Music and Electronic Geeks Rejoice: Annual Circuit-Bending Festival Comes to NYC! Music and Electronic Geeks Despair: You Probably Won’t Be Able to Find a Date For This Thing!
By Nobodaddy on Apr 16 2009
Well, hey there, young man. Taking a break to browse the web while the ol’ soldering iron heats up, huh? Hey, that’s super. Just doing your standard daily Google search for “circuit bending,” “DIY electronics,” and “hardware hacking,” you say? Outstanding. Hey, your parents think that that’s just fantastic, you know? Keep it up, now!
Anyway, get ready for your hard disk to get a little harder, cuz have I got some great news for you today! You (yes, you in the XL “I’m Only Here Because My Server Is Down” t-shirt) are cordially invited to attend this year’s Bent Festival at Manhattan’s Tank Theater! No, this isn’t an online forum, buddy; this is the real thing. And shit, it starts today! You’ll have to slip those Cons on your feet and step out into the sunshine for this one. But dude, it’ll so totally be worth it!
The Bent Fest is an annual art and music festival celebrating DIY electronics, hardware hacking, and circuit-bending, and each year they invite artists from across the country and around the globe to perform music with their homemade and/or circuit-bent instruments, teach workshops to adults and children alike, create beautiful art installations, and showcase the state of the art in DIY electronics and circuit-bending culture in general! Cha-ching, man!
Workshops will include “Dub Siren/Noise Box,” “Analog Sensors,” “Beginning Microcontroller Programming and Circuit Bending,” “Chiptune Marching Band,” “Glitch NES,” and more. It ranges in price from free to around $90.
For a more complete list, why don’t you just click on over to their website? And remember: The 2009 Bent Festival is going on now at The Tank Theater until April 18. And, er, there’s free Beerlao at 7 PM each night for 21+ guests, apparently. Yum.
There’s Ray Charles Gold in Them There Downloads: 28 Post-1960 Albums Available for Download, Awesome Anthology Available Now
By Liz Louche on Apr 16 2009
When I was a teenager, I saw Ray Charles perform in Philadelphia. Fireworks lit up the sky, the summer breeze whispered through the crowd, and the assembled mass gave off a great cheer as the legendary soul man seated himself behind the piano. It was a magical night -- or it would've been had I any idea of how cool this all was. Instead, I mostly just stood around in my geeky shorts and slapped at mosquitoes, never envisioning how I would grow to admire Charles' ability to transcend genre with classics like "Georgia on My Mind," "Hit the Road Jack," and more. Which is why the recent digital release of 28 albums of Ray Charles' post-1960 output is so damn cool. Maybe you weren't around to buy the albums the first time, or maybe you just want to pimp out your iPod. Whatever your reason, this news can definitely be filed under "smashing."
Here's the skinny. iTunes currently has exclusive access to all the jams, but two weeks after April 7, the albums will be available from an assortment of digital retailers. The digital releases are happening simultaneously with the release of Ray Charles -- Genius: The Ultimate Collection, a 21-song anthology of all the man's most-loved recordings for ABC-Paramount and Atlantic. Concord, the label behind the reissues, is planning on making Modern Sounds in Country & Western Music, Volumes 1 & 2, The Genius Hits the Road, A Message From the People and Genius + Soul = Jazz available within the year.
The Ultimate tracklisting:
1. Hit the Road Jack
2. What'd I Say (Part 1)
3. Busted
4. I Can't Stop Loving You
5. Sticks and Stones
6. Drown in My Own Tears
7. Unchain My Heart
8. Georgia on My Mind
9. I've Got a Woman
10. You Are My Sunshine
11. Take These Chains from My Heart
12. Hide Nor Hair
13. Let's Go Get Stoned
14. You Don't Know Me
15. Hallelujah I Love Her So (Live)
16. Crying Time
17. A Fool for You
18. One Mint Julep
19. Here We Go Again
20. Yesterday
21. America the Beautiful
Apostle of Hustle Announce New Album and Tourdates; No, Not That the Dude with the Mustache from Broken Social Scene, the Other Dude with the Mustache from Broken Social Scene
By Annapocalypse on Apr 16 2009
It’s really hard to keep all those Broken Social Scene dudes straight. All you need to know is that Andrew Whitehouse looks like this, probably smokes more weed than your teenage little brother, and has a new album coming out May 19 with his band Apostle of Hustle, titled Eats Darkness. Fans can purchase tickets for their upcoming string of Ontario shows here , which will also include a digital copy of Apostle's new album for an additional $4, before both go on sale to the general public. The album download will be accessible starting at midnight on May 19, with the bonus tracks “Soul Unwind” and “Perfect Fit” available now for download.
Apostle of Hustle is also seeking aspiring bands in the Southern Ontario area for their upcoming spring tour. If you live in the area and are interested (and older than 19), you can submit a brief summary about why your band should support Apostle of Hustle, as well as your contact info and MySpace link to supportaoh@arts-crafts.ca by May 1.
See which bands made the cut in May:
05.20.09 - Guelph, ON - E-Bar
05.21.09 - Hamilton, ON - The Casbah
05.22.09 - Peterborough, ON - Montreal House
05.23.09 - Ottawa, ON - Zaphod Beeblebrox
05.27.09 - Kingston, ON - The Grad Club
05.29.09 - Toronto, ON - The Music Gallery
05.30.09 - Waterloo, ON - Starlight Room
Windy & Carl, Benoit Pioulard, Creepily Named Lamb’s Laughter Creep Up and Down East Coast
By Kenny Bloggins on Apr 15 2009
Lamb's Laughter kinda sounds like the title of a DVD track in any
given David Lynch film. But no, there's nothing creepy about it.
Lamb's Laughter is a live collaboration between two beautiful
songwriters -- Windy & Carl's Windy Weber and Benoit Pioulard's Tom
Meluch -- and all three are touring like one big happy Kranky family.
The brief tour will hit Canada and the East Coast and should totally
rule, but don't sip any lean before you go. You might pass out on
contact with the first note. Speaking of notes, show your W&C pride by
becoming a FaCeBoOk fan. It'll be refreshing to see Windy and Carl's faces betwixt all the quiz results.
Laugh, Lambs, Laugh:
04.22.09 - London, ON - London Convention Center
04.23.09 - Toronto, ON - Wippersnapper Art Gallery
04.24.09 - Ithaca, NY - The Shop
04.25.09 - Haverford, PA - Lunt Basement
04.26.09 - New Haven, CT - Bar
04.27.09 - Medford, MA - Oxfam
04.28.09 - New York, NY - Le Poisson Rouge
04.30.09 - Richmond, VA - The Triple
05.01.09 - Asheville, NC - Bebe Theater
05.02.09 - Atlanta, GA - 529
05.03.09 - Lexington, KY - The Hop Hop
