Alfreido's Blog

So, my name is Ben, and apparently I run a blog that hasn’t seen an update since July 2009. My bad. Well, considering my Macbook Pro is in the service centre being fixed (a story for another time), I’m using the little netbook and it can’t do much except browse internet and write a blog. So, for lack of a better subject for now, I present to you a brief summary of what has been happening in the last 6 months:

• My first-ever produced album, Emcee Red – State to State EP was finished and released in late November 2009. To the right, you can see me holding the very second copy (Emcee Red got the first). We had a huge night at the Rosemount on the 27th November to promote the EP, and we managed to sell a few T-Shirts and copies of the EP. We still have plans for a WA tour to promote the EP some more some time early this year. You can check out a couple of tracks on our Triple J Unearthed page, and we would appreciate if you take the time to listen and review the tracks.
• I have become a shareholder of the company I work for, Bam Creative, along with many of my colleagues. We completed an employee buyout in late 2009 and it has made for a very interesting start of this year, and there’s definitely a sense of new direction and a fresh start within the company. It’s created a new-found sense of excitement throughout the staff, which will only make for a much more happy and productive staff.
• I don’t know if you already know, but apparently the arbitrary year count has clocked another year and it’s 2010 now. Just making sure you knew.
• I have started a musical side project for tracks with a more electronic, dance, trance or chillout sound – Cold Presence. My latest track, Marathon, is freely available to listen to (not use in your own productions unless you wish to contact me and organise a deal ). Listen to Cold Presence – Marathon now.

Alright, that’s all I have to share for now. I will definitely strive to have a more substantial post, and more frequent posting, soon.

I’ve generally been a quite vocal fan of iTunes, the music management software provided our Microsoft-emulating friends at Apple, but I’ve never been a fan of their DRM-encoded (digital rights management) music library available on iTunes Store. I’ve begrudgingly put up with it as iTunes went hand-in-hand with my iPhone before I lost it, and I want to support my favourite artists. Although I understand the “record companies get most money, artists get none” excuse most people make when downloading music, I don’t subscribe to it. You either support the artist and give them a little money, or you download their material illegaly and give them nothing.

So I’m quite delighted by the latest news that Apple has finally agreed with those 3 big record companies with gold-plated walls in their HQs to release their music DRM-free. I truthfully believe this is a step in the right direction, and might be a factor in getting people back into paying for music again. Songs in iTunes are hardly expensive these days, less than a 600ml of Coke each ($1.69) and whole albums cost less than a ticket to the movies ($16.99). Of course, there’ll still be cheap-skates, but there’s not a lot you can do about them.

The main gripe I have with iTunes at the moment is its insistence at using AAC format for the music and the cost of TV shows for download. Technically, the AAC format is more advanced than MP3, so why don’t I like it? Just simply because it isn’t as supported yet. Some of my music players refuse to play AAC, so I’m forced to use a converter to make it MP3. In terms of the TV shows, $90 for LOST? You’re kidding.

By the way, I’m not an Apple sales person, as much as some of my work buddies would like me to be. I’ll use anything if its easy and cheap enough, and at the moment, iTunes is. Get on board!

I blame you, iTunes!

Here I was, searching through the dance albums on iTunes when, whilst looking at another album (which incidentally also sucked), iTunes gleefully alerted me that listeners had also bought 24 Carat Gold by a German dance band called Scooter. I quickly Wikipedia’d the band and had a look at their discography. Funnily enough, I came across Ramp (The Logical Song), a song I used to enjoy listening to on the radio during my high school days (although the high-pitched voice grinded my insides like a sandpaper sandwich). I though I would give them a chance and proceeded to buy the album.

Boy, did I make a mistake or what?

I don’t know if it’s just what the Germans are into… repeticious, loud and overbearing music that automatically send you into a frenzy of finding the first object to rip your ears off with. Hell, Rammstein sound like they are trying to scream out a huge hairball caught in their throats in nearly 90% of the songs they have released. So maybe Scooter are just following proper German procedures when developing a record. But Scooter bring to the table a whole set of new annoyances as well.

You see, a typical Scooter includes the folllowing traits:

• Crowd cheering loops played in the background, to convince the listener that a lot of other people listen to this shit.
• H.P. Baxxter’s vocals have reverb effects applied to it to give the feeling that the performance is live (however, in some songs, the reverb is so crap it sounds like they were recording the vocals in a bathroom)
• A pitch-shifted voice sings the chorus. I didn’t know that Alvin and the Chipmunks were part of this band?
• The band uses any one of the following words and phrases (or a variant of it) almost exclusively during their songs:
  - Pump it up
  - Make some noise
  - Peace and unity
  - Faster
  - Harder
  Ironically, they could use both the phrases “Hit your face” and “Peace and Unity” together in the same song. Classy.
• The same bass drum and synth played throughout an entire album. Incidentally, it doesn’t sound like they change the tempo much.

There are some songs that stand out as the penultimate of mediocrity in Scooter’s repitoire (I will admit, there were 2 or 3 songs I did enjoy, but out of 20 or 30 singles that Scooter have released, that’s hardly a great batting average). The Age of Love is almost a proverbial turkey slap to the face of James Cameron (some would argue he deserves it, though) and shows that using a sample of the theme from The Terminator is not going to make your song better. Rebel Yell lives up to the stereotype that techno remixes just don’t work, especially when sourcing from rock music. Nessaja has an irritating chorus that you can barely understand, and the beat is sub-standard with pathetic synth. And H.P. Baxxter has the audacity to call this tripe drum and bass. Clearly he has no idea what constitutes a drum and bass song because It certainly doesn’t involve squeeky choruses and repetitous rubbish.

I’m honest, if I ever catch someone listening to this crap, I’ll turn their speakers/headphones off, I don’t care if I get smashed because of it.

In Silico, by Australian drum-and-bass group Pendulum, is a strong example of diversity and how it can sometimes be more harmful rather the helpful. Touted as a collision between the smashing riffs of hard rock and the pounding beats of drum and bass, it’s unfortunate to say that this album will more than likely please neither crowd, with a sound too soft and melodic to satisfy the hard rock crowd, and not enough bass, a tempo too slow and a generic, commercial sound which will more than likely disappoint the drum and bass fans. I’m a real big fan of Pendulum, they are one my favourite bands, but I just cannot seem to connect and enjoy this album on the same level as Hold your Colour, Pendulum’s previous album which was released in 2006.
But wait, there’s more…