than most of today’s slickest looking titles.

World of Goo (2D Boy)
Pretty much what it says it is, World of Goo requires you to build all manner of structures, from towers to bridges, out of living gelatinous blobules. You must overcome various obstacles (chasms, cliffs) to reach a pipe at the other end of the level, which, after sucking you in, transports you to the next level. An excellent atmospheric soundtrack and multiplayer add to the sticky fun!

School of Seven Bells Preps Tour, Single

Kraut-rock revivalists Fujiya & Miyagi announced a U.S. tour back in December, and they won’t be going it alone for some of those dates. Benjamin Curtis and the Deheza twins (a.k.a. School of Seven Bells) are slated to join the band for several shows, drone melodies in tow.

Once the U.S. leg of the tour wraps, SSB will head across the Atlantic for several performances in Europe, the vast majority of which will be in the U.K. and Germany (in case you were wondering where the band’s European fan base was located).

For those who missed Alpinisms when it was released in October, Ghostly will release a 180-gram, limited-edition vinyl version on February 24. The band also has a new single, “iamundernodisguise,” that will be released on February 17 in 7″ and digital formats.

Dates
01/16 New York, NY – Le Poisson Rouge*
02/06 Wellesley, MA – Wellesely College
02/07 Princeton, NJ – Terrace F. Club
02/11 Minneapolis, MN – 7th St Entry^
02/12 Chicago, IL – Bottom Lounge^
02/13 Detroit, MI – Magic Stick^
02/14 Alfred, NY – Alfred University Knight Club^
02/15 Boston, MA – The Paradise^
02/18 Philadelphia, PA – The Trocadero^
02/19 Washington, DC – 9:30 Club^
02/23 Dublin, Ireland – Whelans
02/24 Glasgow, Scotland – Captain’s Rest
02/25 Leeds, England – Cockpit
02/26 London, England – Cargo
02/27 Manchester, England – Night & Day
02/28 Bristol, England – Start the Bus
03/01 Brighton, England – Audio
03/04 Brussels, Belgium – AB Club
03/05 Paris, Ile-de-France – Le Point Ephemere
03/07 Munster, Germany – Gleis 22
03/08 Berlin, Germany – Bang Bang Club
03/09 Hamburg, Germany – Molotow
03/10 Cologne, Germany – Studio 672
03/12 Vienna, Austria – Flex
03/13 Munich, Germany – Atomic Cafe
03/14 Milan, Italy – La Casa

* = w/ Free Blood, The Juan Maclean
^ = w/ Fujiya & Miyagi

MP3: “Connjur”

Loco Dice Mixes NRK Comp

A decade ago, Loco Dice was opening for the likes of Usher, Ice Cube, and Snoop and honing in on his rap skills. Switching to house music—which he did around 2003—isn’t exactly a predictable next step, but unexpected surprises are something he likes to give his fans. A few of those are likely to crop up on his latest effort, the inaugural installment of a new compilation series NRK has dubbed The Lab.

The double-disc covers 27 tracks and over two hours of house music that Dice describes as “deep, groovy, chunky, driving.” Yes, those are generally the adjectives one finds thrown into discussions about the genre, but given Dice’s unique history, as well as his skills on the turntables, the compilation should satisfy discerning ears. NRK will release it on March 13.

The Lab – Loco Dice
Disc One
01 Akiko Kiyama – “Hakobi”
02 Second-Hand Satellites – “Orbit 1.3”
03 Chaton – “+91 Ahead Session 1.5”
04 Chris Lattner – “African Children”
05 Robert Dietz – “Klondike”
06 Onur Özer – “Eclipse (Loco Dice Remix)”
07 Kerri Chandler – “Pong (Ben Klock’s Bones & Strings Dub)”
08 MHM 1 – “Bubububadub”
09 Ion Ludwig – “Transnoir”
10 Damian Schwartz & Guti – “Sals—n”
11 Terrence Dixon – “Below Radar (Rhythm Is Rhythm Remix By Mathias Kaden)”
12 Someone Else – “You Don’t Got Me”
13 Alex Flatner feat. Lopazz – “Perfect Circles (Damian Schwartz Remix)”
14 Mirko Loko – “Serena”

Disc Two
01 Nick Holder – “Inside Your Soul (Sirus Remix)”
02 Jay Haze – “Mama Coca”
03 Terry Lee Brown Jr In A Deep Session With The Timewriter – “Everyday”
04 Loco Dice – “Black Truffles in the Snow – (Mike Huckaby’s The Jazzed Out S Y N T H Remix)”
05 DJ Ali – “You Don’t Know (Ruff Cut)”
06 Alix Alvarez – “Boom Bip”
07 Joseph Malik – “Believe And See (Plastic Avengers RMX)”
08 Franck Roger – “Take Off (Matt That’s House Bonus Beat)”
09 95 North – “Forever Underground (Bass Dub)”
10 Audio Soul Project – “Song For Fred”
11 Sascha Dive – “Deepest America (Samuel Davis Dark Soul Mix)”
12 Daso & Pawas – “Det”
13 Tyree Cooper – “Love”

Kotchy & Shunda K “We Feelin’ Each Other”

Yo Majesty’s Shunda K recently hit the studio with Brooklyn-based beatmaker Kotchy. The resulting Le Passion EP blows through an impressively large range of styles over the course of four tracks, covering smooth R&B, soul, slick hip-hop, and one cut from Kotchy that we’ll file on the “experimental electronic” shelf. Love is, according to a recent post by Kotchy, the central theme on the release, tying the tracks together.

A street date for the EP is still in the works. Since Kotchy is off to Europe to promote his debut album and Shunda is currently on the world’s largest tour with Yo Majesty, it will be a bit of a wait before we see the pair performing Le Passion live. Get your dance on with this track in the meantime.

Kotchy and Shunda K – We Feelin’ Each Other

Aer Obama

Here’s a video that could potentially even sway the odd Republican or two into being an Obama fan (oh wait, that already happened). Directing team GOLD took Adam Freeland‘s remix of the track “Aerodynamic,” by Daft Punk, and turned it into a “mixed-media stop-motion music video.” What better way to celebrate tomorrow’s historical moment than with dancing toys and a lazer show? According to GOLD, “the piece is a labor of love that invites everyone to join in or create their own celebration this coming Tuesday, January the 20th.”

An-ten-nae “Excursions in Acid”

Adam Ohana (a.k.a An-ten-nae) is the man behind “Get Freaky,” a recurring club night in San Francisco. This song, off of his Acid Crunk EP 3, begins by gurgling from ear to ear, then a rounded beat booms in, followed by a more playful half-rhythm. Eventually plinks and bonks offset an edgy background synth tempered with quick hits of jungle. It’s perfect for when you want to take a little trip. Lulu McAllister

Excursions In Acid

Inbox: Late of the Pier

Sure, we’re always curious to know about an artist’s upcoming release, most recent tour, or arsenal of analog gear, but XLR8R‘s also got a curiosity for quirk. Thus, each week, we email a different artist and find out what makes them tick, in the studio and in life. Next up we talk to Andrew Faley, otherwise known as Francis Dudley Dance (seriously) of synth-pop foursome Late of the Pier. The band’s debut full-length, Fantasy Black Channel, finally saw a U.S. release last week, so now seems an ideal time to find out the meaning behind the new album’s title, read a strange anecdote or two, and discover why the hell these lads are always running around topless.

What are you listening to right now?

In general, over the past week or two, I’ve sat through Of Montreal’s Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer? quite a bit. Right now I’ve got David Axelrod, Songs of Innocence on. The sun’s last rays are just going down over the trees on a frosty evening. It’s beautiful. Apart from that, just loads of The Beatles and Daft Punk. Don’t think there’s ever need to stop listening to them. Ever.

What’s the weirdest story you ever heard about yourself?

Ross [Dawson] got told that, after canceling a gig, a fan got on stage, lashed out in anger at him, and split his head open, causing him to have stitches. Which was news to him.

What band did you want to be in when you were 15?

Daft Punk and the Beatles. Again. To be honest, I didn’t have a clue what I wanted to do or be. I just really loved those artists. Music always crossed my mind as an interest, but never the idea of being in a band. I still don’t consider that idea these days. I still don’t have any idea what I want to do in life!

Worst live show experience?

One of the CMJ showcases was horrible for me. We were playing with Soulwax in Manhattan and my Juno-60 just didn’t like American power. It spent the whole gig turning itself on and off every second, making it impossible to play. I got by just using the bass guitar, but it just didn’t have the same feel or that lovely oooommppppff factor you get out of a synthesizer.

We’ve had to pull out of a couple of shows before last minute, due to faulty equipment, and that’s a terrible feeling too, but I suppose there’s not actually a show then so that doesn’t count…does it?

Favorite city to play in?

I really don’t know. So far, Tokyo. Amazing city with amazing culture and people, and the festivals out there are something else.

Where did the name Fantasy Black Channel come from?

I think it just turned up in the studio while we were finishing the album. Sam [Eastgate] wrote something similar to it on the back of a Polaroid picture and we all read into it in different ways. So we had it. The idea with the title for me is simply watching a blank television and letting your mind do the imagining.

Why do you guys appear shirtless in so many of your videos?

Know what? I really don’t have a clue. We used to play shirtless live sometimes in tiny venues, just because it was so damn hot. It just carried on a little too long. No one’s ever seeing my nipples again.

What is your favorite thing you own?

My freedom.

Name one item of clothing you can’t live without.

Shoes. There [are] lots of stones around here and it’d hurt without them. I don’t care too much for fashion, or any materiel possessions I have. Of the four of us, I’m probably the most practical. So if it’ll keep me warm, I’ll wear it!

Having said all that, I’ve got a lovely, wooly pair of socks that are really comfortable. I bought them in Berlin and they’ve been good to me this winter. So I suppose I’d be pretty sad if I lost them.

What did you always get in trouble for when you were little?

Nothing at all really, but that’s only because we didn’t get caught.

Actually, we were caught breaking into old abandoned factories and wandering around, exploring them a few times, but we just [were] told not to.

I used to get it in the neck about not doing homework at school all the time too. I used to study, I just never did any homework or work I was asked to do. I had a bad habit of ignoring school and teaching myself anything I wanted to know.

What other artist would you most like to work with?

There [are] so many, and some ideas in the pipeline. So I’m not telling!

What’s the last thing you read?

I’m in the middle of reading a few books. I always really get into one, then put it down and lose it, start another, then find the other one, then lose both. At the moment, I’m getting through Yevgeny Zamyatin’s We, and Aldous Huxley’s The Doors Of Perception/Heaven & Hell. I just finished re-reading Friedrich Nietzsche’s Thus Spoke Zarathustra.

Complete this sentence: In the future…

I never think of the future—it comes soon enough.

Stupidest thing you’ve done in the last 12 months?

Got completely mindless in Russia. Very, very nearly got arrested, then left my phone in the hotel. I won’t go into the details, but it was a really good bad night.

What’s next?

A continuation of what we’ve begun. We’re thinking about music as a whole more and more; building a studio of our own, making more music, branching out into the areas of music we’ve never seen or touched, and, of course, returning to those areas that we love so much. [We’ll] eventually play live again, but this time stepping up from everything we’ve already done. I’m working [with] a couple of small, vinyl-only labels too, which I hope to dedicate a lot more time to in the new year. We’re also looking into film as another media to experiment with. -Faley x

Video: “Heartbeat”

Pictured, from left to right: Ross Dawson (a.k.a. Red Dog Consuela), Sam Potter (a.k.a. Jack Paradise), Samuel Eastgate (a.k.a. Samuel Dust), and Andrew Faley (a.k.a. Francis Dudley Dance).

Heartbeat (Cenzo Townshend Version) (Explicit) – Late of the Pier

Matt and Kim Grand

Exactly how much ground can a band cover with only a keyboard and drum kit at its disposal? On Grand, Brooklyn duo Matt and Kim arrive at an answer: not much. Sure, there is fun to be had here, and Matt and Kim’s legions of dance-party enthusiasts will undoubtedly lap up the band’s second album of stompy drums, Casio synths, and emo vocals, especially sing-alongs like “Daylight,” “I Wanna,” “Cutdown,” and “Lesson Learned.” Oddly enough, the band may have been better served by making a sloppier record—Grand was recorded in the isolation of Matt’s childhood bedroom in Vermont, perhaps explaining the duo’s choice to tone down its previous devotion to reckless abandon. What’s wrong with just being a party band?

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