More Geek Stuff

Howdy all,

Thought I'd follow up the massive response to the below geek posts (what happened to comments...) with some more geek stuff. Firstly, I discovered this after watching one of Mr Tea's geek videos, as it's Alby Reid's blog (his is the decimalisation of time video below). It is well worth a look for all things geekish. Predoninantly science-y, but particularly interesting, especially the stuff on nuclear energy: http://wordpress.mrreid.org/

Secondly, you may well be aware of Derren Brown. He's often on the television doing strange things. He is a very interesting bloke as well (as a side recommendation, his book "Trick of the Mind" is fascinating, and he is an excellent and amusing writer, it's definitely one to consider for the christmas list). His website, particularly the blog section, is frequently updated (not just by him) with very interesting stuff. Check it out. http://derrenbrown.co.uk/blog/

Finally, a link from the Mr Reid blog above, if you don't get far enough down the page to discover it yourself. This is a nifty little program based on the fact that your eyes don't like the light that laptops/computers give out all day long, and would rather the screen followed the light intensity pattern of the sun. The program, therefore, makes your screen give out different intesities of light at different times of the day. If you're on a computer a lot, it makes sense, particularly if you use the pooter into the wee hours. Check: http://www.stereopsis.com/flux/

Gold Panda

Yo yo- have escaped with a couple of days leave to deepest darkest somerset to write essays with the snow outside- and take advantage of momma's cooking. nice. Anyhow having a little listen while i try and get things done and i think these two tunes are as tasty as the aforementioned cooking. Both have been around for a good few months but who knows they may have escaped radars still:

Snow & Taxis (Glitterbug's Pink Snow by Gold Panda

You by Gold Panda

The Christmas Sandwich

Epic video

Embedding has been disabled, but do check the link, tis a wee bit special:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUYhWnTv2CU

Geeks and Bikes

Mr tea's post below involving (some really rather fine) hippity hop beats and, more relevant to this post, some geek stuff on powerpoint, reminded me to post a recent discovery of mine. Mr tea's fine examples aside, I'm sure I'm not alone in having endured countless mind-numbingly dull powerpoint presentations in my time. So many, in fact, that, along with other geekish hates including most things Windows and all things Comic Sans Serif (bancomicsans.com), I have grown a rather unhealthy hatred for powerpoint and its stupid slidey monopoly over the presentation world.

But hallelujah! During a particularly long powerpoint-fest at a conference the other day someone whipped out a presentation using prezi, and bye jove it was good! Prezi works more like a map that you navigate, rather than a slide-show. Regardez vous s'il vous-plait (let it load, then press the play button to go between each 'slide'):

Why should you move beyond slides? on Prezi

Snazzy eh? And you can get a half-decent free version, so no more putting money in Mr Billy-Gates-Gruff's pockets, even if he is going to give it all away eventually..

And now, as a treat for enduring another waffly post, the amazing new video from Danny MacAskill. He don't need no stabilizers..:

Geek PowerPoints and Chinese Man

First up, a couple of presentations from the Ignite London show from a couple of months back that I had the pleasure of attending. The concept is basic but effective - you get 5 mins to give a PowerPoint presentation on literally anything and anyone can apply to do it. The slides move on automatically which the presenters can't control. 

Some were funny, some were serious. All were very geeky, which was great.

This one was on why we should decimalise time:


Decimalising Time - by Alby Reid from chichard41 on Vimeo.

And another by a guy who created the geek atlas:


The Geek Atlas: Sun, Sea, Sand, Science - by John Graham-Cumming from chichard41 on Vimeo.

If this kind of super geek thing interests you the next event will be in February (with the actual date to be posted on the website here) and it should be free.

On another [musical] note - a great find if you like well chosen good-time samples and decent old fashioned head nodding hiphop beats, which I do (not like some of that new hip-hop-pop- lil-tinchie-star-in-tha-hood-tinny-ring-tone beats you hear nowadays...)

From France, Chinese Man:

Snap, crackle and pop

Brrrrr.... it is super blitz outside today, but this is a great, warming (pop) tune:

This is nice:

WORDS from Everynone on Vimeo.

Blasts from well past

Evening chums. While listening in the car to a selection of "Now" Cds, which were being flogged off cheap at the shameful price of £1 each, I paused to think two things. 1) Now 34 is definitely worth more than a pound, 2) Said Now record was released in 1996 when I was 11 or 12, and for all the shite that is on it, and shite there indeed is in bucket loads (Peter Andre - Mysterious Girl, Gina G - Ooh Ah, Just a Little Bit), there are also some cracking tunes that actually did well in the charts (remember them?). I found myself thinking that it is quite sad that, when I am old and crusty and lamenting to the underpaid carer who has to change my nappy that music you hear on the radio these days is shit in comparison to in my day, the 'my day' I will be referring to is at the age of 12, not 26. While there are some decent tunes to be found on the radio these days, none are ever as big as the following were. I guess what all this boils down to is this: these tunes were good, and they made it big, like really big. It's sad that thanks to Mr Simon Cowell and his music industry chums, that doesn't happen any more, todays next big thing is tomorrows celebrity big brother fodder.

So, without any more further rambling, I give you The 90s ladies and gentlemen. I remember it fondly.

Snap and Song

Wicked photos of France. Loved the one outside the school all blocked up. I saw this one on the bbc which i thought was pretty powerful.


And a tune that i have been listening to:

France on Strike

Some amazing photos of the protests going on over the water.. It's almost unbelievable and actually quite impressive to see such public unity over a policy to take retirement age up by just 2 years to 62. Makes us look pretty docile on our retirement age of 66 from 2020...

A man holds a placard which reads "Listen to the public's rage" during a demonstration in front of the French Senate in Paris October 20, 2010. French trade unions kept up their resistance on Wednesday to an unpopular pension reform due for a final vote in the Senate this week. (REUTERS/Charles Platiau)

People march during a protest in Marseille, southern France, Saturday Oct. 16, 2010. (AP Photo/Claude Paris)

French high school students kiss on the road in front of the police at the end of a demonstration over pension reform in Paris October 21, 2010. (REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes)

Plainclothes police officers, right, try to detain a youth during a protest in Paris, Thursday Oct. 21, 2010.

Civil security members requisitioned by the French government clean the streets and pile up garbage in Marseille October 20, 2010 on the ninth day of a strike by rubbish collectors. (REUTERS/Jean-Paul Pelissier)

French high school students block the entrance of the Dorian high school in Paris October 15, 2010. (REUTERS/Charles Platiau)

A French high school student faces riot gendarmes during a student demonstration at the Place de la Republique in Paris October 19, 2010. (REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes)

More pics here

Counter to the aftermath of the apocalypse

A super lively upbeat one for you all... to run against the end of the world vibe going on at the moment- i came out of work on wednesday to see the strand jammed with protestors against the cuts. Young folk, and veterans of the Thatcher years. This passed into Trafalgar Square where brilliantly surreally the Girl Guides very having a bit of a jolly, with lots of pink and purple, and a big stage where someone was singing Abba. Funny old world.

Dark German Techno

Apex

Carrying on the Autumn/Wintery feel, but on a slightly different tangent, this track is absolute badman:


Inner Space by Apex Music

and continuing on...

... in a similar mode to the Cinematic track, although more melancholic



it's definitely got a winter feel to it... perfect for today as it was freeeezing. I need to get a coat

For the quiet point in the afternoon...

The desire to hear this song cropped up, and i indulged it, happily.

Stolen Moves

These guys stole my moves



I picked up DJ Rupture's Uproot for 3 quid at the weekend, well worth a listen:

Something I made

Here's a new version of a tune I made.

Elements of minimalism, dubstep and rock.

Let me know what you think.

(caution: includes distorted slidewhistle)

Thanks for the Pen Naomi v2 by toot!

40 years on

Thought I should probably post something to mark the 40th year of Our Lord, Jimi Hendrix, having popped his velvet clogs. 40 years last month to be precise. Light a candle, have a beer, do whatever remembering things you like to do...

twotunes

yo! been a long time since my last post with all the moving house, jobs and such things yada yada. Anyway, nice one on the folksy stuff, wanton seed - great lyrics. I like. Also toot! nice one on the video/music, it works really well together. Oh and the moderat is heavy...

A couple here that aren't particularly new to me but are worth sharing:

In the folky / indie area, a track by The Middle East, with a great euphoric ending



And a completely unrelated track by a guy called...Shed. A decent pair of headphones/speakers to get the full effect for this one

Nic Jones

I've held off posting this for long enough. My favorite discovery of the last five years is probably Nic Jones. He's pretty folk-tastic, and probably wont tickle everyone's fancy, but the guy is ridiculously good on the guitar and I quite like his voice too. He doesn't tour any more, having had a pretty horrendous car crash, but there's a few albums that you can get hold of...

Spam

Yo folks, just thought I'd share a piece of sound design/composition work I did recently.

Christopher Raeburn Video

It's made from sounds recorded at a textile studio.

And here's my little musical website www.tootdotcom.com

/spam

Also, there's a decent looking Rephlex night for anyone in London this weekend.

Dark Guitars and Drums.. and Some Night-Time Visuals

Yo!

Finally got round to having a listen to the classical post t'other day. Really good, and i felt educated too- will aim at more informative posts in the future, but going to keep it short with this one:



(Late Addition): For some dark Japan night-time visuals this video is excellent- put together by a guy called Samuel Cockedey, the sound track is a suitably broody cinema-esque piece by Paul Frankland, aka Woob, called "Paradigm Flux."

Post-Apocalyptic-Carnival-Down-Time

A substantially heavy weekend has passed. Where i was properly introduced to David Rodigan. An immense individual.




Then Major Lazer absolutely killed it. And now, i am in this sort of headspace:

Shangaan Electro

SHANGAAN ELECTRO - "KULUNGWANI" from outsidemusic on Vimeo.

I'm sure some of you are aware of this fast and fun stuff rom South Africa but I hadn't listened in a while and am enjoying a little sesh at the moment.

Nwa Gezani My Love / SHANGAAN ELECTRO from outsidemusic on Vimeo.

Well well well

Thought I'd follow suit with the classical twist the blogs taken at the moment. This means I may well waffle a tad. Firstly, a few extracts from one of the greatest works from (in my opinion) the greatest composer that ever lived, J.S. Bach.

Bach's Goldberg Variations are a set of pieces composed for some Count or other that had trouble sleeping. There's an opening aria, which is then used as the basis for thirty variations. The far and away best player of them that you can get hold of is Glenn Gould, either his 1955 recording, which is much more youthful and energetic, or his 1981, near the end of his life, which is more introspective. Both are superb. My favourite variation is number 25, nicknamed the Black Pearl, however I can't find Gould playing it on youtube and don't want to sully it by posting an inferior player. It's well worth the 79p or whatever off iTunes if you don't fancy the whole set.

Here's the aria with some variations. If you're in a rush, I'd recommend listening the aria and then the 15th variation, at 4:48.



Secondly, a classic from the Romantic period, with Chopin's raindrop prelude. The piano music of Chopin is well worth a look, although it tends to be played to death on Classic Fm...



Finally, to end with, a piece from perhaps the most significant composer of the 20th century, Schoenberg. Schoenberg broke with tonality from 1908 onwards, and could be argued to be a beginning link in a chain that progressed through others (like John Cage, who studied under him) to Stockhausen and eventually to Aphex Twin and the like. In this piece you can hear him struggling with the confines of traditional tonality, creating a magnificent work.

(Minimal) House Fridays

For the methodical work where you just want a bit of tasty rhythm and repetitive beat:

http://www.mixcloud.com/djbudai/in-da-mix-3-2010-08/

And the splendidly titled House of Afreaka:

http://www.mixcloud.com/djumb/house-of-afreaka-vol-ii-deeep-south-sessions/

Promin'?

Anyone in London up for going to see Beethoven's 9th Symphony and Berg's Violin Concerto this Saturday?

£5 to prom at the Royal Albert Hall. it's guaranteed to be epic...full symphony orchestra + choir performing some of the most powerful music ever written, in an incredible venue (acoustically and visually) for less than you'd pay to get into a shitty club where they're spinning mashups of Lady Gaga and Justice.

Gotta get down there early to queue and make a day of it though.

Gimme a shout if you're intereseted.

Autopsy of the verse

A heavy hiphop tune from Wu affiliate, Killah Priest from 1998



And the autopsy of the verse for the studious amongst you

l'Afrique du Sud

Here's a good one from South African, Spoek . I suggest listening to the track before watching the rather oddly Doctor Who stylee video, which changes the tune from something quite dark into some quite, well...strange.

And here is a pretty hectic remix of the same tune... schlachthofbronx-remix

The blog is shaping up with a great range of genres..

Friday afternoon, and the need to fast forward a few hours

Afternoon all.

There are quite a few drum and bass heads at my work so i get send a lot of good tunes, and this one cropped up via my new colleague. An absolute cracker and gives you the distinct impression that it is Friday night and time to go out raving rather than early Friday afternoon with a lot of work to do before the weekend! Ah dear...

Maurice Ravel

One of my favourites, especially the 2nd movement:









The French 'impressionists' made some lovely music at the beginning of last century. Check Debussy and Satie as well as Ravel.

CocoRosie are quite fun...

some music

listening to this
http://www.myspace.com/mountkimbie

More Obsessions

Howdy all. Some more tunes that I can't put down.

First, such a golden oldie from Biz Markie, never saw the video before, but it has such an innocent charm don't you think?

Next, another blast from the past from Buffalo Springfield

Finally, something newer from Fake Blood. Sound quality isn't great, but he's worth a look.

Quick bite to eat...

Yo!

Didn't intend to do another RSA one, but this has just dropped and it makes you think, that said, it is Zizek (who has a mad nervous tick that makes you think he is under the influence of a certain narcotic).



Quick note about Google Images which has been tweak recently if you didn't know. Best viewed in Firefox. Basically its added a couple of really cool little tricks that mess with your head a bit if you even slightly wonder how they did it.

So for example, search for "cake". Then if you see on the left hand side you can filter by colour. So say orange cake, or green cake.
Then search for something like the "Golden Gate Bridge". Hover over an image you like, and a link should appear saying "similar"... and it will search for images for images from the same perspective for example. So if there is a picture you like, but is blurry, you could find a sharper picture this way.

Finally a golden little statement that a colleague passed my way:

"I had a terrible childhood. People used to cover me in chocolate, cream and stick a cherry on my head. Life was tough in the Gateux."

Spam

Latest tracks by toot!

All of these need some work, on the mix side especially. Planning to get some nice monitors soon and sort'em out proper.

An introductory duo

Yo yo yo. Saludos a todos!
This is good. I very much like the middle eastern sounds that crop up on this track:



Then, this is the latest of the Animate series from my work:

Chip off the old block...

Recent Obsessions

Last post for a while as I'm away, so I thought I'd pop down a few tunes I've been wearing thin recently.

First, The Unthanks, with a bit of folk goodness:

Then Metronomy, with, well, this:

The Knife: Colouring of Pigeons

And finally, a bit of Shawn Lee's Ping Pong Orchestra

Digital Highs

Read this article today http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-10668480 .....Sounds like something out of Brass Eye

The Books

I like The Books a lot.

furthermore

Yes toot! and mitchos muchas gracias

Worth checking out the xx mashups with biggie, this one is a good example, the minimalist xx sound works well with the biggie vocals

Also, this radiohead remix of everything in its right place by gigamesh. Check the music ninja
to get it

TOKiMONSTA

This lady's making some excellent soulful, electronic, hip hoppy beats.

Gravel...

Bonjour tout le monde. I thought I would kick off my contributions with someone who is news to me but I suspect old news to most people In The Know, the tobacco enriched vocal chords of Mr Gil Scott-Heron. I just got back from Melt Festival in Germany, where Chris Cunningham ended his VJ set with a remix of New York is Killing Me, which I thought was awesome. However, for now content yourselves with the original until the video inevitably appears on the interweb.

For those of you with a penchant for old timey blues, here are two classics of the genre, Skip James with his Hard Time Killin' Floor Blues, and the perhaps lesser known Snooks Eaglin with St James Infirmary. Apologies for YouTube-only links.

Finally, I posted this on facebook a while back, but I still love it. Inherently cheesey, but a video that nonetheless makes me smile excessively.

gotta start somewhere

So for the first item on the blog, an old name on the UK hiphop scene...Skitz
Worth a listen I think..

Also, I thought some of these colour photos of the world in the early 1900s were pretty amazing

T