Extra Future
This year’s RetroStrange Halloween track is now available on Bandcamp. It’s called “Forest Quest” and it was created by Nicky Flowers, thanks to the support of my Patrons.
You can download it free, right now!
Over on the Substack you can find issue 42 of Phil’s Newsletter, wherein we discuss generative adversarial networks, release a new Monster Association video, and my sister-in-law Jessica critiques my favorite Beatles songs.
Today (August 13, 2021) is also the first episode of All Elite Wrestling’s new show, Rampage. We’ll be doing a live watch-along with my Patrons in my Discord channel starting 6:30pm Pacific.
Magnetic Interference is an album of music produced here in the Wizard Tower, using my KORG Volca Beats, Monotron Delay, and Monotron Duo. They’re meant to be used in your own projects, royalty free. My Patrons get it for $0, but even if you aren’t a member of my Patreon you can listen to it on Bandcamp or buy a copy for $3.
It’s been fun using this little drum machine to make chilly, relaxing beats to put on while I work on client stuff. Expect more.
In last week’s continuing adventures of Me, we bought some gay wrestling merch, beat River City Ransom, and I made some shitty music. Read all about it on my Substack
I wrote about the Smashing Pumpkins album Adore, shared an exclusive guitar picture, and ruminated on leaving it all behind.
[Single Link Twitter Post of the day](https://twitter.com/josefkenny/status/974587426676117505). A skillful mash-up of the classic Pokemon battle theme and the Beatles song Eleanor Rigby. Includes a video of the MIDI notes being played. (via [@joshmillard](https://twitter.com/joshmillard))
[Van Paugam][van] has been putting out [these awesome mixtapes of 1980s Japanese City Pop][mixtapes], and now there’s [a 24/7 streaming channel][link]. It’s hard to argue with that pitch:
> Travel back in time through the haze of memories that aren’t your own, and melodies frozen in a particular place in history.
[van]: http://vanpaugam.com “Van Paugam’s site”
[link]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWfP0f4E_Mo “City Pop Radio”
[mixtapes]: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuSh1X0HqVXewI0vDS4-YTg/videos “Van Paugam’s mixtapes”
The announced it by way of [a little microsite][link]. The KORG apps for DS are a ton of fun, I have a feeling this one will be even better.
[link]: https://www.theverge.com/2017/11/1/16589438/korg-detune-nintendo-switch “Korg teases music making app for Nintendo Switch – The Verge”
[Creating music from text][link]:
>Using natural language processing, TransProse reads in text and determines densities of eight different emotions (joy, sadness, anger, disgust, anticipation, surprise, trust, and fear) and two different states (positive or negative) throughout the novel. The musical piece chronologically follows the novel. It uses the emotion density data to determine the tempo, key, notes, octaves, etc. for the piece depending on different rules and parameters.
via [Steen’s newsletter][steen]. You can buy the [first album of generated music on Bandcamp][music].
[steen]: https://www.patreon.com/mediapathic “E. Steen Comer on Patreon”
[link]: http://www.musicfromtext.com “Music From Text”
[music]: https://transprose.bandcamp.com/album/first-iteration “First Iteration”
[Point at a spot on the globe, and hear their radio.][link]
[link]: http://radio.garden/ “Radio Garden – West End Radio”
[Dirge magazine][link]:
>What I Like About Dungeon Synth is, primarily, the music and the wide range of emotions it encompasses; the bombast and the subtlety, the melancholy and the fury, the epic and the transient. It blends genres that are dear to my heart, from medieval airs to black metal malevolence, into something that is neither new nor old but atemporal. By stepping out of time Dungeon Synth can use multiple, opposing streams of influences and styles, to create a single entity and, by doing this, it embodies something that is often deliberately avoided in more mainstream music; conflict.
[link]: http://www.dirgemag.com/dungeons-deep-forests-dark-a-beginners-guide-to-dungeon-synth/ “Dungeons Deep, Forests Dark – A beginner’s guide to Dungeon Synth | Dirge Magazine”
[Traces I][link] is the sound of synthesizers wrapped in cheesecloth being broadcast from the last radio tower of a dying world… in the shape of a 5-track pay-what-you-can album on Bandcamp. I’m enjoying it a lot.
You can contribute to [the artist’s patreon][patreon], too.
[link]: https://rooksfeather.bandcamp.com/album/traces-i “Traces I”
[patreon]: https://www.patreon.com/rooksfeather “Rook on patreon”
[Kottke][link]:
Bob Dylan finally delivered his Nobel Prize lecture in the form of a video (you can also listen to it on Soundcloud). Over the course of just 27 minutes, he talks about his influences, both musical and literary, and muses on the differences and similarities between music and literature. Listening to the speech, instead of just reading the transcript, is well-worth your time, if only to experience Dylan’s lyrical delivery while exalting Buddy Holly or explaining Moby Dick.
I grew up listening to a LOT of Bob Dylan. A LOT.
[link]: http://kottke.org/17/06/bob-dylans-nobel-prize-acceptance-speech “Bob Dylan’s Nobel Prize acceptance speech”
[Quite the demo][1], in-browser live rendered 3D animation and music using Three.js. Just press start. (via [waxy][waxy])
[1]: https://stianj.com/what-are-you-syncing-about/ “What Are You Syncing About?”
[waxy]: http://waxy.org “Andy Baio’s blog”
[A strong but honest headline about Googe’s new bullshit:][link]
>* Participation in the new service requires that your entire catalog be available for streaming, at high resolution.
>
>* Participation requires that you not release your music elsewhere earlier, e.g., no early releases for fans or backers.
>
>* You no longer get a choice of whether to do nothing, block a video, or run ads. Ads are mandatory.
>
>* Five year contract.
>
>* If you don’t participate in the new service, then the option to obtain Content-ID ad revenue from the free version of Youtube no longer exists.
>
>* If you had previously been getting Content-ID ad revenue and choose not to participate in the new service, your channel will be deleted and all videos using your music will be blocked.
These are all non-negotiable and mandatory, btw.
[link]: http://boingboing.net/2015/01/26/google-strong-arms-indie-music.html “Google strong-arms indie musicians into accepting brutal, crowdfunding-killing deal for streaming service – Boing Boing”
[CC-licensed art and music for videos games from independent creators.][link] If they reach their funding goal they’re making all of the assets public domain.
I absolutely love this idea. Get paid for your work and then move on to something else, leaving it for anyone who wants it.
[link]: http://open.commonly.cc/ “The Open Bundle”
[I’m not sure how I haven’t linked to this before, but here it is now. This needs to exist and I’m so glad it does.][link]
[link]: http://www.vgmpf.com/Wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page “Videogame Music Preservation Foundation Wiki”
A revised version of of the [Merlin Mann][merlin] / [Mac OS X Hints][hint] classic:
I’ve changed the layout so that the highest setting sits on 0, instead of boosting frequencies. This leads to a more even sound and less distortion of the high end. Everyone’s ears a little different, so your mileage may vary. Experimentation is encouraged.
Of course, what you’re listening through will make a difference. I heartily recommend [these over-the-ear cans from Audio-Technica][link], or if you’re looking to spend under $50, I don’t think you can do better than [the Sennheiser HD-202s][senn]. If you buy either of them from that link, I get a small kickback.
[hint]: http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20040902070807431 “Original Mac OS X Hints Article”
[merlin]: http://www.43folders.com/2007/08/27/perfect-itunes “Merlin’s post on 43 folders”
[link]: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00007E7C8/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B00007E7C8&linkCode=as2&tag=extrafuture-20 “Audio-Technica ATH-M30 Professional Studio Monitor Closed-back Dynamic Stereo Headphone”
[senn]: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003LPTAYI/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B003LPTAYI&linkCode=as2&tag=extrafuture-20 “Sennheiser HD 202 II Professional Headphones (Black)”
[The new album from WEEP][link], my favorite new band of the last several years. Can’t wait. Did I mention WEEP is fronted by Doc Hammer, co-creator of The Venture Bros? IT IS.
[link]: http://www.projekt.com/projekt/product.asp?sku=PRO00279 “Projekt: darkwave – WEEP: Alate PRE-ORDER”
Some years ago I made this version of the Metroid title theme on my Mac. I think it is sufficiently moody/creepy. Enjoy!
Download: Metroid Intro (M4a, 2.2mb)