The Importance of Being an Artist: One listener's virtual interpretation of 'Evening' from 'Slow to Burn

Art is the greatest equalizer. Whether Democrat, Independent, Progressive, Republican or Undecided, Art - music, literature, painting, poetry - serves to communicate our collective ideals, values, and beliefs: our fears, frailties, strengths and desires.

Music is perhaps the most potent and vital art because it pulses, it breathes, it inhabits the spaces in which we gather; it haunts our dreams and awakens our memories. Music ignites our unconscious and fires our imaginations. 

It is that same core of our humanity that is touched by Mozart, Pink Floyd, Billie Holiday, The Knife, Francoise Hardy and Etienne Daho, irrespective of the listener's political leanings.

We live in virtual as well as tangible realm. One feeds the other in multiple and manifold ways. To be an artist is to live in all realms simultaneously, detecting the subtle flickers of existence that would otherwise go unnoticed. To the artist, everything is worth noticing.

The virtual world is a means for connecting but can often be distancing, as well. For me, making music achieves the most direct form of communication of all the arts, as it reaches the listener's ear with no intermediary. This video by CreativeGeniusAtWork illustrates this - virtually and beautifully.

MOONSHINE: Coming soon | Joe Sent Me 'Moonshine' Mixes

"Moonshine (meaning illicit distillation, also called white lightning, mountain dew, hooch" Wikipedia

 "On this day in 1833: Southern state illegalizes hooch on this date, officially names Coltrane new sheriff."

Link

Music & Revolution: The Political is Personal - aRUDE Magazine

For those of you who missed my Tweets & FB posts on my recent piece 'Music & Revolution: The Political is Personal' for aRUDE Magazine:

Mahatma Gandhi‘s passive resistance was rooted in the idea that the greatest revolutionary act is borne in the quiet of one’s mind. Resistance manifests itself in manifold ways, sometimes with anger and aggression and other times in stillness and silence. What all revolutions have in common is the resolute mindset of each participant: to resist and remain standing. Standing up against tyranny and oppression is  a rebellious act, an irreverent, irrepressible act.

While it has become an accepted Truth that ‘The Personal is Political’, the reverse also holds true; ‘The Political is Personal’, and nothing is more personal than the music one chooses to live by, to be inspired by, and be guided by. Music and revolution walk hand in hand, and while each Revolution aspires to its own unique ideals, music is one thing they all have in common.  Whether RiotGrrl or RudeBoy, singing “We Shall Overcome” or “Occupy D.C.”, all Revolutions are fueled by words that are poetic, raw, and real – whether they’re scrawled on walls or carefully articulated in Mantras and Manifestos. Throughout history, protesters have marched to songs that speak to their individual as well as collective pain, purpose and philosophy.

In today’s virtual landscape of crowd-sourced revolution, we’ve become used to the images of ‘Revolution’, the ones that typically make the headlines: photos of protesters pressing together en masse, compressed in their fury and urgency. Our collective histories tell the visual tales: The French Revolution, The American Revolution, The Industrial Revolution, The Egyptian Revolution, The New Feminist Revolution – Great throngs that have gathered to stand up against tyranny, oppression, ideology, regime.

Read the full post @ aRUDE

JOE SENT ME rmxs on mark reeder's new album - five point one

"british label chief, producer and musician mark reeder is a product of what many regard as the golden age of science fiction. he grew up in an england dominated by security forces of the future with outsize heads jiggling on strings to save the world from intergalactic menaces, in hit after hit from the gerry anderson stable. he saw doctor who take his first tentative steps into the past and the future on carboard sets populated by jumble sale aliens. in cinema there was the constant threat of communist stealth attacks always from mars or the psychadelic trip that was stanley kubrick’s 2001: a space odyssey. he was fascinated by the synthetic electronic pulsations of the forbidden planet and clockwork orange soundtracks and devoured fan magazines like TV21. wobbly spaceships, cardboard robots, ray guns and bug-eyed monsters; as a child he was drawn to this sometimes quaint, sometimes ominously correct visions of the future. it should come as no surprise then that five point one, his debut compilation of remix work, should concern itself as much with modern technology as it does with music.

 

five point one presents a hand-picked selection of some of reeder’s remixes remastered and re-mixed in crystal clear dolby digital 5.1 surround sound. present is his work for legendary heavyweights such as the pet shop boys and sam taylor-wood, john foxx, anne clark, die toten hosen or former new order as bad lieutenant, vanessa daou or blank&jones, plus an exclusive remix he made for depeche mode, while reeder also puts his particular retro synth-pop spin on tracks from up-and-coming artists such as echoes, electrobelle, fidelity kastrow, may68 or noblesse oblige.

five point one is a deluxe collection of some of the best of reeder’s recent work, a deluxe DVD and 2CD package, gloriously remastered in dolby 5.1 surround sound, creating a listening experience which enhances the depth and radiance of reeder's original stereo mixes, all of which are also included on two CDs for a traditional 2.0 stereo sound system too."

Read more

Tracklist

DVD 5.1 surround remixes

total time 97:16

• 01 John Foxx – Underpass (mark reeder's sinister subway remix edit)
• 02 Bad Lieutenant – Twist of fate (mark reeder's led's twist again remix)
• 03 Noblesse Oblige – Duel (mark reeder's shot at the crack of dawn remix)
• 04 Marsheaux – So Far (mark reeder's so close remix)
• 05 Depeche Mode – Sweetest Perfection (mark reeder's sweetest conception remix)
• 06 Echoes – Ice Cold (mark reeder's cold as ice remix)
• 07 Blank & Jones, Mark Reeder featuring Vanessa Daou – Heart Of Wax (heart of crystal mix)
• 08 Anne Clark – Full Moon (mark reeder's stairway to the stars remix)
• 09 Vanessa Daou – Black & White (mark reeder's monochrome mix)
• 10 Sam Taylor-Wood with The Pet Shop Boys – I'm in Love with a German Film Star (mark reeder's rias remix)
• 11 Spartak – Lets Go Get 'Em (mark reeder's no pain, no gain remix edit)
• 12 Electrobelle – Falling (mark reeder's in your arms remix edit)
• 13 Fidelity Kastrow – 21st Century Girl (mark reeder's strident remix edit)
• 14 May68 – The Prisoner (mark reeder's runaway remix)
• 15 Parralox – Sharper Than a Knife (mark reeder's cutting edge remix edit)
• 16 Bad Lieutenant – Sink or Swim (mark reeder's rettungsring remix edit)
• 17 Die Toten Hosen – Disco (mark reeder's lange hosen remix)
• 18 Anne Clark – If… (mark reeder's seemingly forever remix)

CD2 more 2.0 remixes (stereo audio only)

total time 77:06

• 01 John Foxx – Underpass
  (mark reeder's dark, long & sinister remix)
• 02 Blank & Jones, Mark Reeder featuring Vanessa Daou – Heart of Wax
  (heart of crystal mix)
• 03 Sam Taylor-Wood with The Pet Shop Boys – I'm in Love with a German Film Star
  (mark reeder's rias remix)
• 04 Echoes – Ice Cold
  (mark reeder's colder than ice remix)
• 05 Parralox – Sharper than a Knife
  (mark reeder's cutting edge remix)
• 06 Bad Lieutenant – Sink or Swim
  (mark reeder's waterwing remix)
• 07 Vanessa Daou – Black & White
  (mark reeder's monochrome mix)
• 08 Anne Clark – Full Moon
  (mark reeder's stairway to the stars remix)
• 09 Fidelity Kastrow – 21st Century Girl
  (mark reeder's strident remix edit)
• 10 Electrobelle – Falling
  (mark reeder's in your heart remix)
• 11 Bad Lieutenant – Twist of Fate
  (mark reeder's synth of fate remix)
• 12 Die Toten Hosen – Disco
  (mark reeder's kurze hosen remix)

   

  artist links

• john foxx
• bad lieutenant
• noblesse oblige
• depeche mode
• echoes
• the pet shop boys
• sam taylor-wood
• parralox
• anne clark
• electrobelle
• marsheaux
• spartak
• may68
• fidelity kastrow
• blank & jones
• vanessa daou
• die toten hosen

Powhida on the 'production of art and a search for meaning'

I've always found William Powhida's work & words to be in line with my own aesthetic leanings: a craving for synthesis between image & text, a desire for expression of that nexus between the visual & the verbal, the use of line to delineate, outline, hint at or come to some conclusion ... Always with his unique blend of irony mixed with a healthy dose of acerbic wit, eloquently, he writes:

"The artists in Dunkle Wolke are people I consider to be friends, or at least people I've shared a drink and a discussion about art with. They are artists who also have some experience with darkness in all its forms from the purely formal to the emotional weight of loneliness. They talk about darkness as a condition of their environment, history, politics, a color, or personal relationships that often takes on the form of what Bjoern Meyer-Ebrecht describes as an 'ominous shape'. For me, the ominous shape is an expression of anxiety about the production of art and a search for meaning in an often chaotic world where historical narratives break down into reality without the authority of history and moral intention. Through the process of putting reality into a narrative, we attempt give it meaning making it a contentious site to be written and unwritten giving rise to a tension between form and language.

...

All of the works are equivocal representations of time, distance, and space with unfixed beginnings and end points that remain ominously close to darkness and the ambiguity of vision. They question our certainty about history, but they don’t give in to chaos. They are rescued by beauty, maybe even love without sentimentality, a love for process and possibility that art can provide some meaning and relief to the anxiety of living. Even I have to believe that sometimes."

- William Powhida

Link

Beautiful & new from 'Soft Metals' + props from Bop2Bop

"We featured Soft Metals awhile back on here, and are digging the dance elements of new single, Voices. We also like the trippy vocal treatment which remind us of our favorite tripster, Vanessa Daou. The cool video is inspired, not suprisingly, by the films of Suspiria director, Dario Argento. Soft Metals are a psychedelic synthpop duo out of Portland who have recently released their debut cd. Definitely worth checking out if that is your thing."

SOFT METALS - VOICES (OFFICIAL VIDEO) from Dumb Eyes on Vimeo.

Bop2Bop

Snapshots Foundations Q & A | "Future States of Music"

Snapshots Music & Arts Foundation: Mission Statement: "Our Foundation is committed to preserving the history and performances of today’s great artists. To help realize our goal of making great music timeless, we are collaborating with the Library of Congress to archive our media at its Packard Campus for Audio Visual Conservation. We are developing a true collaboration to preserve the voices of artists for generations to come. Press release." 

It was my honor to be interviewed by the Snapshots Music & Arts Foundation. As you can read above in their mision statement, their objective of presenting & preserving music through technology is a noble and critically important one.

In the Q&A, we discuss the past, present, and future states of music, and the many complex ways the media discusses, dissects and disemminates information. 

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Vanessa Daou: Future States of Music

Bio: Gifted with a unique combination of poetic lyricism and a sensuous voice, singer and songwriter Vanessa Daou has defined the sound of New York's progressive jazz infused electronica and downtempo music since the early 1990's. Today Vanessa is releasing her 7th solo recording, is Music Editor at aRUDE magazine, and writes about music and the arts on her blog and website.

Q: Vanessa, you came from a period of success in music of the 1990's. How would you describe the fallout from 2000 on, and how could we have ended up in a healthier state today?

V: I think in many ways, the Music Business has lost sight of its core values. Discovering great talent used to be about the development of a noble idea: to leave a legacy of great and meaningful music, to put something out into the world that would truly resonate. Although there has always been greed as a motivation, the impetus was always to make lasting, timeless music. Where there used to be a cluster of truly visionary A&R executives who drove things creatively, the top tier music executives of today are governed by a kind of ‘herd instinct’, a ROI mentality whereby they move en masse with one purpose, toward the money.

Signing an act used to be a highly intuitive and selective process, necessitating not only skill, but those intangibles like vision and instinct. There was a nobility and elegance to the process, embracing a kind of ‘Queen Bee’ economics, where the artist was at the top of the hierarchy, treated with the ultimate respect. Ths approach "paid off" in the end, but it took time, patience and commitment.

Read full Q&A @ Snapshots Foundation

The Setai SOUTH BEACH | "Sounds to Remember (Volume 1)

SETAI: Sounds to Remember, Volume 1

Featuring "Once in a While" | Nor Elle Remix

News from CALMING PARK:

"This summer, bring home a piece of The Setai, South Beach with their new bespoke compilation Sounds to Remember (Volume I) by Swiss Music-Designer, Olivier Rohrbach.

Released in collaboration with California label OM Records,the album captures the soul of The Setai and creates a sophisticated, sensual, and eclectic mood. "Sounds to Remember (Volume 1) explores the elegance and sexy ambiance that The Setai exudes,” says Olivier Rohrbach, who has created several sonic projects for a number of design, fashion, and aviation brands. “When crafting the line-up for the CD, I was inspired by the spirit of the hotel and it’s inescapable by-night passage of the rich and beautiful. Picking the music selection was like a musical casting for a fashion show.”

Featuring tunes by Vanessa Daou, Yello, Molecule featuring Arielle Dombasle, Samantha James and Rocket Empire, Sounds to Remember (Volume I) is exclusively sold at The Spa at The Setai for USD20.

Dedicated to further expanding upon its reputation for artfully combining music and ambiance, The Setai also continues to present an exceptional line up of events throughout the year. From the weekly Thursday Night Jazz and popular Sunday Jazz Brunch, to hotel’s Friday and Saturday evening DJ series, and special music events showcasing some of the world’s top renowned DJs, visitors to The Setai are continuously invited to discover something new and enticing."