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NEW MUSIC: Dallas artist OG Bobby Billions (OGB) recently released what, according to him, “might be one of the greatest debuts from a new talent, and it’s only the beginning.” On Dec. 9, 2016 OGB will be releasing a more in-depth visual to the already buzzing “Bands” single.
MUSIC GEAR: Rob Papen Soundware has announced “Predator2,” the successor to Predator, “the natural-born, killer-sounding soft synth” that has inspired so many composers and artists. Predator2’s pliable GUI (Graphical User Interface) has once again been given the trademark Rob Papen treatment, designed so that (almost) all of the main controls are always visible onscreen, making it both inspirational and intuitive in use.
MUSIC GEAR: Most modern musicians know that sometimes waiting for new gear can be tough when the magazines and videos demo a neato new software app, sample library or piece of hardware. This can lead to so-called “gas” (gear acquisition syndrome). Savvy folk know there are certain times of the year when deals are to be had. Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and often around NAMM and other music shows, or right before a new version is released. (UPDATED)
MUSIC GEAR: Spitfire Audio has announced availability of SPITFIRE SYMPHONIC STRINGS, a massic “encyclopaedic compendium of symphonic strings sampling,” with blockbuster content recorded at Lyndhurst Hall within London’s legendary Air Studios. The Kontakt-powered library comprises the same 60 star string players performing on the same instruments featured on numerous famous film scores.
NEWS: MUSIC Group, the parent of world-renowned brands MIDAS, KLARK TEKNIK, LAB GRUPPEN, LAKE, TANNOY, TURBOSOUND, TC ELECTRONIC, TC HELICON, BEHRINGER, BUGERA, DDA and EUROCOM, and one of the world’s leading manufacturers of professional audio products, has recently been ranked as one of the world’s largest and top manufacturers in the 2016 edition of Music Trade’s annual Global Music Industry 225 Report.
NEW MUSIC: The Second Spirit, an indie rock project, just released its debut EP, “Modern Life,” a five-song album, and its first single, “Rescue Car,” which, according to band leader Matthew Victory Warren “personifies the physicality of love through a retro vibe, rock and roll groove and cool, fuzzy guitar leads.”
MAKING MUSIC: UVI announced this week their newest creation, Synth Anthology 2, a classic collection of analog and digital synths in one virtual instrument. This new version and comprehensive update includes over 2,500 presets sampled from 77 hardware synths, new interface and premium UVI effects such as Sparkverb, Thorus and Phasor.
MAKING MUSIC: Native Instruments announced this week the Kontakt-powered sound library, “Symphony Essentials,” which they describe as five meticulously sampled orchestral instruments, featuring pristine recordings that cover all fundamental playing techniques, each in an elegant, intuitive interface.
MAKING MUSIC: IK Multimedia this week announced their new physically modeled electric bass instrument “MODO BASS.” Once you get past the “limitless sound, unmatched realism, total playability” hype, there is a lot to like for keyboard players who want to get their funk on!
MUSIC MAKERS: Always a singer/songwriter John Preston set out with a mission through music to raise suicide awareness among vets. What he didn’t see coming was the suicide of his brother, a vet and his hero.
THEATRE NEWS: Art-In-Relation announces a move from Long Beach, after two successful seasons, to Hollywood with two hauntingly gorgeous, but lesser known musical theater productions at The Complex Theatres, Hollywood. “The Wild Party,” a lesser known version of the musical based on the poem by Joseph Moncure, and written by Andrew Lippa, plays Sept. 9 – Oct. 2, 2016.
MUSIC NEWS: Mission Music, a nonprofit agency in New Jersey that provides underserved youth with access to musical instruments and lessons regardless of their ability to pay, is donating a half dozen acoustic guitars to The Village of Arts and Humanities in Philadelphia, Pa., on Thursday, July 14, 2016.
MUSIC NEWS: Los Angeles-based filmmaker Michael C. Perry has announced that his film “Empty Box of Wine” has been selected for the 2016 San Francisco Frozen Film Festival. Perry is the lead singer in the band, Jour Majesty, who last year rose to #2 on the indie folk charts; his entry into the film festival accompanies the upcoming Jour Majesty album, “Empty Box of Wine.”
Singer/songwriter Paula Cole is funding her new album from the ground up on Kickstarter. Recently Cole launched her campaign to fund an 8th studio album, to be called “Ballads,” which she described on her funding page as so: “‘Ballads’ is a weaving of American roots music; my first album of cover songs. I can honestly say I’ve been wanting to make this album my whole career. There will be jazz ballads next to traditional songs and swing and blues – it’s all roots music.”
For fans of multi-dimensional MIDI controllers, and true performance instruments in favor of grid controllers, the first (annual?) Haken Continuum Conference has been announced for June 9-11, 2016 in Asheville, North Carolina. This new event has been dubbed “ContinuuCon” (pronounced con-tin-you-con).
MUSIC GEAR: Xils-Lab this week announced the pending release of version 1.0 (now in final BETA), of its latest creation, a new take on the venerable drum machine, combining virtual analog and multi-synthesis to set it apart from the horde of existing fare.
NEWS: As a likely response to the popular Omnisphere 2, UVI have announced their own hybrid synthesis+samples instrument, Falcon, which they describe as a “fully-featured hybrid instrument with 15 oscillators covering both synthesis and sampling techniques, over 80 effects, extensive modulation control and more.”
REVIEW: A Southern California band formed in 2014 from local seasoned musicians, called “The Usual Suspects,” is rocking fans with delicate flavors of the Doobie Brothers, Steely Dan, Todd Rundgren, and Tower of Power for a unique recipe.
NEWS: RØDE Microphones acquires Aphex. It was a surprise today to see two of my favorite brands come together. Australian pro-audio company RODE Microphones today announced its acquisition of legendary audio technology manufacturer, U.S.-based Aphex.
Long-time musician (drummer/producer) and music biz “guru” Loren Weisman has announced a June release party event in Florida for his new book, “Music Business For Dummies” (ISBN: 978-1119049654), which is geared to those creative types of any age looking to launch or rekindle a music career. The latest in the world-famous “for dummies” book series, […]
NEWS: Musical artist, mother, activist, Grammy-winner Paula Cole has announced her new album, “7” is now available. Featuring Cole’s original band members and musical soul mates Jay Bellerose and Kevin Barry, with upright bassist Dennis Crouch complementing the bottom-end, “7” is about the songs, says Cole.
The non-profit Bob Moog Foundation in North Carolina today announced a new charity fund-raising raffle for a rare white Moog Liberation Synthesizer “keytar.” The raffle will run from March 16 through April 20, 2015, and tickets are $20 each. According to the foundation’s announcement today, “The Moog Liberation is distinctive in its form and function […]
REVIEW of Matrix 12V: When Arturia recently announced and then released their latest V-Collection 4 of virtual instruments, and announced one of the new products would be a recreation of the venerable Oberheim Matrix-12, I was both overjoyed and impressed they had actually tackled this beast.
NEWS: Arturia today announced availability of its new KeyLab 88 — its top-of-the-range, professional-grade, 88-note hammer-action hybrid MIDI keyboard controller that comes complete with Arturia’s acclaimed Analog Lab software synthesizer solution and more besides — as of February 24, 2015.
Music Computing today announced updates for its “world’s most powerful keyboard production station” and now offers touchscreens with MacOS X multi-touch gestures. Expanding on its goal to great super-instruments by incorporating the best products available into its core platform, Music Computing is releasing the following the following new products: STUDIO BLADE: The StudioBLADE 5 is […]
REVIEW: Glenn Greenwald’s excellent “No Place to Hide: Edward Snowden, the NSA, and the U.S. Surveillance State” (ISBN: 9781627790734) is not only about Edward Snowden and the NSA; it’s also about power. Who gets to watch you? Who gets to know your life’s decisions? Who gets to monitor your activities? And who is watching the watchers?
REVIEW: With an eye-catching title, Elijah Wald’s “How the Beatles Destroyed Rock ‘n’ Roll: An Alternative History of American Popular Music” (ISBN: 9780199756971) is an off-kilter look at the progression of music from ragtime to rock to rap, with lots of insights on swing, jazz, folk, and blues. Consistently interesting and fun to read, the book pays special attention to what the media and the American mindset have done to influence the music we hear today.
REVIEW: Peter Schuck’s “Why Government Fails So Often: And How it Can do Better” (ISBN: 9780691161624) takes 30 pages of brilliant observation and crams it into 412 pages of text. His combination of garrulousness and impenetrable language makes it a very long and extensive and extended and elongated and lengthy and protracted and time-consuming and boring read.
BOOK REVIEW: Peeling back the thick tapestries of privacy shielding the odious Koch brothers, Daniel Schulman’s “Sons of Wichita: How the Koch Brothers Became America’s Most Powerful and Private Dynasty” (ISBN: 9781455518739) is consistently compelling and a good read. There’s a lot here: the Koch’s anti-American politics, their disgusting waste of personal wealth, their in-fighting and lawsuits, their dysfunctional family life, and their attitude of total warfare against people in the middle class.
BOOK REVIEW: Spies! Treachery! Deception! Camels! With an eye for detail and a love of intrigue, Scott Anderson plunks you down in the desert for ‘Lawrence in Arabia’ (ISBN-13: 978-0385532921). The author unleashes a rip-snortin’ tale that ultimately reveals a lot of the backstory on the muddle that is today’s Middle East.
ADSP Chapter 25: God can be found inside many things: The sun, moon, and stars; a child’s simple wisdom; a lover’s kiss. And at one nightclub on one sultry summer evening in Southern California, god was in the fingers of Derek Trucks.
ADSP Chapter 24: The blues will never die. Here’s one reason: Audiences have a visceral response to the music, even if it’s done merely adequately. And when it’s done well, the audience reaction can be amazing. Either way, when somebody is playin’ da blooze it means that guys will be drinking and girls will be dancing. In other words, a good time will be had by all.
ADSP Chapter 23: When hired guns go solo, the results can be “meh” or “yowza,” but studio great Carl Verheyen (“ver-HIGH-un”) consistently wows the crowds. Los Angeles is full of guitar aces for hire and one of the best has a name you can’t pronounce. You have heard quite a lot of the work of Carl Verheyen even though you may not be aware of it.
ADSP Chapter 21: Some guitarists play at lightning speed but it’s the tone, the style, and the aura of magic that define the true heroes of the electric guitar. Joe Satriani. You’ve heard his work or you’ve heard his name, and he’s either the greatest thing since sex or he’s simply a technical master who goes through his shtick very well but has no true worth. (I look forward to your letters.)
ADSP Chapter 22: Blues guitar virtuoso Buddy Guy succeeds on every level from soul to sizzle to showmanship. Sitting in his trailer before taking the stage for a festival performance, Buddy Guy is philosophical about his place in the pantheon of blues guitarists.
ADSP Chapter 2 — God of Guitar: A Visceral Reaction to Jeff Beck — There are 6,189 seats in the Gibson Amphitheater and guitar players are in 5,133 of them. Girlfriends of guitar players are in the rest. The occasion is a rare appearance by Jeff Beck, a somewhat reclusive Englishman whose stunning fret-board work has influenced pop, rock, heavy metal, blues, R&B, and jazz-rock fusion.
BOOK REVIEW: When you die, what happens? Lots of folks are attempting to make money by demonstrating they have the answer, but there’s this teeny-tiny thing called facts getting in their way. Mary Roach finds humor in every bone-chilling moment of her investigation.
COLUMN: One of the more interesting tidbits I’ve run across this week, was the rumor of a new product from venerable synth builder Tom Oberheim. He apparently told a person that a new “Two-voice” model would be in the works for later this year, possibly Sept. 2010 (as reported on the Moog forum). Basically, this would likely be a rebirth of the classic two module, plus sequencer, plus keyboard SEM-based setup (or the “TVS”).
COLUMN: The answer is $5.1 billion pre-tax operating income on $83.6 billion of operating revenue, which is about how much people spend on French fries during one year in the U.S. I went through all of the Warner Communications, Time Warner and AOL Time Warner annual reports since 1968 and pulled the segment financial data for the Warner Music Group or its predecessor companies.
Whether played by marching band, orchestra, or rock group, there are patriotic tunes that everyone in America finds familiar, exciting and uplifting. Scott G reveals some of the eyebrow-raising facts about the top 14 crowd-rousing anthems. Your celebration of Independence Day may include watching fireworks, having a barbeque, or tuning in one of the TV […]
INTERVIEW: In September 2006, Peter Frampton released his first all-instrumental album, called “Fingerprints.” For the project he was able to bring together not only many of his contemporaries and peers, but also a couple of his long time “heroes” and inspirations, Hank Marvin and Brian Bennett of The Shadows. The album showcases many influences, including […]
COLUMN: From chestnuts to carols, games to sleigh races, and loose translations to loose women, there are some interesting facts about the sounds of the season. Recording artist and commercial music composer Scott G presents some eyebrow-raising information about the most familiar and famous holiday music of all time.
REVIEW: I was pretty excited to hear about the new disc “Fingerprints” (A&M/New Door/UMe) from Peter Frampton, a seminal guitar god from the ’70s who became enormously famous for his “Frampton Comes Alive” album and for his formant-tube guitar “talk box” sound on that record 30 years ago. I hadn’t really thought about him much lately except when my iTunes jukebox cycled around to his tunes. So, getting the new disc was like hearing from an old friend again.