Wow Cool

Dad's Band Reunion at Daughter's Wedding on SNL

About the most insane musical moment on Saturday Night Live ever. This may top the Beastie Boys and Elvis Costello doing “Radio, Radio” or Natalie Portman’s rap. Punk.

nickname: Rebel Gear Blog 3: Rotary Cymbals/Bass Springs

This installment is a twofer. During the second day of recording nickname: Rebel’s New Rock Church of Fire record (still working on it folks), I tried an experiment to loosen everyone up. Inspired by a session that Brown Cuts Neighbors had done for WRPI radio in Troy where, either the mics were cranked way up or the headphones in the studio were, so that every little movement or sound was incredibly loud, we tried the same sort of thing in a planned situation. I had a day of down-time in the studio (The old DeptEx/Magic Recording Eye studio of Jason Martin’s at 51 3rd St. in Troy) and scrounged the local Salvation Army and a couple hardware stores, and built a rotary saw cymbal stand (inspired by a similar rig of Steven Cerio’s and not uncommon in jazz circles) and a pair of bass springs (stretched out springs attached to a 2×4, amplified with either a guitar pickup or contact mic; inspired not just a little by Einsturzende Neubauten). So… Scott Smallwood, Aaron Smith and myself (and possibly Peter Barvoets?), recorded by Jason Martin, who had been instructed to crank everything as loud as it would go, consequences be damned, strolled into the studio (part of the composition as planned) and delicately touched and maneuvered the various implements of destruction. Various pianos, organs, electric razors, rebar, railroad spikes, walkie talkies and other detritus were also employed. Remember, it was not very loud in the room (and it was a very large room). A brief excerpt follows.

Horselover fat by WOWCOOL

OK. After seven days of February and just three posts, it is obvious that the gear blog will not be an everyday this month feature; but, I will try to keep it as a regular–once or twice a week-thing as long as the need is there.

Go Read: Lady Starlight Interview

Brown Cuts Neighbors co-founder Colleen Martin – Lady Starlight talks to ClubPlanet about her NYC nightlife history, working with Lady Gaga and her unacceptable fashion choices.

This Time (I'm Gonna Try it My Way) - Behind the scenes at DJShadow.com

DJ Shadow live in Chile 2006. photo by Leo Prieto. Licensed under Creative Commons

In 2006 DJ Shadow dropped his most recent solo album, The Outsider, and set in motion the process of creating one of the most fully-realized and successful artist sites on the web. The latest incarnation of DJShadow.com was built by Derick Daily and his team at the prestigious marketing firm Euro RSCG and DJ Shadow’s team, managed by Michael Fiebach, all under the careful control of Joshua Davis (DJ Shadow). The three-year project completed it’s final development phase and was relaunched in August 2009. As someone who is developing a label site (that would be WowCool.com, folks), that features a full online shop and artist pages, I look at DJShadow.com as an example of what can be done.

Apart from the site’s innovations as a presence for a musician online, it represents not just DJ Shadow, but also works with, and by, his collaborators from Solesides/Quannum, Cut Chemist and Cali-Tex, DJ Shadow’s personal label for funk and soul re-issues, which includes the School House Funk compilations, and the recent ‘great lost Chicago funk’ album Pieces of Peace. It’s no secret that DJ Shadow is a major record hound, and his site represents that. This is clearly the work of someone who truly loves records and wants to share that with others who appreciate that.

DJShadow.com has a clean and elegant layout. No confusion about what stuff is and where to find it. It just works. And it is deep. The archives and discography are presented in a straightforward, unpretentious style.

The signature single from The Outsider ‘This Time (I’m Gonna Try It My Way)’ can be read as a statement of the need for an artist to control how his image is presented and his work is distributed; whether you are a DIY bedroom producer or in a ‘best of both worlds’ situation like DJ Shadow, who is both a major label artist and a successful indy label owner. At least that’s how I took it when it came out. Along with the Bloc Party’s ‘The Prayer’, ‘This Time’ served as a major inspiration for me when I started to plan the relaunch of Wow Cool.

OK, enough about me.

Holding down the day-to-day at DJShadow.com is Michael Fiebach. He handles the site management; marketing, project, and distribution management and sales for independent DJ Shadow releases; merchandise management for the entire DJ Shadow product line for tour and online sales and E-Commerce management for the online store. I met Michael at the last two SF MusicTech summits. He is direct, honest and knowledgeable about the music business. We spoke in depth about the site and the DJ Shadow Handmade label for this article on December 22, 2009 and followed up by email during January, 2010. This is the first of two in-depth follow up articles with people I met at the SF MusicTech Summit.

I’m guessing the average person would have a hard time getting exactly why it’s an unique deal, the arrangement with Universal, to license back the albums for digital sale and how that works.

Yeah, I think that you put it exactly right. The common music fan has no idea…doesn’t get it… ‘oh, you’re selling downloads… well, there have been downloads for 10 years on the Internet…’ who cares? You know?

The unique thing about it, really, is that we’re the only artist site that I’ve seen, that is legitimately licensing music back from the label and selling it directly to the fan through downloads. We are licensing the music as an E-Store, just as iTunes and other major E-tailers do. I haven’t seen any independently operated artist sites that combine the downloads with physical merchandise for the entire store. We do t-shirt and download bundles and buy a CD and get the download for free; and, there are sites that do that, but not independent artist stores, and combining the merchandise with the digital downloads was something that was really hard, actually, to get done and it’s not something you see that often. We do all the fulfillment out of here ourselves. We ship all it from out of here, worldwide.

Do you know the percentage that you’re moving of digital vs. physical sales?

As far as digital compared to physical, digital is a nice piece of the pie, and it is growing…For most people, CDs are kind of tough these days…as I’m sure you know, in general, but we still do… People still want DJ Shadow limited exclusive merchandise and CDs and we just came up with some creative ways to make it available… and there, we still have plenty of interest in CDs. Overall, vinyl is still moving very well from a direct to fan perspective, and the interest in Digital is large and continually growing. When we bundle digital and physical together… that is when the real interest is sparked. From a mass distribution perspective, CDs are still the bread and butter.

Read the rest of the interview

Go Bookmark: homemade musical instruments

During at least the last two February’s, Ranjit Bhatnagar has built and blogged an instrument a day for the whole month. Ranjit works with interactive and sound installations, with scanner photography, and with internet-based collaborative art; and, he has been maintaining his personal web site moonmilk.com in one form or another since 1993.

The moonmilk homemade instrument series was one inspiration to finally start documenting some of the more out-there gear in the nickname: Rebel arsenal. The idea to do a gear blog had been kicking around for awhile but was not getting done. The other inspiration was the RPM Challenge, which invites musicians to write and record a whole album of music, 10 songs or 35 minutes, during the month of February. I created ‘R is for Riot‘ for the challenge in 2008 at the urging of Joshua Baker of Offset Needle Radius.

moonmilk’s homemade musical instruments

nickname: Rebel Gear Blog Archive

nickname: Rebel Gear Blog 2: Beat Blenders

Wild Planet’s Beat Blenders

Girls of Slender Means by WOWCOOL

Picked up this pair a few years ago and did damn little with them. Finally broke them out for the “Girls of Slender Means” sessions with Mike and Nick of nickname: Rebel (excerpt above). It’s a tricky double-backed beast and deserves a further look, and probably some serious circuit mangling. And just what sort of info passes through those RJ45 plugs? See video and links to circuit bending info below.

The Beat Benders Series: Bling Bling on TechDweeb | New Toy – The Beat Blenders on Unearthed Circuits

Beat Blenders Product Sheet (PDF)

Electronica Beat Blender on Amazon | Power Rock Beat Blender on Amazon.

Photo of the Beat Blenders was achieved by slapping those babies on a flatbed scanner. Came out pretty cool.

Fluke Fanzine #8

In case you missed Fluke on tour recently with Andrew Jackson Jihad, you can pick up the latest issue from me at Anno Domini’s Art of Zines show in San Jose this Friday. Published in Tucson, Arizona, 2010. 68 pages, half size, offset print, $2.00 by hand, $4.00 by mail. interviews with Christ on Parade, Andrew Jackson Jihad, Paige Hearn and Alan Short. Writings by Shane Halvorson, Tre Baker and Mark “Sledge” Howe. Artwork by Nate Powell. Photo credits: Siobhan King, Monycka Snowbird, Paige Hearn, Shane Halvorson, Lindsey Gaither, Meredith Bennett and Julie Halvorson. Stencil by stencilpunks.org. It’s been way too long since someone put out a quality punk zine like this one. Get yours from the source if you won’t be seeing me Friday: Send $4.00 to: FLUKE FANZINE, PO BOX 41931, TUCSON, AZ 85717-1931

nickname: Rebel Gear Blog 1: Gemini MPX-30

The Gemini MPX-30 is a Cheap (typically under 200USD), versatile and somewhat reliable CD turntable with effects, cues, loops, etc. It has been a standby item in my house party DJ rig and a favorite tool for Hallowe’en mixes since my brother in law left it at my house over three years ago. It’s since found it’s way into nickname: Rebel recordings, like the 2009 Ouroboros single:

The first thing that should be mentioned about this unit is that it seems to normally go under a different name – the CFX-30. Here’s a pretty comprehensive review at DJForums.com. The ‘30 has been discontinued by Gemini and I’m not too impressed with it’s successors from what I can see. It’s hard to beat for the price. Digital out. Easy to use. Big, clunky design. I like it, but I’ll probably still get a Pioneer set up at some point. There is currently one available on eBay.

Stravinsky I-Ching
While on tour with Offset Needle Radius last April, we had a gig at Cambridge’s the Lily Pad, and opened with “Stravinsky I-Ching”. What you do is: Select random parts of arbitrary tracks (no sneaky previewing!) from, say, the classic 1968 recording of The Rites of Spring by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, load them as hot cue points, fuck around with them, make loops, spin the wheel on different effects, etc. It was while doing this that I discovered an interesting ‘feature’ of the ‘30. Spinning very fast with (I think it was) the Zoom filter you reach some sort of overload with an interesting audio result. It shows up about three times in the sample below.

Much more of this type of audio tomfoolery is better displayed by FM Einheit on his CDs Radio Inferno and Prometheus • Lear.

Stravinsky I-Ching by WOWCOOL

If all goes well, either me or Mike Keegan will be posting a profile of some piece of equipment we use in nickname: Rebel every day for the month of February.

NEWAVE! Got Boinged

There is a nice little writeup of the NEWAVE! Minicomics book by the esteemed Mark Frauenfelder on today’s edition of BoingBoing. Go read that thang.

NEWAVE! is now in stock and ready to ship from Amazon.

UPDATE: Some photos from the release party at the Fantagraphics Bookstore/Gallery.

Hotwire Comics 3 Out Today - New! Cerio, Hellman, Henderson, Sandlin, Mats?!

An unholy host of New York City-type cartoon art guys (and a couple others and at least one gal), many of whom have been or are currently published or distributed by Wow Cool (and nearly all the rest are old friends from SVA, minicomics or the Zero Zero anthology) get to step out in style in Hotwire Comics 3, available today, Wednesday, January 27, in a comic book shop near you. That’s right, brand new work from Steven Cerio, David Sandlin, Mats?!, Danny Hellman, Michael Kupperman and a whole bunch more. The Comics Reporter says: “A boon for fans of a certain kind of energetic, restless, profane comic book making — for the rest of us it’s an exquisitely curated, controlled visit to that particular comics world.”

If you are in New York City, there is a release event for the book at Desert Island Comics this Friday, January 29. Editor Glenn Head and contributors Danny Hellman, Sam Henderson, Michael Kupperman, Jayr Pulga, David Sandlin, R. Sikoryak, Chadwick Whitehead and Karl Wills will be there in person. If you miss it, I imagine you can catch most of them at Kellogg’s Diner sometime after 4 am.

See a preview at Fantagraphics.

Visit the Hotwire site.

Order yours right now from Amazon.

Art of Zines Show at Anno Domini Announced

Get on down to the glorious DTSJ (that’s Down Town San Jose, folks) for the South First Friday art walk this coming February 5th; and, do not fail to stop in at Anno Domini for their Art of Zines show. Wow Cool will be at a table there hawking our wares, too. All the details and the awesome poster (including Frank Beam with the ductwork head on the cover of “That Dog Drives A Go-Cart”) can be found right here. The show runs through March 13th. Anno Domini, 366 So. First Street, San Jose, CA 95113 408.271.5155

A Repo Chick gets INTO tense situations

I was sent a link to iO9’s write-up of Alex Cox’s recent Non-Sequel to his classic Repo Man film today by my nickname: Rebel cohort Michael Keegan. It was too early in the day to absorb. This was the first I had heard of any such sort of venture. I sort of peeked at it a couple of times. I sent it to someone else. Her response was “WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?!” Which seems to be the general reaction. I’m gonna say that’s a good thing. I want to see this movie.

Here’s the trailer:

Alex Cox has a blog. He talks a bit about the development and making of Repo Chick, as well as his repo turf war with Universal.

Support Disaster Relief in Haiti

U.S. President Obama signed a bill into law today that allows American taxpayers to deduct contributions made to relief in Haiti before March 1, 2010 on their 2009 tax return. So, you really have no excuse not to help out now. Wow Cool endorses Oxfam America as our charity of choice. Oxfam is already in Haiti delivering supplies to those who need it. Oxfam is also holding some interesting benefit auctions. In the US there is one where you can win hanging out with Scarlett Johansson. Or if you are in the UK you can bid on a chance to hang out with Andy Gill and hear the new Gang of Four Record, win a DJ Shadow Endtroducing era Technics 1200 turntable or have a personal song written for you by Damon Albarn. Get helpin’!

Two other stories of interest you may have missed:
Luxury cruise ships are still docking at their private beaches in Haiti
Doctors Without Borders Plane with Lifesaving Medical Supplies Diverted multiple times from Landing in Haiti

NEWAVE! Underground Mini Comix Book Release Event

It’s Official! Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery in Seattle, Washington will be hosting a release party for this massive brick of a book on January 30, 2010. The event marks the debut of their new Spectacular Saturday series. The show will feature original art and graphics by underground mini comix pioneers Jaimie Alder, Jim Blanchard, Wayne Gibson, David Lasky, Wayno, Steve Willis, Dennis Worden, and XNO. NEWAVE editor Michael Dowers will produce and distribute a mini comic on site. This festive reunion also includes live music, a comix jam, and the debut of the NEWAVE! anthology. I will have a piece of art on exhibit at the show but will not be able to attend. More details and the awesome poster by Gahan Wilson.

Gumby Discovers that the Blockheads never read Silent Spring

This is the video I was looking for a few days ago. A lesson for me in not relying on YouTube. Gumby puts the kibosh on the blockheads latest evil scheme, a pesticide protection racket, that has the worms up in arms and gasmasks, even. Available on the DVD of Gumby: the Movie. There must be something about the process of doing stop-motion animation that breeds a deeper social consciousness. (See earlier post about Oliver Postgate). Sorry if you have to endure any commercials to get to the cartoon.

Happy 69th Birthday to Don Van Vliet!!!

Yes, Captain Beefheart himself is 69 today. It’s no secret that he’s popular in the house of Wow Cool. Just released from Proper Records is the long-awaited biography by long-time Magic Band member and arranger John (Drumbo) French, Beefheart: Through the Eyes of Magic. It appears that the book is currently only available in the UK and Europe, and, as of this writing, it is not yet in stock from Amazon, but is available through other sellers from Amazon.co.uk. For readers of the excellent, and up-until-now definitive Beefheart Bio by Mike Barnes, it’s been a long wait for this book, as French heavily teased that he was working on his own book back then and revealed relatively little of that mystical hermetic life as a member of the Magic Band. Proper also released French’s latest album Drumbo: City of Refuge last year, and it is solidly in the Magic Band tradition and well worth getting.

John French’s MySpaceship
Interview on Perfect Sound Forever

Art Clokey was fucking awesome

I couldn’t find any clips on YouTube that really fit with what I would have liked to have shown in memory of the great Art Clokey, creator of Gumby and Davey and Goliath, so I picked this video of Lightning Bolt’s 13 Monsters by Paper Rad. There’s a great bit in one of the old Gumby episodes that Brown Cuts Neighbors stole for one of our TV shows with Gumby’s band having a run in with some rustlers that has the classic line “Sorry we’re so dirty, ladies and gentlemen, but we were hijacked”. Sorry you don’t get that. You can just imagine. Rest in Peace Art. You are much missed.

Video preview of NEWAVE! The Underground Minicomics of the '80s Book

More previews and info on Fantagraphics site.

Pre-order yours today! Newave!: The Underground Mini Comix of the 1980s on Amazon.

Sonic Warfare: Sound, Affect, and the Ecology of Fear

This is the one book about sound you must read this year. I’ve been waiting for something like this for years and for this book since July. Steve Goodman, better known to the world as Kode9 of Hyperdub Records, delves into how sound has been used by government and industry to manipulate and control people.

Description from Amazon

Sound can be deployed to produce discomfort, express a threat, or create an ambience of fear or dread—to produce a bad vibe. Sonic weapons of this sort include the “psychoacoustic correction” aimed at Panama strongman Manuel Noriega by the U.S. Army and at the Branch Davidians in Waco by the FBI, sonic booms (or “sound bombs”) over the Gaza Strip, and high-frequency rat repellants used against teenagers in malls. At the same time, artists and musicians generate intense frequencies in the search for new aesthetic experiences and new ways of mobilizing bodies in rhythm. In Sonic Warfare, Steve Goodman explores these uses of acoustic force and how they affect populations.

Most theoretical discussions of sound and music cultures in relationship to power, Goodman argues, have a missing dimension: the politics of frequency. Goodman supplies this by drawing a speculative diagram of sonic forces, investigating the deployment of sound systems in the modulation of affect. Traversing philosophy, science, fiction, aesthetics, and popular culture, he maps a (dis)continuum of vibrational force, encompassing police and military research into acoustic means of crowd control, the corporate deployment of sonic branding, and the intense sonic encounters of sound art and music culture.

Goodman concludes with speculations on the not yet heard—the concept of unsound, which relates to both the peripheries of auditory perception and the unactualized nexus of rhythms and frequencies within audible bandwidths.

Order from Amazon: Sonic Warfare: Sound, Affect, and the Ecology of Fear (Technologies of Lived Abstraction)

Video from XLR8R where he talks about the book

Get the Exploding Corpse Action Demo

The Sci-fi grind classic, 1995’s cassette debut by James Kopta’s Exploding Corpse Action, has been made available to you, at no charge, by the delightful True Punk & Metal blog. It is the most devastating 10 minutes of metal ever recorded. Go get it!

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