Journals Of GMM

Most Memorable: Top 3 Museums Of 2011

Wed, 18 Jan 2012 22:22:00 +0100

Ah splendid, last top list of 2011, but most important: Museums. Hard to pick winners, as a museum per definition is a "win". But nevertheless, when it comes to such important matters one must put emotions aside and make a selection, no matter the cost.

Haus Der Musik, Wien

Modern electronics mashes with classical historics and skillful exhibition design at Haus Der Musik. They manage both to narrate the past and intrigue about the future. So many weird and awesome things and rooms and sounds and exhibitions to try, touch, listen, learn, figure out - or just simply conclude "WTF" - which is in my opinion a fully qualified conclusion for anything.

Cloud Cities at Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin

Huge plastic bubbles representing floating cities in a recycled train station, a huge hall filled with a web of tubes and plants and mechanical devices, water pipes, threads, wires, you can climb inside them! Cloud Cities was delightful. Doesn't hurt that Hamburger Bahnhof also have the eternally dark and coldly awesome Room With My Soul Left Out, Room That Does Not Care in their permanent exhibition and I go there every time I'm in Berlin and LOVE IT.

Teknisk Museum / Technical Museum, Oslo

This Technical Museum is like heaven, made NOT by a god but by gentle geeks. There is something profoundly honest and charming about engineers designing exhitions about engineering. Chaotic, but an informative, enthusiastic mess. And of course what is cuter than an exhibition about mobile technology being outdated during it's exhibit?

Honorable mentions

Supposedly, there is a Japanese Garden in the Marzahn Park in Berlin. I went there. I didn't find it. Seriously! I walked around the whole park and did. not. see. any. japanese. garden. I left, sad, and confused, but later I realized, of course. It's a NINJA garden! You can not see it, unless it wants to be seen. A park hiding in a park! HOW CLEVER!

Luftslott EP Now Available Everywhere

Wed, 18 Jan 2012 19:51:00 +0100

The Ugress - Luftslott EP is now accessible everywhere.

Pick your poison: Spotify, Wimp, Youtube, iTunes, Amazon, Last.FM, Soundcloud, Bandcamp.

And of course it's still here on ugress.com, where it appeared first a month ago.

Most Memorable: Top 5 Software Of 2011

Sun, 8 Jan 2012 19:30:00 +0100

Almost finished with my top lists of 2011, the final geek list (or maybe not), here is the software that made me happy in 2011:

Liine - Lemur

Lemur. Best, most clever and most flexible touch-based iOS musical controller software. I'm very happy to see it on iOS. Wrote a separate post on that.

Native Instruments - Kontakt 5

NI Kontakt 5. I'm at heart a sample-based artist. When there is an update to the only best sampler in the world, I pay attention. I was underwhelmed by Kontakt 4, but version 5 released this year, was the bee's knees (*). There are some intriguing retro sound enginges, and waow, the new filters, Miss Yumminess would approve of their yumminess. Respectable update.

Evernote

Evernote. I mention this app every year I think, but every year it grows more important and fundamental to everything I do. I keep everything in Evernote, synced across all devices. If it is not music, video or photo, it's in Evernote.

Renoise 2.8

Renoise 2.8

Grew up with trackers and I like to work that way. The latest version 2.8, currently in beta, it's very fresh, but the new group feature, together with the pattern matrix earlier this year, it makes tracking of more complex arrangements way more elegant and practical. I've always used Renoise for sketching, but now I observe myself using Renoise further and further into the a project. Usually I move the material into Logic as I need more arranging functions and long-term sequential approach to the material, but the border is in motion.

Dropbox

Dropbox

I'm where I am at the moment and that could be any-where, any-device. Dropbox syncs all my content between all my devices, makes sure my content keeps up, and more importantly - backed up, in the cloud. Thanks to Dropbox I'm not so worried about a laptop dying or disappearing. Whatever was on it is in the clouds and multiple other devices, and if the laptop was stolen I can wipe it remotely.

(* = I don't really know what the bee's knees means, but I've seen it used in settings like that so I'm firing it off there.)

Most Memorable: Top 3 Gadgets Of 2011

Sat, 7 Jan 2012 19:25:00 +0100

Battling the backlog of 2011 memorability. It's geek time, my top 3 gadgets of 2011:

Teenage Engineering OP-1. It's a self-contained music production system from Sweden with certain very Nordic opinions of how things should be ran and how it should sound. Just got it, a christmas present from the Doctor, bless him. After spending some time with the device: Intensely in love with some parts of it and intensely … in disagreement, on other parts. Report and review will follow after some more laboratory and field observations.

Kindle 4. I move around a lot these times. Read a lot of books. Can't lug lots of books around. Punished by muscles, airlines, porters and baggage-space. And I forget them. And some places I go doesn't have bookstores. (I know! Cursed be the barbaric outskirts of civilization.) Already wrote a review.

JH Audio - JH16 Pro - In-ears. The smallest item in my possession but probably the most valuable. These are custom molded super insane high fidelity in-ears velvet laser sound monitors. There are three microscopical speakers made of magic inside each, built by tiny shrunken but happy humans inside tiny shrunken but happy factories. The pair fit only my ears and they are full of stars and they remove the outside world completely when plugged in. I can mix and edit and produce crystal clear, super loud, bass-heavy sound aboard space rockets, while snorkel-diving the Mariana Trench, or in the thickest noisiest jungle nightlife, completely oblivious to the sabre-tooth tiger watching fascinated at the weird human tapping his bony paws happily away at something that glows in the dark. This human is crazy! Let's not eat it and get geek-rabies.

Most Memorable: Top Music Of 2011

Fri, 30 Dec 2011 19:24:00 +0100

Sometimes, an album is great as a whole, sometimes singles are better off. I took my favorite tracks from my favorite albums of 2011 and put them into a playlist.

Most Memorable: Top 3 Films Of 2011

Fri, 30 Dec 2011 19:23:00 +0100

Saw a lot of movies and most of them OK but not the greatest year for movies. Some gems though.

Glasses / Megane. That's settled then. We're going to Japan.

Melancholia. I'm liking Von Trier again.

Exit Through The Gift Shop. I like it tricking up the arts.

Most Memorable: Top 10 Books Of 2011

Thu, 29 Dec 2011 17:59:00 +0100

Read a lot of books in 2011.

Would like to mention all of them, but here are the 10 most memorable.

	The Dispossessed, Ursula K. Le Guin. Good vs bad, east vs west, faith vs science, communism vs capitalism, she vs he, USA vs USSR, mind vs soul, now vs then, right vs wrong, gender vs person, war vs peace, cool vs lame, theory vs practice, doctor vs professor, possesion vs dispossesion. I think this was the best book I read in 2011, and Le Guin the best writer I have read in the last few years. Her books just seem to become more relevant over time.
	Flaubert's Parrot, Julian Barnes. Julian Barnes is my new David Mitchell. Litera-clever-ature.
	Reamde, Neal Stephenson. It is actually not science fiction. It is very real and very possible. But most people I know would think it sci-fi, if they ever bothered to read this, but they wouldn't. Most people I know, I love them, but they are living in the past. Sometimes I don't know if I should shock them or comfort them.
	The Housekeeper And The Professor, Yoko Ogawa. The beauty of math, the entropy of memory.
	The Elegance Of The Hedgehog, Muriel Barberry Never read reviews. Read books.
	Songlines, Bruce Chatwin. Fernweh.
	The Ketty Jay Trilogy, Chris Wooding Retribution Falls The Black Lung Captain The Iron Jackal Win x 3 and series of the year! Wonderful quality pulp steampunk sci-fi delicious utter butter über cyber litera-victori-ature. This trilogy is so bloody perfect escapism, it's like going to a hyper-charged tivoli for the mind. I read these books like a desert wanderer crawls into a bar and drinks barrels of beer, getting happily quenched and drunk at the same time. The Ketty Jay novels are a flash back to the first love of books. The realisation that books, dead paper or bits on a screen, are secret portals to magic worlds. These books justify it. I confess, I also read Wooding's youth literature, absolutely loved the Malice series too. I think maybe my best moments of 2011 was sneaking off on a blue sofa, escaping work or sleep or social commitments, being 11 years old, wide open eyes focused on a thrilling book. Chris Wooding is absolutely, unquestionably awesome.
	The Perks Of Being A Wallflower, Steve Chbosky. Introverted? CHECK. Troubled adolescence? CHECK. Weird music taste? CHECK. Growing up, defining yourself in the 90ies? CHECK. Generally confused and disconnected? CHECK. People having trouble pronouncing creator's name? CHECK.
	Journey To The End Of The Night, Louis-Ferdinand Celine. Books are portals. Books can also be portals to worlds which are not necessarily beautiful, but beautifully necessary.
	The Mesh: Why The Future Of Business Is Sharing, Lisa Gansky. And, we are full circle, back to Dispossesion. This isn't just about business. This is the sensible and functional way to fix the planet. Because you are not going to give up your comforts. So let's make them into resources.

Fit For Flight

Thu, 29 Dec 2011 16:44:00 +0100

Fit For Flight (Taken with Instagram).

Berlin Wins Christmas With Flame-Throwing Franken-Tree

Thu, 22 Dec 2011 17:33:00 +0100

This year, Germany won the EU. And now, Berlin also wins Christmas, by this insanely awesome Franken-flame-thrower-Christmas-tree.

I heard rumors of a Franken-tree and went on dangerous capitalist expedition to the Christmas market at Breitscheidplatz. I found it: The Traffic Tree, a Franken-Transformer-Skeletor tree assembled from - and decorated with - a multitude of eclectic culturabilia.

As I had myself a hot glühwein and stood there admiring this wunderschönes monster, then it suddenly burst. into. multiple. flames. And it continued bursting and pulsing and burning for a good five minutes! Circling patterns of poofs and roars! Hahaha! Is that my jaw, in my glühwein cup!?

And if that's not enough, they've also got 3-dimensional pixel lego snowmen!

Mein gott this village knows how to honor the holidays. When it comes to the annual blingbling-feist, me and the doctor are usually sordidly withdrawn as grinches in a dark corner, but this year the flame-throwing baum lifted our spirits. We actually invested in a christmas tree - of course a mobile version powered by USB.

The best wishes from the doctor and me - and our USB tree! - for acceptable holidays, may all your Franken-days have bursting flames and pixel snowmen.

G / D / USB-3

Youtube Now Pays Me For Music In Videos

Wed, 21 Dec 2011 11:07:00 +0100

I am now getting paid (microscopically) for all Youtube use of my music, in any way it appears.

My videos, your videos, your aunt's cat videos, your aunt's cat's mouse videos. There are so many superbly brilliant, thrillingly weird and charmingly awesome videos on Youtube using my music, it's great, and now it is even greater. The Youtube system automatically detects use of the music in videos, and works out royalties and a cut of ad revenue. A much more elegant approach than barbaric take-downs and cruel removals of personal videos. I heart my digital music parents Phonofile and the Merlin Network very much, thanks guys for patiently working things out.

I have always said yes to all personal and most non-commercial use of my music in Youtube videos, in the rare, polite event that someone asks permission. I've always just been happy the music is being used and spread. Now it is reason to be even more happier, and say yes more yessier.

How much this generates in real income, I don't know, the deal is just inked, I haven't seen any reports. And I have no idea if it works retrospectively, for all the gazillion past plays over the years. I do not expect a lot per clip, probably sometimes nothing. But it could add up over time. Youtube is the most important channel of music on a global level. I am happy, this is a very good start.

For starters, I uploaded the whole of the Planet U project for one continuous playlist, and another top 10 Ugress tracks playlist.

Ugress "Planet U" Playlist - All tracks from 2011
Ugress Top 10 Playlist - Most popular tracks ever
Ugress Music Videos Playlist - All music videos

I do not expect sudden high traffic to these music-only videos, but I think they're important to have available for those outside of the streaming paradises.

Planet U: Episode 4: Luftslott - Production Notes

Wed, 14 Dec 2011 16:11:00 +0100

Luftslott is the final and title track of Planet U: Episode Four, also called Luftslott.

Production notes

Symphonic ghost-house is a genre I have invented for myself but not quite nailed yet. There's previously the softer Ghost Von Frost and also I'd throw Cthulhu's Night Out into this category. Still not quite there, but closing in.

Process

This track has been a lot of work, way more than usual. It is in the end a combination of multiple sketches; some of them as old as ten years. Depending on how much each sketch influences the others as they are combined, the genre of the track shifts for each version; at first it was spooky trip-hop, it has been a vocal track, and for some years almost normal minimal house (REAL horror).

(Click for full screenshot.)

There's also been some versions with more melody and musical development but I didn't like them enough to keep.

Nuke Your Babies

The final battle of this track was how much voice samples should be in it. I had - and still have - a version where she continues to speak sporadic phrases throughout the track, various surrealist Norwegian messages. During beta listens, the amount of vocal samples was what we discussed most. The current end result, which is "as little as possible", I'm not sure, but at the moment I think it is the most optimal balance.

At the moment I do not see Luftslott as a live track, but playing live is a typical situation where the vocal samples could be reanimated.

Patience Is A Virtue Until It Is Boring

In my opinion (today), the biggest problem with this track, and possible why samples mentioned above didn't work, is the short running time. The track is hyper-efficient. I'm worried it could be a bit too efficient. I've been constantly torn between efficiency and patience, to let elements develop over longer time. I think a classic, simpler house structure could work. But for now, for the EP release, I choose to go with the short edit. If the track becomes an album candidate I will revise, and also then there will be listener data to aid any upgrades.

Up, up, up

There are often car chases in the movies. Not so often, or rather never, are there levitating castles chasing each other, slow-motion battles of the skies. With this eternal wisdom of the cinema, I observe Luftslott to conclude the fourth episode of the Planet U project, which as intended provided regular EP releases throughout 2011.

Now if you excuse us, the Doctor and your correspondent have castles to fly.

Luftslott

Wed, 14 Dec 2011 15:49:00 +0100

With title track Luftslott released a minute ago, Episode 4 of Planet U is complete.

You can download the whole EP in any format you want, and pay what you want, from my Bandcamp store.

If you haven't already, catch up on episode one Planetfall, episode two The Lost Ruins and episode three Wulfhoken Spaceport Affairs.

There are production and compositional notes for all tracks, just follow the Planet U tag.

Geek Report: A Device To Combat Wireless

Mon, 12 Dec 2011 19:23:00 +0100

A geek live music investor report. Observations of a new MIDI USB gadget investment.

But Why?

I am using an iPad as a fundamental controller when performing live. Photos below. On stage the iPad is supplemented with hardware controllers. The iPad and my custom built control interfaces are critical elements for getting good sound, doing sudden improvisation, and in general clueless messing up and having fun because I have (theoretically) control.

Until now, the iPad (TouchOSC) has been talking to the laptop (Live via Osculator) via wireless networking. Yes, wireless networking! Also known as: A bloody f*#*ing nightmare.

I've performed or worked in hundreds of venues, rooms, places over the last two years. Statistically, in 40% of these places, I had terrible problems with the wireless networking. Too often and too much to be accidental or just freak situations. I've concluded, wireless networking are not trustworthy on the road. Maybe, theoretically in controlled environments.

And even when it DID work, there were always dropouts; not enough to be critical, but enough to be annoying. Especially when dropping note-off's, resulting in hung notes (the inevitable release of a pressed key is not transmitted so the note sounds forever or until you buy a new computer).

For some time this autumn I considered giving up custom touch-based interfaces. But with the recent Lemur release, I just can't give up the future. So I'm trying a physical solution. The iConnectivity iConnectMIDI.

It creates a cable connection from the iPad to the laptop. Barbaric, I know.

The Un-Box

It's a thing! It arrived by courier! I signed my name with a stylus!

It must be honored by proper un-boxement procedure and documentation.

The Happy Notes

It Just Works. And rather splendidly. I hooked it up and it just worked and that's it. No instructions, no WTFs, no issues. There's a slight latency compared to physical controllers, but I gladly enjoy those milliseconds for custom interfaces with NULL LOSS OF SIGNAL NEVER EVER AGAIN: If I touch it, it happens.

Possibilities. Right now, I'm simply using it to send MIDI signals from the Lemur app on iPad to the laptop. The box can do a lot more, which I'm not utilizing, too busy concentrating on album production. But look forward to more gadget play when album is finished.

Ease Of Connectivity. A comparison:

Wireless	iConnect Midi
Wake up laptop Create network Create password Wake up iPad Preferences App Wi-fi Join Device Network Enter password Wait 30 sec for IP hook Controller App, refresh connection PLAY	Wake up laptop Wake up iPad PLAY

This isn't so bad if you're only in a studio all the time and this routine is done maybe once or twice. But when you have to perform these start-up routines multiple times each day, and it then often does not work, works somewhat, needs a restart, drops connection, has connection but doesn't talk, HAD connection, NOW during performance HAS NOT, or just doesn't work at all, an then suddenly DOES, then WTF DOES NOT, then it kind of gets rosy cozy SPECIAL FLAMETHROWER MOMENT. Stability prevails over flexibility on stage.

The Not-So-Happy Notes. But OK-Then:

The Name. iConnectMIDI? It's a kind of like "My First Pony Is A Dwarf Horse" or "Let's Play Doctor Because I Am Sick". When something is stated too obviously there is always something uncanny lurking below.

Wireless-less. I'm not wireless anymore. Can't grab the iPad and run around on stage. Which I did for the first few times, but then it kind of got old. And anyway; I kept hitting the home button when running around. It's the custom interfaces that is the real value of the iPad, not the portability. And I still have the Wii controllers, which now should see less wireless signal competition, maybe that helps.

Power. I can't charge it during use, the iConnectMIDI device does not supply power. I have to remember to charge the iPad pre-show, which I know I will forget and therefore expect to perform highly stressful shows in the future on 5% battery. C'est la vie electronique.

Weight. And cables. Extra plugging when setting up a new place. The tiny little gadget is surprisingly… hefty. Not heavy, but kind of solid, well-built and set. And it has a power adaptor, which is very light but still Yet Another Thing. This adds more weight and space to my stuff. Not a lot, but if wireless was 100% stable, I wouldn't need it. (It's also one more thing that can and will break down.)

Conclusion

Laboratory testing concludes: Success investment! Applaud investor.

It's a while until next live expedition right now, but I have a school tour and album release tour in spring 2012, where this will see some proper field tests. Until then, I simply enjoy hassle-free, stable signals. And yet another little box with blinking lights.

PS. Photos above are from rigging and soundcheck before showtime, not during actual concert. So it's not like there are 3 or 0 people attendig my shows. There are actually 10 or even more sometimes.

Pushwagner music video for Regression 22

Fri, 9 Dec 2011 13:32:00 +0100

Music video premiere! Pushwagner and Ugress battle for control in the Pushwagner universe. Video for the Regression 22 track, final title track of the documentary "Filmen Om Pushwagner", by Even Benestad / August Hansen. Music video directed by Karianne Berge, produced by Indiefilm.

The music video coincides with todays release of the "Filmen Om Pushwagner" documentary on DVD, available now in stores like Platekompaniet. The soundtrack for the documentary is available for streaming and download, right here at ugress.com, stream in Spotify or Wimp or download from iTunes.

The video is currently featured over at Kreativt Forum (norwegian only). Here are some photos I took of the filming session, and there's also a report from live cinema performances during the premiere weekend.

Planet U: Episode 4: Tortoise Locomotive

Thu, 8 Dec 2011 01:07:00 +0100

Sweet patient melodic melancholia, restless lo-fi breaks and gritty cuteness: Tortoise Locomotive.

Production Notes

Did most of this track on a long train trip through all of Germany, from the Alps to Berlin, in November this year. It started out with an experiment of building Franken-breaks (more on this in a later post). The melodic piano pattern came from a sketch recorded earlier that week in a hotel room. I spent most the train ride lost in this, working out a complete structure and adding all the elements.

Mixing, balancing and tuning of instruments and sounds was done a few weeks later. The mixing process took a few days back and forth, but the track was created in transit.

Instruments

There are a lot of Franken-instruments in there. It introduces an early version of Franken-breaks; a sort of breakbeat based chaotic drum-machine that randomly picks a slice from multiple samples of breakbeats. That's kind of obvious to hear in the first few seconds. I'll make a report on that when it's more mature. I add some repeating beats layered below to make it less crazy. Later, there are subtle layers of Franken-pizzicatos for the second melodic line (see Soundcloud comment), and the Franken-flugel is sort of ever-present all the way.

The simple, repetitive bass pattern is multiple Amiga Protracker ST-disk bass samples mixed together. I like the grunginess of ST-samples, how they seem to fit and complement the dirty sound of the breaks. Wonderful 8-bit fuzziness. The piano also doubles some of the bass pulses. I'm not too found of the piano sound down there, it's a bit dull and sloppy but rest assured it was worse when it was sharper.

Overall

Conceptually it's a rather naive track, that's not necessarily a bad thing. It is a bit inefficient progress-wise, elements take their time developing. But I like that, this is how I had it, on the train, letting parts linger, having room for attention to drift in and out, staying in the dreamy, grungy spaciousness. It certainly is a nice contrast to last week's Remote Control Labyrinth, with its ruthless demands to attention.

The mix is noisy. It clicks, squeaks, beeps, glitches, there is subtle grunge, noise and ugliness in every nook and cranny; this is the consequence of Franken-instruments sometimes picking clean samples, sometimes noisy. I cannot and will not control that, they live on their own. I love how the track breathes and changes in realtime. Every time I play it, work with it, it sounds a bit different.

For now, I have to render down a frozen version for release. But at some point it should be possible to release tracks where the instruments are running live, computer game soundtracks already does this to an extent. In due time.