Taupe Beats

Really liked the Basic Rhythm 12" for Arcola, the "Can't You See" track

My picks per-the thread criteria: Roland Juno-106 (this still requires at least a willingness to become familiar with basic subtractive synthesis but imo, that should be a minimal threshold, even in this thread) Samplr for iOS IceGear synths for iOS (Lorentz, Laplace, Mersenne, Redshrike) I still think this is the best UI design for a music app on iOS. Very deep synths that are easy to grasp how they work, very little need for screen changes, and their feature sets are wonderful. I still haven't found a synth that really compares to Mersenne when it comes to bell stuff. And they all have these really great Resonators on them. Korg Volca Kick (I haven't used the Keys or Sample, the aesthetics of the Bass are dumb, the FM is actually not easy at all to use if you want to edit patches on-board, and the Drum also requires a lot of menu diving) Roland TR-8 (I understand going for the TR-8S for individual outputs and further parameter editing options, but the TR-8 with the 7x7 upgrade is super cheap these days 2nd hand and just makes sense)

I'm still rooting for a Xanopticon/Datach'i collaboration

Just wanted to let everyone know I'm still doing my show. Stopped posting here to avoid gumming up the works. If you're curious, new shows get posted here: As always, thanks for listening!

Watched Jan Troell's "Emigrants" and "The New Land" over the weekend. Impressive scope, great performances all around, and wonderful cinematography. With that, really disliked the music in both films. Liv Ullman is a once-in-a-lifetime talent, but she was still better in Persona than here. Also watched Bergman's "Sawdust and Tinsel". I get why this film is so polarizing. The film has a nasty outlook from start to finish. With that said, it would be a pretty great double-feature with Pabst's "Pandora's Box" (the Pabst film imo is far superior but they're an interesting comparison). edit: The Blomdahl score for Stardust and Tinsel is wonderful. My favorite part of the film.

Watched Bruno Dumont's "Flanders" for the first time last night (currently steaming on The Criterion Channel). Have to say...this one was a miss for me. The main protagonist is a classic "blank slate with a touch of brutality" Dumont archetype and frankly not much else. The best thing I can say for the woman protagonist is...her part is underwritten. The war scenes were undercooked. I definitely think Dumont's intentions was ambiguity but I'd argue this wasn't executed well. It almost feels like Dumont's first foray into self-reference (he has a habit of it). He got better with this over time (see Lil' Quinquin). After that, I needed to see what I'd classify as "good" Dumont, so I re-watched Camille Claudel 1915 (also on The Criterion Channel). What an underappreciated film. I'd argue this movie may be Dumont's masterpiece. Bruno Dumont's first time working with a well-known actor (Juliette Binoche) and she delivers an all-time great performance. Her stop-on-a-dime emotional shifts which feel very real. Dumont's framing is perhaps its most refined here. If you appreciate "chamber" style films/acting, I recommend this highly.

Finally bought the blu-ray of Shoah (only had a torrent before). For those unaware, it's Claude Lanzmann's 9.5 hour documentary on the Holocaust which came out in the mid-80's. No archival footage is used. You are introduced to several "witnesses" (survivors, townspeople near the camps who were alive at the time, some of the Nazi functionaries), who tell their stories. I understand that Lanzmann is polarizing, but I find it inappropriate to watch this work and focus on the director. I *do* understand the criticisms of only translating (for subtitles) the translator for the Polish/Yiddish/Hebrew (Lanzmann didn't need a translator for German and English), but it's a catch-22 because without a translator, there's no way these stories come out the way they do. However, I'm left with the strong feeling that a lot of important nuance is lost w/o your own knowledge of Polish, Yiddish or Hebrew. It would be interesting to see a version w/their words translated directly to subtitle, instead of the translator's. The dualities of the natural beauty (mostly) shown to you vs. the horrors being dictated to you at the same time are very moving. It would be near impossible not to be moved by the stories of the survivors, however the total lack of archival footage, instead choosing to show you these places in near or total stillness. Between that and the running time, Shoah somehow a strange and complete inverse of Night and Fog. I'd say both are vital viewing for study on the Holocaust. I will stop there, but yes, a lot to say about this film. Highly recommended. Here is an amazing read about it's premier in Jerusalem: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/dec/10/the-day-israel-saw-shoah.

This song puts me in a good place

I was previously using Spacecraft for sound design, just try to load stuff in and mess with the parameters until I liked it. I've recently found it's quite a good performative app (tweaking stuff in real time and recording an entire passage rather than just one sound/loop). It was really a brilliant choice to add 2 sound sources to that app.

It’s Tom Jones they’ll do Sondheim standards

call it Wedding Vegetables

Theraputic

Nah not just you, although you can change the sensitivity. It only seems to be really rigid in the 4 assignable knobs by the screen. I got used to the rest pretty quick. And the filters are incredible. Some (LP 4-Pole) are aggressive, but its a multi-mode with a lot of options, including several 2-band filters. Pairing with the EQ is great for finding sweet spots.

Interesting viewing weekend. Went to the theater and saw the new 4k restoration of Nina Menkes's "Queen of Diamonds". Some of the best sound design I've ever heard in a film. Reminded me quite a bit of Eraserhead where there were constant drones (things like Air Conditioners, engines, wind, etc.) that would add a palpable feeling of claustrophobia. Along with that, the imagery was striking and set in long takes. If you let yourself immerse in what you were seeing, it became quite hypnotic. Highly recommend this film for the more adventurous. Sunday night, against my own sanity, I decided to put my soul to the test and rewatch "4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days". Spoiler alert for those who have only seen it once, it doesn't get any easier. Mungiu films are wonderful for how they play against a viewers sympathies/logic, by suppressing the environment that you're witnessing, but then suddenly pulling the perspective out wider and you realize that there's not as much subjectivity in judging the actions of the characters as you may want. His film "Beyond the Hills" is esp. brilliant for this.

Will check this out. Thanks! I've been reading a book of Robert Bresson interviews. Anything Bresson-related is worth a read, imo. Also highly recommend "Neither God Nor Master" by Brian Price. Argues Bresson's ouvre is based in "Radical politics", rather than religion.