This video demos an adaptive use musical interface designed to let people with disabilities make music. That’s a noble goal by itself – but I can imagine electronic musicians having fun with this, too. There’s a commercial product with some similar features, Hipno, from Cycling 74. via WiretotheEar
OT: Architect Nikola Basic has recently received the European Prize for Urban Public Space for the very cool Sea Organ project, an architectural and experimental musical object located in Zadar, Croatia. “The Sea Organ is a pipe organ that has a set of 35 musically tuned tubes located underneath a set of large marble steps… Read More Sea Organs Played By Waves
Over at BeatPortal, Industry Boy is blogging directly from Sasha & Digweed’s tour bus. It offers an interesting view behind the scenes of a superstar DJ tour: At the front of the bus is a lounge area with three couches, two giant Toshiba plasma screens, and an entertainment centre complete with a Marantz amp, a… Read More Take A Ride With Sasha & Digweed
A new study finds that references to illegal drug use in rap music jumped sixfold in the two decades since 1979, the year Sugar Hill Gang’s “Rapper’s Delight” introduced rap to a mainstream audience “This trajectory in rap music raises a number of red flags,” said Herd, University of California’s Denise Herd. “Rap music is… Read More No Sh**! Rap Music Glorifies Drug Use!
The Zizzle Zoundz is a psychedelic electronic music toy that looks to me like it might be as much fun for parents as it is for kids. Apparently it uses RFID embedded in the pieces that act as triggers. Here’s the official description: Zoundz creates a fusion of self- composed music with an accompanying light… Read More Psychedelic Electronic Music Toy
There’s a great profile of synth guru turned radical life-extension advocate Ray Kurzweil over at Wired. As a Kurzweil 2500 owner, I appreciate Kurzweil’s genius. But after reading this article, it’s hard not to think that he’s a bit wacky, too: Kurzweil is writing and producing an autobiographical movie, with walk-ons by Alan Dershowitz and… Read More Is Ray Kurzweil Crazy Or A Genius?
This is off topic a bit, but you gotta love this remake of the classic Lightcycle scene from Tron. The original may have had a great soundtrack by Wendy Carlos, but this one has a low-budget cool of its own. via Kotaku
The New York Times has an interesting article today about the oldest recorded music in the world: For more than a century, since he captured the spoken words “Mary had a little lamb” on a sheet of tinfoil, Thomas Edison has been considered the father of recorded sound. But researchers say they have unearthed a… Read More The Oldest Musical Recording In The World
Cartoonist Robert Crumb knows a bit about what’s creepy, and he’s got a great take on the strange obsession of record collecting (which I admit I have!): “Collecting is creepy. Record collectors put each other down for their various fixations. Everybody is convinced that his way of collecting is superior. They look down on casual… Read More Robert Crumb On Record Collecting
If you’re going to make an LP out of pot – what do you think the album should be? Rita Coolidge’s All Time High? John Denver’s Rocky Mountain High?
