Joel Johnson

Video: Propellerheads "Record" audio suite

Old news to those that make music, perhaps, but new to me: Propellerheads, the people who make the delightful sequencer Reason (which I will someday actually buy instead of using the demo for a few days then getting scared to drop hundreds of dollars) are launching "Record", a companion recording suite that more than addresses what I've always found to be Reason's most glaring oversight: the inability to actually record analog instruments or vocals without another piece of software.

Which, I guess, it still does take another piece of software, but at least it's all be part of the same suite now. Since I'm still using Garage Band for most of my projects but have run my head up against its limitations finally, I may have to bite the bullet and get Reason and Record when it comes out of beta.

I especially love the part of the above overview video where they essentially teach guitarists how to convince their band vocalist why the software will help them sound more totally rock.

Rob Beschizza

LED Life Mask

Rob Beschizza

Hockney iPhone art

Rob Beschizza

Mnemosyne

If the desire to spend ten grand on an aluminum soma cube thumbdrive ever takes you, this one, by Toshi Satoji Design of Milan, comes highly recommended. [Mnemosyne via Akihabara News]

Steven Leckart

Byte Magazine, August 1981

Joel Johnson

MP3: Office - "Enter Me, Exit You"

(Currently the band's download page is offline, but the whole album is available for free download on Last.fm. No agenda, just really digging this band.) Nevermind! Here is the official download page.

Joel Johnson

Michael Jackson's patented "Smooth Criminal" leaning shoes

Patent number 5255452, filed in 1992, shows how Michael Jackson and his dancers could lean at 45-degree angles during live performances of the song "Smooth Criminal".

1. A system for engaging shoes with a hitch mans to permit a person standing on a stage surface to lean forwardly beyond his or her center of gravity, comprising:

at least one shoe having a heel with a first engagement means, said first engagement means comprising a recess formed in a heel of said shoe covered with a heel slot plane located at a bottom region of said heel, said heel slot plate having a slot formed therein with a relatively wide opening at a leading edge of said heel and a narrower terminal end rearward of said leading edge, said recess being larger in size above said terminal end of said slot than is said terminal end of said slot; and
a second engagement means, detachably engageable with said first engagement means, comprising a hitch member having an enlarged head portion connected by a narrower shank portion to a means for raising and lowering said head of said hitch member above and substantially level with or below said stage surface, said head portion being larger in size than said terminal end of said slot and said shank portion being narrower than said terminal end of said slot, wherein said hitch member can be moved through apertures in said stage surface between a projecting position raised above said stage surface and a retracted position at or below the stage surface, and when said head portion of said hitch member is raised above said stage surface, said first engagement means can be detachably engaged with said projecting hitch member, thereby allowing a person wearing the shoes to lean forwardly with his or her normal center of gravity beyond a front region of said shoes, and maintain said forward lean.

You can see them perform the move in the below video; watch the guy on the right, as he has trouble disengaging his loafers after the move.

Joel Johnson

Video: Michael Jackson's Captain EO

Goodbye, Michael. Even with all the problems, you were one of the greats. [via Karina]

Steven Leckart

Captured Lightning: Lichtenberg Figures

Irradiating a beam of electrons from a 5 million volt particle accelerator into a block of acrylic causes the electrical "treeing" you see above. This particular hunk costs $175.

[via Scoutmaster]

Joel Johnson

Lisztomania

Ladies love a virtuoso. Just look at Franz Liszt's pouting eyes, his rakish tie, his middle finger cocked with the promise of 19th century manual dexterity. What apple-cheeked girl wouldn't squeal and squirm when Liszt began to shower trills and tremolos upon music that had only ever before been played with strict adherence to the composer's score?

And squeal they did, prompting Heinrich Heine to coin the term "Lisztomania" to describe the antics of the performer's ardent fans, who would pack performance halls to catch a glimpse of the Hungarian hunk, fainting and fluttering with every flamboyant flourish.

The parallels to modern rock stars are obvious—enough to prompt a 1975 film by Ken Russell about Liszt, who cast The Who's Roger Daltrey as Franz, with a synth-heavy soundtrack by virtuosoic keyboard player Rick Wakeman, who, when he wasn't busy writing soundtracks added cinematic overtones to the rock band Yes.

Watch the above trailer to get a taste of the music, which Wakeman based in part on Liszt's compositions—quite faithfully, in fact, compared to Russell's interpretation of 1800s Germany, which from what I can recall from any history book that isn't from White Wolf, had considerably fewer vampires. (Of note: The Japanese cover of the soundtrack is particularly phallic.)

Why's the term back now? French pop band Phoenix has named their lead track "Lisztomania", a happy ditty in morbid contrast to a video trip that takes the band to the Franz Liszt museum to look at portraits and death masks in simulated, '60s quality faux retro film.

So there's that. Now maybe someone else can explain why Phoenix named the album "Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix."

Rob Beschizza

Wood iPod Mini

Rob Beschizza

Needlepoint Space Invader fridge magnets

Joel Johnson

Music Video: Fever Ray "Triangle Walks"

Scandinavians: the only goths that are cool.

Rob Beschizza

Guerilla art at Home Depot

Guerilla artist residencies in DIY megastores [Make]

Joel Johnson

Samson Zoom R16: Multitrack mobile recording

Samson's Zoom R16 is a 16-track recorder that writes audio files to SD cards (although only 8 tracks can be recorder at a time). Better, it can be operated on just 6AA batteries for mobile recording. Even better, you can connect it to your computer and just use it as a control surface.

There's even a built-in stereo condenser mic that makes it possible to do some basic recording without plugging into the XLR/1/4-inch inputs.

Price! $400 is suggested.

Joel Johnson

Fleet Foxes' Robin Pecknold likes file-sharing just fine

BBC:

"That was how I discovered almost everything when I was a teenager - my dad brought home a modem," he said.

"That was how I was exposed to almost all of the music that I love to this day, and still that's the easiest way to find really obscure stuff.

"I've discovered so much music through that medium. That will be true of any artist my age, absolutely."

Rob Beschizza

We don't have that problem in England

See the rest at Joy of Tech.

Lisa Katayama

SF Samurai exhibit showcases vintage swords and armor

Miyamoto Musashi is a famous swordsman and philosopher who lived in Edo period Japan. He founded the Niten Ichi style of swordsmanship, which entails the use of two wooden swords, long and short, at the same time. The Asian Art Museum's Lord of the Samurai art exhibit, which opens this Friday in San Francisco, will showcase the original wooden swords made my Musashi himself between 1640 and 1645.

Lord of the Samurai at the Asian Art Museum

Rob Beschizza

The imaginary musical instruments of Yanko

Theirs is a wonderful gallery of designs, mockups and creative ideas: wouldn't it be cool if all of them were realized and a concert performed?

Rob Beschizza

Interview: James White of Signalnoise

James White of Signalnoise.com created Boing Boing Gadgets' beautiful spectral background. We sat down with him in an internet and asked him why rainbows are so awesome.

BB. What's your background? Why art? Why prismatic colors?

JW. I have been drawing since I was 4 years old, so I've been leading a creative lifestyle to some degree for as long as I can remember. I was constantly being yelled at in school for drawing in class, but despite that it was pretty inevitable that I got into design right after high school.

I took a year of Graphic Design at a local community college in my hometown of Truro, Nova Scotia followed by two years of Interactive Technology. I got swept up in the web boom in 1998 and have been working in the field ever since.

While working, I spent the entirety of my 20s (I'm now 32) exploring all kinds of visual expression on my own time. I wanted to try everything from comic book illustration, generative artwork, 3D modeling, character design . . . you name it. I had lots of ambition and no focus which results in a lot of unfinished projects, but on the plus side gave me a lot of experience with different methods of digital creation. I eventually calmed down and started to focus on topics and themes that meant a lot to me, which brought me back to my childhood.

The prismatic colors I use so much are taken directly from old network logo animations seen on television in the late 70s and early 80s, namely NBC. Those animations and effects are beautiful and they have a huge influence on the kind of art I love creating.

BB. What's the most absurd or harrowing experience of your career?

JW. After working in the design field for five years, I decided in 2003 I would attend an art school to study fine art, as in painting and drawing. Based on my experience, I tackle every project with a series of general steps which give me a more clear vision of where I want to go creatively and conceptually. What I quickly noticed was that art schools hate that, and I was being told to "stop thinking, be gestural, be messy, be instinctive".

I found myself in a sea of fog in a place I thought would bring more clarity, vision and conceptual to my work. Confusion was an understatement.

BB. What sort of music do you listen to?

JW. I'm all about the metal, and have been for a great number of years. I like the older stuff like Sabbath, Judas Priest and the mighty Iron Maiden as well as newer bands like Mastodon, Isis, At the Gates, Opeth, Tool, The Sword and Queens of the Stone Age. I have had many discussions with friends about why we love the genre so much, and it always comes down to diversity.

There are so many sub-genres when you look at the broad spectrum of metal, so many different styles and progressions based in so many parts of the world, it's staggering. Metal also has one of the most interesting histories in music, splitting off from blues and rock bands such as Blue Cheer and Led Zeppelin. My friends and I are constantly trading new bands with one another as we explore, it's exhilarating hearing something new that immediately takes your head clean off.

BB. Does it feel strange to be creating things that are driven in part by personal nostalgia but are often appreciated by a generation that doesn't get the references?

JW. Everything is cyclic, and I think it's natural for a generation to look behind themselves to see what has been done in the past. So if I can bring some really cool material from the past to the attention of a generation younger then my own, I think that's fantastic. That's the main reason I run my personal art blog (Signalnoise.com) is to not only discuss my own personal projects, but to showcase my influences and inspirations.

Earlier in my career I had to rely on other designers and portal websites (like k10k.net, or designiskinky.net) for exposure to inspirational material, and it was such a huge help to me that I'm trying to provide the same kind of resource online. It took me quite some time to really think back to my childhood and harness the themes I loved so much, it's very personal, and I think to truly find something pure everyone needs to do that for themselves.

BB. EGA or VGA?

VGA is the future!

Pyramid Power or Chariots of the Gods?

JW: There are far too many unexplained phenomenon on this planet which still cannot be definitively answered with our advanced sciences and technologies. Despite our many theories, we have no idea how Stonehenge was built, or how human beings could have erected the pyramids. Chariots of the Gods, man.

Joel Johnson

Music Video: Jay-Z "Death of Auto-Tune (D.O.A.)"

"This is anti-auto-tune/death of the ringtone/this ain't for iTunes/this ain't for sing-along" [via The Awl]

This is begging for an auto-tuned remix.

Joel Johnson

Flight of the Conchords poster

Joel Johnson

Netsurfer

Joel Johnson

Music Video: Röyksopp + Robyn "The Girl and the Robot"

This really isn't that great of a song, but I think Robyn is fantastic despite myself (even if she's ripped off my haircut). Plus she nearly gets [redacted]-[redacted] by a robot in the video. What's not to like? There's also a Nokia N97 in there for second, which I have about as much likelihood of using as I do a robot who will [redacted] on my [redacted].

I think someone emailed this in as a tip a couple of weeks ago and I forgot to post it, but I can't find the email, either. So if I didn't just make that all up, thanks for sending it in!

Joel Johnson

Swarvoski Snare

Joel Johnson

Video: How to start a dance party (Sasquatch 2009)

As I once said to a crowd of stoically swaying My Life With the Thrill Kill Kult fans who were very frustrated with my attempts to dance with them while I was two bottles to my tits on DXM: Come on, let's just daaaance.

Joel Johnson

Electro-Harmonix Overdrive pedal for Rock Band 2

Steven Leckart

Videos: HOWTO Make Latte Art

The World Latte Art Championship is in a month. Better get practicing. Here's how to make "The Indian."

More after the jump...

READ THE REST

Steven Leckart

13,500 Pages of Data Micro-Etched into Nickel

READ THE REST

Joel Johnson

Here, have a short, free comic about genius dinosaur origin stories

Atomic Robo appears to be an awesome comic.