Sunday, April 26, 2009

Ursula 1000

Ursula 1000

Ursula 1000 is Brooklyn's Alex Gimeno. The Producer/DJ has been labeled Loungecore, Breakbeat and Digital Dancehall (to name just a few). He's done remixes for artists such as Quincy Jones and Felix Da Housecat and collaborated with the likes of Dr. Luke, Shag, Cristina and Los Amigos Invisibles.

He's produced "television remodels" for theme music to television shows such as Sesame Street and The Powerpuff Girls and had his music featured in programs such as Sex And The City, Grey’s Anatomy and Ugly Betty (not to mention commercial work for companies such as AT&T and Adidas).

I found him on the compilation, "Bombay The Hard Way 2: Electric Vindaloo," which was the follow up to "Bombay The Hard Way," also featuring an Ursula 1000 track. Motel Records released both albums, wherein all the artists were sampling from Bollywood films. Check out "Electric Vindaloo" HERE. Ursula 1000 is also on Myspace. Check that out HERE.

Without further ado, here's the SAR Q&A with Ursula 1000...


*Name: Ursula 1000

*Do you use a pseudonym? No

*Members: Alex Gimeno

*Tape manipulations, digital deconstructions or turntable creations: "Digital Deconstructions" perhaps? Though the music is performed and later tweaked to sound like digital deconstructions or found sounds.

*Another genre descriptor:

*Location: Brooklyn, New York

*Original Location: Originally from New York, then moved and grew up in Miami Beach and moved back to New York 10 years ago where I currently reside.

*What is your creative/artistic background: Studied Commercial Art, played in bands, DJ-ed, collect tons of records, love comics and Pop Art in general.

*History: Since 1999.

*Born: In New York, though the band started its inception in Miami Beach.

*Motivations: Turn my turn-ons inside out and make something new to turn people inside out.

*Philosophy: See above.

*How would you like to be remembered: Eek how morbid—I guess to leave a fascinating body of work.

*Web address:
www.ursula1000.com
www.myspace.com/ursula1000


www.some-assembly-required.net

Episode 230, Some Assembly Required

Episode 230, Some Assembly Required

01 Diplo - “Sarah”
02 Cassetteboy - “The Boardgame That Crashed”
03 Divide & Kreate - “Dance Dreams”
04 Escape Mechanism - “Details”
05 Brian Joseph Davis - “Mahler”
06 Ursula 1000 - “Ram Balram”
07 DJ Earworm - “No More Gas”
08 Coldcut - “Say Kids (What Time Is It?)”
09 DJ Teddyedward - “Smooth K Minogue”
10 Sound Defects - “Tater Hater”
11 Rob Swift - “Rob Get's Busy”
12 The Bran Flakes - “Turn The Channel, It's Another Commercial”
13 DJ Tripp - “Paper Rump”


Use this address, for your pod software:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/some-assembly-required/JSpD

Sunday, April 19, 2009

Philip Strong

Philip Strong

Philip Strong is an award winning Canadian composer, sound designer and engineer. He's created numerous soundtracks for film and for dance productions, and worked with recording artists such as Mary Jane Lamond, Laurel MacDonald and John Oswald, to name a few. He's been the principal sound composer for Christopher House and Toronto Dance Theatre, since 1999, and teaches Film Sound and Music at the Audio Recording Academy, in Toronto, as well.

I originally found his work on the Musicworks 60 compilation, which was put out in 1994, and was intrigued to subsequently discover his role in the creation of John Oswald's CD, Plexure (1993). He acted as
"electroquote engineer," sorting through the hundreds of examples of pop music which eventually came together to form Oswald's pop music retrospective, sampling nothing but pop songs released on Compact Disc (1982-1992). Strong is also responsible for the image map in Grayfolded's liner notes, detailing the location of each of the countless Grateful Dead samples within that Plunderphonic composition.

Check out his website for more information, including the low down on his installation "
A Time To Hear For Here," (also with John Oswald, at the Royal Ontario Museum). Without further ado, here's the SAR Q&A with Philip Strong...


*Name:
Philip Strong

*Are there any additional names used to describe this project: Somnambulab, Plunderphonics

*Do you use a pseudonym? No

*Members: Phil Strong, Laurel MacDonald (Somnambulab)

*Founding Members: Phil Strong, Laurel MacDonald

*Tape manipulations, digital deconstructions or turntable creations: DIGITAL [de]CONSTRUCTIONS

*Another genre descriptor: Temporal Resynthesis

*Why you use this descriptor: Music is time-based and time-stamped (as it were). Manipulating recorded music is messing with temporal and emotional references.

*Location: Toronto, Canada

*What is your creative/artistic background: Mentor: John Oswald - Also involved with sound for picture and installation, live performance.

*History: 15 years

*Born: Toronto, Canada

*Motivations: I suck at everything else.

*Philosophy: Just investigating the universe.

*How would you like to be remembered: I would like to be remembered as someone who helped create pinnacle experiences for others.

*Web address: Phil-Strong.com


www.some-assembly-required.net

Episode 142, Some Assembly Required

Episode 142, Some Assembly Required

01 Sucking Chest Wound – “KKK (Whatcha Got To Say?)”
02 Think Tank – “Jingo Lingo”
03 Philip Strong – “plunderPHILe”
04 Loo & Placido – “Should I Stay Or Should I Boogie”
05 People Like Us - “Music of your Own”
06 Scott Walmsley – “Bill O'Reilly is a Major F*** Head”
07 The X-ecutioners – “X-Ecution Of A Bumrush”
08 DJ Shadow - “Stem (Cops 'N' Robbers mix)”
09 Holger Hiller – “Fresh young girls in commercial”
10 The Evolution Control Committee - “Rocked By Rape”
11 JAMs – “The Queen And I”
12 Prosac – “Cherry Blossom Skater”


Use this address, for your pod software:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/some-assembly-required/JSpD

Friday, April 10, 2009

Ruckus Roboticus

Ruckus Roboticus

Ruckus Roboticus is Dayton, Ohio's Dan Haug. He's been experimenting with turntablism and recording since Middle School and recently released his first proper album (2007's Playing With Scratches), after a series of Mix CDs and Scratch Records, at least one of which has gotten a bit of play, here.

He's done remixes for artists such as Bloc Party, The Lady Tigra and Vampire Weekend, and was just made an official member of Ninja Tune's Solid Steel radio show, right alongside the likes of Coldcut, DJ Food and Hexstatic.

If that wasn't enough, he's recently produced and released his own contribution to a series which was only just getting started right around the time he was born - by none other than the legendary Double Dee and Steinski. Check out Lesson 7: What's Funk?, by Ruckus Roboticus, HERE.

Without further ado, here's the SAR Q&A with Ruckus Roboticus...


*Name: Ruckus Roboticus

*Members: Dan Haug

*Tape manipulations, digital deconstructions or turntable creations: I'm a little bit of everything at this point. Mostly digital creations (recording and manipulating samples on a computer), with turntable manipulations (scratching mostly, also recorded into a computer).

*Is there a story behind your name? I go by the name of Ruckus Roboticus. I don't recall how I came up with the name, it just came to me one day while day-dreaming in school. To me, it's one part mischief and one part modern technology. My most recent project is an album called "Playing With Scratches" (a twist on the phrase "Playing With Matches").

*Location: I'm from Dayton, OH. Often an over-looked city, even by people who live in Ohio. Random Dayton Ohio claims to fame -- home to many famous inventors over the years (most notably, The Wright Brothers), many noteworthy funk bands (The Ohio Players, Slave, Zapp) and indie rock bands (The Breeders, Guided By Voices, and others...).

*What is your creative/artistic background: I first became interested in audio editing while in Middle School, when I took a course in Radio Broadcasting. Around the same time, I was experimenting with audio editing on my parents PC (using Microsoft Wave Editor), and was simultaneously discovering hip-hop and electronic music. I decided to buy a musical instrument to begin producing my own music, and I picked the turntables. I picked turntables because I was drawn to the sounds of scratching, and no one else I knew had them. Once I had turntables I was sucked into the world of DJ'ing, Turntablism, Sampling and Record Collecting. Over the years, I released a few mix CDs, audio collages and Scratch Records. Eventually I attended college and majored in Audio Production. I began learning the basics of recording, mixing and even some Music Theory. All of this knowledge and influences shaped the sounds of Playing With Scratches.

*History: I began making rudimentary recordings in 1998. However, my first proper release of original material was in 2007 (Playing With Scratches).

*Born: I was born in '81 in Dayton Ohio.

*Motivations: I naturally have a creative impulse. I wake up in the morning, and I want to make things. And music is one of the things that excites me the most. I am also motivated by mediocrity... if I hear music that is mediocre, it makes me want to show listeners that there is a "better" way to do it, that "better" can be achieved. Or if I hear music that has a great concept but lacks substance, I want to try my own version of it, in hopes that I can improve it. I also am motivated to tell stories through music. Either through my own songs, or through DJ mixes.

*Philosophy: I believe in quality, good music. The world is over-saturated with music, and more is released everyday. A lot of it is forgettable, and unremarkable to me. This bothers me. If I am going to contribute to this pollution, and occupy space, and consume someone's precious time, I want my creations to be worth it. So I work really hard at creating something that I think is memorable, and interesting, and that will hopefully stand the test of time. I am a perfectionist. If I am going to put music into the world, I want it to be as close to my ideal of good music as possible. I obsess over every detail. I experiment with many possibilities when creating a song... I am driven to make my song, the best it can be. I am also a bit of a "maximalist", trying to cram as many samples as possible into my recordings. I am driven by concepts and story-telling. I must have a message to share with the listener, in order to create something for them.

*How would you like to be remembered: I don't know if I want to be remembered necessarily... I'd like my music to be enjoyed and appreciated.

*Web address: www.ruckusroboticus.com


www.some-assembly-required.net

Episode 229, Some Assembly Required

Episode 229, Some Assembly Required

01 Negativland - “Why Is This Commercial?”
02 DJ Frenchbloke - “Destiny Kennedies”
03 Wobbly - “Yo Yo Yo Yoyo Yo, Hey...”
04 Chopping Channel - “Sales Technique”
05 Apollo & Fluid Motion - “Interstellar hydroponics”
06 Mr. Fab - “SKAmwhere My Love”
07 Alex H - “Moon Frog”
08 DJ Godfather - “On Da Flex”
09 Gitar - “No Gitar”
10 DJ Geometrix - “What You Know About A White Wedding”
11 Ruckus Roboticus - “Untitled (The Record Playa' - Tracks 39-42)”
12 Zoviet France - “Fugitive”
13 Copycat - “Singing that A-ha melody”


Use this address, for your pod software:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/some-assembly-required/JSpD

Sunday, April 05, 2009

Episode 141, Some Assembly Required

Episode 141, Some Assembly Required

01 Think Tank – “A Knife & A Fork”
02 David Shea – “Untitled (Let's Entertain)”
03 Silica Gel – “Sum Of Your Life”
04 Lecture On Nothing – “Forward To Victory”
05 Go Home Productions – “Christmas On The Block”
06 Jason Forrest – “Dark Love”
07 Diplo – “Money Power Respect”
08 Coldcut – “Beats & Pieces”
09 Raymond Scott – “IBM MT/ST: ‘The Paperwork Explosion’”
10 DJ Danger Mouse - “Change Clothes”
11 DJ Prince – “Quando Will I Work It Out”
12 General Patton vs. The X-Ecutioners – “We'll Paint This Town -- Throat And Phonograph Fire Support Coordination Measures (TPFSCM)”
13 The Evolution Control Committee - “Have some candy 1990”


Use this address, for your pod software:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/some-assembly-required/JSpD