THIDS IS HOW WE DEFORM: GLITCH PEDALS

New frontiers in glitchery. My TKOG MINI GLITCH is joined by my new Red Panda TENSOR, perhaps the most useful and expansive (but still user friendly) of glitch pedals. It loops, stretches and compresses time, goes forward and reverse, and is MIDI controllable amongst other things. Strung in a chain with the MINI GLITCH makes for all kinds of finger-manipulated aural fuckery,  and that is good thing for sure!

THIS IS HOW YOU DEFORM: Dwarfcraft SUPER WIZARD

The Dwarfcraft SUPER WIZARD is part pitch-shifter, random giver of glitches, and delay monger.  Try depressing the “bender” and  “dindindin” foot pedals at the same time and see what happens! It could mean some Valentine’s Day noise is in the offing. 

THAT SAID: SCOTT WALKER SUNDOG

SCOTT WALKER SUNDOG is a just published collection of selected lyrics from his various incarnations,  and it eludes any kind of certainty,  summation or comfort.  That said,  Walker’s songs ooze poetry as foreign substance where thought and feeling fray into itches that are not ever meant to be reached. Yes, it is art. Introductory essay by Eimear McBride.

OSCILLATIONS: THE PUNISHMENT OF LUXURY by OMD

OMD latest continues the winning streak they started with HISTORY OF MODERN (2010) and ENGLISH ELECTRIC (2013). THE PUNISHMENT OF LUXURY may be their best and most experimental release since 1983′s commercially undazzling, but artistically nuanced DAZZLE SHIPS, an album that showed that electro pop could manage electricity in new ways while succumbing to song. THE PUNISHMENT OF LUXURY may have lost some of their analog gravitas through digital sheen, but songs like the title track tackle consumerism and isolation in a catchy, thoughtful way. “Robot Man” may be the nadir here, but songs like “What Have we done”, “Isotype” “Kiss Kiss Kiss Bang Bang Bang” more than make up for it (the latter even emoting a hearty fuck you to conformity, etc.). To OMD this is a kind of electro blues, leavening what some my consider cliche with scorn. Thankfully THE PUNISHMENT OF LUXURY proves the forty years on OMD are certainly not an oldies act. Not many could claim that.

THIS IS HOW WE DEFORM: EarthQuaker Devices DATA CORRUPTER

Yes, noise can be addictive! The DATA CORRUPTER by EarthQuaker Devices mangles any input signal into the inevitable headache. It’s the mathematical equivalent of wildly uncontrolled multiplication. How this works with guitars is a mystery to me,  as I’m using this beast as an adjunct to my modular synths.

THIS IS HOW WE DEFORM: Keith McMillen K-MIX

Loving my new K-Mix by Keith McMillen Instruments,  except for one thing which I’ll mention later. This compact, multi-functional device is both mixer and control surface,  and can be used as a stand-alone unit or in unison with your computer. It allows control of several parameters including EQ, trims, VU metering,  panning and reverb. The last mentioned is where my problem lies. The K-Mix is advertised as indestructible,  yet I can’t get the VERB effects section to work! Hmmmmmmm… start packing this thing up! UPDATE: Evan at Keith McMillen Instruments kindly suggested that my problem might be that the K-Mix was in “surround” mode. He was right. I fixed this problem by holding “shift” and pressing “pan”. Thanks, Evan!

THIS IS HOW WE DEFORM: Dwarfcraft Devices HAPPINESS

Dwarfcraft Devices HAPPINESS pedal is a resonant filter that not only has the ability to modulate/mangle input signals, but can also self-oscillate with an amazing ferocity (listen to your monitors shrivel and die!). As an added bonus CV patch-points allow integration with your Eurorack system,  furthering control/randomness. Depending on your sensibility this may just be your version of aural pleasure.

DEATH DISCO

NEVER MIND THE BULLOCKS,  HERE’S THE SEX PISTOLS  (1977) may indeed be the iconic snarling punk masterpiece,  but what followed as Johnny Rotten morphed back to John Lydon may ultimately be where Johnny/John found his teeth. Public Image Ltd. found Lydon, bassist Jah Wobble, and guitarist Keith Levene,  especially on their second release METAL BOX (1979, aka SECOND EDITION on CD) functioning on all cylinders. This is where the music became as experimental and fluid as its underlying  menace. Bass became the main rhythmic component, and was joined by dub’s cavernous spaces and synthesizer noise. Sound and presentation were optimized by the album being released as four 12″ 45s, while its metal film canister packaging and design were beautiful, unique, and collectible. METAL BOX was followed by FLOWERS OF ROMANCE (1981), an even more extreme take on pop experimentation,  losing its bass anchor to a prevailing dissonance of drums,  vocals,  tape loops,  and sound processing. These are the two records that could reasonably termed “death disco”. 

THIS IS HOW WE DEFORM: Alexander Pedals SYNTAX ERROR

Alexander Pedals’ SYNTAX ERROR is a handy little device that will add quite a bit of fuckery to the sounds one feeds into it. For such a small pedal SE packs quite the modulation wallop.  As Symbolist poet and all-round bad boy  Arthur Rimbaud (1854-91) would say,  the job of art and the artist is to derange the senses,  and this may indeed do the job. 

SCENES FROM A PAINTING: Number 3

THIS IS HOW WE DEFORM: Hologram's INFINITE JETS & DREAM SEQUENCE

Hologram's INFINITE JETS and DREAM SEQUENCE form a steady foundation on which to creative new noises with a decidedly low-fi essence. While cleaner sounds are certainly possible,  the urge to invent forms that thrive on dirt seems the probable result of this electrical entanglement.. A single note fed in to the above can be sampled, sequenced,  and modulated with an eyes towards oblivion. In other words,  these pedals seem perfect for non-pitch oriented practitioners.

IS MODERNITY STILL AN ISSUE?

An essential ingredient of modernity is forgetting. That said, all narrative is to be avoided.

An essential ingredient of modernity is forgetting. That said,  all narrative is to be avoided.

THIS IS HOW WE DEFORM: Death By Audio ROBOT

I recently decided that I'd create a modulation chain from my Critter & Guitari KALEIDOLOOP so I could morph audio samples (mostly word phrases) into incomprehensible gibberish or revelatory significance. Even brutalist noise would be a welcome outcome. To this end Death by Audio's ECHO DREAM 2 was joined to that manufacturer's ROBOT. The Robot is another lo-fi modulation pedal that transposes pitch and arpeggiates with no manners whatsoever. It turns voice samples into screaming noise, and that's certainly a good thing.

THIS IS HOW WE DEFORM: Death by Audio ECHO DREAM TWO

Death By Audio’s ECHO DREAM 2 is a delay pedal whose secrets can take you from dreamy bliss to degraded lo-fi fuzz. Coupled with my Critter & Guitari KALEIDOLOOP,  language can be mangled into random revelations and stuttered stick-talk. Fun.

CONSUMING DEATH

Published on the occasion of a show of his work at the Stellan Holm Gallery, ANDY WARHOL 5 DEATHS takes a single tragic image from his “Death and Disaster” series and banishes the existential terror through repetition and color. Or does he? These paintings from 1963 are encountered in the wake of finitude, and retain the power to disturb, even suggesting the frailty of life through faulty inking and registration. Later works like the Electric Chairs,  Skulls,  and  Shadows renew this dread,  but with not quite the same power. The question as to whether one can ward off death by consuming it is never answered,  but all in all this is Warhol at his best. Contained in this slim volume is an  interview

 with Warhol by assistant Gerard Malanga,  as well as a conversation between Malanga and Jeff Koons. 

HEENTodile's THINGS

COVER: NITZER EBB 2, 3, 4

Nitzer Ebb’s three essential records are BELIEF (1989),  SHOWTIME (1990),  and EBBHEAD (1991), with the band’s tense, minimalistic EBM best heard on the first two mentioned here. Their formula  was harrowingly terse,  with powerfully clean electronic sounds coupled with menacing, authoritative chants and topical references. The graphic design nicely echoed this approach. EBBHEAD is a bit more structurally elaborate, as is evidenced in its faux Gilbert and George cover art. Still a worthy listen,  especially while driving.

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