Himelstein

The Carl Craig version is good, too. But I still like the original the best, probably.

Definitely agree. I spent a lot of time in the late 90s tracking down everything I could find by him. I even bought the “future jazz” compilation with his one track where he went by Mike Paradinas. I still think his best work is µ-Ziq, followed by kid spatula, Jake, and Gary. I bought everything up to duntisbourne, but I’m a fan up to royal astronomy. Lunatic harness is awesome, but I like in pine effect because of how original it is. A lot of the early idm stuff didn’t really push beyond what orbital did for me, and in pine effect seemed totally like this “garage band” type album. Idk, there is definitely cheese on it, but some of those tracks.....damn. I will add that I didn’t think the first release of tango (just 1 disc) was as good as the double disc re release. And I suppose I didn’t hear any of that until after pine anyways. So maybe I would consider that one, had I heard it first.

In pine effect is one of the best electronic albums in existence. His other bests are tango, and the brace yourself remix one.

I’m pretty much all hardware, as far as sound goes, but I do use cubase for midi. I’m pretty sure that in any version after vst24 (my all time favorite program) it allows you to automate anything like a cc. Quick controls? Also- I guarantee someone has created something in max for ableton that would do this, if it can’t be done in ableton alone.

I got these recently after going down some cyberpunk fashion spiral online. I have really needed boots and these are super comfortable. https://www.511tactical.com/pursuit-advance-2-0.html?country=us&utm_medium=cpc&utm_source=google&utm_term=5.11+tactical+men's+pursuit+advance+2.0+shoes+%2C+size+9.5&utm_content=footwear&utm_campaign=plas&utm_medium=cpc&utm_source=google&utm_term=PRODUCT_GROUP&utm_content=Catch+All&utm_campaign=Shopping+-+Smart+Shopping+-+Catch+All&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI1fORqcm17wIV7-HACh3cxwf0EAQYEyABEgKczfD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds I think the new balance 501s are good for duck feet. I’ve had 4 different colors over the years, I think they are the most comfortable balanced with cool looking shoes.

Leviathan Wakes, James S. A. Corey Crossover, Donny Cates also- Practical Pottery, Horace Jenkins, but just in little pieces as I’m teaching my son some clay techniques and whatnot.

Fluid mechanical pulse is one of the best three word combinations you can get in a review. My whole life is a video game trope.

My sister was telling me that some of the ones in the last season were “producer cuts”. Like one was a Ron and Jammy one, with Jamm and Tammy that was an hour long? On peacock I saw that some were longer for sure, and I thought it said exclusive content. Also, I’m a sucker too for all the Berlanti stuff, and Johns. I read everything Johns writes, he’s probably my favorite comic writer. At least modern stuff. We are way behind, tho, slowly approaching crisis on infinite earths- like 10 episodes away in every show. So I did see Lois and Clark in Elseworlds, and I’ll watch it when we get there. One of our dogs is named Lois Lane, so I kinda have to.

This was in my trash before I went on vacation one summer. If I wouldn’t have heard it the day before I left, it would have been in there for 2 weeks. Cute and nasty all at once, like a Behringer synth

I saw Luke Vibert and Squarepusher play in Chicago at the Empty Bottle in 02 (I think) and the night before u-ziq played with salvo beta and Mike Dykehouse. It was a Bilious Paths tour for Mike and Mike, and Luke Vibert had not yet came out with yoseph, but he did do a couple songs from it, which was a cool preview for us, when we really had no idea what the songs were. Anyways we recorded the whole thing, and the quality is pretty good. The squarepusher show in particular is filmed really cool, because the lighting kept forming silhouette images when he was doing solo bass stuff like his Herbie Hancock riffs and combined with the cigarette/weed smoke..... it’s pretty awesome. I have always debated uploading it somewhere, but was worried that I might get in trouble on YouTube, does anyone know if that’s a thing? Like, can it affect my channel or anything? It seems like it’s a unique event. It was really during an awesome time in idm, and I can’t remember any other time since then that something like that happened. Idk, let me know what u guys think. Snagged this off the wall during the show. Also got a u-ziq one, but it’s in pretty bad shape and I was more into his earlier stuff than Bilious Paths, plus the artwork isn’t as cool.

https://www.tindie.com/products/kassersynths/dafm-synth-genesis-ym2612-ym3438-diy-kit/ This would be a really awesome project. I actually would probably get it if it was in stock. Must be the sega ym chips are hard to get. I would also totally get a MegaFM if they were in stock.

Peacock has those new extended episodes of parks and recreation that I’m planning on watching, so I’m also binging that. But they are in the last season which is probably my least favorite. When I first watched the American office, I was literally renting the DVDs from blockbuster, and while it seems ridiculous now- there was deleted scenes on them that would be sometimes funnier than the episodes. Then eventually I caught up and just recorded them on dvr, but I always wondered what deleted scenes were on the seasons I never saw. That’s totally something that streaming has lost, but seems to be picking up. With those mockumentary comedy type shows, the deleted scenes are basically the same as the show. Seems much cooler than other deleted scenes.

That’s a pretty awesome plan. I’ve always wondered if there was anything special to using different types of metal. I get that the conducting is different, but is that actually relevant in audio? For about the past 5 years, every time I go to guitar center I buy one mogami to replace a random cable. It’s really stupid, but it’s not like I’m buying them all at once. That’s been the appeal to modular for me lately. I don’t know if I’ll ever want to spend $5000 on a synth all at once, not because I think it’s a crazy amount to drop at once, but because it seems too much like a golden ticket thing. Like, “now you have an expander so you better make some awesome shit.” But with modular of you spend $5000 you have this totally unique thing. That being said, I would love an expander

It would be really cool to have every cable a mogami gold that was exactly the right length for everything. I could see DIYing something like that, if it’s possible. My problem has always been constantly rearranging. But- still it would be awesome to cut down on cables that are too long or whatever. I don’t even want to think about how much excess cable is really in my studio.

Another thing to consider is maybe working with other people? It’s always been my thing to have people over to my studio to jam. That’s how I’ve met some of the more important people in my life, and it sounds cheesy, but the bonds made through writing music with some of these people are different than any other relationships I’ve ever had. It’s not at all like people you work jobs with (well maybe some of them) but real artistic creations made with other people are a really wonderful thing. Being involved in writing experimental or electronic music with other people also is really esoteric, too. Even electronic musicians that have only done solo work, or more “normal” band players don’t know what it’s like. I realize this isn’t possible for everyone, but if you have the ability to try branching out “socially” with music, it could definitely inspire you. It was pretty much the only thing I did socially for years, other than family stuff. I had no interest going to bars or anything unless it was to see a show, book a show, or play a show. I also wasn’t interested in having anyone over to my house unless it was to work on music. This is almost an asshole way to live, having no real use for friends other than to create music, but I have a wife, kids, in laws etc. I don’t really have time for friends that don’t play music. These days, it’s a little different, I’m in my late 30s, covid, and honestly a lot of my friends have kinda given up on music too. My point is this- there can be an awesome social aspect to creating electronic music (all music really) and the idea of “making it” or whatever just isn’t as important as the experience you get. Also, stepping back and seeing the actual life that most really successful musicians live has never been desirable to me. Once we did a show with this band from Amsterdam. It was an ambient coil esque electronic duo and the main guy had landed a gig working on some ballet thing or something, which is why he was in the states. He mentioned that he was fortunate to be able to write music for a living. His band mate however was just basically along for the ride, which sounds awesome, really for both. The band mate that was along for the ride also mentioned that he worked with steel all day welding and shit, and loved coming home after a hard days work and jamming. So- here are two sides of an interesting coin. There was probably little money in either direction tho (with music). They needed a place to stay, and ended up sleeping at one of the guys from my bands house (pretty common situation). This has happened to me too, we have done shows out of town for little money and stayed with friends or relatives in the towns we were playing. It’s fun sometimes, but sometimes I wanna be comfortable and stay in a fucking hotel. Probably a hotel that costs more than I’m gonna make doing the show. It seems awesome tho, traveling around in a van and all that, I just don’t know how much of that lifestyle I could take. It would be more of a vacation thing. Really, only the 1% are gonna be making enough money for me to consider that shit “worth it” as a career. I don’t mean to sound like the fox and the grapes parable, if you follow where I’m going with all this, I’m not jaded in any way towards “not making it” but when I was 15 I would have told you that I would be willing to sleep on piss covered floors for the rest of my life if I could scrape by playing music. Lastly- who knows how much any of this is real. If you see a YouTube guy with millions of subs and likes and shit, he automatically seems “legit” it’s why people like us might pay for likes or whatever. You just kind of assume that they have a value that’s different than someone with 30 subs. I’m not saying that IDM musicians could be similar to the Kardashians, but actually think about the culture of celebrity and what “making it” really means, and what value it really has.

I dabbled a little in circuit bending, just so I could have some original sounds from stuff I bent, but nothing as good as stuff my friends have bought online. I’ve put together a decent modular- two standard size racks and a small pulp logic zissou case. Nothing that was a kit, tho I’ve always wanted to. They just aren’t that much cheaper, but I’m sure it would be fun. I think the best DIY stuff I have done is de-fretting. I got pretty obsessed with it if for a while after getting into Mick Karn. First I did a guitar, then a bass, then a couple friends guitars- one of which is in an indie rock band, and he wanted a halfway one. So it was like half de-fretted (the high note frets were all fretless). I liked the results and decided to do this aria pro ii that was kind of a death metal bass. I ended up liking it better than the Ibanez manufactured fretless I owned ($300 ish active) so I gutted the Ibanez for the active pickups and Frankensteined it with the de-fretted aria. Then I decoupaged comics all over it. You can see the main problem was the red bleeding through, but it took a couple years for that to happen. I put veneers in the gaps so it wont easily warp. Sorry for so many pics, but I wanted to show the shiny-ness and angles, plus where the errors were.

I almost said to read the Arcana: Musicians on Music books edited by John Zorn, because they have so much useful info for this type of dilemma, or line of thinking. I love Zorn and all that Tzadik stuff. Definitely another cool little esoteric chunk of the underground music world. Maybe the furthest underground you can even go, while still having people like Dave Lombardo or Bill Laswell contributing.

I liked the end of wandavision. Disney plus has seriously been awesome for me, but I have kids and we watch the Star Wars/ marvel animated stuff. It’s been really fun rewatching the xmen animated series and stuff like that. The new shows are just bonuses, and mandalorian plus wandavision...... it’s hard for me to criticize it. Even if it’s an evil empire

Don’t give up, especially not during Covid. Everyone is pissed and the negativity is boiling over the top. At least wait until the world is back to as normal as it can be before making or even considering any huge life choices. If you listen to enough music you will find stuff afx was influenced by, just like every artist going back though existence. Heaven 17, Steve Roach, Orbital, Cluster...... of course I do get it. I remember when druqs came out I was like “well, that’s it.” And I guess in some ways there hasn’t really been anything that has blown me away (progress-wise) in the realm or “pushing the boundaries of electronic music” but there is so much more to music. I agree to learn a new instrument, or device. Get into modular gear, pedals, or something that you’ve never experimented with. It’s like playing with toys or video games. Just because those He-man figures are boring you, maybe try transformers.

Damn, that sucks. Entombed was awesome. Two excellent metal tracks released during the pandemic

Me newly remodeled kitchen has a brand new super wobbly refrigerator. Tried leveling it several different ways, had LG repair guy out and he said “i don’t know, man!” But if you knock on the glass, the inside lights up and you can see how messy your fridge is from the outside.

If you have good quality vhs tapes, and the right type of vcr, you can get some stuff around 20 bit, I think. But those types of vcrs are rare. It’s similar to an adat type of recording, or Betamax, which can be “better” than cd quality. Of course there many other features with adat, but I think quality-wise it’s similar. The thing is- adat only seems really useful these days if you use it to expand an interface or whatever, in which case you probably can already get some type of 24 bit.