best of 2007: part one

dwreck's picks:

Ben Mono - Beatbox (Jesse Rose) [Compost Records]
Lopazz - Share My Rhythm (Isolee) [Get Physical Music]
Black Joy - Untitled (Solid Groove) [Freerange Records]
Myungho Choi - Red Umbrella [Om Records]
Frequent Fliers - Selfish [Jackin']
Hipp-E - Get Ready [SOCO Audio]
Sinden & Count Of Monte Cristal - Beeper [Counterfeet]
Robag Wruhme And Rolf Oksen - Dopamin [Buzzin' Fly Records]
Samim - Heater [Get Physical Music]
Avondale Music Society - Inbum Cho EP [Loveslap]

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stoutxtc's picks:

Francis Jilla & Johnny Drama - Just Another Boot/Can We Talk? [Guess Who]
Fabio Bacchini - Freakin Jazz [Dae Recordings]
Jamiroquai - Runaway (Grant Nelson) [Sony]
Joshua Heath - Casafiesta [Dae Recordings]
Sinden & Count of Monte Cristal - Beeper [Counterfeet]
Chuck Love - Beautiful Thang [Airplane!/Om Records]
Troydon - City Slummin' (Fiasco's Byrds Word Mix) [Greenskeepers Music]
Calvin Harris - Acceptable In The 80's [Fly Eye]
Greenskeepers - New York Lady [Om Records]
Oriental Funk Stew - Simple Things [Tango Recordings]


StoutXTC hosts the Beatmatrix on WRUW 91.1FM every Monday night.

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spacinjason's picks:

Phonique - Worked It Out (Charles Webster Remix) [Dessous]
Office Gossip - Say It [Winding Road]
Deetron - I Cling [Music Man]
Atjazz - Dirty Ride (Version Mix) [Plastic City]
Larry Heard pres. Mr. White - The Sun Can't Compare [Alleviated]
Ben Westbeech - Hang Around (Karizma Dub) [Brownswood]
Ananda Project - Universal Love (Jay-J's Shifted Up Mix) [Nite Grooves]
Martin Solveig - Cabo Parano (MS Magnolia Dub) [Vega]
Andy Cato - Cosmic Force (Francois Dubois Remix) [Pack Up And Dance]
Swell Session - All of Me (Charles Webster Remix) [Freerange Records]

Spacin' Jason spins a live internet stream on The Future Light Show on Dogglounge Radio every Monday from 2-4pm EST.

rewind: classic dance music (videos)

Giorgio Moroder - Chase

Kraftwerk - The Robots

Sugarhill Gang - Rapper's Delight

Front 242 - Operating Tracks

Front 242 - Don't Crash

Inner City - Good Life

S-Express - Theme from S-Express

Bomb the Bass - Beat Dis

Greater Than One - I Don't Need God

808 State - Pacific State

Meat Beat Manifesto - Edge of No Control

Meat Beat Manifesto - Mindstream

but does it do windows?

(click title link to view the video)

brief:
"Toyota Motor Corp.'s new violin robot performs during a press unveiling in Tokyo Thursday, Dec. 6, 2007. Compared to a virtuoso, its rendition was a trifle stilted and, well, robotic. But Toyota's new robot plays a pretty solid 'Pomp and Circumstance' on the violin. The 152-centimeter (five-foot)-tall all-white robot used its mechanical fingers to push the strings correctly and bowed with its other arm, coordinating the movements well."

(click here to read the full article)

the case against national service

In the September 10th cover story of Time Magazine, the author proposes ideas regarding national service (both voluntary and mandatory). The point that really bothers me in their 7-point "plan" is "Make National Service a Cabinet-Level Department." Really? Do we really need to spend more federal money on creating yet another useless wasteful cabinet-level department? If people want to volunteer, hey, more power to them. I've volunteered at soup kitchens, AIDSwalks, and at the Free Clinic of Greater Cleveland. Props to anyone who wants to volunteer because our communities certainly could use some help. The trouble is, we definitely do not need to spend federal money creating an unnecessary governmental department to organize something that doesn't need to be organized on that level. There are plenty of opportunities to volunteer and to help your local community, from Big Brothers/Sisters organizations, to tutoring underprivileged kids after school, to simply running around your neighborhood with a garbage bag and gloves, to asking your elderly neighbors if they need a ride to the grocery store. Why mandate these things? What a waste of money. Now, I do like the idea of making it mandatory for kids in high schools to volunteer somewhere. That's a fantastic idea, and one that the private Catholic school that I attended did indeed implement, and I'll admit that definitely had a large effect on my choice to volunteer later in my life. Going from the suburbs with my high school classmates to a soup kitchen and serving food to the homeless and poor definitely expanded my view of the world which at that time consisted of cul de sacs, video games, and the local mall. If the government and presidential candidates are that serious about fixing the homeland, maybe they could try and figure out a way to make people better parents. Mandatory parenting laws, now I like the sound of that. If they really want to blow a ton of cash on creating fun, new departments in Washington to divert attention away from the useless ones already established, how about creating a Department of Proper Parenting, or Department of Big Happy Ice Cream, or, say, start a Department of Leisure.

holiday shop online: the wren's nest

tek release 0002 | touch | sat 12.15.07

Well, final exams are over finally, and so I just wanted to invite everyone and remind everyone that I'm playing at this event tonight (Saturday) at Touch. Please come and support the Tek-know? crew. They have a lot of great stuff planned for the coming year, so why not attend this to get a taste of what's to come?

We will be celebrating the second net release to come from the Tek-Know studio and we got someone special to help us do it.

Lee Curtiss [Wolf + Lamb | Dumb Unit | Mothership | Kalamari | Esperanza : Berlin/Detroit]

A Western Michigan native and long-time Detroit resident, Lee Curtiss has been forging his uniquely backwoods, yet avant-garde and primal brand of deep and twisted dance music since the late 1990’s. A constantly changing and ever-eager student to his craft, Lee’s finger has been pressed upon, if not thrust into, the throbbing aorta of underground dance music for quite some time – even if his production skills and brain-demolishing live PA have only recently begun to garner the attention of techno and house music’s elite. Growing up between the two poles of Chicago and Detroit organized Lee’s approach to production.

Tek0002 release form Chad Dolis [Tek-Know : Akron]
Chad been among us from the beginning with his amazing DJ skills and wonderful ear. After diving into the studio for over a year now Chad has been grinding away at the DAW developing his own voice and he's decided it's time to speak. Come hear him show you how he did it with his first live performance to date.

Also performing:
Truck Stop Tourist (Live) [Tek-Know : Akron]
Pi(iT) [Apple Store Akron]
Dwreck [Tek-Know : Wallpaper Cleveland]
Stone & Leone [Deepinit : Tek-Know Cleveland]
Funk Detective [Tek-Know : Touch Cleveland]

12.15.2007
$5
Touch Supper Club
2710 Lorain Ave
Cleveland, Oh

jordy verrill chia pet

I had this idea while watching a late night commercial for new Chia Pet products that interrupted the [start sarcasm] intellectually-stimulating cinematic masterpiece [end sarcasm] Swarmed (2005) that the Sci-Fi Channel aired at 3am tonight. This poor excuse for a film actually helped me figure out what not to do while writing my screenplay that's due on Tuesday for my screen writing class. Anyhow, back to the Chia Stuff. The new Chia offerings include both a Scooby Doo Chia and Shaggy Chia. Why? Who's stupid idea was this? Um, neither Scooby nor Shaggy had an afro, and that's what Chia hair turns into. There's plenty of famous people and fictional characters that would actually look really cool when their hair grows all Chia. Maybe the person who suggested the Scooby Doo and Shaggy Chia Pets were mentally mis-connecting Shaggy and Scooby with the Harlem Globetrotters who were frequent cartoon guest stars in the later-aired Scooby series. Even more wrong than the Scooby and Shaggy Chia Pets was the extra gift they offer to throw in for free: The stuffed animal Chia Pet Cuddlies. Who's bright idea was this? It's a stuffed animal that you grow Chia plant matter on. You can't really hug it or sleep with it, and try watering it while it's laying on your pillow or bed. Someone at the Chia company needs a pink slip, methinks. Anyhow, I thought of a great idea to pitch to the Chia people that would make a killing with both Stephen King readers and horror movie buffs: the Jordy Verrill Chia Pet. Jordy Verrill was the character that Stephen King played in one of the two episodes he wrote for the original Creepshow film. Well, okay, maybe it's two decades too late, but it makes a heck of a lot more sense than the Scooby, Shaggy, or stuffed Cuddlies Chia Pets!

understanding "race"