Oh my good lord. You have to listen to THIS on accordionguy's website. "Doctorin' the Tardis by The Timelords (who were really The KLF under another name). A proto-mash-up of the Doctor Who theme with Gary Glitter's Rock and Roll, Part 2. [7.2 MB MP3]"

It put the biggest smile on my face. I love that tune. Always have.

Via reBlog, is this story about how the LAPD shut down an art show due to the "aggressive and offensive" nature of the show. From the website of the gallery, it looks like the art show was full of parodies of commercial logos. WTF?

Also, the new Caribou, the Milk of Human Kindness, is absolutely brilliant. At once subtly glitchy at times, and also quite full of 60s psychedelia guitar rock. Deeply satisfying.

Also, the new Autechre, Untilted, is quite fun, if unlistenable by most people's standards. It's full of the kind of chaotic splintery metallic beats and glitchy sounds that really gets my juices running. But you definitely have to be in the right mood to listen to it, though. Call it difficult music.

So, my favorite free VSTs, part deux.

MellowSound. An imitation of a mellotron, an old tape driven organ type thing, kind of like a sampler before sampling. It's not that accurate, but hey, it's free.

Endorphin, by digitalfishphones. A very warm sounding compressor. It makes things loud.

Dubb Box, by arcDev Noise Industries. A very cool, retro emulation of a tape delay system. More delay is good. Echo echo echo... Just scroll down until you see Dubb Box.

Oud, by Safwan Matni. It's a fairly good emulation of a Middle Eastern oud, a type of lute. If you need some Middle Eastern flavor in your tracks, look here.

That's all for now. Allen's remix proceeds apace. Not done yet, but hopefully very soon.

So, I'm working on this new remix for my friend Allen. The original song is called Depths of the Ocean, and it's pretty cool. Spacey and chill, similar to some early Orb stuff, or, if you pushed it, maybe early Aphex Twin, sorta. He did it in Ableton Live, a very wonderful little program useful for musical composition and performance. So, the remix I'm working on, called Involution Ocean, will push things further into e:mit type territory, hopefully with some interesting, evolving textures bubbling underneath, with hyperkinetic fractal grooves fading in and out of the soundfield, and a distant wall of sound/swirling guitar/shoegazer feedback, in some ways similar to My Bloody Valentine. Should be done by tomorrow, I hope.

With this in mind (and to be honest, really, I really only think that Mike and Allen and maybe Jeremy will find this interesting) I'm going to make some recommendations for freeware VST effects and instruments that can be used in programs like Ableton Live. Or Orion. Fruityloops. Etc.

In no particular order.

Mutant Koto, a VST instrument meant to emulate plucked strings. It comes awfully close at times to sounding like a Koto or a Kora, but you can tweak the sounds into otherworldly realms.

Cheeze Machine, also a VST instrument, which is designed to emulate the ancient 'string ensembles' that were some of the first incarnations of analog synthesizers available to the masses. This makes a very cool, very warm sound that slowly evolves over time.

Minerva, by Tweakbench. If you're looking for a VST instrument drummachine with an instant glitch aesthetic, this is it. Very very cool. Especially if you automate switching the source of each drum hit. Can make the most bizarre, crunchy and distressed beats you've heard in a while. Pretty much everything else by Tweakbench is worth having.

db Tempo Delay, a classic delay effect. Very cool. Can never have enough delay.

dfx Buffer Override, by DestroyFX. This is the perfect effect for creating the glitchiest stuttering effects. Trust me. You want this.

KTGranulator, by Koen Tanghe of Smartelectronix. Instant granulation effects. Add random patterns in Minerva with dfx Buffer Override and KTGranulator, and you have instant Autechre. Glitchy madness. Lots of other stuff by the Smartelectronix crew is worth having.

SupaTrigga, by Bram of Smartelectronix which automagically cuts and slices and dices samples for breakbeat lovefests. Instant jungle, or if you play with it, instant glitch.

Finally, Syntar, a VST instrument version of an Indian sitar. Very very cool. Made in Synthedit, which seems to be beyond my learning curve right now.

Also, in reference to new music, check out ModSquare, which I'm pretty sure I've linked to before, and Cyclic Defrost. Both have reviews of new music that you may find interesting. Or repellent. Whatever. Also check out Igloo. All via a discussion on EM411.

Had a great time this weekend, despite working 2 out of the three days, and helping Kathleen (my wife's sister) and Collin move (a little). What's really cool is I got to see the girls' parents, which is always cool, and we got to go out to eat for Kathleen's birthday. It's good to spend time with good friends. And the Oreo Birthday Cake wasn't too shabby either.