Above is the trailer for the upcoming Morbid Angel remix album. I’m pleased to be on the same release as Laibach, Skinny Puppy and many other great artists. Morbid Angel is causing a lot of controversy within its own fanbase by jumping genres. Usually artists need to change to grow so I respect what they are doing.
“39 artists from the electro / indus / dub scene, each remix a song from Morbid Angel’s latest offering “Illud Divinum Insanus”. Featuring Laibach, Combichrist, The Horrorist, Punish Yourself, Micropoint, Treponem Pal and many others!”
For more info: stormingthebase.com/morbid-angel-announces-remix-album…
This entry was written by , posted on November 28, 2011 at 4:57 am, filed under music and tagged Laibach, Mobid Angel, Skinny Puppy, The Horrorist, Things to Come Records. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink and follow any comments with the RSS feed for this post.
I’ve been wanting to make a post about the Ensoniq ESQ-1 for a while. The only reason I didn’t do it sooner is I wanted to buy one on eBay before I drive the prices up! I can happily report I did just click the Buy Now button and got a mint one for $250. Now I’m going to tell you this synth is the biggest secret in the synth world. Ensoniq was an American company and most of their synths are made of metal. The ESQ-1 also has a LED screen which is still beautiful and much nicer than the green/black LCD screens such as on a Yamaha DX7. The ESQ-1 is a digital synth but has all analog curtis filters (like DSI products). They are 4-pole analog resonant filters with 6-stage envelopes. You get 8 voice polyphony. What’s the price difference between a DSI Prophet 8 and a vintage ESQ? See where I am going here? It has 3 oscillators per voice, 32 waveforms, 3 LFOs per voice (triangle, saw, square, random) and 4 VCA + 4 Envelopes with 7 parameters per voice. There’s MIDI, memory and an on-board sequencer.
When I was in college I was friends with a synth band called Exurbia. The lead keyboardist Juan had an Ensoniq. I was constantly blown away by the sound. Skinny Puppy also used one. Recently I was viewing the awesome synth demos Jexus puts online and came across two he posted for the ESQ-1 (see above). I instantly jumped on eBay. I was shocked to see these consistently sell for under $300. I bought one. Another piece in my musical time machine. Go get one.
So your not convinced yet? Check out the video below. All sounds are from the ESQ-1 with no added effects. As an 80s freak I love this…
“The ESQ-1 is an absolutely fantastic synth with a great sound. In modern language – “It has a DSI filter” – you can hear it when it’s running through those ‘lo-fi digital samples’ with high resonance. It’s a very aggressive, powerful sound with lots of low end and depth. The filter makes all the difference and I would never miss analogue saw waves now that I own it. Roland synths of the era were beautiful and smooth, ESQ-1 was heavier and darker.” – Rib (comment on vintagesynth.com)
For more info: vintagesynth.com/ensoniq/ens_esq1
photo credit: Matrixsynth
This entry was written by , posted on August 17, 2011 at 4:37 am, filed under hardware, synthesizer and tagged Ensoniq, Ensoniq ESQ-1, Skinny Puppy, synthesizer. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink and follow any comments with the RSS feed for this post.
Ever wonder how popular a band or artist really is? Head over to http://google.com/insights/search/ and find out. Today I have three popularity wars set up (click to enlarge screenshots). First I go old school EBM (of course) and throw VNV Nation into the mix with Nitzer Ebb, Front 242 and Skinny Puppy. Surprisingly Nitzer Ebb looses big time. Next up on stage is MGMT vs Willie Nelson vs The Prodigy. The surprise to me here is that the Prodigy manages to stay on the chart at all. The final contest I go for some big bands: NIN vs Depeche Mode vs Kraftwerk. I knew DM would win but if you look carefully there were a few moments in time NIN over took them.
Of course popularity doesn’t always equal great tunes but this is a fun way to see who’s “the biggest”. Do you think any of these results are surprising?
Related post: Using Google Trends to compare sequencers.
This entry was written by , posted on July 31, 2009 at 7:32 am, filed under business, music and tagged data, Depeche Mode, Front 242, Kraftwerk, music sales, NIN, Nitzer Ebb, Skinny Puppy, The Prodigy, trends, VNV Nation, Willie Nelson. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink and follow any comments with the RSS feed for this post.
Last week my father called me and said his wife Yoshimi wanted us to all go to see a concert at Irving Plaza (also called the Fillmore). The band was called Vamps and like Yoshimi are from Japan. I had no idea what to expect and was surprised that when we reached the venue the line was around the block reaching Union Square! Most of the people online where Asian or NYU students in their early twenties. The music itself seemed like some sort of very safe rock n roll copy. However, as you can hear by the audio recording these guys have a serious fan following.
I was at Irving Plaza twice before the Vamps concert. The first time was 1988 Halloween night. I went to the West Village Halloween parade with my first girlfriend and after to Irving Plaza to see Skinny Puppy live. There was a cheesy new wave opening band and then Skinny Puppy came on and dissected a fake dog with blood gushing and all. Some of my friends in the front where covered in blood by the time the concert was over. Thinking back it must have been the VIVI Sect VI (iTunes link) tour. Year’s later I looked at my ticket stubs and noticed the name of the opening band: Nine Inch Nails.
The other time I was at Irving Plaza was to see Granddady (iTunes link). I heard them on WFDU 89.1 earlier the same week for the first time and fell in love with the music. I had no idea if they had any fans or not but went by myself to see them play. I was pleasantly surprised to see hundreds of hipsters also knew this band was incredible and it wasn’t too long after that they became very popular. Too bad they broke up because I sure would still be buying their tunes.
http://www.myspace.com/vampsofficial
This entry was written by , posted on July 13, 2009 at 5:12 am, filed under live performance and tagged Granddady, Irving Plaza, Japan, Japanese, live performance, New York, Nine Inch Nails, Skinny Puppy, Vamps. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink and follow any comments with the RSS feed for this post.
Recent Comments