I first met Wolfgang Gartner when we shared a van from Las Vegas' Cosmopolitan hotel out to the site of the Electric Daisy Carnival, and I quickly got the sense that he didn't want to talk to me. It was the little things that gave him away—like responding to my first questions with curtly monosyllabic answers, and then simply leaning his head down on his backpack, wedged against the van window, and making a visible display of power-napping. I got the hint: just hours away from show-time, he was in no mood to talk. Turns out I had him all wrong, though. When I ran across him a few nights later, back by the artist trailers, he couldn't have been more welcoming. (Note to self: remember not to bug the artists mere hours before they go on stage.) Read on for the full interview, and check out Gartner's new album Weekend in America on Beatport here.

Read more on Beatportal

From behind the long-gone, so-called “iron curtain,” nearly-lost musical innovation is beginning to become available. But perhaps more than any geo-political change, the power of an Internet-based community hungry to share knowledge is making national borders that once isolated information melt away.

Earlier this week, I shared reflections I wrote up for Amsterdam’s STEIM on the significant of DIY Music. But one group of artists, the Standuino team from Brno, Czech Republic, really exemplified that spirit. First off, their hardware is utterly brilliant and eminently practical, an Arduino-based platform on which they’ve made it easy to create and modify designs, and share useful tools like the sampler they demonstrated for us in Amsterdam. Secondly, they’re international – the performance brought together a Brazilian, Czech, and Dutch artist in their presentation. Third, they took “DIY” straight to the transportation, hitchhiking all the way from Brno to Amsterdam to be part of our performance, for which we’re all incredibly grateful!

The Standuino crew emphasize that they also wish to make the innovation of the Czech people more visible to the rest of the world. You know Bob Moog or Morton Subotnick, for instance, but do you know the name Standa Filip?

You should. The maker of extensive DIY instruments, interactive work, robotic installations, and new media, Standa (hence Standuino) is inspiring a new generation of artists – first in the Czech Republic, eventually in the world. Those artists, led by Standuino, are recreating some of his work, as well as making new work that carries on his spirit.

Check out the videos here to see him talk about his history and play his instruments, then learn more – and find the Arduino-based hardware designs, which I’ll cover more next week – at the Standuino site:

http://www.standuino.eu/

But there you go – from Rio to Singapore, once I hit publish, just about anybody can learn what it was like to be a lone DIYer in Communist Czechoslovakia – then go find open source ideas with which they can make music from the new generation of creators in the Czech Republic, in a matter of seconds.

Yeah, we overhype the Internet. But that’s pretty damned awesome. I’m going out in the sunshine now for a bit, because that’s awesome, too, but I’m pretty happy that I get to make this my day job. And thanks to you for making that possible, because with you as a reader, none of this would be true.

Steinberg this month released a line of control surfaces that the company describes as “modular” and “ultra-portable.” The idea is this: rather than built a monster control surface to try to squeeze in everything (Akai’s APC40 comes to mind), they have little control surfaces you can combine for exactly what you need (Korg’s nano series, while at the lower end, comes to mind).

The CMC line looks like it does just that, and I have to say, it’s just about the best-looking control surfaces I’ve seen apart from the higher-end (and less portable) Euphonix series now sold by Avid. This could be the first hardware from Steinberg that gets people excited.

Sleek, stylish, and white, favoring touch strips over lots of faders, and lit with colored lights… I recall the line by Arthur Dent from Douglas Adams’ The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Instead of rather drab-looking faders and music control surfaces:

“This is my idea of a spaceship! All gleaming white, flashing lights, everything. What happens if I press this button?”

What, indeed:

• CMC-CH “Channel controller”: 16 buttons + one rotary + one touch fader – that is, a channel strip
• CMC-FD “Fader controller”: Four touch faders + LED metering + solo/mute
• CMC-QC “Quick controller”: 13 buttons, 8 rotaries, and “EQ, Quick Control, and MIDI” modes – clever, in that you get EQ or macro controls in Cubase
• CMC-PD “Pad controller”: 16 pad, one rotary, for all your finger drumming needs (will be curious to see how much this lives up to the “highly responsive” claim)
• CMC-TP “Transport controller”: 17 buttons + touch slider for jog/shuttle
• CMC-AI “AI Knob”: highlights the “universal knob” macro function in Steinberg’s software for mousing over a control, then grabbing a knob, and searching and selecting presets.

They’re USB bus-powered, use touch controllers Steinberg describes as “high-resolution,” and in true modular fashion even have joint plates for the connections. And yes, they’re designed to go with Steinberg’s bigger CC121 controller, though I think many people will bite on these little devices who ignored the bigger predecessor.

There’s also a set of frames that house the CMC modules or extension units. Not available: coffee table and chair system. You’ll have to work that out for yourself. The frames are almost the same price as the units, so I’m guessing most of y’all will do without them, but bonus points for design.

Now, clearly, visually and interactively, these are designed to go with Cubase and Nuendo, and a couple of the units really make the most sense with those two tools. (You’ll need the full, latest versions of that software to take advantage of all the features.) But being generally uncomfortable with the idea of buying hardware to go with one piece of software, I’m encouraged by the MIDI possibilities here – particularly with transports that could work with video editors or pads and faders that’d be nice when you take your Cubase-created stems into a DJ set with Ableton Live and so forth.

Stefan Trowbridge of Steinberg tells CDM that these will require separate drivers (compatible with Mac and Windows), but will ship on the CMC-PD and CMC-QC with editor software that will assign MIDI messages to the buttons and knobs.

They’re also designed to “fit in your pocket.” To me, that would have to mean you’re either eight feet tall, or wearing lederhosen, which I generally understand to be out of style in Germany. (Hey, I had a pair as a kid growing up in German-American Louisville, Kentucky. I’m sure we could design a more futuristic version. The kilt made a comeback.)

But they do look pretty portable. Messenger bag, Steinberg, not pockets, okay?

EUR129-199 each, including VAT, so I expect a reasonably low street price back in North America.

CDM bonus completely trivial observation! People who went to Columbia University in New York City for electronic music will find this acronym amusing! (It’s the name of their Computer Music Center.) I didn’t, but it’s just one of the Many Trivial Things I Know!

CMC Series @ Steinberg

Let’s look at more pictures!

Achievement unlocked: You’ve scrolled through all those pictures!

Perhaps Apparat and Modeselektor spent so much time on the road together, touring as Moderat, that their cycles synched up. What else could explain the fact that both artists have new albums out in the very same week? (See here for an interview with Modeselektor about their new LP, Monkeytown.) Released on the pioneering Mute label, Apparat's The Devil's Walk finds the Berlin producer expanding his sound like never before, fleshing out his glitchy rhythms with swelling orchestral parts and an even greater emphasis on yearning vocals. The single "Song of Los" appeared a few weeks ago, and features additional remixes by Mogwai and Park Frequency; check it out here, and get The Devil's Walk on Beatport here.

Watch this video on Beatportal

Do you allow the posting of content created by third parties on your website (e.g. videos, audio files, or even written comments)?  Do you run any on-line service where you collect information provided by third parties (whether that be a dating service, auction site or other classified service)?  If you do, you probably know that you are safe from copyright claims for infringing content that is posted by those who are not your employees or agents if you follow certain steps.  We have written about these steps to give you the "safe harbor" from copyright liability for "user-generated content" before.  The steps include requirements that you not encourage or profit from the infringing content, that you have terms of use for your service that forbid users from posting infringing content, and that you take down infringing content when you receive notice from copyright holders that it has been uploaded to your site or service by a third party.  To take advantage of this safe harbor from liability, services are required to register with the Copyright Office the name of someone in their company who can be served with "take-down notices" from copyright owners.  The process of registration is now proposed to be changed in a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking just issued by the Copyright Office.  Comments on this notice can be filed through November 28. Replies are due by December 27.

The safe harbor was created by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, adopted in 1998.  Since that time, the registration of agents to receive take-down notices has been governed by interim rules.  Services register by sending a paper form and a filing fee to the Copyright Office, and that information is manually entered by the Copyright Office into a list that is available on the Copyright Office website.  From experience, the time from the filing of such a registration to its appearance on the Copyright Office's website can take several weeks or more.  The Copyright Office, in its Notice, states that it has done some informal checks on the information in its database of registered agents, and found that the list contains duplicate registrations, registrations for companies or sites that are no longer in operation (services are supposed to tell the Office when they stop their operations), and many outdated addresses (services are supposed to update their agents as employees change, but apparently they sometimes forget).  The NPRM proposes to move to an electronic registration system, which will automatically request a verification of the registered information on a regular basis.  In making this proposal, the Copyright Office asks for public comment on a number of issues.

The process proposed by the Copyright Office, and the issues that it feels that it needs to address before implementing the system, are many.  They include the following:

• Should the system be organized based on the name of the Service, or based on the URLs of the websites registered?
  • If registered by website, are "apps" developed for mobile devices all associated with a readily identifiable URL that a copyright holder will know if it wants to file a take-down notice, or should apps be registered differently?
  • If registered by Service, should subsidiaries and alternate trade names be registered on one filing, or should each have to register independently?
• Should a service be able to register an agent who is not an employee (e.g. a law firm or other service)?  The Copyright Office expresses reluctance, as such agents may not be diligent in processing take-down notices.
• Must an individual name be provided, or is an office or title at a Service sufficient?
• Should email addresses of the services (as well as those of the agents) be provided?  Should email addresses be made public in the Copyright Office's database?
• How should the Copyright Office deal with situations where there are duplicate entries, such as when a seller of a URL does not notify the Copyright Office of its discontinuance of use, and the Buyer registers an agent for the same URL?
• How can the Copyright Office guard against fraudulent registrations?
• What information should be provided in the registration?  (Currently legal name, address, alternate names, phone number and email address of the agent are required)
• Should the Copyright Office maintain periodic snapshots of its database ( what they call "versioning") so that parties can determine whether a proper agent was designated at various times in the past?
• The Copyright Office suggests that Services may need to periodically validate the information that they have on file.  They ask how often such validation should be required?

An automated system, where information is easily retrievable, and which automatically reminds services to update their information, seems like a real benefit both to copyright holders (who will be able to more easily access the proper person for take-down notices) and service providers (who will be reminded to keep their information current).  Obviously, there are many questions to be answered before the new system can be implemented.  However, with so many businesses now allowing some form of user-generated content, this is an important process with broad impact.  So review the Copyright Office's NPRM, and file comments on issues that are raised by the NPRM.  The new system will eventually require new registrations from all services, but expect that it will be some time before the Office resolves the issues raised in this proceeding, and develops the software system necessary to implement that proposals that it has made in the NPRM.  But the process is underway. 

Also, remember that there is also a safe harbor from most other legal liability for user generated content (including defamation) under provisions of the Communications Decency Act.  We have written about that issue before (see, for instance, this article).  Thus, if you follow the rules, service can allow users to post information to their sites without fear of legal liability. 

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Dazed Digital have a quick chat with the Detroit artist ahead of his set at Corsica Studios, touching on how he almost had the opportunity to work with the late Jim Stinson.

Dreissig Prozent der kolumbianischen Bevölkerung sind afrikanischer Abstammung. Vor ein paar Jahren haben die Afrokolumbianer begonnen, ihre eigene Kultur zu entdecken. Bands wie ChocQuibTown, Bomba Estéreo oder La Makina del Caribe stehen für einen neuen Sound zwischen Tradition und Gegenwart.

Der DJ im Club Këa dreht an den Reglern, dann erklingen die ersten Bassläufe von «De donde vengo yo». Augenblicke später ist die Tanzfläche voll. Der Hit von ChocQuibTown ist in Bogotás Zona Rosa, dem Vergnügungsviertel der kolumbianischen Hauptstadt, regelmässig zu hören. Die drei Rapper aus Chocó, einer Regenwaldregion im Nordwesten Kolumbiens, sind in Kolumbien seit dem letzten November die grosse Nummer. Sie wurden in Las Vegas mit einem Latin-Grammy ausgezeichnet, und viele Jugendliche identifizieren sich seither mit ihnen. Die drei schwarzen MC haben mit kritischen Texten und einem vollkommen neuen Sound auf sich aufmerksam gemacht. Überdies bekennen sich zu Chocó – einer in Kolumbien kaum sichtbaren Region.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Gesellschaftliche Themen

Das ist keine Selbstverständlichkeit in dem von Gewalt und Vertreibung geprägten Land. Anders als bei vielen anderen Musikern sind die gesellschaftlichen Verhältnisse Kolumbiens für ChocQuibTown durchaus ein Thema. Die Ausplünderung der natürlichen Ressourcen auf Kosten der Umwelt haben sie in dem Stück «Oro» genauso angeprangert wie die weitverbreitete Ignoranz gegenüber der extremen Armut. Das hat dazu geführt, dass die Band in den Armenvierteln von Quibdó, der Hauptstadt des Verwaltungsbezirks Chocó, sehr populär ist. Und Hunderte von Jugendlichen eifern auch in der Comuna 13 von Medellín ihren Idolen nach. Hier leben viele Flüchtlinge aus Chocó, die ihren Idolen oft in eigenen Rap-Songs nacheifern und sich dabei wie Kolumbiens berühmteste Rapper mit eigenen musikalischen Wurzeln auseinandersetzen. Dazu gehören Rhythmen wie Bunde, Currulao, Bambazú oder Aguabajo, die derzeit eine Art Wiederentdeckung erleben.

Dieses Phänomen ist allerdings nicht nur an Kolumbiens Pazifikküste zu beobachten, sondern auch an der Karibikküste und in der Hauptstadt Bogotá. Wo früher auf den internationalen Markt geschielt wurde und es den Musikern wichtiger war, was in Miami oder New York passiert, orientieren sich heute viele Bands an den Rhythmen ihrer Väter und Grossväter. Das gilt etwa für La Mojarra Electrica, Bomba Estéreo oder Systema Solar, die bereits Erfolge in Europa feierten, genauso wie für La Makina del Caribe oder Papaya Republik. Das Gros der Bands aus dem neuen kolumbianischen Musikkosmos hat sich mittlerweile in Bogotá angesiedelt. Hier finden sich auch die wichtigsten Klubs und die wenigen alternativen Labels wie etwa Palenque Records von Lucas Silva. Der 39-jährige Produzent ist ein Entdeckungsreisender in Sachen afrokolumbianischer Musik und spürt seit mehr als fünfzehn Jahren schwarze Rhythmen an den beiden Küsten des Landes auf. Mehr als vierzig verschiedene Muster hat er entdeckt, darunter auch einige schwarze Cumbia-Versionen.

Das Genre Cumbia befindet sich nicht nur in Argentinien und Mexiko im Aufwind, sondern dank Bomba Estéreo auch in Kolumbien. Die Band hat sich um die Modernisierung der Cumbia verdient gemacht und sie mit Electro und etwas Rock zu treibendem Electro Tropical erweitert. Der Songwriter Simón Mejia und die Sängerin Lilian Saumet sind in Kolumbien bereits so erfolgreich, dass sie im März im Vorprogramm von Superstar Shakira zu sehen waren. «Wir sind Teil einer Welle von Bands, die unsere eigene Musikkultur neu interpretieren», sagt Simón Mejia. Er stammt aus Bogotá, während die Kollegin Saumet an der Karibikküste mit Champeta, Cumbia und Co. aufgewachsen ist.

Gemischte Kulturen

Das ist nichts Ungewöhnliches, denn in vielen Bands mischen sich die Kulturen. Besonders extrem ist das in der Musik von La Makina del Caribe, wo jedes der sieben Bandmitglieder aus einem anderen Landesteil kommt. «Dadurch klingt auch jedes Stück anders», erklärt Fabían Morales von La Makina del Caribe. Aus der musikalischen Vielfalt Kolumbiens schöpfen auch Bands wie Systema Solar oder Papaya Republik. Letztere hat eine Vorliebe für rockige Gitarren und funkige Beats und fusioniert diese Einflüsse mit den Rhythmen aus Bogotá. So entsteht ein treibender Sound, der in die Beine geht. Anfang Juni stand die Band gemeinsam mit Systema Solar im «Boogaloop» auf der Bühne.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Der Klub, in dem Konzerte mit bis zu siebenhundert Zuhörern stattfinden können, ist so etwas wie eine Kontaktbörse für DJ und Bands aus dem alternativen Spektrum. Hier legt auch Lucas Silva hin und wieder auf, und hier wurde manche Kooperation zwischen Bands, DJ und Labels lanciert. Und im «Boogaloop» wurde Ende März auch die derzeit beste Compilation aus dem kolumbianischen Sound-Kosmos vorgestellt: «Afritanga». Für die Idee zum Projekt zeichnet ein Berliner DJ verantwortlich, der sich in den letzten beiden Jahren in der Klubszene von Bogotá einen Namen gemacht hat. Das ist auch der zentrale Grund, weshalb Steen Thorsson alias Tio Chango keine Probleme hatte, selbst Grössen wie ChocQuibTown für seinen Sampler zu gewinnen.

CD-Tipps

ChocQuibTown: Esto es lo que hay (World Connection)
Afritanga (Trikont Records / Musikvertrieb)
Bomba Estéreo: Estalla (Polen Records)
Mojarra Electrica: Raza (MTM Ltda/Nuevos Medios)
Systema Solar: Systema Solar (Chusma Records/Alive)
Palenque Palenque: Champeta Criolla & Afro Roots in Colombia 1975–91 (Palenque Records/Soundway)

Mixtape Vol. #2 – Champetudo by Tio Chango

A Dummy journalist finds the tables turned when trying to get to the bottom of the producer's new GLAQJO XAACSSO album.

German publication Groove kicks off a new podcast series via a mix from RA feature subject Sascha Ring. Max Cooper, Carl Craig, Four Tet and Kode9 all feature.

Amjad Ali Khan introduces the sarod, an instrument whose development is intertwined with the history of classical music in India. He also explains the system of raga, a tonal framework for composition and improvisation, before playing a Raga Bhopali exclusively for the Guardian. For more information about the sarod and Indian classical music, visit Amjad’s [...]

From an interview with The Boston Phoenix: "[It's] a million miles away from where dubstep started. It's a million miles away from the ethos of it."

With laidback, exotic grooves and richly-coordinated interlaced cello, saxophone, turntable, and electronics, Archie Pelago’s music relies on some serious technological savvy. To be sure, all you really need to play instruments and computers and turntables together is to get into a room and start jamming. But to realize their specific musical vision, the trio of Hirshi, Cosmo D and Kroba have turned to an advanced Ableton Live rig, centered around The Bridge to couple Serato and Live. Here’s a look at their music – and all the gory details that combine to make their setup tick.

Grab the free EP for some music:

END004: Shrinin EP by Archie Pelago by end fence

To be honest, after a lot of launch hype, it hasn’t always been easy anecdotally speaking to find a lot of people using The Bridge. The software, combining Ableton’s clip-launching facilities with Serato’s digital DJ setup, perhaps demands a lot conceptually and musically of its users. But boy, are these three using it – and pushing its envelope to the breaking point. I caught up with virtuoso cellist and technologist Greg Heffernan (Cosmo D) at the lovely Percussion Lab party in New York. Greg sends a full description on how the setup works technically, as he originally wrote for the folks at Ableton (who I imagine were quite interested). There’s a lot to follow, so happily, there’s a gear diagram, as well:

To start, there are three of us. I play cello, Zach ‘Kroba’ Koeber plays saxophone and Dan ‘Hirshi’ Hirshorn is on two turntables + mixer. We play our instruments into and alongside Ableton, recording, manipulating and effecting our sounds on-the-fly. Dan provides the rhythmic foundation for our music and because of The Bridge, all of us are in sync with each other.

I’m running my cello into a MOTU Ultralite Mk3 Firewire interface, which is connected to my MacBook Pro running Ableton and Serato simultaneously. I use a Behringer FCB1010 foot pedal (connected via an M-Audio UNO [MIDI] interface into my computer) to record clips of my cello playing, cue effects and generally navigate around the Session View of Ableton. I record my cello live into the Session View as clips, then run these clips through an effects chain on an effects rack. I then use the two expression pedals on the FCB1010 to crossfade between my ‘dry’ cello sound into an effected sound. The effects are controlled with two Korg Nano Kontrols situated below my laptop. I also use a Korg nanoPAD to play sampled clips of various found audio.

Zach’s setup mirrors mine, to an extent. Using a mic to capture his live sax sound, he runs his signal into a Tascam US100 [audio] interface which goes his computer running Live. He uses his FCB1010 to capture and record clips of his own, alongside a Korg nanoKONTROL to control effects. The reason why we chose the FCB1010 and the Korg nanoKONTROL is because they’re relatively inexpensive, easy to carry around the city and on the subway, and have a lot of buttons, knobs and faders for their size. Zach’s computer is connected to mine via an Ethernet cable and his Live set is slaved to mine via Midi Sync, so we’re always locked in the groove together.

The linchpin of this whole setup, however, is Serato and The Bridge. In addition to my running Ableton, I have Serato running via a Rane SL1 [mixer] also connected to my laptop. Coming out of my laptop is a cable going into an external monitor. Dan uses this monitor to display Serato, enabling him to do what he does with his two turn tables, Serato control vinyls, and his Behringer DJ Mixer. Because of the Bridge, my Ableton rig is locked in with whatever he’s spinning, whether it be our original dubs or tunes that inspire us. With everything sync’d up, Zach and I, through our instruments and software, react musically and rhythmically to Dan’s DJing. Dan, via the effects on his mixer and control of his vinyl, reacts musically to us as well.

In terms of audio routing, my audio and Zach’s audio are running into Dan’s mixer, so he’s mixing our sounds as much as he’s controlling Serato.

The Gear

Cosmo D:
1 cello
1 MacBook Pro 13″
MOTU UltraLive Mk3 Firewire Interface
2 Korg nanoKONTROLs
1 Korg nanoPAD
1 Behringer FCB1010

Zach:

1 saxophone
1 MacBook Pro 15″
1 Tascam US100 interface
1 Korg nanoKONTROL
1 Behringer FCB1010

Dan:

1 Rane SL1 DJ Interface
1 Behringer DJX750 DJ Mixer
1 Dell 17″ Flatscreen Computer Monitor
2 Turntables (Technics SL 12000)
2 Custom needles.

Lots of cables.

In Videos

New York public radio station WNYU hosted the trio on their program Table Tennis. Three highlight excerpts below, followed by the full program for those of you who want it:

For those of you who aren’t quite ready to leap into The Bridge yet, but do want to loop your instrument, here’s a great place to start. Cosmo D talks about his live looping process in Ableton Live, at the site Bangbang.

And in an interesting way of visually interpreting their music, dancer Genna Baroni choreographs a dance to a track from the trio’s Chocolate Waveplates EP in a music video:

There – now no one has any excuse for not dancing at an Archie Pelago jam. The setting and videography is pretty informal, but it’s nice to see movement as a way of interpreting music.

Music:
Chocolate Waveplates EP Sampler [Slime Recordings] by Archie Pelago

And lastly, a live show from earlier this year at Glasslands in Brooklyn.

Official site:
http://archiepelago.com/