A night that turned from a song I wanted to hear, to songs I'd never heard, to reminiscences about late nights gone by and late nights to come.
via vimeo.com
Here's another great reason to go to Vimeo. If you're guitarist or just love music, put an hour aside from American Midol and check out this doc on the classic Cry Baby Wah pedal. Be smart though, and clickthrough to watch it in fullscreen HD.
A friend wanted a "love" podcast instead of a "hate" podcast. When that idea comes up, my thoughts always turn to music. To hear about the fortuitous rediscovery of this gem, have a listen to Episode 193!
I'm a day late on a music podcast this week, but not a dollar short. In fact you're really in for a treat if you are an aficionado of the acoustic guitar because every song in the podcast features the instrument. Some are mellow, some are groovy, some are just downright weird, but the all are wood and wire.
While almost everything else on lovehatethings is Creative Commons, this is not, and if the RIAA, CIRA or any of the artists ask me to take this down, I'll gladly comply. But until then, if you dig it, maybe you'll go and buy it, which will make everyone happy in the end.
With no more or less intention or motivation than any randomly-generated tones, this art installation in the UK has redefined the call of the wild with some appropriately placed seeds and twigs. From telegraph.co.uk
via news.bbc.co.uk
At a cost of 4000 pounds ($6400 US) the Eigenharp is a musical behemoth is appropriately synthesized and touch responsive. It's got pressure-sensitive keys all over the place and ribbon controllers along with drum pads and other assorted noise makers that can be controlled through tapping, strumming or blowing.
Let me preface my quick review, admittedly based on the thin sample of the video at the above link, with the fact that I've been a piano player since age five, a guitar player since age twelve, and a sax player since age thirteen. This thing looks like a giant clusterfrak of a musical instrument surgery gone wrong.
I played synthesizers for years and while I originally loved the concept of the emulation that a synth provided, especially in its samples of other instruments, I grew to despise synths for trying to simulate organic sounds. I don't mind synths pulling off a fat square wave or a edgy sine swoop, but I now bristle at the sounds of sax or guitar coming out.
I understand that, in some cases, cost may be prohibitive for a young musician trying to express creativity. This overblown Casio beatbox funmaker is certainly a musical instrument, certainly requires talent, certainly facilitates a specific type of expression. If I can afford this thing, I could also certainly afford a saxophone, a grand piano, a bassoon, a guitar or a drum kit.
It's said that one of the reasons the creators conceived of such an instrument was to cut down on the massive amounts of gear they'd have to bring out to each show in order to play... here's an idea - buy a guitar and a pick and hit the local coffeeshop! I'd much rather hear a lone sax player who knows how to play sax, than a lone eigenharp player who knows how to play a sax sound on his eigenharp.
I'm sure there will be some people who love this and claim I'm some sort of musical Luddite for chastising what some news outlets will report as the future of musical instruments. Another thought from the linked article is that it looks like something from the Star Wars cantina scene. I suppose I would've happier if this was left a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.
Kudos to the creators for living their dream in executing the creation of this mutation. Their determination must have been dogged to complete the project. For 6000 bucks, however, I'd rather buy a new piano that sounds like [GASP] a piano.