After his third release, gigging in the East Texas area, and some national recognition after being a staff picked artist on Purevolume.com, Matt took a hiatus from releasing music in order to redefine his sound and make a product that would truly bring in a new era of his musical progression. After several years of songwriting, skill sharpening, and instrument collecting the end result was Matt & The Dronings and “For Torching”; an album that pulls from the folk stylings of Elliott Smith, Donovan, and Bob Dylan and merges that sound with the experimental attitude of The Dandy Warhols, The Beta Band, and Radiohead. With the help of various reclusive musicians, the album was recorded in a home studio in two weeks during the fierce Texas summer. A live band was assembled and shows have begun in the Tyler/Longview area promoting the new album.

About “For Torching”

CD Baby – www.cdbaby.com/cd/MattTheDronings
Singles – “Nothing Wrong”, “Forest Fire” (explicit)

Pulling from influences as far stretched as the pop sensible, yet sorrowful Elliott Smith to the paranoid rock styling of Radiohead, Texas rockers Matt & The Dronings set the stage for their fresh approach to music with the debut album “For Torching”. Following a true DIY ethic, “For Torching” was recorded, mixed, and published by the band themselves in a living room turned studio during the sweltering heat of an East Texas summer. The album kicks things off with three bare-bone songs built on singer/songwriter and band front-man’s beautifully simple guitar parts and introspective lyrics (“Forest Fire”, “Was This In Your Five Year Plan?”, and “Quarter Past Three”), but as the third track shifts into it’s second half for “Be Free” we begin to hear the first subtle example of Matt & The Dronings electronic/experimental influences. Leading the way for the next few tracks (the folktronica love song “Keep Talking” and the mellow, psychedelic “The Sun”), the single “Nothing Wrong” features swirling guitars, full instrumentation, and lyrics straight from a therapist’s couch (with a chorus anyone with youthful angst can sing along to).

Following six tracks written from Matt’s perspective, the album shifts direction with a three part, spoken word piece that displays the roller coaster of human emotion from a different perspective. “Mvmt. 1 (Death)” starts off with a gentle, rolling piano part leading to the story of the anonymous narrator’s experience with death. A sleepy, simple guitar underlies an account of a dream, but quickly becomes unnerving and restless in its’ shifting tempo for “Mvmt. 2 (Dream)”. The album concludes with the noisy, Reznor tribute of “Mvmt. 3 (Response)” which features droning guitar and piano parts, distorted vocals, and blaring feedback; a surprise ending for the otherwise calm album, but a symbol for Matt & The Droning’s unwillingness to settle with one specific sound.

All of the tracks of these release are made only with one Game Boy DMG and the Nanoloop 1.3 program. Hydrioider album is a session of almost one hour of music performed and recorded in live, with some improvised parts. It was recorded directly into computer with a Pro Sound modification in the Game Boy but without any extra effects, editions or postproduction stages. 100 % DMG and Nanoloop. Hydrioider was created during 2009. The cover is made with Photoshop by Ralp.

http://www.ralp.org

All songs composed and produced by Ariel Gross and Dave Benjamin. Sampling, sequencing, and keyboard by Ariel Gross and Dave Benjamin. Guest keyboard and production on Dry Bones by Taylor Pakula. Drums, guitar, and bass guitar by Dave Benjamin. Drums on Pointy Fingers, Stellar Converter, and Also the Game recorded and mixed by Ariel Gross with help from Matt Helman and the Conservatory of Recording Arts and Sciences in Gilbert, Arizona. Mastered DIY over the internet.

Dave would like to thank Taylor for his undying persistence in getting him to accept Ableton into his life, and the Conservatory of Recording Arts and Sciences for the most amazing set of microphones he has ever seen or used.

Ariel would like to thank Dave for thanking the people that he thanks, because Dave’s thanks pretty much cover Ariel’s thanks. Also, Ariel thanks his chuchkin.

Ralp’s Biography:

Raül Peix (Ralp). Multifaceted artist member of Device, Distortled Box and Tricoma, independent collectives dedicated to audiovisual creations. Under the same name, Ralp takes different paths in electronic music, digital music with an IDMcore aesthetic made with computer, circuit bending and 8 Bit productions with Nintendo Game Boy. During his trajectory he has played in several events and festivals around Europe and in lots of improvised “mini-raves” in the street. So far he has published sonorous material in some netlabels like Brainstormlab (London), Crazy-Language (Berlin), DexandtheCity (Letonia), 49Manekinów (Polonia), Noise-Joy (USA) and Spoomusic (USA).

Links:

http://www.myspace.com/ralp8bit

http://www.myspace.com/ralpralpralp

Our planet.  It’s the biggest and most beautiful gift we have, yet almost all of us take it for granted.  In fact, many of us thoughtlessly cause harm to this great gift through seemingly inconsequential actions on a daily basis.  What’s worse is that this type of behavior is condoned and encouraged by our society at large.  As the average income ratio of the richest 1/5 to the poorest 1/5 on the planet soars toward 100:1 and beyond, all many of us can think about on a daily basis is what’s on tv or what we’re going to buy next.  We live as though we’re not intimately connected to nature and to this planet that we are so fortunate to live on.

This album’s content spans more than a year, and thus, contains the full range of emotions and experiences from that period.  I learned a great many things during this time, as one does in one’s travels, and many of those things contributed to the thoughts and feelings that went into the album.

I’d like to take some time to thank EVERYONE in my experience for being a part of it, and specifically my friends and family for all of the love and support they’ve given me over the years (especially this last year).  Special thanks to modem for his inspiration, teachings, and encouragement.  Special thanks also to James Stimac for the fabulous album art.  Finally, a big thank you to The Zeitgeist Movement and The Venus Project for opening my eyes and giving me hope and something to work towards.  Check them out at the following links:
http://www.thezeitgeistmovement.com
http://www.thevenusproject.com

• Level 0. There is no mention of your band whatsoever on Wikipedia.
• Level 1. Your band has a page on Wikipedia that you made, and it has not yet been deleted (or you have a script to keep creating your band’s page, and that script has not yet been banned).
• Level 2. Your band has a page on Wikipedia that was made by a fan.
• Level 3. Your band has a page made by your fans, and the page for at least one other band links back, citing your band as an influence.
• Level 4. Your band has a page made by your fans, it is cited as an influence, and it links to another page on Wikipedia for at least one of your artists.
• Level 5. Your band has a page, you are cited as an influence, and all of your artists have pages.
• Level 6. Your band has a page, you are cited as an influence, all of your artists have pages, and at least one of your albums has a page.
• Level 7. Your band has a page, you are cited as an influence, all of your artists have pages, and all of your albums have a page.
• Level 8. Your band has a page, you are cited as an influence, all of your artists have pages, all of your albums have a page, and at least one of your songs has a page.
• Level 9. Your band has a page, you are cited as an influence, all of your artists have pages, all of your albums have a page, and all of your songs have a page.
• Level 10. Your band meets all of the above criteria, plus the discussion tab on your band’s page is full of admins arguing and constantly trying to one-up each other with how much they know about your band.
• Level 11. Your band meets all of the above criteria, and it has the ability to modify the public’s perception of truth by motivating the crowd to go to Wikipedia after the show and make specific modifications.

Any advice on how to improve this list will be properly considered.

Album art by Joseph Ratigan.

The Fantastical Nikmis vs the Evil Dr. Crobe

Chapter ONE
One day the Fantastical Nikmis was winning a battle against Dr. Crobes minions. He kept killing them till they were dead by shooting them with his magic powers from his hands. Suddenly he flew real fast and then exploded ON TOP OF THEM! “AAAAHH” Stop killing us please they cried But then it was already done and they died. Or did they? They didn’t really die yet because Dr. Crobe their boss made them really smart with his ultra science powers he learned at evil school. BUt it was ok cause then Nikmis said “by the power of happiness YOU SHOULD DIE” and they did badly. Nikmis one the battle but he did not win the war yet although he wins the war in the end. The war isnt over until later. Or is it?

Chapter TWO
This is the story of the Fantastical Nikmis. One day he was drinking tea but then suddenly he broke the teapot. “NO!” he cried but then it was too late
Outside the wind blew air onto the face of him but it did not care alot. The world needed saving because the evil Dr. Crobe would destroy it if it wasnt saved! Nikmis was sad and had to kill several bad guys with a gun or sword to kill them. He aproched Dr. Crobes base inside a abandoned warehouse on a dusty road of despair. but then suddenly more bad guys got killed. “HIYAHH” “DIE” he killed them
“It’s too late,” Dr. Crobe smiled. It was an evil smile that he held the gun with.
“No it’s not too late YOU INSANE MANIC” and he ran to him. And he used his secret magical powar to kill him. The wrold was saved from the evi Dr. Crobel.
“Hooray I saved the wolrd!” he shouted. he shouted “THE WORLD IS SAFE” But was it? For how long was the world really truely save?

CHAPTER FOUR:
Nikmis flies to his friends house

But he couldn’t fly to good because Dr. Crobe had cursed him with his words. So instead he went to the video game store and played some. Then suddenly there was Dr. Crobe. “I’m going to do science” he said with an evil smile of content. “No you wont never” “Oh yes, I will!” and then there was a battle they had. Maybe you think Dr. Crobe was dead cause he was dead in the last chapter, but he did science to come back to life. Evil Science.

CHAPTER FIVE.
“OOOH!!” shouted Nikmis. As he ran as fast as he could like a ninja. But he was too fast for Dr. Crobe got out from the way and said “OH!” Then suddenly Dr. Crobe ninjad Nikmis in the back and said “A HA NOW I SHALL TIE YOU UP” in a British accent because Dr. Crobe was from there. So then he tied him up and took him back to his evil layer. It was then that Nikmis felt real sick cause he got injured in the back too hard. “Oh you despicable friend Docter Crobe!” said Nikmis as he used his powers to kill everyone and save the world. But for how long?

THE END

Remixes are good for the soul.  This is true for both the artist and the listener – each grows a bit in moving from the beginning to the end.  This album splits nearly right down the middle in terms of whether the remix was at the request of someone or chosen as a special experiment.  I hope all are as enjoyable to listen to as they were to make!

Special thanks to my sister Lizzy, as I would never have thought to remix ABBA without her, and my buddy boy James Stimac (whose name you should see more often if you’re into art) for the fantastic album cover.

Rules for Live Mixing of Beatgadgets
by RamenBoy
2/23/2001
–

I am no expert on the live mix, but I am no beginner either. Here is a set of rules that I have found useful over the past few years as a performing electronic musician. As always, rules are made to be broken, but perhaps these will help people take a detour from audio chaos and find a comfortable mix with other electronic musicians.

1. If you can’t beatmatch to it, don’t. Sometimes, you just want to play a track that doesn’t have the same BPM as what your bud’s playing, and speeding yours up just makes it sound like video game music. Sometimes, it’s ok to just let their track fade out instead of desparately trying to line up your jazzy trip hop with their rigid trance beats.

2. Listen, interact, and communicate. Let other people’s beats affect yours. Let your beats affect theirs. Bounce ideas off of each other.

3. Don’t “oversample”. Let vocal bits enhance the music, but don’t bury it. Space out your vocal samples, and use them strategically.

4. When you’re trying to make a recording of your session, watch the meters! I can’t overemphasize this. Too many great sessions have been fatally mauled by severe hard clipping. Keep your dBs hovering around zero and adjust your amp and deck accordingly. Make sure you match your inputs properly.

5. Transitioning from a swing beat to even time and vice versa rarely works. It all depends on the drumbeat, but be careful of sputtering kickdrums and awkward backbeats when you do this.

6. Take turns being the leader, or conductor, if you will. Electronic music devices often have slightly different interpretations of the same BPM, and if everyone keeps drifting, your mix will turn into mush. Have one person set the standard and let everyone else match it. Ari and I have had a moderate amount of success with the following rule of thumb: whoever’s fading in sets the standard, and whoever’s fading out must keep the sync. With more than two musicians, this becomes more complex.

7. If you’re playing with microphones, make sure you turn the mic track off when you’re done with it. Feedback can creep up on you very slowly, and it usually happens when you get up to go to the bathroom.

8. Teach people how to use your PA and mixer. This should really be #1.

9. Ambience is great for state of mind. Find cool lights and make your stage look interesting. You don’t need a laser light show, just a chill mood. Radio Shack may be your answer.

10. Don’t be afraid to add a little “dirt”. Electronic instruments tend to sound sterile and overprocessed unless you make the explicit effort of adding imperfections (This meme courtesy of Tom Dearing, AKA Reverberation Sound System).

11. Don’t rely on drum loops.

12. Don’t ignore drum loops, either.

13. Don’t be afraid to ask one of your buds for a BPM. Why waste time trying to find their BPM by ear when a little verbal communication will do the trick?

14. Experiment. Always. Don’t worry too much about mistakes. This is live music. Live electronic borders on jazz to me. It’s improv. Let the ideas flow.

15. Always look busy. Even if it takes a bit of theatrics, you need to show people that you are creating the music, not just “hitting play”. As an extreme example, think about Crystal Method, playing most of their set off of a DAT recording. Does the crowd care? No, because they’re jumping around and twisting knobs and playing their keyboards upside down in midair. As a less extreme example, watch DJ Spooky spin sometime. Does he ever, ever stop moving?

That’s all for now. Happy mixing!

Your friend,
the RamenBoy.

What are your favorite songs featuring 808s?