Free Music Friday: Electronica artist and music blogger Mark Mosher has released a new album, Reboot, that’s just a little spooky.

Mosher says:

Two years in the making, REBOOT is an album containing 7 richly layered electronica songs that blend contemporary synthesizer sounds with classical music motifs. The end result is dark electronica for those who love synth “ear candy” with a “dirty” industrial edge.

Make sure you check out the track They Walk Among Us. It dives straight into B-movie territory, with its use of theremin, flying saucer sounds and vintage horror sounds. Could be a perfect soundtrack for Halloween.

Mosher has released Reboot with a pay-what-you like model. You can preview the album above or check it out at his Bandcamp site. If you like it, you can download it for free or pay Mosher whatever you like.

Mosher’s suggested price is $6 for the album (7 songs, 22 min. + digital booklet) and $1 for singles. Enter $0 for free download.

A Half-Remembered Sentence from The Quiet Man

via jonathanbarnbrook:

Text + Voice : John Foxx | Sound + Vision : Jonathan Barnbrook | Made for the recent DNA exhibition in London featuring the works of artists influenced by pioneering electronic musician John Foxx.

This animation takes one sentence from Foxx’s written work ‘The Quiet Man’ and illustrates it with a dreamlike quality reminiscent of the nature of the text and the main characters approach to the idea of the city.

A longer, more ambient version of this video will be uploaded in the next few weeks.

Vangelis Tribute – To The Unknown Man

via mik300z:

Another of my Vangelis improvs.

Nothing to do with the original vangelis track by the same name.

Big use of the Cs80 brass sound from the ESQ1 , hope you like it! My own composition, has a theme running through it, very scattered but hopefully his style with my awful piano skills lol

Ableton Live 8: Kamoni discusses his live performance approach on Phuq Radio.

He plays some breaks, DnB, Jungle and Dubstep then goes into detail about his Ableton Live programming techniques.

See the full interview on phuqradio.com.

via kamoni:

Puremagnetik has introduced Waveframe for Ableton Live 7 & Ableton Live 8.

Waveframe is designed to be a great tool for sound designers and programmers. The huge library of simple waveforms can be used to construct complex soundscapes and instruments.

Two and four-voice templates are included in the library as standalone Live Racks. Open the templates in a new track and drag your waveforms from the Waveframe Library into the voice chain. Then add effects and modulations to tailor your sound.

Waveframe Features:

• Over 1700 waveform samples
• Over 30 waveform rack devices
• A selection of preset pads, leads, basses & more
• Tightly integrated native Ableton effects & controls
• Easy hot-swapping between waveform devices

System Requirements:

• Requires Ableton Live 7 or 8
• 500 MB of physical RAM
• 300 Megabytes (MB) of free hard disk space

Description:

Utilizing the same “Transwave” concept, Waveframe contains a collection of pre-programmed patches, over 30 waveform devices and over 1700 “frame” samples. Waveform frames can be modulated via retriggering within a patch. This gives a natural sounding progression over time as each waveform spectrum evolves through its phases.

By employing features only available within the Ableton Live environment, Puremagnetik has reconstructed the Fizmo architecture from scratch. From over 30 unique waveform groups, a generous selection of presets have been programmed that employ many of the same features as the original Fizmo. And just like on the original, each voice group is highly individualized giving patches a complex, evolving and rich tone.

via Puremagnetik:

Waveframe is a an advanced wavetable synthesizer designed exclusively for the features of Ableton Live. Based on the Ensoniq Fizmo, Waveframe contains over 1700 wavetable samples, over 30 waveform Live Racks and a generous selection of performance patches.

This classic Music video is for Gary Numan’s 1979 synthpop hit Cars.

via HighFlyer186:

*** LYRICS ***

Here in my car
I feel safest of all
I can lock all my doors
It’s the only way to live
In cars

Here in my car
I can only receive
I can listen to you
It keeps me stable for days
In cars

Here in my car
Where the image breaks down
Will you visit me please?
If I open my door
In cars

Here in my car
I know I’ve started to think
About leaving tonight
Although nothing seems right
In cars

*** Released : August 1979 ***

According to Gary Numan, the song’s lyrics were inspired by an incident of road rage: “I was in traffic in London once and had a problem with some people in front. They tried to beat me up and get me out of the car. I locked the doors and eventually drove up on the pavement and got away from them. It’s kind of to do with that. It explains how you can feel safe inside a car in the modern world… When you’re in it, your whole mentality is different… It’s like your own little personal empire with four wheels on it”.

Sunday Synth Jam: Mickey Mouse Abuse – Some excerpts from Kamoni’s live set using Ableton Live and a DrumKat.

Includes jungle, dubstep and dnb improvised freestylin’.

via kamoni:

This is a cover of Jean Michel Jarre’s Chronologie 6, via syntesen:

I decided to do a quick cover version of Jarre’s Chronologie pt. 6 to test out my new studio routing, deciding to make everything with my hardware synthesizers (the used ones are the Nord Lead 2X, Blofeld, D-50 and MoPho)

.It’s quite close to the original, but has a slightly more modern sound, which i think fits it nicely.

Moonpie From Planet X

Theremin duo Art Harrison and Rupert Chappelle playing, respectively, a Harrision Instruments Theremin and a Big Briar Etherwave Theremin, on August 16, 2009.

Also used – Alesis Microverb, Boss Digital Delay and Behringer Tube Distortion Box – recorded live to camera microphone.

via saintrupert

Sunday Synth Jam: Here’s another nice synth jam via mik300z, a cover of Vangelis’ We Were All Uprooted, From Earth:

A piece from Vangelis’ first solo album Earth.

Thanks to a certain youtuber (cheers Phil) who sent me the album at the beginning of the summer, It just grows on you, the unique unworldly atmospherics of organ and percussion.

Hope you like the video, tried to keep everything like 1974!

• Akai s3000- percussion and rain effect
• Juno G- organ, jamisen ,percussion, whistle, thunder
• Microkorg and Juno 106 -bassJuno 6 -haunting lead
• Korg x5 – mandolin
• Drum sequence- ESQ1

Sunday Synth Jam. Plastic Stars is a synth fest, via mik300z:

inspired by some great analogue percussion from the akai s3000 sampler., i hope you like this electronica jam, got it done and dusted in about 3 hours,…:) Bass; Juno 106Drums: akai s3000Analogue strings: Juno 6synth lead : ESQ 1arpeggiator : MicrokorgFX;;Korg x5opening voices : Juno G

This is an unofficial cover version & video for Kraftwerk’s It’s More Fun To Compute – The Minimal Mix.

via syntesen:

After attending a Kraftwerk concert in Randers, Denmark, I just had to realize this classic track from the Computerwelt album.

I aimed for a quite straight version, albeit updated to a modern-day minimal house/techno sound.

I did the video in the style of the good ol’ Germans, hand-creating ~150 video frames in Adobe Photoshop and cutting them all together in Premiere.

I used the following gear on the track.:

• Clavia Nord Lead 2X (bass, leads/pads, sequences, drums)
• Ableton Vocoder
• SugarBytes Efectrix (FX sequencer for drums)
• PSP VintageWarmer for mastering
• Ableton Live 8 (sequencing, etc.)

In a way, it’s a “demo reel” for the Nord Lead 2X as well.

This video demonstrates how to make the distorted bass that French producers Justice use in many of their songs.

via luckydatevideos:

The song I remade was Phantom Part II check out http://www.djluckydate.com for more!

Sunday Synth Jam: The last bit of Polygons‘ improvised electronic set at Whartscape 2009.

via Grox

mik300z is back, with another synth jam, channelling Vangelis’ orchestral electronica sound palette.

This synthprovisation is inspired by Vangelis’ Chariots of Fire soundtrack album, “side two”.

That’s the ‘make out” side, in case you didn’t know. None of that tch-tch-tch-tch-tch–tch.

Leave a comment with your thoughts!

Sunday Synth Jam: In this video, Motherbrain (AKA Marc Osborn) creates a complete track in Ableton Live – from a ringtone sample.

No canned loops (except the ringtone of course) were harmed in the creation of this track, it’s all improvised live looping in Ableton Live. The Live template starts completely blank.

via motherbrain2000:

Using:
Ableton live 7
Steinberg Hypersonic for Bass, Rhodes, Drums, and Pad
Ableton ‘Sampler’ for blips and stabs (custom patches)
Native Instruments Pro-53 for lead synth
CamelSpace for processing
Ableton Live’s included effects ‘AutoFilter’ and ‘FilterDelay’
MAudio Keystation 88es
Presonus Firepod (audio interface)
Zoom H4 (to record the output- it’s clearly clipping. I cranked the main volume without thinking)
custom painted qwerty keyboard

yes there are 3 seconds or so in the begining edited out while I adjusted the loop borders for the ringtone, then 4 bars in the middle of the jam and 2 or so bars near the end.

God of Small Things, a short film by Chris Abbas and Sumit Seru. Music by múm.

via musicofsound

This is a classic track from Air, Le soleil est près de moi.

Le soleil est près de moi
Le soleil est près de moi
Le soleil est près de moi
Le soleil est près de moi

Le soleil est près de moi
Le soleil est près de moi
Le soleil est près de moi
Le soleil est près de moi
Anywhere, I want you
Anywhere, I want you

Anywhere I want

Anywhere I want
Le soleil est près de moi
Le soleil est près de moi
Le soleil est près de moi….Le soleil est près de moi

via airofficial

The 12-track followup to 2007’s Pocket Symphony will be headed by the Love 2?s viral single, Do The Joy on July 7th. The first physical single, Sing Sang Sung will be released August 25th. Air is planning a European tour in early 2010, followed by a US tour in the spring.

Love 2 Tracklist:

• Do the Joy
• Love
• So Light Is Her Footfall
• Be a Bee
• Missing the Light of the Day
• Tropical Disease
• Heaven’s Light
• Night Hunter
• Sing Sang Sung
• Eat My Beat
• You Can Tell It to Everybody
• African Velvet

Tour Dates:

• Wed 6/17 San Francisco, CA – Grand Ballroom
• Sat 6/27, Los Angeles, CA – Electric Daisy Carnival
• Thu 7/30, Pontiac, MI – The Crofoot
• Fri 7/31, Columbus, OH – Boma
• Sat 8/1, Norfolk, VA – The Norva
• Sun 8/2, Charlotte, NC – Amos’ Southend
• Mon 8/3, Nashville, TN – Limelight
• Tue 8/4, Little Rock, AR – Juanita’s Cantina
• Wed 8/5, Tulsa, OK – Cain’s Ballroom
• Thu 8/6, Albuquerque, NM – Sunshine Theatre
• Fri 8/7, Afton, NY – The New Echo Lake (DJ set)
• Sat 8/8, Washington D.C. – Fur (DJ set)
• Sun 8/9, San Diego, CA – Hard Rock Hotel (DJ set)

How about a visit to Synthtopia territory guys? Chicago, Minneapolis, or Kansas City?

If you’ve caught The Crystal Method on this tour, leave a comment and lets us know what you think!