Words and Reflexxions

June 26, 2007 admin News

The News Review:

- Words and Reflexxions
- Educator Composer Engineer Roy Pritts Passes Away
- This summer it’s rock around the bloc
- FREE MP3: Bob Marley’s ‘Soul Shakedown Party’ Remix
- Music 4 Games — The Future of Rock n’ Roll & Interactive…
- Powder Burns – Music – Village Voicepage 1 – Village Voice
- Sixties Flashback

Words and Reflexxions
Channel News Asia – Jun 26, 2007
Von Sudenfed came into being after Smith and Mouse n Mars met in Dusseldorf in 2004. After releasing a single that year the trio entered the studio again earlier this year for three sessions that resulted in Tromatic Reflexxions. While the collaboration seemed unlikely since the artists specialise in different genres St Werner said Smith is “into electronic music and was determined to make the union work”. “For us it was perfect to work with Mark because he is the complete opposite of what we do with Mouse n Mars” he added. “Even though he was meticulous he also brought a spontaneity to the dynamics. If it was someone as technical as we are the album would have taken forever to produce. St Werner also felt the collaboration with Smith was timely being that Mouse n Mars are bored with the limited returns on abstract electronic music their speciality since debut album Vulvaland came out in 1994.

Educator Composer Engineer Roy Pritts Passes Away
MIX – Jun 26, 2007
He taught audio engineering electronic music and music composition until his retirement in May 2006. During his tenure Pritts served as the Resident Dean of the College of Music (now the College of Arts & Media at the University of Colorado at Denver and Health Sciences Center) from 1984-1989. He also taught audio engineering courses at the University of Massachusetts-Lowell the University of Miami the Institutes of Cinematography in both St. Petersburg and Moscow the Moscow State University (Russia) the Technical Universities of Gdansk (Poland) and Prague (Czech Republic) Taller de Arte Sonoro (Venezuela) and the University of Lulea-Pitea (Sweden). As a consultant in audio forensics Pritts advised the Colorado Bureau of Investigation and numerous other Colorado agencies.

This summer it’s rock around the bloc
International Herald Tribune – Jun 26, 2007
For music fans in the former Eastern bloc the demise of the old regime brought about an unexpected benefit: the arrival of rock and techno music festivals on a huge scale previously reserved for May Day celebrations. More recently Western festivalgoers have begun to take notice of these concerts drawn not only by the acts but also by the alluring ticket prices and the unfettered enthusiasm of the audience. ver the next two months a half-dozen big concerts will bring international stars to countries that were once locked behind the Iron Curtain a place where rocking out was a near impossibility if not outright forbidden. In large part these festivals are considerably cheaper than their West European equivalents despite often being much larger: a ticket for the seven-day Sziget Festival in Hungary for instance is 37500 forint ($193 at 195 forint to the dollar) while the Reading festival in England clocks in at three days for £145 ($290 at $2 to the pound). Each show gets you Razorlight Nine Inch Nails Gogol Bordello and Unkle among other groups… But Sziget also includes hundreds of additional performances from the likes of Madness the Chemical Brothers Tinariwen Laurent Garnier and the Good the Bad and the Queen as well as lots of local talent. And there's an easy-to-overlook bonus: crowds here have loads of enthusiasm and precious little snark. “utside of South America I'd say that people in Eastern Europe are the most joyous crowds to play to” said Tony McGuinness one-third of Above & Beyond the electronic music superpower. “With Poland and the other countries joining the EU there's a great sense of optimism there. Whoever's on whatever DJ's playing if it's good music they love it. “Above & Beyond will have to wait until July 7 to feel the love at Creamfields Poland in Wroclaw where they will perform with the Prodigy Vitalic and a slew of other dance and electronic acts. But this week Poland kicks off its festival season on June 29 with pen'er a three-day party featuring noise-rockers Sonic Youth neo new-wavers Bloc Party and two sets (one instrumental) from the Beastie Boys all happening at the Baltic Sea port of Gdynia.

FREE MP3: Bob Marley’s ‘Soul Shakedown Party’ Remix
Rolling Stone – Jun 26, 2007
I’m boogieing around the computer now. Seeing as the roots of electronic music is in dub and reggae this is a natural progression.

Music 4 Games — The Future of Rock n’ Roll & Interactive…
Music 4 Games – Jun 26, 2007
No strangers to providing epic music for video game soundtracks Abernethy and Graves are renowned for their cinematic and prolific orchestral music on numerous action and adventure video game titles such as Star Trek: Legacy Blazing Angels 1&2 Hour of Victory Gauntlet: Seven Sorrows Zathura King Arthur and The Hobbit. In order to realize the fantastic world in BlackSite: Area 51 the veteran composer duo produced over 90-minutes of provocative contemporary music featuring traditional Western orchestral compositions augmented with exotic instruments from the Middle East Africa and Asia. To create a more modern sci-fi feel they also employed dynamic electronic music layers and sound design elements in the score to interact with the orchestra for added ?alien? aggression. ?Marc Schaefgen Worldwide Audio Director for Midway is working closely with us to create an exciting hybrid orchestral score that people have never heard in a first person shooter before. Clark Crawford and Adam Kay at Midway Austin are the best audio team that anyone could ask for.

Powder Burns – Music – Village Voicepage 1 – Village Voice
villagevoice.com – Jun 26, 2007
The baby powder helps your feet glide and spin. A house dancer spins like a top jerks and jacks his or her body to the beat like a pogo stick quietly swan-dives nose-first to the floor jumps into the splits like one of the Nicolas Brothers and mimics the rhythms in the music with footwork so fast it looks like skating. Since its early development in the late ’70s roughly coinciding with the rise of house and electronic music in Chicago and New York house dance has codified a technique and a philosophy that’s now big business in Asia and Europe. The four-day House Dance International event will raise U. awareness about these developments offering dance workshops at Alvin Ailey dance competitions at the Sullivan Room and Club Shelter documentary screenings panel discus- sions and parties. “House dance parties go for eight hours” says Hell’s Kitchen resident Santiago Freeman executive director of the festival.

Sixties Flashback
sfweekly.com – Jun 26, 2007
Birdman honcho David Katznelson who tends to sign artists that smack of classic garage and psych sees a whole new generation discovering and reinterpreting the sounds of the late ’60s and early ’70s. “As far as psychedelia is concerned I think the only real difference is that the younger folk who go out to see music have gone away from electronic music and back into more rock-and-roll live stuff. There were always bands around; I think that there are more now because the kids are more interested in it and that’s what they’re listening to more. ” Haight District resident and former Pleasure Forever keyboardist Andrew Douglas Rothbard is someone who in recent years has gravitated toward something decidedly more Sixties-infused. His recent album Abandoned Meander may have been recorded on a PowerBook but it was conceptually inspired by vintage psychedelic pop largely of the West Coast variety. “My perception of music dating from the late 1960s is that it was a pure manifestation of lysergic optimism” e-mails Rothbard “and that artists were more likely to push every conceivable boundary imaginable.