December 29, 2006
If you're tired of waiting for a backordered Nintendo Wii or PS3 and you happen to be a hip hop or electronic musician, the Japanese musician-hacker JJ has solution: play Pong on your Akai MPC 1000. Posted on the music gear fetish site Music Thing, JJ's mod turns the quintessential sampling tool into a pricey retro game platform.
December 20, 2006
Western expats in Japan can tell you that a lot of Japanese people really dig Christmas--department stores often bring in Santa and pipe in the "Jingle Bells." Yes, in terms of music, the Japanese tend to stick to the Western Yuletide standards; perhaps because the whole Christ thing hasn't really caught on that much, Japanese don't have much in the way of homegrown Christmas music.
However, if you've been pining away for some traditional Japanese Christmas sounds, despair no longer--a pair of musicians in the American Pacific Northwest have come to the rescue. En, "a duo bound to Japan, music, and each other" have produced a shakuhachi and koto version of "White Christmas," available on their website. If you thought Bing Crosby always sounded half in the bag, this version is positively woozy!
December 11, 2006
News | A sheepish return, a Vietnamese peace offering... |
It's been mighty quiet around here, hasn't it? For that, I apologize. Going to graduate school in one state and trying to spend time with my pregnant wife in another has been a bit of a challenge. (Maybe I could load Dragon Naturally Speaking on a PDA and write for this site via voice during my eight hours a week on the road?)
In any case, it's winter break time, so I'm back with this crunchy Vietnamese peace offering. Stuart's got a rare sixties pop track from Viet Nam Records ready for download over at Radiodiffusion. It sounds a lot like the Cambodian pop of the era, dimly preserved on an extra-crackly slab of vinyl. Act fast, this will only be up through Saturday, Dec. 16.
Oh, you noticed that "my" peace offering is merely a link to someone else's upload? C'mon, don't be such a stickler.