september theme ... GOSSIP

[You™]

Wow, that's a great name for a prog revivalist group:

Proglamtronica

As long as I can play a grand piano that's wired to do filps on stage, I'm in!

Hmm, I'll need to get a wig, though.

For a while my friend and I were making stuff under the name Prögenitors, but we ran out of steam. Don't worry, I've still got the wigs.

You can play any instrument you want, but you'll have to stack at least 2 other keyboards on the piano and have at least one semi-portable with a shoulder strap.

And we need a laser and a fog machine.

[emdot_ambient]

...You can play any instrument you want, but you'll have to stack at least 2 other keyboards on the piano and have at least one semi-portable with a shoulder strap....

Reminds me of the keyboard player who was touring with Flock of Seagulls in the late '80's. I was in a band that played warm up for them in Baltimore and after the gig we got to talking. He had toured with Thompson Twins and Gary Numan. I asked him about the latter.

Me: So does Gary Numan have his head up his ass as far as he seems?
Him: (read this in a Liverpool accent): Nooo. He head up his father's arse.
Me: What?
Him: Yeah! His father's his manager. He takes his muther and father on tour with him. Like one time, the band were all sitting around the hotel room drinking and one of us says, "I know, let's have a sing-around." And Gary Numan stands up with a stern look and says, "Have you no feelings? Me muther and father are in the next room!"
Me: Yeah, but it must have been cool to perform his songs.
Him: Well, it would have been except he had me playing this portable keyboard, you know, like a guitar thing with a strap.
Me: Yeah? Those are cool.
Him: I know, but he wouldn't let me do anything! I just had to stand there and act like a robot!
(He sucks his cheeks in and does a robot keyboard player vogue kind of thing.)

[AndreasE]

But in the long run, I still much prefer Wakeman's work with Yes than Emerson's work with ELP. I ended up feeling that his keyboard parts were all about showing off his technical prowess, rather than making good music. He had his moments but Wakeman's work within the Yes framework was more consistently about enhancing the songs rather than drawing attention to himself.

Here I totally agree with you. I saw ELP one time in concert but Yes 4 times ... that tells all.

[emdot_ambient]

But in the long run, I still much prefer Wakeman's work with Yes than Emerson's work with ELP. I ended up feeling that his keyboard parts were all about showing off his technical prowess, rather than making good music. He had his moments but Wakeman's work within the Yes framework was more consistently about enhancing the songs rather than drawing attention to himself.

Here I totally agree with you. I saw ELP one time in concert but Yes 4 times ... that tells all.

I can't help really liking his Minimoog solo in From The Beginning, though. That's the one lead that really sticks in my head from him, even if it is a bit cute and cheesy.

[You™]

...Keyboard magazine used to be the only synth related commercial magazine in the states. ..

Not so fast. I still have at least one issue of Polyphony around here somewhere. It eventually became Electronic Musician.

[emdot_ambient]

...Keyboard magazine used to be the only synth related commercial magazine in the states. ..

Not so fast. I still have at least one issue of Polyphony around here somewhere. It eventually became Electronic Musician.

Showing your age there. I have a whole set of Polyphony mags, a good 15" high. I don't really count that as a synth related commercial magazine. It was a low-budget do-it-yourself hobbiest magazine. I mean, yeah, it was "commercial" in that they sold ad space and sold subscriptions and all but it wasn't really very professional. Shoot, even the old Dragon RPG magazines looked more professional than Polyphony, as much as I loved that rag.

At one time I toyed with the idea of building my own modular synth. I've got the circuit boards and Curtis Chips for 4 oscillators, 4 filters, 4 VC envelope generators and 4 VCAs. One of each (2 of the VCAs) is actually put together. I don't have the other electronic parts for the rest . . . I just never was able to conceptualize how to build the front panels and wire it all up . . . let alone build a power supply for it.

<<heavy sigh>>

[Glassback]

Glassback - Moog in Brogues

I really like this track, there are some fantastic sounds here and its all nicely mixed as well so that the 4/4 dance beat in the middle doesn't deafen the listener as all too often happens. Superb!!

Glassback Moog In Brogues
Machines crying for the human friend. They want to be happy but they can't. Very well programed base and synth sounds. Who said machines have no feelings?

Glassback Moog In Brogues

I like when the DUB mood comes out,
intersting sound as well

Wow you got such a full spectrum of sound and used about 7 kHz bandwidth less that the rest of us! There's a load of great sounds and effects in here. I kinda wish there was a speedier counter-rhythm to punch out the 16 and 32 notes every now and then, but everything works well. I mentioned FSOL in an earlier review, but I hear a touch of maybe "Lifeforms" in here as well. That's cool.

Thanks guys!

You™ - I was definitely not thinking FSOL, but if you can hear that in there, I'm more than happy!

AndreasE - thanks for the mention in your list!

[thomekk]

Thx to all the reviewers so far (and of course especially to those, who were lustful enough to review my little ditty)!

You
Naive? I think more like bizarre surf blues. Like many other songs this month, I think it's funny to think of it just as a tribute to a guy named Bob rather than Dr. Moog. I also strongly think it could only be improved with appropriate drums and percussion. The lyrics are so perplexingly simple and the music so earnest, I think this may be the work of a musical genius slumming on the internet.

Enjoyed your whole reviews so much!
Thx for your constructive critics on my tune. Yes, drums could fit as well, I just tried to avoid any of them, will maybe work on a drum version too.
The words on the genius I can only take ironically, though I think that no one understands me and my music correct! Therefore I'm not much beloved

Thomekk: Bob Has Gone
Interesting... some mad sounds in there when it gets going. Wasn't sure about this at first, but it's grown on me.

Glassback

Thank you, Sir!

Thomekk Bob Has Gone
Sometimes I look at life kinda tragedy movie and imagine music like this song while passing the credits explaining it all was but a big joke. In a sense like "All That Jazz"

Diek

Haven't seen the movie, but yeah, maybe your comment hits the fact "why not do a party when a close friend is gone forever, to do a sadened ceremonial is sometimes not what the gone person would have wished"

charming, vibrant, inviting. stepping stones lead across a mirrored world of sky and water, offering shimmering passage through an elemental interface, simultaneously we peer into two worlds alive with the buzzing electrical energies of creation.

knockman

I don't understand your words quiet well, but they are very appreciated as the lyrics they are.
Thanks Mate!

Hey, your guitar's out of tune! You know, you could have entered this in last month's competition, sounds very psychedelic. Not what I would have chosen to do as a Moog tribute, but, hey . . . I ain't you! Nice work. Like this.
emdot_ambient

Nooo! Not out of tune, only so much as wanted
You know, I like synths for about 20 years in playing them besides my guitars and vocals, I have to confess quiete honest that I'm not a fan of Tangerine DreaM AND mR: sCHULZE
But I have seen the Kraut-Rockis Eloy at the end of the 70ies and I was a fan, but after that my musical taste changed. I like Kraftwerk still, but not the last works.

I wasn't too sure on the vocals at first but they are growing on me and I actually quite like them now. I like the wobbly tremelo feel to the guitars as well which helps makes this feel like quite a bright happy track.
Caco

Thanks Caco!!

Don't really like the style of the vocals, but I did really enjoy the guitars and the wonderfully dissonant chorus. A really enjoyable track!
Marc JX8P

Thanx for the review!

[emdot_ambient]

Hey, your guitar's out of tune! You know, you could have entered this in last month's competition, sounds very psychedelic. Not what I would have chosen to do as a Moog tribute, but, hey . . . I ain't you! Nice work. Like this.
emdot_ambient

Nooo! Not out of tune, only so much as wanted
You know, I like synths for about 20 years in playing them besides my guitars and vocals, I have to confess quiete honest that I'm not a fan of Tangerine DreaM AND mR: sCHULZE
But I have seen the Kraut-Rockis Eloy at the end of the 70ies and I was a fan, but after that my musical taste changed. I like Kraftwerk still, but not the last works.

Eloy! Yeah, I used to be into them, too but it was hard to find their work in the States. I had only one album of theirs. Castle In The Sky was my favorite song on it, used to play it all the time on my college radio show.

My comment about the guitars was a joke, of course.

[emdot_ambient]

emdot_ambient a smooth precision sending waves of information down the limbs and along their radiating fibres, packets of control data effortlessly gliding and and dissipating in harmonic flexure. animated, the unit stirs, a translucent sheen encasing its soft pulsating mechanics, subtle flashes of irridescence morphing within.

That sounds like Cybernaut to me

Couldn't have said it better myself.

[thomekk]

Eloy! Yeah, I used to be into them, too but it was hard to find their work in the States. I had only one album of theirs. Castle In The Sky was my favorite song on it, used to play it all the time on my college radio show.

My comment about the guitars was a joke, of course.

Have to add that the first two (not sure) albums of TD are very good! Don't have them, but heard them @ a friend. Woooh! In Germany Edgar Froese did a lot of movie scoring for some television series in the late 70ies and later, and that was some sequenced shit I didn't liked. Wild arpeggiating stuff but sterile (as far as my remembearance goes..)

[emdot_ambient]

...In Germany Edgar Froese did a lot of movie scoring for some television series in the late 70ies and later, and that was some sequenced shit I didn't liked. Wild arpeggiating stuff but sterile (as far as my remembearance goes..)

I've been hugely dissapointed with where Froese has taken TD ever since the Force Majeure album. He found a formula . . . and just kept repeating it. Most of his work up till that time I really love.

[thomekk]

...In Germany Edgar Froese did a lot of movie scoring for some television series in the late 70ies and later, and that was some sequenced shit I didn't liked. Wild arpeggiating stuff but sterile (as far as my remembearance goes..)

I've been hugely dissapointed with where Froese has taken TD ever since the Force Majeure album. He found a formula . . . and just kept repeating it. Most of his work up till that time I really love.

I see that I was not very careful & precise in my judgement on TD, sorry for that!

[Barnadine]

Marc JX8P, Diek, Caco, oddbod, knockman, thomekk, emdot, Glassback, You™, liqih, kovacs...

Thanks to all of you for the kind words and interesting comments. Much appreciated. I doubt I'll have time to review this month, a bit hectic, but I'll definitely make some time to sit down and listen to all the entries.

George, sorry to hear that note is causing you grief. I've brutalised my ears with too much earnest atonal stuff to find it jarring, but as a lone dissonance in a very tonal piece, it does create a bit of tension. That said, it grew up as a natural, unforced element, and without getting deep about it, I think it's part of the meaning of the song. Maybe it'll wear you down.

Some great words and music (and pictures) this month from everyone. Good to see all this activity around even without the carrot of a prize. Cheers.

[emdot_ambient]

I'm not familiar with the original of this, but this sounds very vintage even if ever so slightly stodgy.

Guess I'm just that kinda guy. Stodgy, eh?
<pulls out dictionary>
<flip, flip, flip, flip, flip>
Stodgy, he says. Lemme see, "heavy, dull or uninteresting: boring...unduly formal and traditional. Dull; graceless or inelegant...
STODGY?! Hmph. Mumble, mumble.

There are a lot of nice sonic details and the mix is great, but I think you could introduce some deviation in the composition to break its uniformity. It needs punctuation not embellishment.

Well, I really wanted to stay true to the original. I know that the art of covers allows for considerable deviation from the original, as your piece does, but this song's a part of my life as much as Dr. Moog's instruments and in reverance to it, I chose to do this one pretty much as was. True, it doesn't change all that much but I don't need it to or want it to. It is what it is and I like it that way. In fact, some day I'll go back and extend this to its full length. I think the tolerance for pieces that find a mode and stay in them for extended periods has wained over the years. Personally I find the original piece, which isn't much different from my version, to be completely satisfying. So we put this one down to personal taste.

I find it very odd that we live so close to each other, have such similar interests and have not crossed paths. When are we gonna have tryouts for Proglamtronica?

I'm working on it, but I had to send my cape to the tailor's to have the seams let out. I've put on a bit of weight since 1971. I know you said you knew someone close to me but I didn't think we were that close . . .

I've toyed with doing a cover of Carnevil #9, you know. But it would end up sounding more The Residents than ELP

P.S. I love the sonograms you're posting . . . absolutely no clue what it's telling me, though. Mine looks like a very dark room with a thick phosphorescent shag carpet. But I swear if you look at it really close, you can see its little head and hands, maybe, yeah I think it's a little boy!