This page contains all entries posted to Manufactured Environments in July 2007.

Wisconsin ‘writer’ wins 2007 Bulwer-Lytton

I love the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest. It’s an annual contest put on by San Jose State to imagine the most horrifically written first line of a novel. It’s named after the guy who wrote: “It was a dark and stormy night.” Anyway, the 2007 winner of the contest is Jim Gleeson from Madison, Wis. Congrats, Mr. Gleeson, and here is his winning entry:

Gerald began – but was interrupted by a piercing whistle which cost him ten percent of his hearing permanently, as it did everyone else in a ten-mile radius of the eruption, not that it mattered much because for them “permanently” meant the next ten minutes or so until buried by searing lava or suffocated by choking ash – to pee.

The rest of this year’s delightful winners in all categories can be found here. Enjoy!

Tags: bulwer-lytton · fiction contest · jim gleeson · san jose state

No Comments Yet »

Online places to feed the vinyl fetish

I would be remiss if I didn’t offer up a few links after the last post of some places to dig out the vinyl. I will offer a few choice ones, but I know there are many more out there. Also, if you’re looking for used vinyl, places like eBay and such can be treasure troves of good tunes.

The first link is the Needle Doctor of Minneapolis. They may very well have the largest selection of turntables online. Needle Doctor carries over 130 different turntables, ranging from DJ-oriented gear like the Technics tables to higher-end tables that look positively space-age – and everything in between. They also have a huge selection of parts and accessories and other gear that you’ll want with your turntable. Truly this is a drool-worthy website. Turns of stuff to pour over. They also have a nice selection of headphones.

Another place to check for gear is Audio Advisor. They have a more general selection of audio gear and are geared mostly towards the higher-end of the spectrum. They do have a modest but nice selection of turntables that includes some not found at the Needle Doctor.

One site that I really like is Music Direct. You can request their catalog for free on the site. They carry “software” – they’ve got a huge selection of vinyl, including lots of hard to find stuff. They also have probably the largest selection of SACD and DVD-A discs around (Super Audio CD and DVD-Audio). They also have a nice, modest selection of gear including quite a few more turntables than Audio Advisor. I find their catalog a little easier to parse than the website so you might want to check that out. Otherwise, their selection of new vinyl is completely amazing. They’ve got reissues and all the new vinyl that’s being put out there. Music Direct is really fabulous.

Tags: audiophile · lp · music direct · needle doctor · turntables · vinyl

No Comments Yet »

Spinning the tunes vinyl-style

After a big move, it takes a while to get everything out and unpacked. I had unpacked my turntable right away as setting up my stereo is a priority. But I didn’t hook up the turntable, and listened instead to streaming music and CDs. A few weeks ago though I got around to hooking up the turntable. My turntable in Iowa City had kind of fallen on hard times. I had eventually unhooked it, and wasn’t listening to vinyl during that last stretch there.

My setup’s a little different now here, and I have room for my records and the turntable. So I hooked it up recently, and I’ve been on a total vinyl kick lately. I’ve been spinning records every chance I get. I forgot how much I love the sound of vinyl. Music really does sound awesome on vinyl LPs.

I really like my turntable too. It’s a Music Hall MMF-5, which I picked up probably five years ago now. Anyway they still sell them. Even Amazon.com has the MMF-5. The MMF-5 sounds good, and it’s very stable/absorbs vibrations. If I had to do it over, I probably would have gone with a Technics SL-1200MK2. That’s a sweet turntable. I’ve used those at the college radio stations I worked at both as an undergrad and in grad school.

At any rate, I found a record shop locally that sells vinyl, so I’m pretty much set except I need to find a shop that sells used vinyl. That’s my next endeavor. I’m still exploring the area, and I just got a phone book.

And if you’re looking to get into vinyl – or get back into vinyl – it’s very affordable. You can find turntables for under $150 if you want. I’m surprised by all the places that still sell turntables – the high-end audio/video stores I visit do and so do a lot of other places. So there must still be a market. There are some catalog companies that specialize in vinyl and audiophile recordings, but the names escape me at the moment.

Tags: music hall mmf-5 · records · turntable · vinyl

Comments (2) »

Do It Yourself guide to Digital Music

Michael W. Dean and Chris Caulder have released electronically their book Digital Music - DIY Now! They were under contract to Que to produce the book, but apparently the project got canned. The fruits of their labor are not lost and are available as a PDF file. There’s some interesting information contained within and is definitely worth a skim. The book is pretty much geared to the digital music newbie and as such provides an orientation to various applications used to produce music these days. Unfortunately, there are a few key chapters missing that were produced by a third author who took his material and published them in separate book.

Tags: book · digital music · diy

No Comments Yet »

Continuing the beta test of Movable Type 4.0

Six Apart has been dutifully releasing a new beta each week of Movable Type 4.0. This weeks venture is beta 7. Since the release of beta 1 in early June, I’ve been dutifully installing each new beta, reporting errors, and generally kicking the tires, so to speak. When beta 2 came out, I figured that there would probably be around eight beta releases. With the release of beta 7, I don’t think I’ll be far off in that estimation. Beta 7 seems to be showing the spit and polish of a mature release.

I was interested to see that they’ve finally baked in some podcasting features into the application. Beta 1 broke Brandon Fuller’s MT-Enclosures that I had been using to produce enclosure tags in the RSS feed. But perhaps some of these new templates tags will take care of all of that.

The one hard part of going through the beta is that there have been a lot of new features added, but documentation is in short supply at this point. I’m sure they’re working on it for release with the general release, but I’m still feeling like I haven’t quite taken advantage of what’s all new in Movable Type simply because I haven’t been able to read up on it. For example, they announced the new podcasting features in beta 7, but so far they haven’t actually said what they are. What new template tags support podcasting? Who knows? Maybe I’m impatient, but it seems that a little more time spent documenting some of the new features would have been helpful.

At any rate, Movable Type 4.0 is a much needed improvement on an already great product. I say much-needed because the basic application hadn’t really changed much – but MT 4.0 is a complete modernization of the product. Blogging has changed since I first started using Movable Type in Feb 2003, and now Movable Type has changed with it. Movable Type is still the best of the best.

Tags: beta 7 · movable type · mt4.0b7

No Comments Yet »

I ♥ Houellebecq

Tonight I started reading Michel Houellebecq’s third novel Platform, and I’m thoroughly enjoying it. Houellebecq is by far my favorite writer of the past few years. His perceptions on society, discourse, alienation and sex are compelling, dense and deeply wrought.

I discovered him quite by accident. I was at the Barnes & Noble in Iowa City a few years ago. I think it must have been summer because I was looking for Nick Hornby. As I was scanning the shelves, my eye stopped on The Elementary Particles, Houellebecq’s second novel, and the only one by him on the shelves that day. I’ve trained my eye well over the years to find weightier books amongst piles of fluff. The spine caught my attention. I pulled it out. I poured over the back and then flipped through the pages. And that’s the book that I left with.

The Elementary Particles is both profound and deeply disturbing. It rattled my cage, so to speak. It’s a book crammed with ideas and one of the best books I’ve ever read.

Last summer on the beach in Ocean City, Maryland, I tackled his first novel Whatever. It’s a lot more accessible and quite a quick read. I read the entire book in a day. It doesn’t have the same density of ideas, but it’s a good first novel.

I see that his latest novel The Possibility of an Island is newly out in paperback.

Reading the reviews of his books on Amazon.com, people seem to run hot/cold on him. Some people are utterly repulsed, and others totally get him. If you like challenges, I highly recommend The Elementary Particles. It really put my head in some interesting places, and it will yours as well.

Update: To be fair, I should note that if you’re female, don’t bother. Houellebecq, like Fellini, presents a distinctly male worldview. I remember watching Fellini’s 8½ for the first time in college. The women in attendance either left early or hated the movie. It’s still one of my favorite films. Anyway, Houellebecq is a lot like that.

Tags: books · michel houellebecq · novels · platform · the elementary particles · whatever

No Comments Yet »

Fugazi: Keep your eyes open

Legendary rock photographer Glen E. Friedman has a new book coming out of his photographs of Fugazi. It looks to be a great look at the seminal hardcore band. You can preorder it from the book’s website, and get it before it’s officially release on September 3. The book runs only $30 and looks to be lush with never-before-seen photography of the band up close and personal. Very cool.

Amazon.com doesn’t have a listing for the book yet (it would probably be here if and when it does), but it is available directly from FugaziBook.com.

If you’re going “Fugazi? I’ve heard of them.” Then you’ll definitely want to start with 13 Songs, an incredible album. (Here’s Wikipedia.) They have tons of great stuff, but 13 Songs is an excellent starting point. Dischord Records of Washington, DC, Ian MacKaye’s own label, carries them.

Tags: book · dischord · fugazi · glen friedman · ian mackaye

No Comments Yet »

It’s not easy being [celadon]

Continuing the Kermit the Frog green theme from Faust’s last post, I thought I’d point out this small business profile in Apple’s Mac@work series. It talks about Roy Caro’s latest venture, a furniture store in Montreal called the Celadon Collection.

In case you’re wondering exactly what shade of green celadon is, you can check out the Wikipedia entry dedicated to that very color.

Ken Nordine didn’t choose celadon for his classic album Colors, but here’s the Green track [removed] in MP3 format.

Tags: celadon · collection · green · ken nordine · kermit the frog

No Comments Yet »

Contra Home Depot Eco - N:Vision bulb doesn’t fit in Heath/Zenith 150 Degree Motion Sensor Security Light

It’s not easy being green or even celadon for that matter. But it was getting pretty easy to be jaded after a six months of trying to find a security light that is both motion and photocell activated and can use compact fluorescent lamps in Decorah, Iowa. So, I was rather excited when I stumbled across what looked to be a winning combination at Home Depot Eco.

• Heath/Zenith 150 Degree Motion Sensor Security Light
• N:Vision 23w (90w) PAR38 soft white CFLs

Regrettably, the N:Vision bulb doesn’t fit in the Heath/Zenith fixture. To be fair, the site doesn’t exactly say that it will, but it sure seems to suggest it. Fortunately, I had a two pack of Philips Reflector Floods that did fit.

Tags: cfl · eco · environment · home depot · light blub · screencast · security light

No Comments Yet »

Interview with Front 242 at First Avenue

Industrial music band Front 242 excites the crowd at Minneapolis’ club First Avenue. Photo by Holly Weyand.

Here’s an old article from the files. I recently contacted the alumni office to see if they could dig up this article from the Luther College student newspaper, and they did. I had a few people asking me about the poem I wrote towards the end of the 30 Poems in 30 Days – and here is an article I wrote at the time of that day.

Interview with Front 242 at First Avenue by Daniel R Stout
Originally published in Luther College Chips on September 26, 1991.

Atmosphere. Billowing clouds of fog rolled off the stage. Suddenly, human silhouettes lit from behind. A riveting bass line thundered from the speakers. Apocalyptic drums burst. The crowd responded in a frenzy of activity. Front 242 had begun its assault.

The intense visuals matched the intense sound at the recent Front 242 concert in Minneapolis at First Avenue. Several carloads of Luther students were on-hand to experience the event. Energy poured out as the band played some of their best songs. “Headhunter,” “Until Death (Us Do Part),” and “Masterhit” (to name a few) had the audience bouncing. The band members were clad in industrial parachuting outfits. Also on stage was a rather factory-esque backdrop designed by the band and some video screens showing graphics also done by the band. The lack of an opening band and the rather short concert were the only drawbacks to a great show.

Front 242 is one of the pioneering bands in heavy electronic music. The four members of the band, Daniel Bressanutti, Patrick Codenys, Richard 23, and Jean-Luc De Meyer; started out about ten years ago in Belgium. For years, Front 242 has been at the cutting edge in the underground, and with the release of their last album, “Tyranny (For You),” on a major record label, they have increased their following greatly. Their earlier releases have always been handled in the United States by Chicago independent, Wax Trax Records, but in a matter of months the old 242 releases are to be issues to the mainstream on Epic. The two singles, so far, from the last album, “Tragedy (For You)” and “Rhythm of Time” have even had video play on “over poppy” MTV.

Industrial music has its roots in the seventies and earlier with bands like Kraftwerk and later with Throbbing Gristle. It was not until the heavy electro-beat and body-moving tempos of bands like D.A.F. and Front 242 that the music moved forward. The advent of samplers was also very important to the movement. Samplers have enabled sound manipulation and the use of sound bites to a degree previously unexplored. The industrial dance concept has since, in the past couple of years, crossed over to the mainstream. The recent song “People Are Still Having Sex” by LaTour is a clear example of how industrial and house styles have been borrowed for mainstream success.

The afternoon before the show, I had the opportunity to interview Jean-Luc De Meyer of Front 242 and sit in on the sound check. Following are a few excerpts from this interview. The interview will be aired in its entirety on KWLC in the near future.

Daniel R Stout: Do you see playing with sound and manipulating it as an art?

Jean-Luc De Meyer: I don’t know if it’s an art. I wouldn’t consider myself or the other people in the band as artists because when we are really thoroughly impressed by the work of a great film director, for example, Peter Greenaway or Ridley Scott, we really feel that they are artists. What we do is so small and irrelevant that I would definitely say that we are technicians or maybe experimentalists or something like that, but not musicians and not artists.

D: How did you guys happen to get into electronic music?

Jean-Luc: Basically it was because we felt that the potential in these instruments had been exploited by some interesting bands, but those bands, immediately after having a very interesting debut, just went back to the old stuff; bands like OMD or the Human League. Their first records were excellent and then when you see them live nothing happens or they play with acoustic instruments. We felt kind of frustrated because you have their synthesizers that can give you access to millions and millions of sounds and you make two interesting records and then you stop. So we were sure that we could use those instruments and go further. That is how we started. We were four very different people working alone. We had common friends. We met and decided to work together. First, to have more material, but most of all, to have a better view on our work, because when you work alone during twelve hours, and after that, if you have to judge your own work, it is much more difficult. You don’t have the distance. When you’re four people it’s much easier, and I think it’s very important when you work with electronic sounds to be very selective and very careful about what you do.

D: Some have said that industrial has gotten old. Where do you see yourselves going with electronic music?

Jean-Luc: I really don’t know. We really don’t care about all those classifications. We make music in the first instance for our own fun, and it’s already been ten years that we have worked that way, and we are not going to change it. We never had planning or a path that we wanted to follow except that we definitely wanted to remain independent and autonomous completely on the artistical grounds. All those rights until now, and even when we moved to Epic, have been granted and that is already wonderful for us. We have our own studio. We can do what we want. We have no producer, no manager, and no engineer. No nothing. We are absolutely, completely in charge of what we do and that’s the most important for us. Maybe tomorrow we can make jazz music or country music. Well, I know we won’t be good at it, but if we decide so, if we think, ‘there is the fun,’ we will be completely free to do it. There is absolutely no pressure upon us.

D: Do you ever feel yourselves limited by the technology?

Jean-Luc: No, I think it’s the contrary. I think what happened during those last years is that there were too many new instruments on the market. So all the stuff has not been completely explored. I know that a band like Depeche Mode still use the first analog synthesizers, and they are simply right because they’ve some sounds that you cannot find on new instruments, and we did approximately the same. With the evolution of technology, we didn’t sell back all the equipment we had. We kept some of the very old synthesizers, and we used them sometimes. The sounds they produce are really different. It has a different texture. They are really interesting to keep.

D: I’ve heard that electronic music in Europe is going down in popularity. How are things going for you guys?

Jean-Luc: I know that this kind of music in general is declining, and I think it’s declining because there is obviously a lack of talent and of renewal in it, but several bands don’t experience this general trend. What I can say, and I know what I’m talking about because I’m in charge of the control of all the royalty statements of the band, is that from one record to another we always grow in very large proportions. So, I think maybe this kind of music in general is declining in Europe. There are fewer bands making records in this kind of direction, but we, as Front 242, haven’t experienced any decline at all in the ten years that we have worked. There are other bands in the same area of the same kind of progression, and I think it’s a good thing because it shows that maybe the hype is gone. Maybe you are not in the trend or in the fashion, but you are still there and it proves at least your music is authentic. Well, it’s like when the snakes lose their scales. What remains is the most important part of the body, and all the rest falls apart. I think that’s what happens.

D: How did you get the name Front 242?

Jean-Luc: It’s very easy. Front has basically two meanings. Upper part of the head, first, and it’s also the advance point on the war field. It has the same meaning in almost every European language: French, Dutch, German, English, and even in Swedish and in Spanish. So we chose the name Front because it was kind of universal, and 242 also is very easy to advertise. It’s a good logo. When you see this number you’ll never forget it. 242. After that we realized that the number 242 could be related to several things or events that could also have a link with the story of the band, but all these interpretations came later. We didn’t deliberately choose 242 because of its quality or number, but just because it was a good logo.

Tags: chips · first avenue · front 242 · industrial music · jean-luc de meyer · luther college

No Comments Yet »

Tweaks aplenty

I’ve been making tweaks aplenty around the blog. I feel a cool breeze blowing through the blog – it’s a refreshing wind. So after the intensity of 30 Poems in 30 Days, I’m kicking back and seeing what direction the blog wants to go right now. Most of the tweaks have been fairly subtle, but one change that I’m especially glad about is to have the blogroll back on the front page. After the last redesign, the blogroll went away. But I missed it, and so I’ve brought it back. You can get a sense of what blogs I have been reading lately – some by friends, some by others, some by top bloggers. It’s a mix of topics and approaches to blogging. Maybe you’ll find something you like in that list. Another more noticeable change was that I updated my about page. It’s a pretty standard bio in 300 or so words. [Note to self: ask Faust to update his about page.] Also be sure to check out the new The Tag Cloud page. It’s kind of freaky.

So as the dust settles around here, here are a few other places that you can find me online: Last.fm, Facebook, and MySpace.

Tags: blogroll · dust · tweaks

No Comments Yet »

Steve Jobs / George W Bush mashup

Here’s a hilarious video from MadTV that asks the question: what if Steve Jobs were George W Bush?

Tags: apple · george w bush · iran · iraq · steve jobs

No Comments Yet »

30 Poems in 30 Days: June 2007

The project was this: write a poem a day for the month of June 2007. It’s now July, and the poems are written. I’ve assembled the poems into an electronic chapbook in PDF format, which you can download.

30PoemsIn30Days.pdf

And here are links to the 31 poems I wrote starting on May 31 and ending on June 30.

1. My Glorious Song
2. The Freedom of Liberation
3. A Dormant Muscle
4. True Love
5. A chance to survive
6. My iPhone died today
7. A brick through glass
8. Will the sky be blue?
9. They say it’s your birthday (Limbs)
10. Dark Ecstasy
11. The Gentle Life of Air
12. Hip-hop for Angels
13. A New Word
14. What if Linux and Windows had a wedding
15. A Sushi Dinner
16. Tune In And Never Tune Out
17. Placing the seed
18. The soul is an empty vessel
19. The scent of her skin
20. The Way
21. Have you ever been?
22. Love
23. The Morning Mist
24. Side effects
25. 24 Times
26. Questions
27. The Smoke Billows
28. The din of revolution
29. 100% Natural
30. I got my iPhone today
31. An Ode to the Day

Tags: 30 poems in 30 days · poetry

No Comments Yet »