electronica

Apple has published a profile of BT that looks at his new DVD, Binary Universe.

In the article, BT talks about the relationship of mathematics to his music and how the music relates to the images on his new DVD.

“Music is just applied mathematics,” he says. “And so is visual art — it’s all related. You’re just dealing with color instead of the audible spectrum.”

This Binary Universe is a collection of seven surround-sound tracks and seven animated shorts woven together into a dazzling audiovisual display.

“I didn’t really have a map for this,” says BT. “And it was one of the most difficult things I’ve done in my life.” He worked with animators and directors across the globe to produce the final DVD/audio CD combo. Everyone involved in the project — more than a dozen artists altogether — crafted their sequences with Apple hardware and software.

For example, 1.618 is a synthesis of sound and sight, visuals painstakingly coordinated with every beat and riff. Every track on the DVD is similarly synched.

“We spent hours editing the footage frame by frame,” says BT. “It’s hyper-synchronized with the music. And it wasn’t easy because the tracks have such clicky, glitchy rhythms. It was actually frustrating to me that we only had 30 frames a second to play with because things didn’t always line up.”

Janosch Moldau recently sent us his latest CD, Redeemer. It’s a very rare example of Christian electronica. With titles like Bleed On, Baptized, My Father & Redeemer, it’s obvious that the music is going to be Christian music. What’s unexpected is the bitcrushed drum sounds, bizarre synth sounds, and original synth orchestration.

On Reloved, Moldau starts with a mellow devotional lyric over a downtempo, almost ambient background. Quirky percussion and drones give the music an edge. About a minute and a half into the track, Moldau drops in jackhammer synth percussion, giving the music an almost industrial dance feel.

Moldau’s skill with electronic orchestration shines on tracks like We Are Laughing, which is full of strange percussive blips and blurps and quirky synth work. Sounds zoom from one speaker to another. This may not sound like the recipe for devotional Christian music, but Moldau pulls it off with style.

Interspersed with the vocal tracks are some very original instrumentals. Redeemer is a short example that features Rhodes-like synth work, more of Moldau’s quirky percussion and synth work, and orchestral electronica backing.

The CD is a classy release, with gorgeous packaging, intelligent songwriting and creative electronic production. Moldau’s Redeemer is the answer to Christian electronica fans’ prayers.

Redeemer is available via Poponaut.de. More information on the release, and streaming samples, are available via JanoschMoldau.com.

Paul & Price are back with Sounds Like Sex 2, a sequel to Sounds Like Sex, one of CD Baby’s top CDs to have sex to. We’re not sure what that means, other than that maybe CD Baby customers like to have sex to mid-tempo house tracks.

Guest vocalists include Angela McCluskey on I Adore You, Toddy Ivy on Little White Roses and Darling. Darling is the standout vocal track, with great downtempo beat and string arrangements, and strong vocals. Other interesting tracks include Unspoken, a sexy slice of accordian house music and Slight of Hand, a chilled out downtempo groove.

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The Rokkasho-mura reprocessing plant in Japan’s Aomori Prefecture opened for testing on March 31st, 2006. Less than two weeks later, in the early morning hours of April 11, 40 liters of radioactive water containing plutonium and uranium were spilled inside the plant. Fortunately, the official response was that there was no contamination outside the plant.

In response to the opening of the Rokkasho nuclear reprocessing plant and the associated dangers that go along with the plant’s operation, on May 16th, electronic musician Ryuichi Sakamoto launched an international awareness campaign that is currently available as a podcast.

Several free MP3 tracks are available for download at the Stop-Rokkasho site, and Sakamoto has even provided an a capella for remixing.

Sakamoto wrote and recorded a new track along with shing02 and Christian Fennesz under the group name Team 6 as a way to begin the Rokkasho awareness campaign. The first versions of the track – “Rokkasho-Main Theme,” “Rokkasho-Piano Version and “Rokkasho-Yakkle Remix” – as well as Ryoichi Kurokawa’s “Rokkasho-Main video” are available exclusively via the podcast. There is no charge to subscribe to the podcast.

The “Stop-Rokkasho” podcast will deliver music, video, photos, art, information and interviews to help spread the word about both the Rokkasho plant and the dangers of reprocessing in general. Future episodes will feature music and art donated by a growing list of artists joining the project. In addition to these materials, anyone in the world is invited to download either the vocal and/or instrumental track to create their own remix, sample, re-cycle or re-model of the track to post on their own website along with a banner for the project to further spread information about Rokkasho.

Less than two months ago Rokkasho, Japan’s environment was said to be relatively free of radioactive contamination. However, a recent Greenpeace-commissioned study has calculated that global radiation doses to humans from Rokkasho releases are likely to be similar in magnitude to the collective dose from the Chernobyl disaster. We need your help.

komposi003 is the third compilation from Positron! Records, and features tracks from Aizome, Amish Rake Fight, Atomica, Bounte, Micronaut, Milkfish, s.sturgis, and Scanalyzer. It also includes the debut of “The Things You Do” by Eric Powell’s new project, Graphic, Chris Randall’s first solo song, “Be There Tonight,” as well as the last Sister Machine Gun song, “Sink.”

The CD is great collection of electronica tracks and will introduce most listeners to some artists they haven’t heard before. While the CD jumps from style to style, (Genre = Unclassifiable in iTunes), it’s all creative stuff, and a refreshing alternative to standard remix collections and four-on-the-floor dance compilations.

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