Tweeting!I've finally gotten into Twitter... you can follow me here if you're interestedI've finally given up on having separate sites for my real name and screen name; Google's grabbed the info on the connection and indexed it, and there's no going back once that happens. If you want anonymity on the Internet, you've got to be extremely diligent, almost to the point of paranoia. Besides, I'm not sure that it's as important to me now as it was 7 (!) years ago when I started the site. So while we're at it, here's my online portfolio: www.ryandebeasi.com Anyway, bigger updates should be coming soonish. Stay tuned! Posted 4/30/2009. I am in old-school rave heavenWell, actually, I imagine rave heaven involving glowsticks, loud music, and lots and lots of E, but one out of three ain't bad. No, not that one, wise guy.I downloaded the new Prodigy record, Invaders Must Die for two bucks from Amazon.com, and it's fantastic - completely worth the eight bucks that it costs now. Forget 2004's rock-oriented, largely forgettable Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned, this is the real deal, with lots of wild, blippy synths and the monster beats that only Liam Howlett can deliver. A lot of it sounds like their 90s work with better production, but there are some surprises too - "Colours" alternates between high-energy synths and crunchy dance-rock guitar work in a way that does more for the concept of nu-rave than those hipster wimps from the Klaxons ever could. The title track and the lead single, Omen, are both classic Prodigy: loud, stupid, and completely badass. They do get a modern bump from collaborators Does It Offend You, Yeah - so again: hipsters, take notice. The most surprising track is the closer, "Stand Up." It is - get ready for this - a low-key, instrumental funk/hip-hop track with lots of electronic effects sprinkled on top. Somehow, a lot of the reviewers who complained about how the record just retraced old ground never heard this one - maybe they gave up and went back to reading Pitchfork. That's not to say there's not a big 90s dance influence going on here, but the Prodigy throw enough curveballs to keep the record fresh. Yeah, a lot of the melodies are the the same two bars looped over and over, and the production sometimes outshines the songwriting - but what were you expecting, Kraftwerk? If the lack of deep, moving pieces really bothers you, you might do well to pick up Moby's new(ish) record, Last Night, which is pretty much the opposite extreme: the sounds are solid, sure, but he's all about warm melodies and soulful vocalists. And it has a bit of a 90s sound too - but it's more polished and mature than the real thing ever was. This is the way I want to remember 1997. I wish I could say I was listening to these guys then, but I actually was really into the Barenaked Ladies and Ace of Base - and I owned both Eiffel 65's Europop and Alice Deejay's Who Needs Guitars Anyway. They were both pretty awful, but at least BNL's still doing their thing, even putting out a really wacky kids' record. It's a shame Steven Page left last week, but at least the band's still touring and recording a new record. Ok, this post has been longer than I expected so I'm gonna wrap it up. Here's hoping that ten years from now, I'm going on about how cool the 2000s were, and that 40 years from now I haven't blown out my eardrums from listening to dance music too loud. Posted 3/4/2009. New DesignI've been working on a new design for a while now, but I haven't been really happy with what I've come up with so far. They've all been better than my original, neon green checkerboard nightmare (I'm not linking to it for your sanity's sake) but they're also pretty similar to the current one. It's tricky - I don't mind the current one, and I'm comfortable with it. It's familiar. The thing is, it doesn't really reflect the sort of stuff I want to put on there or the new direction in which I want to steer the site. Most of all, I want it to look cool instead of cutesy. I'm planning on integrating the final version into WordPress so that I can get all the bloggy features that it provides. I've been planning that for like a year and a half now, but this time I really want to do it.In case you're curious, here's what redesign #1 looked like. Here's the eerily similar #2. (For good measure, here's the Nuclear Soup teaser page that I posted recently.) And here's what I'm working on now:  Any thoughts? Email me at ragingmime [at] ragingmime.com. Posted 1/10/2009. Record Review: Ant Neely - Not Fit for Human ConsumptionIt takes serious cajones to base a jazz track around the sound of a telegraph machine and a drum n' bass beat, but Antony "Ant" Neely pulls it off in Not for Human Consumption. As the guitarist and synth whiz of subthunk, he's made a solo record that channels the free-form jams of his band's earlier work as well as the punchy, structured songs of 2005's You Should've Been Here Yesterday. "Lucky" mixes a playful pulse wave bassline with sinister strings and samples from a 50s movie, while "Might as Well Whistle" sounds like the soundtrack to a 70s game show. The record is alternately bleak, goofy, and heartbreaking, and Neely brings the jazz chops and studio wizardry to make it all work. If the Flaming Lips swore off rock and formed a jazz trio on the moon, this is what they would sound like.More info (and free, Creative Commons-licensed download): www.antneely.com Posted 11/10/2008. The top 5 things that've kept me from updating sooner5. Looking for a job4. Having a job 3. The possibility of bedbugs in my apartment 2. The definite existence of a bat in my apartment 1. Procrastination I'm still getting my life sorted out, but I want to get back to writing and making music and maybe programming, all of which I love but have put off in the interest of finishing school and getting my life in order. I want to make sure that those parts of me don't atrophy - my job in customer support at a small business intelligence software company doesn't involve much of those - and that just because I'm an adult and have to wear a dress shirt and slacks to work doesn't mean I have to stop doing things I love or just goofing off and having fun. And once I have a little more money, I still want to enjoy simple things. I'd rather spend time writing music with a wonderful but quirky free program like Buzz (which, amazingly, is being updated again!) than have a home studio filled with beautiful gear but no time to use it. Which is good, because I have a much better shot at doing the former than the latter. Nothing new to download just yet, but if you're hard up for new stuff to listen to and play, I recommend the new Trash80 EP (free!) and Space Invaders Extreme (not free but pretty cheap and well worth the $20). The record is full of moving, electro-ey chiptune, ans it's got a bit more of a pure Game Boy/NES sound than his last record. He still comes up with some great sounds and intricate, layered, and really fun tracks. Anyway, hopefully I'll have some time soon to cook up some new tracks and maybe finally get that new WordPress-based design up and running. (Yikes, it's been over a year since I first put that up.) Let's see what craziness the next few months bring. Posted 8/9/2008. |
