I worked on the beta version of this unit.  I put together all of the filament work and began the basic wiring of the amplifier when i worked at Atma-Sphere in St. Paul, MN.  I also made other amps, but this was the next amp that was being put into production after receiving orders from the U.A.E.

When all tubes are firing, this amp can raise the temperature in a room up to 7 degrees.  Keep in mind these aren’t commercial amps.  They are intended for home stereo hi-fi systmes.  It really sounds amazing…it is not pretend.

I had the pleasure of playing the closing party at The Waterpod Project which is in the Queens Fair Marina.  This is the future in mobile/sustainable structures.  The Waterpod was built on a barge and was completely sustainable, including a composting toilet system, solar power, and a stationary bike that also supplies power.  They had a garden geodesic dome and also dorms, kitchen, and different make-shift appliances.  It reminded me of living in Oakland in the warehouse scene.  The artist who brought this vision to reality is Mary Mattingly.  She seems to be able to conceive of Utopia’s and actually bring it into fruition. Other people involved were Ian Daniel, John McGarvey and Mira Hunter.

I got to play in a geodesic dome.  I can play my machines while riding a stationary bike for power.  And that is a big Fuck you Con Edison and PG&E.

I will be receiving some live pics soon.

Ok so here it is talking about music on the mic…blips, beeps, and machines.

machine

FADER TV MNDR in Studio Permalink.

I just finished reading Sonic Youth Confusion is Next by Alec Foege.  I have never dove deep into Sonic Youth’s catalog, but it is impossible to not to recognize their contribution to music and also to underground culture.  My favorite thing about this book is understanding the NYC underground after punk and into the early 80′s.  NYC seemed like a strange nebulis zone during those years.  I never really understood the dynamics between the high art music of Laurie Anderston, Arthur Russel, and Phillip Glass and its relationship with the downtown scene of Teenage Jesus and the Jerks, G.G. Allin, Sonic Youth, and other No Wave bands like DNA,..James Chance.

Reading Thurston Moore’s and Kim Gordon’s perspective of these scene’s makes it clear that there were conflicting philosophies happening at that time.  Seems like a comment on elitism and egalitarianism.  Kim Gordon comes out to say (I am paraphrasing) that she just couldn’t relate to Laurie Anderson and the high art music within that community.  Since first wave hardcore never really happened in NYC (like it did in Washington DC, LA, or Minneapolis), reading the accounts from people who experienced those years and participated in the music communities/scenes makes NYC’s post-punk years endlessly interesting to me.

This book was written in 1994 so it does bring the reader through the comodification of underground music (Nirvana for example) and Sonic Youth’s role in that time period.  Seems like Sonic Youth, just like today, curated the sounds from the underground and brought some into the limelight.  Those parts are clearly outlined in the Sonic Youth documentary The Year Punk Broke.  That part of the book was interesting, but more obvious.

The book also outlines detailed accounts from Thurston, Kim, and Steve about the recording process and song writing experimentation’s that went into each Sonic Youth record.  The most interesting points of the book are the accounts of how Sonic Youth got to where they are at within the structures of indie and major labels.

You should read it even if you don’t like Sonic Youth.  But you should like Sonic Youth.

I started this record I Go Away at Photo Call’s(Eli Epstein) studio in Los Angeles.  He has a label call Computerlife and also is working with Ghostly.  Anyways, we began this record with a Prophet-5, clavichord, and other amazing outboard panning, reverb, phazer, etc..modules.  His studio is unbelievable.

After bringing the record back to NY, we began to deconstruct it more and challenge the structure and sound scape.  We decided to add additional pads from the OB-8 to build up the chord progression and set the sorrow filled sounds.  All of the OB 8 sounds have a decaying feel like they are dissipating into static.  I added a very slow pitch modulation LFO to the patch in order to give it the feeling that it is bending down and fading away.

We also had to fix the OB 8 because it wasn’t storing its presets and we would have to load the presets from the cassette tape.  Peter Wade figured it was the internal battery.  I used to work at Atma_Sphere building pre-amps, so I got out the solder gun and soldered the battery into the circuit board and that seemed to fix its internal memory.  Keeping it haute.

I have a new minimal techno record called Variation Repition.  I made all of the the keyboard sounds using the gate function on my Soundlab Suitcase Synth.  I am featuring a rapper on this record.  I will announce soon!  It is going to be sick.

The main synth sounds reminds of me of a Tesla machine…very heavy and illustrates a picture of cartoons with their bones glowing after they have been electricuted.  I also made the vocal hook by reading the liner notes of a Morton Subotnik record entitled Butterflies and from Phillip K Dick wiki.  I was looking to make a dance 12 in the style of minimal Bpitch Control/Kontakt Berlin techno.  The lyrics are very dry and ominous.  My favorite style of dance lyrics.

This is the Pro Tools session below.

MNDR was recently in Los Angeles writing with Peter Wade, Eli Epstein for some MNDR records and also met up with two producers Wally and Xandy and wrote a serious record about the jungle for a pop diva.  Wally and Xandy’s studio is a historic studio that The Doors and the Velvet Underground recorded in.  Los Angeles is always pretty surreal.  The hills were on fire in I was in a pool talking shop and meeting people.

My last night there I went to Tony’s bar in Downtown LA to swim in a pool and slip down a slide while Fool’s Gold played live.  Super fun!

Here is some of my favorite street art from that trip.  Awesome Michael Jackson poster and some truly outrageous graf.

I am working on a new MNDR song I’ll Go Away.  This is another slow burner, heart wrencher.  I am trying to push the sound scap away from tonality and further into a realm of uncertainty.  My hope is to make so much dissonance and decaying sounds while pushing pop melodies out from all of the chaos.

I use a Nord G2 Engine to make a lot of my synth pads, leads, drum sounds..ect.  This is a the patch I made for this song.  It is a 4 osc. synth with two envelopes and two LFO’s to modulate pitch.  I hear the sounds in my head and I would rather just make it than try and program it on another synth.  This piece of gears’ interface is easy and lends itself to making sounds quickly.