Thanks for stopping by.
Look out for some more new material and remixes soon.
Robert's Elegance reworking of a fine track from Mid Air.
MUSIC TECH
Touchable is an excellent iPad app from Zerodebug - a Berlin based company - that makes it incredibly easy to control Ableton Live from your iPad.
Now, with Touchable 3, you can connect to your computer via Usb cable, a more robust connection than wireless.
5 shiny stars from me, works like a dream and great fun.
MUSIC TECH
In the remastering process for the Blue Nile Albums, it seems that one set of plugins we've relied on quite heavily is Slate Digital. This virtual tape machine is a big favourite - analogue goodness from from a company called digital. Go figure. Check them out on the Slate Digital website
For many years now I've been playing this track for anyone who cares to listen.
Great band, great song and what a fabulous singer, Yukimi Nagano.
If there's anyone still out there who hasn't heard of Little Dragon then give yourself a treat.
Nice album by Stereolab - on the turntable many times recently.
HIGH review by Richard Williams
I always thought that this was a great review. For my money, the guy just "gets it". Read it in The Guardian
Remastering the album HIGH is now completed.
Please check The Blue Nile website for release date and tracklist.
GEORGE MARTIN 1926-2016
I remember hearing The Beatles for the first time, a radio belting them out loud on the top deck of a Corporation bus in Glasgow.
Looking back, that seems so very appropriate.
Theirs was an unlikely alliance. A "posh", older man teams up with a bunch of everyday Liverpool lads and they steer towards the stars.
They made it.
Oh how we all looked up to them. And boy do we owe them so much.
Hey, for instance, you can easily trace a line from the psychedelia of "Baby You're A Rich man" to, say, the intro of The Blue Nile's "Heatwave".
And that's a good thing, a lovely thought, familiar.
In the words of Paul McCartney
"He was a true gentleman and like a second father to me. He guided the career of The Beatles with such skill and good humour that he became a true friend to me and my family. If anyone earned the title of the fifth Beatle it was George"
Amen, brother.
AMANDA PETRUSICH
Do Not Sell At Any Price
The book's jacket declares it to be “The Wild, Obsessive Hunt for the World’s Rarest 78rpm Records” and indeed it is. Also a fine read.
The author - a regular contributor to Pitchfork - meets with, and befriends, some of the leading collectors of these rarities which can fetch up to $50,000 for a single disc.
The collectors are predominantly male, obsessive, and more than a little cranky at times.
But Petrusich writes with a fair deal of humour and affection for these guys and “goes native” on a few occasions to join them in the hunt.
There’s some background to the history of recorded music which is fascinating in itself. The author shares a few theories too about the nature of collection and addictions. All good.
I got this book as a gift and I confess to having very little knowledge of 78’s. In fact, looking back through the the book’s excellent discography, I realise that pretty much none of these records were known to me beforehand. (.....so-called music man slaps his own wrist, shakes head..... )
MUSIC TECH
Watch out for Fairfield Audio a new company just started in Glasgow. Their audio gear is excellent. They also have a repairs department which brought back to life an old vintage microphone of mine which had been "rotting" in a cupboard for many many years.
So hats off to these guys for some fine work.
Some kinda French theme on this home page. A little bit of the history of electronic music technology from Jean Michel Jarre.