Archive for the 'musical writing' Category

Cassette Jockey World Championships

Thursday, May 17th, 2007

I have a busy weekend ahead of me at this years Maker Faire. I will be teaching various workshops and running a Cartoonist Conspiracy table, but the single most exciting thing for me this year is going to be judging the Cassette Jockey World Championships.
The event, which takes place this Saturday, is being organized by [...]

Pixelh8’s Music Tech Game Boy Synthesizer

Tuesday, March 13th, 2007

I’ve recently come across the work of programmer and chiptune musician Pixelh8. For me, a lot of chiptune music sounds the same. I think that many artists allow themselves to be controlled by their devices more than they control the devices themselves. Although the chiptune scene is full of artists who frown on using anything [...]

The Vacorec

Saturday, February 24th, 2007

Click here for the video
In the infrequent battle against a lack of Drown Pirate Radio podcasting, The Vacorec is a major unit in my arsenal.
Designed in the 70’s by VRO industries out of Anaheim CA, the Vacorec is both a record cleaner and static remover.
Just slide the record into the slot, and the motor will [...]

Help get Nerdcore Recognized on MySpace

Wednesday, January 31st, 2007

Myspace nerds unite! Myspace needs to add a “Nerdcore” music genre and you can help. Nerdcore can be any type of music (rock, hip hop, metal, etc) as long as it is made for nerds by nerds. Contact Customer Service, MySpace’s Admin (or through email at privacy@myspace.com) and Tom and send them the Nerdcore [...]

midisync for chiptunes

Wednesday, January 3rd, 2007

Although I hardly ever create chiptunes on my handhelds anymore, I have always wanted a way to sync the gameboy with a midi trigger. Often haunted by dreams of triggering my circuit bent TR-707 along with nanoloop. Such devices exist, but you have to make them yourself.
I first saw plans a few years [...]

Women Take Back The Noise live shows

Tuesday, December 5th, 2006

A while back I had written about the Women Take Back The Noise 3 cd set and I posted this video on youtube.
Since then, Ninah has been hard at work organizing the Women Take Back The Noise Live Series. Most of the WTBTN liver performances will be at 21Grand in Oakland, CA, but there [...]

Tannerin For Sale on Ebay

Tuesday, November 28th, 2006

Item number 140058470242 is a prototype Tannerin built by Tom Polk in 1999. Tom’s design was based on Paul Tanner’s original instrument the Electro-Theremin. Tom also built a Tannerin for Brian Wilson’s 1999 solo tour and 2 more compact models for the 2005 Broadway production of “Good Vibrations”.

The Electro-Theremin, or Tannerin, is an electronic instrument [...]

Recap of the JJ Perrey show in SF

Thursday, August 31st, 2006

The show at Recombinant Labs was great. Jean Jacques is such a character and it was swell meeting him and Dana Countryman at the same time
They played a ton of songs using a CD as accompaniment. Jean Jacques had his Ondioline and a newer synth (moog maybe?) while Dana spent most of his time on [...]

Jean Jacques Perrey west coast tour with Dana Countryman

Wednesday, August 23rd, 2006

I’m stuck in some kind of trance, I can’t explain it. For the last couple of days I’ve just been walking into shit and just in my own little world, all I can think about is seeing Jean Jacques Perrey perform in San Francisco’s SOMA District next week. The 76 year old French born musician [...]