sonoluminescence...
.
.
.
.
...:::...do you know sonoluminescence? sometimes there is music that encapsulates me...blows a filmy bubble around my body...floating me over sidewalk puddles on a rain-soaked day...or maybe on some amazing morning, catches me on a wind current and i find myself hovering out over and above the sun-reflected bay...

these beautiful and pressurized moments are life's medium. and i stretch my receptive membranes to maximize potential uplift from surrounding sounds...i find these in my everyday environments, both passively and selectively...exciting me to the point where when they are suddenly no longer there, i implode (in the wonderful space of the in-between) and emit some kind of a shining...a light so clean and perfect and star-like i might just find the propulsion to find pleasure in the things i hate to do most.

yeah, music can be like that for me...it can be like the poetics of practical fusion...:::...

download: modyfier-part01

benfay – pink silk panties (bang goes remix) : nov 2006 on stattmusik
elektrokiss – the teacher slap me like a bitch : jan 2007 on bonsai music
maxime dangles – mon ami keuz : feb 2007 on acid milk recordings
popnoname – no doubt : feb 2007 on italic
djosos krost – better place : aug 2006 on quango
kid dub, cazzy d, d dub – genesis (audiofly remix) : feb 2007 on berwick street records
terje & anders – montag & dienstag : feb 2007 on lordag records
kalabrese – auf dem hof (ludron dub) ( crowdpleaser & mimie nana remix) : dec 2006 on stattmusik
gui boratto – xilo : feb 2007 on kompakt
satoshi fumi – 8.va : jan 2007 on connect four

download: modyfier-part02

holy ghost inc – mad monks on zinc (adultnapper remix) : feb 2007 on flying circus
metope – breep : feb 2007 on areal records
len faki – rainbow delta (extended version) : jan 2007 on ostgut ton
klmnt – zouin (tiger stripes dub) : feb 2007 on deeplay soultec
martin brodin – semitone shuffle (mikael stavostrands berlin tin can mix) : feb 2007 on audiobahn
falko brocksieper – just dazing : jan 2007 on substatic
emanuel eisbrenner – ver rueckt (day mix) : jan 2007 on aromamusic
nikol nazarov – retro : feb 2007 on europhonix
peak & canson – service : jan 2007 on fine art recordings
nathan fake – outhouse (valentine kanzyani remix) : jan 2007 on recycled loops

moving into still...
.
.
.
.
...:::...sometimes i find myself teetering between intake and output...lost along a ridge-line of information...these times are not good for process or for making...instead, i practice listening for quiet and moving into still...:::...

download: 070223-modyfier

arnaud rebotini – leviathan : feb 2007 on goodlife
badmouth – anymore (phonique remix) : feb 2007 on fresh meat
yannick l. – gallieni : jan 2007 on sonar kollektiv
krack & smack – no sun in the sky (noogman remix) : feb 2007 on quango
clarke cassidy – threshold : jan 2007 on stratospherik
xarfai – magic potion : jan 2007 on broque
alexander maier – made in nebraska : jan 2007 on buzzin fly records
damero - 1-1+1=1+1-…=1/2 feat. agf : feb 2007 on bpitch control
art of tones – praise (remix) : jan 2007 on 2020 vision recordings
damian schwartz - verde confeti (pan-pot remix) : feb 2007 on cmyk musik
autotune – b2 : feb 2007 on fumalab
[a]pendics.shuffle – bring it on sammy : feb 2007 on mo’s ferry
mia – swoon (falko brocksieper remix) : feb 2007 on sub static
from karaoke to stardom – emofeeliac : jan 2007 on apnea
pantha du prince – eisbaden : feb 2007 on dial records

un-furnishing...
.
.
.
.
...:::...i think what i like so much about these sounds are the way they un-furnish a room...strip away all the familiar places to sit (the upholstery is so worn on that chair) and create something for the imagination to sink it's teeth into...vigorously shaking it's head...

(back and forth. to the kill)...

that is, they resist narrative and are non-associative. they create spaces whose walls beg to be drawn on (i arm myself with a super sharpie and a straight edge and find rotation at the shoulder. make big lines)...making a horizon here and then shifting it up to there instead...

not just one geometry or another...

i am again and again in a field of polar repel. all thought pushed out (i am between breaths)...these sounds take me there. present endless rooms and endless walls and endless ways to navigate...:::...

download: 070216-modyfier part01

konpiuta – ride away : jan 2007 on acid milk recordings
christian rattler – feuer (move d’s bevor wir miteinander spielen) : nov 2006 on [pias] recordings
elektrochemie – mucky star (instrumental edit) : jan 2007 on get physical music
phonique – what i fake (sleeper thief remix) : jan 2007 on souvenir music
dandi& ugo & rainer weichold – infinte template (martin eyerer remix) : jan 2007 on great stuff
ekkohaus – kill bruce nauman : jan 2007 on mult vitamins
benno blome & baby ford – smoke machine (bruno pronsato remix) : jan 2007 on sender records
kid beyond – deep inside (dj jethro remix) : aug 2006 on love-million records
toby tobias – daves sex bits (quiet village remix) : feb 2007 on rekids
davidovitch – la faille : jan 2007 on acid milk recordings

download: 070216-modyfier part02

oscar – damage (samm & baur remix) : dec 2006 on gastpiel
sascha funke – ey : feb 2007 on bpitch control
from karaoke to stardom – big bad swoosh : jan 2007 on apnea
pantha du prince – asha : feb 2007 on dial records
decoy linzatti – gomit shin : jan 2007 on stockholm ltd
tractile – stay out : feb 2007 on minus
paul ritch – grom : nov 2006 on resopal schallware
move d – anne will (argy remix) : feb 2007 on liebe detail
s.u.o.p. – as you like it : jan 2007 on aromamusic
florian meindl – moonchild (three dot’s remix) : jan 2007 on resopal schallware
dani casarano – el zapo hablo (motorcitysoul remix) : dec 2006 on connoisseur superieur

.
.
KEITH KEMP

Keith Kemp-live at The Works, Detroit MI USA 1-26-2007.

Live gear: Macbook, Ableton Live 6.0, Evolution UC-33 midi controller, Motu Ultralite

This party was put together by Paxahau/D Records and Ghostly, primarily to showcase their recording artists and djs.

Jan 2007

I had been producing a lot as of late, and i wanted to use this set to go through some of the ideas i have been working on for future releases. I also chose to use some of the main elements of 2 remixes i completed last fall for the Beretta Grey and Gravid labels.

There are many facets to performing live and i like to toe the line between complete improvisation and self-promotion-i see this happening in how much i like to improvise versus using elements and tracks of mine that people might know.

I've been using Ableton to perform live since version 1.0, and with each revision i learn more tricks and tips, in addition to techniques i can apply to live performances. Since upgrading to a Macbook with 1.25g of ram, i now have a very powerful machine of which i've only just begun to tap into it's possibilities for Live use.

One of my favorite things about Live has been the implementation of Follow Actions, and i tend to use these in my sets as well as during composition. Live 6.0 allows you to map the same MIDI cc# to any number of knobs/faders/buttons, something i had been waiting/needing to do for a while. This was possible before, using Plogue Bidule and/or internal MIDI routings. I also have several midi controllers in my studio to try out new live set-ups, my most favorite being an original Korg Kaoss pad which route the x/y controller of the touch pad to Live's crossfader.

For this live set, I decided to use the UC-33 in a somewhat standard scenario:

Sliders control volume on channel strips, 3 knobs on each channel wired to fx sends.

In the session view, i usually set up 3 buttons to:

scroll up/down through scenes, as well as launch them. The percussion is usually a combination of Impulse kits and processed loops. Each developing element in a "track" is usually programmed with many Follow Actions-this is where the improvisation comes in.

I am essentially letting the live set play itself!, and then setting up controls to "DJ" the performance, as well as interacting with it. I hope to expand on this concept in the future, as well as the possibility of collaborations or live jams.

I recommend the Ableton forums for tricks and tips, abletonlivedj.com, and thecovertoperators.org.

This set and many others can be streamed from Paxahau.com.

Please feel free to contact me,I can be reached in many ways:

Email - kempkeith@gmail.com
Myspace - http://www.myspace.com/keithkempkemptracks
Web - www.graviddigital.com

Huge, huge thanks to Modyfier for helping me get my music out!

keith kemp - process part 009 (live at the works in detroit 070126) by modyfier

refresh...
.
.
.
.
...:::...my thoughts drain. flowing at a steady rate over the shifting slopes in my head. seeking out openings and voids...the places to escape to...fill up.

(i stand on my head to reverse the flow and speak english backwards (sdrawkcab)...slowly white space grows...i lift my hand to break a line and drop it back down again...i find myself wondering what inverted thoughts look like)...

sometimes, i store these observations to re-examine later. but mostly, i like just to watch them pass...wading barefoot in a stream...:::...

download: 070212-modyfier

4hero – superwoman : feb 2007 on raw canvas
mike sheridan – barcelona : jan 2007 on mis records
thomas schumacher – is not : dec 2006 on spiel-zeug schallplatten
noze – kitchen (t schaeben tombos teflon work remix) : aug 2006 on mbf
christian dittmann – agua de piedra : jan 2007 on rrygular
audio werner – moved : jan 2007 on circus company
sonodab – latitude : jan 2007 on trazable recordings
hosh – waldmeister : dec 2006 on stil vor talent
george apergis – calypso : jan 2007 on ungleich
lump – funky hesus : jan 2007 on karloff
djeho youn – 88000 watt : jan 2007 on merrestief
ost & kjex – cottage cheese in cantonese : dec 2006 on crosstown rebels
alecs marta – pines pisser (davide squillace remix) : jan 2007 on pulsewith
mikael stavostrand – breaka breaka : dec 2006 on kontra-musik
trans mania – boing boom jack (alexander robotnik remix) : jan 2007 on gomma
risque de funk electrique – give me luv (jk extended reedit) : jan 2007 on lefreq
sasha virus – pop voice (robo version) : jan 2007 on xela digital

.
.
FOEWEEL

cowbells and wooden blocks - modyfier mix

the mix process and recipe:

4 or 5 oz electro
2 grams indie rock beats (beats for the indie kids)
2 kilos minimal techno
1 tsp mashup

chop and blend into a bowl of ableton live 5 @ 125bpm and serve hot. serves 1 to 100.

when downloading songs to my commodore 64 which is backed up by myatari 2600 mod upped to a full 100k of extra RAM and 350K HD, i throwsongs i like into various folders such as techno, abstract, breaks, hyphy for future mixes or comps. when rayna asked me to contribute tothis mix project which was about 2 weeks ago, i first had to figure outwhat type of mix would be appropriate. since i've gotten some great tracks from her site, i decided to start with one from hercollection(frizz-'going up'). this mix is a complete departure fromthe music i play, make and compile. the mix has sharp synth stabs thatwill make you raise your glowsticks in the air and it's got that electro vibe which for the most part i just can't grasp, but i digthese tracks and they seem to go well together, but i guess that's foryou to decide.

the first track is always the most important to me because it sets the general mood. now that i had that picked out, i chose about 50 tracksto work with and then further separated those tracks by mood and genre.i wanted to stay in the 125bpm range and properly mix the beats, so i had to figure out the keys of all the tracks and then rearrange by keyof each track. mixes on cd are generally heard at home, in the car, oron the run and not necessarily at a warehouse space at 3am when you're surrounded by some generally like-minded individuals who are also inthat moment. for this reason, i wanted to vary the tracks a bit andnot bore the listener although some may not ever want to hear a woodenblock again after listening to the lengthy villalobos remix of 'thesinner in me', but besides the vocals which i wish i could haveextracted, it's a song that has an incredible amount of rhythmic depth. the tracks range from 2003 to 2007. the newest track is 'synchronize'by tomboy which i was sent a few weeks back, and i tossed asidebecause, once again it has all of the elements of electro which inormally detest, but i keep listening to it over and over again. i amnot the biggest fan of mashups either, but the girl talk track is a funtrack and it fits well with the general mood of the mix.

i take all of the tracks and then put them into ableton live to arrange and mix. i'll render it to cd and then listen to it in my carand on my home system. the first go around had the mix going from themodeselektor track to a pantytec track and then ending with the'straight outta compton' mix by kid 606, but ending with techno andthen a track of utter chaos kind of killed the mood, so tiga andvitalic to the rescue. the transitions in the 2nd half of the mix areshorter as most of these tracks were not 'made for dj's' which i could have cut up and created longer transitions, but i think it still workswell and for the most part is smooth.

the mix has something for the whole family. for the perverted unclewho likes electro, the teenaged girl twins who dress like pat benatar and dig indie rock, the once goth grandmother who escapes on minimaltechno to the slutty older sister who still lives with her parents andonly listens to mashups. and everyone loves the bass.

foeweel - process part 008 (cowbells & wooden blocks) by modyfier

01. frizz (aka noize) - going up
02. soulwax - ny lipps
03. tattoo - one
04. lcd soundsystem - tribulations
05. isolée - face b
06. depeche mode - the sinner in me (ricardo villalobos conclave remix)
07. tomboy - synchronize (dub)
08. girl talk - bounce that
09. modeselektor - silikon (siriusmo remix)
10. tiga - hot in herre
11. vitalic - my friend dario

.
.
NICK CATCHDUBS

Setup: two Technics 1200 turntables, Rane TTM-56 mixer, Serato Scratch.

I had originally recorded a different, much slower set to send in, but sat and listened to it for a while and realized that I liked the songs but wanted to give something with more energy. I recorded this quickly on Sunday night, just a batch of recent and not so recent favorites that I have been playing out a lot.

Some notes on what and why: Blaq Starr isn't going to sound right on computer speakers, it's almost all sub bass. Too bad, that shit is crazy. The bounciness of the Rapture remix really fits with it, so I just ran that for a while underneath. "The Ha Dance" is from 1991 and sounds perfect. I wouldn't have known that when it came out (I was 10, and didn't even know there was such a thing as house music until "Witch Doktor" came out a few years later) but it is. Just saying. I wish more tracks were so simple and noisy and danceable. (Also: Louie Vega opening the Superbowl?!? Yow.) I was thinking about playing the original "Plastic Dreams" after that - there's also a Baltimore club version by DJ Patrick that is very good - but went with the Switch version instead. Krames is a dude from Richmond, VA who I've DJed with a few times, and he flipped a track from the last Busta Rhymes album into "How We Do It Over Hur." The original version is kind of unremarkable but this one supercharges it in a clever way. Also there's some vocals to get us out of the rave cave. Speaking of "Witch Doktor," the new Armand Van Helden song is a nice surprise - I've been playing the Stretch Armstrong version because it has a tempo change in the middle which makes for an easy transition to slower stuff. The Knife song is one of my favorites of last year, didn't get into the whole album, but that one song just cooks. And what better way to go out of a Martian pop song than with a moon rock from E-40? "Da Dummy" is produced by his son Droop E and a good way to go out big - it makes for a short mix, but it felt right to end there.

nick catchdubs - process part 007 by modyfier

01. DJ Blaq Starr f Rye Rye "Shake It To The Ground" [Mad Decent]
02. The Rapture, "W.A.Y.U.H. (Claude VonStroke remix)" [Universal]
03. Masters At Work, "The Ha Dance" [Cutting Records]
04. Jaydee, "Plastic Dreams (Switch remix)" [Art & Craft]
05. Krames, "How We Do It Over Hur" [white]
06. Armand Van Helden f Fat Joe "Touch Your Toes (Stretch Armstrong remix)" [white]
07. The Knife, "We Share Our Mother's Health" [Mute]
08. E-40 f Stressmatic, "Da Dummy" [Sick Wid It]

.
.

.
.
YOKO SOLO

The Modyfier machine asked if I could make some music and then deconstruct the birth and writhing existence of said sound. Of course I had to do it. So I did. This is some of what happened.

I thought it would be fun, or interesting, or um... actually I can't remember exactly what I was thinking... but my plan was to attack the song, make something quickly, focus on not focusing, drive aimlessly at full speed. Loose, but heavy. The only rule was that I couldn't make it at home. So the track that became Modified and Left for Dead was made in two days while at a tire shop getting two tires replaced on a "car", in said "car" parked near Glen Park Bart (twice), and on top of the gun-bunker-thing at Fort Funston (which was the worst place of the three... felt very goofy sitting up there in the wind with a computer). Strangely, the waiting room at the tire shop was a wonderful place to work. A 4 year old girl sat next to me for 10 minutes and was reacting to the headphone bits she could hear, seemingly with confusion and/or glee (she liked the beats when they weren't falling to pieces, I think). It was a fun exercise so I kept at it and made 3 more loose, swirling tracks as quickly as possible but without the "not at home" rule. The vocal recording is from an audio library project I did for Quake Trap with Shaggy Manatee in which we recorded rants and yabber in Golden Gate Park.

I also had two tracks that didn't , don't, belong on anything I'm working on: the hopped-up, lurching Krak v.13 and Fuzz and Froth, a song made from Mochipet's pile of audio junk he posted for people to sift through and chop up and remix. When they met the other drooling "Modyfied" works, it was instant love.

download: yoko solo's set "the froth"

1. I Am In Yer Base, Killing Yer Doodz
2. Modified and Left for Dead
3. Burning Plastic at the Gate to the Place
4. Sorrow of the Filthy Wind
5. Krak v.13 (slobberBreaks)
6. Fuzz and Froth (Remixed bits of Mochipet's flotsam)

It's about 15 minutes or so and should be listened to without any gaps or crossfading. Each track should hit, one after the other with just the gaps that exist in the recording. This is only important if you want to experience the full "froth-style" bath.

For me the songs I made for this project have a breezy feeling that may have come from the relaxed, structureless methods and the taste of this music that emerged from nowhere. All music emerges "from nowhere", but in this case I really wanted to let the flow take over. They were like little seeds that sprouted, gnashed their teeth, gurgled and then crawled out of the soil and started running. The other tracks were like two little sprouts wandering/staggering alone in a void, moaning, until they found their elusive counterparts.

In making music for the sake of looking at the actual process of making it a bit (this project), I repeatedly sloshed a half-assed idea around, a thought about music. When we listen to it, make it, play it, in our room, headphones, in a car, making food, for people, by ourselves, it changes the state we are in and changes everything around us. The music itself changes, too, based on mood, light, wind, people, smell. There is an excitement in living a life with music, in knowing that each time we bring music into the fold, it's like shuffling the cards and changing our experience. Each time we loose the sound into the air, to our ears, we are exploring anew, even if it's a song (or set) we have heard (or worked on) forever. Another thought sloshed around in my head but it was the usual type of apocalyptic, imploding, debris-strewn, pony-fueled junk that flutters around in my brain all the time. So nevermind that piece.

The whole thing was made with a computer. I used Abelton Live, Reaktor, Mode and a great shareware synth called Crystal. A weirdo named Pu22l3 gave me a strange plug-in called Minion that I used, too.

passively...
.
.
.
.
...:::...i find curves with lines. wander slowly. accoridan breath...

i move through spaces and take sonographic snapshots. sometimes, i think, i am learning more and more about how to listen from the sounds that i don't choose...from the sounds that come to me passively...from things just happening...

i am learning how to listen to music from these daily sounds. i am learning how to pick out singularities from so much audial information. deciphering (like listening to a foreign language, when all words are understood as a continuous string of sound...that point when meaning begins to land...when a single word separates out, in a wonderful recognition). yes, these days, i am just listening. learning. finding meaning...:::...

download: 070202-modyfier part01

martin buttrich – well done (serafin remix) : jan 2007 on four:twenty recordings
noze – kitchen (skat remix) : aug 2006 on mbf
tosca – superrob (henrik schwarz mix) : jan 2007 on global underground
hosh – suesstoff : dec 2006 on stil vor talent
estroe – driven (jamie jones pacific mix) : jan 2007 on connaisseur superieur
drei farben house – close enough : aug 2006 on forcetracks
eyerer & chopstick – haunting (sleeper thief remix) : dec 2006 on i0 music
someone else & mistake – yeah right : dec 2006 on wit recordings
hidenobu ito – kick : dec 2006 on mo’s ferry
miss fitz – geschprech (jeff samuel remix) : jan 2007 on kalimari

download: 070202-modyfier part02

spektre – minimal machinist (oliver huntemann remix) : dec 2006 on dance electric
acumen – journey off : jan 2007 on merrestief
ost & kjex – how not to be a biscuit : dec 2006 on crosstown rebels
tomas andersson – double problematik : jan 2007 on bpitch control
inxec – kestral dub plate : dec 2006 on contexterrior
the model – posh pattern : dec 2006 on underline
seth traxler – love bezerker (ryan crosson remix) : dec 2006 on beretta grey
einmusik – 69 : jan 2007 on modus operandi
photocall – silver clouds (dexter remix) : jan 2007 on clone records
my space rocket – stay apart : jan 2007 on ungleich