Gadgets
fromWIRED
13 hours agoFender's Latest Bluetooth Speaker Is Also a Guitar Amp
The ELIE 6 is a portable speaker with retro analog controls, offering good battery life and multiple inputs, but lacks advanced digital features.
Adapted from a stage play by Alfie author Bill Naughton, The Family Way finds its material in the trials of a pair of northern newlyweds who, having been fleeced by a crooked travel agent, end up having to spend their honeymoon at home. What's worse, given their impecuniousness, "home" meant a room in the house of the groom's parents.
Shot by photographer Michael Ochs, the band appears completely wrapped in a single sheet of translucent pink plastic or fabric, a playful literal riff on their name that perfectly suits the whimsical, experimental spirit of the psychedelic era.
The estate, tucked away on half an acre in Laurel Canyon, was originally purchased by Zappa in the late 1960s for $74,000. It had been owned by the musician's family since his passing in 1993. The whimsical 1930s Tudor, with its herringbone brickwork and half timbering, includes the recording studio and rehearsal space that Zappa had built as well as "the vault" - a climate-controlled, multiroom space where he kept a secret collection of music and film recordings.
I was too embarrassed to sing in my apartment, he says on a video call. But my roommate at the time was dating the preacher's daughter, and had keys to the church across the street. In the dead of night, the madcap bassist and singer took his recording equipment to the empty church, set up on the podium, and first sang his anti-war song Too Many Puppies.
In a way, it was the Sgt. Pepper's of hip-hop. It's a record that changed the way that people thought about putting music together. I'm not a big hip-hop historian; I just know the stuff that I worked on.
In good times, klezmer singer and composer Éléonore Weill makes most of her living playing gigs around the city under her name or fronting the two bands Fada and Tsibele. But when the COVID pandemic began, she got divorced and had to move out of the Kensington house she shared with her ex-husband. Then she was hit by a car, which left her with a traumatic brain injury.
It's purely a creative space. There are no deadlines. There are no have-to's. It's just something I do for me. When you design a recording studio, the first thing you want to do is treat the room to make sure the sound is good, so you're getting an accurate depiction of the music as it was played or recorded.
I recently had the pleasure of interviewing Laurie Spiegel for the site. As preparation for the interview, I spent a lot of time over the last couple of weeks revisiting Spiegel's records, most notably The Expanding Universe, her 1980 masterpiece that blends synth experimentalism with early examples of what would eventually be called ambient music, and algorithmic composition techniques. It's a marvel that sounds both nostalgic and cutting-edge at the same time.
Revolución to Roxy begins long before glam, synthesizers, or LP covers became cultural landmarks. Manzanera's earliest memories are shaped by upheaval: childhood in Cuba during the revolution, displacement, and an upbringing that crossed Venezuela, Colombia, England, and beyond. That instability, he says, produced something lasting-understanding. "If you grow up speaking two languages, you are scientifically proven to be more compassionate," Manzanera says. "You have this kind of duality, and one of those is the power to be empathetic. For a musician, that is such a helpful tool."
Jim E Brown, the self-professed 19-year-old singer "born in Manchester on September 10, 2001, just one day before the 911″ just wrapped up a short bicoastal run of shows with two sold-out nights at Trans-Pecos in Queens. At night 2 (1/24), backed by a full band Jim E. played such hits as "I Urinated on a Butterfly," "I Know I'm Going to Die of a Stroke," "I'm Naked in my Room Huffing Nitrous Balloons," "I'm Writing Love Letters at McDonald's" and, at five different times throughout the set, "Rat in Bin."
Designed by Korean up-and-comer Woojin Yang, Everglow is a handheld mini-keyboard that fits into any bag. The "musical sketchbook" of sorts allows artists to quickly jot down ideas when they're not in front of their instruments or computers. The sleekly-designed device comes with a generative AI-based sound system that allows them to iterate and develop a song on the spot, not just transcribe the initial tune.
They should have known right off the bat that they had something special, as the opening night had Dr. John, Stevie Wonder and Johnny Winter performing to the likes of Mick Jagger and Carly Simon in the audience. Over the years, the 400-person capacity club became the place to be to see one's favorite artist up close or catch an up-and-coming unknown.
Green-House will release new album Hinterlands on March 20. The Los Angeles duo of Olive Ardizoni and Michael Flanagan has left their longtime home of Leaving to sign with Ghostly for the follow-up to A Host for All Kinds of Life. Listen to a new song from the record, "Farewell, Little Island," below, and scroll down for the album art.
What interested me here was the idea of using my voice and new tools in service of expression, not instead of it. This project respects the artist's voice, the artist's choices, and the artist's ownership. I grew up watching my parents create wonderful dreams that were owned by other people. ElevenLabs makes it possible for anyone to be a creator and owner. That matters.