| May 2009 news
May 31, 2009
ODE TO THE WHITE CONTINENT
• tube'|171 - Surtsey - Symphony No. 1 For Strings: Antarctica
«Surtsey is a volcanic island located southwest of the coast of Iceland which didn't exist until November 14 1963, when an undersea eruption began rising until reaching sea level. This eruption lasted until June 5th 1967. It stopped and Surtsey reached its final size of 2.7 Km2. Since then, the erosion caused by the sea and wind have been diminishing the Surtsey's size. As of 2002, its size was just short of 1.4 Km2. (source: Wikipedia)
Maybe Dave Court sought inspiration on that 'human lifespan' unique island, maybe not, but still, Surtsey's music is an ode to the elements.
'Symphony No.1 For Strings: Antarctica' is also, according Dave's friend:
"(...) a 30 minute ambient work incorporating elements of drone, ambient and contemporary classical music. Krzysztof Penderecki is stated as a direct influence, though the work itself shows few similarities bar the use of dissonance and tone clusters."
This short album, if anything else, is proof that even a self-taught musician - Dave teached himself violin, piano and several other instruments - can carry talent, imagination and the will to put something like this to life.» - Pedro Leitão
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May 27, 2009
BEATS PLAY FREE AT CREW HASSAN
The netaudio activist group Beats Play Free (of which we're members) got a regular monthly gig at Lisbon's Crew Hassan, a famous bar-club in the downtown area.
The first of these regular shows - that will happen every last saturday of each month - is right next saturday, May 30th, and will feature a live set of improvised electronics by the hands of the Platform duo, and before and after there will be some deejaying offered by 'yours truly'. The menu will feature heavy doses of ambient, drones and some dubby beats to boot... probably.
Admission is very very cheap - 2 euro I think - , drinks are extremely cheap and the food there is great! organic dishes, soups and everything!
Now, come on!
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May 25, 2009
UNDERSEA DRONES
• tube'|170 - 900piesek - Dea Varanus
«Remember Matúš Mikula from tube126? He's back as 900piesek again, with another dreamy and sci-fi-esque soundtrack, entitled 'Dea Varanus'.
All
four tracks emanate sound through a dense and foggy underwater-like world... as if we were in a different dimension. Audio data is served to you using computers and machines from another time. Referencially, this is ambient electronics circa 1970's, while some keyboards sound definitely like Vangelis, Blade Runner period, which is actually very appropriate.
Dear listener, we recommend the use of headphones throughout this journey, as the fine subtleties of the atmospheric and environmental audio pieces you're hearing will surely gain much detail simply because of their use.
This is a 'vintage modern classic', with drones. Enjoy.»
- Pedro Leitão
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May 20, 2009
THE HUMAN INVASION
• tube'|169 - David Vélez - Impulsive Habitat
«A habitat (which is Latin for "it inhabits") is an ecological or environmental area that is inhabited by a particular animal or plant species. It is the natural environment in which an organism lives, or the physical environment that surrounds (influences and is utilized by) a species population.
Impulsivity (or impulsiveness) is a type of human behavior characterized by the inclination of an individual to act on impulse rather than thought.
I have always been interested on the faculty of sound to suggest spaces and places and for this piece in particular I wanted to use primarily field recordings as the main source to give to this work a more environmental character.
Impulsive habitat was recorded, performed and composed between October of 2008 and March of 2009 in Astoria and Brooklyn, NY.
Special thanks to: Pedro Leitão, Richard Garet, Juan José Calarco, James McDougall, Manrico Montero, Christopher McFall, Darren McClure and Gabriel Hernandez.» - David Vélez
ALTERNATE COVER Model: Arlen Vásquez
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May 12, 2009
iTUBE
    
The other day I had some free time for myself and decided to make a few iPhone wallpapers for test tube fans. Some are in native iPhone resolution (320X480) and some have twice those pixel size. iTunes will rescale the larger ones to fit your device automatically.
I've put them into a ZIP. get it here.
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May 11, 2009
PLANE OF DREAMING
• tube'|168 - H Stewart - A sky unforgiven of dreams
«H Stewart is this north-american woman with a sad but amazing personal history who somewhere along her life turned into writing poetry and singing. But not any regular kind of singing, no. H Stewart embraces the voice as if it is another instrument, a sound generator which she manipulates, distorts and skews to her liking.
'A sky unforgiven of dreams', like her previous works, builds on acapella sketches that H Stewart sings and then change into voice-drones that sound like eerie songs about lost loves, dreams, sadness and death. All about life, actually.
Recently, Free Albums Galore published a review of Stewart's four previous albums on Clinical Archives and it's pretty much right to the point.
This is an essential listen.»
- Pedro Leitão
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May 05, 2009
CHILLED OUT AT THE TOP
• tube'|167 - Rico Püstel - Amatory
«If you write down and then spell 'Rico Puestel' (with 'ue' instead of the original germanic 'ü') you might think we're talking about a Miami-Cuban cocaine smuggler or something like that. But Rico Püstel is a real german, probably living close to some place like the one on the cover: plenty of snow and below zero temperatures in the winter, and very mild summers. All framed by tall mountains. Not even close to the almost tropical climate of Southern Florida or Cuba. But the music that Rico makes is hot enough to melt the Alps.
'Amatory' is a short EP that samples Rico's primary influences of 90's techno, a pinch of dub and funk and even some IDM thrown into the mix. This recipe results in extremely danceable and feel-good tunes without sounding brainless excercises. There's enough interesting stuff going on to keep you sufficiently interested. Three words: I want more!»
- Pedro Leitão
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May 04, 2009
FIVE-HUNDRED-AND-TWENTY-SIX AND COUNTING!
We've passed the 500 subscriber mark for our newsletter! 526 to be precise. Maybe I oughta put out more regular newsletters... hmmm...
Well, at first 526 may not look like much of a fanbase, but we're talking netaudio here, we're undergorund of the underground, yeah? Well, kinda.
Anyway, this calls for a celebration and I'm going to drink something with some degree of alcohol really chilled for respect of you guys!
Thanks a lot for putting up with me and test tube!
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