Saturday, December 29, 2007

Internet killed the video star

Not really, it just sounded good. I know that in Australia at least traditional video are not being made as much for TV. YouTube viral videos are another matter. We are in the transition from CDs to MP3s and TV video clips to YouTube viral clips. Here is a video that uses some of that light writing style mixed with that Matrix multi camera 3D technology. It's a dope track too.



While I'm on the subject HERE are the top videos of 2007 as selected by Rolling Stone. Also check out THIS graffiti art site. Art is seriously being taken away from the establishment and getting online and on the street. Good times.

I finally got my German Adam A7 studio monitor and they are sweeeet! So solid and clear. Worth the dosh definitely. Now I have a heap of mixing to do. Ahh, how quickly new toys become tools. Might watch a few movies first, though. Yeah.

word!

T

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

The Future of 1950's Post Modern Futurism From The Past



I love the Deco styling of this 1958 futurist film by Disney. Somehow Deco is always in. Some of this design is actually quite hip. Maybe it's so dated that it's hip.

I have nearly 8Gb of storage on my keyring. Enough space for a decent sized school library. I can translate, look up, read mail, buy things and watch porn from my mobile phone. It's funny how the little things have advanced massively but the big stuff hasn't. There are no super duper highways, jetpacks, smart cars, robot companions or space colonizing. Are we micro managing more or are the little things more important. Maybe we are just getting more petty. Of course now I have 8Gb of storage on my keyring the last thing I want is a library of books to read on it. I mean, really, who has time for that shit.

T

Tuesday, December 11, 2007

The Cloud live and seeing the light

Light painting is cool:


Also the latest Cloud Kollektiv gig was cool too. It was hard work getting the EP together and finishing 14 tracks for two sets but it was worth it:
Check the Cloud MYSPACE for new pics and music. Great work, thanks to everyone involved. Special thanks to Cle Wootton, Simon Kelly and Amit Diwadkar for their vocals.

Good luck to Bal on his trip to India to learn to be even more cultural. Enough already Bal, your making the rest of the Cloud Kollektiv look bad ;)

Friday, November 30, 2007

A bit of suspense

I have been waiting with baited breath for my new Adam A7 studio monitor speakers to come from Germany. I could have got them from Sydney but they would have cost me even more, so I am getting them direct from the distributor with a studio friends who is getting five (surround setup for film composition), this way we can get them for a few hundred dollars less.
I am also mixing a heap of Cloud Kollektiv stuff for our gig on the 8th. So that we have an EP for people to take away. We have heaps of grooves but most are only a minute or two long. So I am working these tracks into a extended mix of cloudiness. It's sounding great but I wish I was mixing on the Adam A7's not my old Tannoy speakers.

Here's some new/old Hitchcock, directed by Martin Scorsese. Great stuff. Pity he doesn't go with it and make the full film. Very stylish. Note the Australian lead role.

Friday, October 26, 2007

Groovy Gig & Google Gives

Preperation for the next Cloud Kollektiv gig on December the 8th is accelerating. I'm mixing Cle's tracks and have all the singers signed on for the gig. We hace Cleonie Wootton (soul), Simon Kelly (warm folk) and Amit Diwadkar (traditional Indian). Now we just have to jam the grooves.


Here is what the iPhone should have been. Google rocks! It's open source all the way and Google are putting up $10million for anyone to write an innovative app for a phone running Googles Android operating system. This is going to be interesting.



Post gig Trilby and David Scharpf

Thursday, October 25, 2007

You call that a GUI

I have to admit for some reason I have a bit of a GUI fetish. That's Graphical User Interface. So this is seriously hot. I want one on every wall. Touch surround vision.

Along with my deep jazz crew the Cloud Kollektiv getting into the WAMi Song Of The Year Finals and playing the awards on the 31st of Oct, my collaboration 'She Selexx' with Jasmin Yee and Frans (of Halogen fame) have just got into the top ten of the MusicOz awards.

You can download a mix of the current tracks we are working on HERE

Enjoy.

Sunday, October 21, 2007

Crazy Jammin'

Sig and I had a ball at the Italian Film Festival opening night at Paradiso Cinema and the Bakery. We heard live opera in the cinema then saw a hot flick called 'The Manual Of Love 2' and received a little show bag (with a bottle of Frangelico) and went on to the Bakery and drank ourselves silly, Great people, great night.The vibes are happening in the Cloud Kollektiv. The first jam with Cle was great fun. We will be performing the track for the first time at the WAMI Song of the Year Awards
Finally for this rather visual post is a brilliant Ad. So COOOOL!



T

Saturday, October 06, 2007

First night in the Clouds

"Too many people are thinking of security instead of opportunity. They seem more afraid of life than death."

James F. Byrnes (1879 - 1972)

Well, we did it. The first gig for the Cloud Kollektiv was a great success. The Velvet Lounge was jam packed and the applause was awesome. Sound was great, the Deuce crew were totally happening and the unexpected video art really worked with the show. Big thanks to Simon Kelly for doing the Cloud dub mix of his track 'Cloud On The Corner'.

Our next gig is at the WAMI Song Of The Year on October the 31st at the Fly-By night club. A very prestigious night indeed for a second gig.

Monday, September 24, 2007

The Soul Has Not Gone


This is a modern soul classic. It just doesn't give up. Every time I hear it. You can hear the hair.

PS. The Cloud Kollektiv track 'Weight Of The World' featuring Jono McNeil has got into the finals of the WAMI Song of the year. Cool, huh.

Just in.. She Selexx track 'Coo Coo Coo' has got into the finals of the WAMI Song of the year also. It's all go!

Sunday, September 23, 2007

Art from the cloud



This is some great precision graphitti from Japan.
..and click here if you want a little cry. A happy one

Also The Cloud Kollektiv now have a happening MySpace. So if you want a quick listen to what I have been doing musically or want to mySpace befriend us then get over there.


Don't forget our gig on the 4th of October at the Velvet Lounge in MtLawley, W.Australia.

Saturday, September 08, 2007

Latest Trilby Mixes

Here is a 7 minute MP4/AAC mix of a few of the more finished tracks I'm writing/producing at the moment. None of them have been properly mastered (just my vague mastering). They are works in progress...excuses, excuses, yadda yadda..

1. Simon Kelly's - Cloud On The Corner
2. Cloud Kollektiv feat. Jono McNeil - Weight Of The World
3. She Selexx - Coo Coo Coo
4. She Selexx - Terrible Romance

I just wrote the beat for Simon's track and am really happy with it. I got that compressed BOOM BAP! sound. I layered snare sounds and grabbed the feel from a fusion drum solo for the high hats. It's simple, but finely sculpted. It's important to write tracks for mastering. If you have an idea of what will happen to the track in the mastering process then it will come out sweeter in the end and not need much.
SheSelexx's tracks are a whole more complex beast, layers of subtle guitars. I'm slowly working out how to keep the mix simple from the start so my head doesn't iexplode at the end of the mix. So many guitars, vocals and drum layers make things rich, but are hard to balance.
Cloud Kollektiv stuff is just indulgent. This groove evolved from a jam and I have kept it as crazy jazzy shit. Good shit. The next track I think will be one of our more solid club grooves. Now that we are working with singers, we will have to start structuring. Hopefully we can keep it free and groovy.Here are some pics of me with friends at a dub gig at The Bakery
If you are digging these tracks make sure you make it to my gig at the Velvet Lounge in MtLawley on Thursday October the 4th for the Cloud Kollektiv gig. Simon Kelly will be doing a dubby version of 'Cloud On The Corner' with us, Jono will be jamming too and hopefully we will get some stuff together with Cle.

Cool

Monday, September 03, 2007

GOD, well not so much

This debate had me enthralled and laughing. Hitchens is so scathing and Sharpton is so cool and caring. I would definitely prefer to have a beer with Sharpton even though he is made to look a bit of a fool. It'll definitely get you thinking which ever side you sway to.



The Cloud Kollektiv is going guns with it's own web domain cloudkollektiv.com (and cloudcollective.com, just in case). The first cloud gig is on Thursday October the 4th at the Velvet Lounge.

Here are some shots from our industrial writing sessions preparing tracks for gigs and singers.

More soon

Monday, August 27, 2007

Method Acting

I know I should be blogging about all the creative projects I'm working on and my life, but I saw this and I was in awe. It's like a massive historic battle being reinacted by buffalo and lion actors (with a cameo from an alligator). I suppose it's inspiring in a sense. I love it when the cavalry turn up.

Saturday, August 18, 2007

Cloud Inspirations

My collaboration project with Balvinder Singh, David Scharpf and artists from around the world has begun, it's The Cloud Kollektiv. Go to the site to hear some of our grooves and get the latest news. More as it comes to hand.


I am always inspired by PostSecret. It's just beautiful. A place on the net where people can be sensitive delicate raw volatile, honest. There was another site that had a similar vibe but was more direct, called Serendipity Chat. This site had a similarly simple premise. You go there with a webcam setup and chat to someone in the world. That's it. I spoke to a girl in Japan who was studying commerce and a guy in Puerto Rico who was quite funny. It gave me confidence in humanity.

Friday, August 10, 2007

Drillbit Radio Part #1

I just did a podcast. Normally I just mix it and do the music, but this time they asked me to talk too.

On OCAU front page
http://www.overclockers.com.au/

The podcast forum
http://forums.overclockers.com.au/showthread.php?t=599416


I sound like a complete geek. I'm cooler than that, honest (-1 oct at least). I was just nervous, ok!

Enjoy the Aussie nerdom, oh and this ad

Tuesday, July 24, 2007

The Debauched Post

80's Comedian's Are Cool



So if 80's Nintendo is Cocaine then the Nintendo Wii is definitely Extacy. It makes you dance around and get fit, grind your teeth in anxiety and stare at the pretty lights. I went to a Wii party (that name is SOoo! wrong) and we didn't really have time to drink or take drugs. We were too busy limbering up and preparing for the next round. The next day my arms were sore. How dare they try to make geeks fit, I mean really! I have to say it was also a bit trippy playing computer games with a 50/50 male female crowd. Half the time your watching the person jump around like an idiot. Yeah, and being an idiot is cool.

60's Porn is Cool



The thing I learnt from this educational movie is that 60's porn was kinda cool. It had a hip nonchalant beatnik vibe and the women were real. That's cool.



Cool,

T


ps. Note to self, promise not to use the word cool in the next few posts.

pps. Note to reader, if you are looking for my new mixes go down two posts and click on the highlighted
HERE's in each paragraph.

Tuesday, July 17, 2007

The Biz



I found these guys through a HipHop music production forum. They are really into new media business models. Here is an interview with some film producers that created a system to find out what cities wanted to see their movie. There is also a cool interview with MC Hammer (really!). click on the YouTube logo to go to the other 'Internet Celebrities' Vidcasts.



Now this is dope. Through my infinite search for rare loops I chatted on forums to LaiF, who has made his own video. It's brilliant, totally real and hell funky.

The artists are out there making it happen. The difference is that the media is not CDs and TV (that are controlled by the labels) it's the web. Get into it!

You can even GET an education at MIT for free. No excuses.

Thursday, July 12, 2007

Productive producer kept unkempt!

It's funny. When I am doing heaps of great creative work I have less web presence because I don't have time to update websites and blogs. Well, today I still have heaps of projects to finish but I feel a need to exist (online). I have also been promising people a preview of some of the mixes I have been working on.

Simon Kelly is an up and coming acoustic songwriter that has a cool layered vocal tone and is up for some crazy studio experimentation. I like the idea of doing a DJ Shadow meets JoseGonzalez style track and so does he. Cool, huh?
First off I'm remixing a groove of his called 'Cloud On The Corner'. Note the unkempt look of the studio producer. HERE is a preview of the first track.


Jasmin and Frans are getting me to work on a studio album. As the core writers of the indi band Halogen they have a lot of song writing experience to bring to the table. It's great because they bring in complete songs with just vocals and layers of guitars. It makes my job a lot easier. Together we have a lot of creative power. We just have to decide how to use it (for good or evil). Jaz wanted a gay disco track, so I referenced pet Shop Boys and New Order and went for a indi guitar disco track. All the instrumental sounds are Frans's guitars through mad effects. The only synth is the sub bass (done on a secret synth I am beta testing for Andy at FXpansion-London). HERE is a demo mix of 'Terrible Romance'.


Balvinder Singh, David Scharpf & I have a big project with no name. We have written and produced at least an album worth of dubby jazzy tracks. We are now involving different vocalists in subtle ways. As well as producing, Bal plays and studies tabla and sitar. David is a jazz keys player from Vienna. Together we write very fast, we just have a bit of trouble completing the tracks because every time we get together we write new ones. HERE is a mix of a few of the more dubby deep house ones. We have some heavier breaks/dub tracks as well and a bit of D&B/HipHop. As I said we have trouble not writing. It's a groovy scene man.


PIRACY
If you are concerned about piracy then click these pic ->
We take our movie going seriously, damn it.



RANDOM TUNES

Finally, if you want some random tunes while you work check out this awesome site, tun3r. It's like a world radio. You just turn the dial and tune into Internet radio streams from all over the world. brilliant.


Ahh, it's 4:30am. I better sleep.

enjoy..

T

Friday, June 15, 2007

Crazy Theramins

I have always admired Theramins and people who can play them. I have had a go, but they are a bitch to play in tune. It takes incredible sense of pitch and subtle nuances of touch. One day I will get one and learn it's mystical art.
On an earlier post I had a cool live video of Gnarls Barkley and their hot string section 'The G Strings' and to follow that up and bring this little blurb full circle, here is 'Crazy' being played on Theramins, brilliantly.

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

Vangelis in his glass studio

I love this interview with electronic/classical film composer Vangelis from 1992 on the BBC. He seems very wise and at peace with composing. With all this technology it's important to remember that it's the music that matters. He is happy "When he achieves a moment of harmony". Cool

Friday, June 08, 2007

rEaliTy pUnkEd

The way we interact with technology is just as important as the technology it's self. There have been lots of technologies that have been highly achieving technically but have given a bad user experience. The classic example is the MP3 player. Till the iPod came along they were not accepted into the popular culture. They were merely geek toys. With Apples design, user interface, software and promotion the general public could understand the MP3 player and thus wanted it. The iPhone I think will be a similar success, purely because Apple makes good GUI (Graphical User Interface). The technology is not that stunning but the impression it will give to the user will be of the software.

This brings me to the most amazing development in user interface. I am still excited about Google Maps and Earth, but this has incredible implication. Cyberspace, The Matrix, Virtual Reality seem so much closer all of a sudden. The idea that the virtual world creates itself with the data we all put into it. Truly inspiring. The implications are mind blowing. This is now! WATCH THIS VIDEO!



Steam Punk is a popular sci-fi concept that stylistically rebels against the common impression of technology and gives it a more classic hands on feel. Here are two steam punked computer parts. It's a Dell monitor and a classic old IBM click keyboard.


There endeth the Trilby thoughts..

Wednesday, May 30, 2007

Singing

I'm a music producer/song writer that works with singers. I sing my melodies and then work them out quickly on the keyboard. I'm currently working with four different singers on different projects. Anyway, you get the idea. Vocals are an important part of what I do.

There is a singer that has inspired me recently. Ever since I heard her sing on a track on the 'Garden State' soundtrack, I have loved her tone. I didn't know who she was. The track was 'Let Go' from the group Frou Frou. I later found out this was a collaboration project and the singer was actually Imogen Heap.

I love the way she uses technology, too. I think singers should record themselves. They are best at taking their own criticism. The less emotional complexity in the writing process the better. A track should be a clear defined expression. Simple is good (says the over-producer)


These girls were obviously inspired by 'Let Go' as well.

Cute.

Here is the original




Ok, one more while I'm heaping it on

Sunday, April 29, 2007

Winter holidays and The Spanish Inquisition

Sigrid and I went on a short weekend holiday to Margaret River last week. We stayed at this cool studio (small challet) called 'Wood & Earth'. It was seriously indulgent. A beautiful place in the forrest near a field. We did have trouble leaving the 5 seater jakuzi. It was deliscious.


I know it sounds kind of boring but there is some crazy action happening in American politics. This link shows you one of the cadidates from Alaska in the running. "Tell me, Barack, who do you want to nuke?" classic stuff.

I wonder if he will get assassinated.





As I'm showing some holiday pics, it remided me of this Monty Python skit. Couldn't find the exact one with the holiday slide show (it might have been from 'Live at the Hollywood Bowl'), but here is the gist of it. It's also worth checking out John Cleese's Eulogy for Graham Chapman as well.



Oh, ok. One more.



Enough. I can take any more. ;-p

Sunday, April 15, 2007

Free to be


Falling to Earth

I am a big fan of Google Earth, or more to the point I am a big fan of the Earth, that Google, Nasa and others capture so well. Here is the simplest most beautiful way I have seen to explore the Earth. It makes you want to go study an atlas. You will need some serious broadband to freely fly through the satellite photos. Check out the NASA daily shots if your interested in the weather. www.flashearth.com


First there was YouTube
This is a viciously great idea. It's like online stand-up. People send in their clips and the popular ones stay up the bad ones get sent to the crypt. So if you bomb on this stage the whole world knows, but they don't really know who you are. Hmm


PORN... but not as you know it Jim
Who is she. Where is she from and what is she thinking at the end. It doesn't matter, we have just seen her at her most intimate and we are online so that's all there is, simple. This is YouPorn.

Like an erotic sand castle that gets washed away in the morning with the tide. Hmm2

We are now free to be: funny, sexy, stupid, beautiful... YouChoose

D e S i g N
On another note I have been doing a little bit of design work. Here are some of the more creative projects:

































Next post I will show some of my musical
adventures.

TT

Saturday, March 31, 2007

Cycle into the Universe, 8-bit stylee

I have a heap of new mixes are nearly complete. Including the dub sessions of Balvinder and I.

A preview of the remix for Pablo and Ceci in Buenos Aires can be heard on the Res MySpace. I will be updating it as it is finished. Feel free to leave a comment here or on MySpace.

Click the pic to go to MySpace









Wow, man. The Universe is so small and we are so big.. oh wait. I may have got that wrong, better check the NIKON UNIVERSACALE!


Oh yeah, it's an 8-bit tie. I want an elite geek 8-bit suit. Dom wants 8-bit contact lenses and friend Sarah wants an 8-bit mirror. This was actually an April Fools, but it has been so popular that they are going to manufacture them. Click pic for more.


A cool website promoting cycling and some stylin' bikes. I like the idea of having a cruiser as well and a sports bike, but I ride quite urgently. I like to have a goal and get there, I don't really cruise. I'm not really a stoner more of acaffienater. Maybe I could cruise intensely. YEAH, MAN! I'M GONNA F*CK'N CRUISE!!


Ok, back to my jazzy Latin remix, now I got that out of my system.

Tuesday, March 27, 2007

Voyeurism is boring!

Sig, Me, Andy and Emma at Cottesloe beach as the sun sets. Andy popped in from London for his birthday. He is a software programmer for FXpansion. They write brilliant music software. The demo tracks below features one of his latest synths that I am beta testing.

This new track I am producing with Frans and Jasmin (members of the band 'Halogen') is getting really good. It has become one, as opposed to lots of bit's. It has a lot of work to be done on it but the vibe is there. It's like Air, My bloody Valentine and Massive Attack's mutant love child. Here is the build up when the drums drop out. I frack'n love it (yes I like BSG too). geek, geek, geek. . .

JasFransTrilby - CooCooCoo MP3


If your looking for a seriously dope mix of deep groovy tracks check out this from SanDiego label Sleeping Giant. It's seriously jazzy bad (that's good). The groove at 42 minutes, just does it. Hmm

http://www.giantsarise.com/downloads/mixtapes/l-r-g2007.mp3

Check out their site for more mixes.


..and Yes, Voyeurism is boring





http://www.justin.tv/

Strange times, these.
T

Tuesday, March 20, 2007

Electronic Musician Porn


I caught up with my good buddy Andrew Simper the other day, he popped in from London. It was great ot see him and his beautiful girlfriend Emma. We ate gourmet pizza on Cottesloe beach and drank champagne. There were a hoard of colourful rosella parrots having a party in the trees. I will update this post with some photos in a few days. This has nothing to do with the title of the post it was delightful, thats all.

click to enlarge

Google Earth is cool.

T

Monday, March 19, 2007

Go with the 'Flow'

I really didn't have time. Deadlines were killing me, but there was this interesting concept for a game called 'Flow'.

Biologists will love this. The scene is a view of a petri dish through a microscope. You are an organism that must evolve. You start as a schematic of a little worm like amoeba. Then through eating other little amoeba you grow and also create your own siblings (that you will probably eat later). At the end of the level is the evolving gene. Once you eat this organism and get it's gene you evolve to the next species. Cool!

After playing for a while I felt so focussed and got heaps done (till 4am!). I recommend you download the full version and play it out of the browser.
For a more relaxing space, this game is like a meditation. It also has a more attainable goal. It's one of those seriously simple games. The simplicity is brilliant. The music is nice (all very New Age). this is a great example of a way to promote music and interactive art. Now for something completely different. Here is a crazy interactive animation with a strange lateral sense of humour. What does it all mean? Feel free to leave a message.

I have been producing the Overclockers Australia podcast and have written the theme song. So I am interested in the use of music in podcasts. the laws in the US have just got serious about music copyright in podcasts. There is an interesting chat about music in podcasts on the TWIT podcast here is a link to the MP3

GEEK WARNING! this is seriously a elite geek podcast. Only the tech savvy should check it out, otherwise you may go into a coma of tech boredom and feel a need to play football and get drunk with ya mates.


I have heaps of new mixes for Halogen, Pablo in Buenos Aires and Balvinder Singh and I (check links on the right). But I am a notorious perfectionist. I promise to put up a mix for the next blog entry. There! I set myself a deadline. There is also a cool new album cover for The Resonance by a photograper in Taipei (Ooh, global).

Monday, February 26, 2007

Draw on the walls



This is the era of change, of lateral thinking. Especially for the tv & music industry and soon the film industry. New global business structures are being invented, but not by multinationals. By anyone with a good idea. Companies like Opera, Skype, Google are the obvious challengers to the old school, but there are other small companies trying out new ideas with all this free communication power. These are exciting times.

The trick is to take the power from the gate keepers. I know that sounds trippy and religious, but it's quite simple. The five record companies, the three big film studios are the gate keepers. They are the conservative filter that stops the crazy, risky new ideas getting through. Now, they can be bypassed by putting a video/music on YouTube or MySpace. The more accessible the art becomes the more power to the artists and the more interesting and fresh it is for the audience.

Just a thought.

T

Wednesday, February 21, 2007

Vienna and the blob

The Vienna scene is so happening, G-Stone Kruder and Dorfmeister, K7! it's all go.. Here is a cool promo video for Makossa &Megablast. I'm so there..

Makossa & Megablast



Add to My Profile | More Videos

Here is a cool blobby game. It's so simple it will drive you nuts, but it's so smooth and asthetically pleasing that you'll want to hang it on your wall. ..Hmm interesting deilemma.

Monday, February 19, 2007

Vibrating fluro doodle

<- play with your doodle in 3D!

This is another cool online sketch program. It simply enables you to draw in 3D and rotate the picture by going to the edges of the screen. It's nice.. not rude.


-> I often get colour schemes from nature. They have a certain balance. they inspire me to go for more radical ideas with colour and design.



Sigrid and I went to the dance festival 'Good Vibrations' it was a blast. I didn't dance as much as I would have liked, but there was some groovy music. The main problem was the sound. The highlight would have been beatboxer Rhazel. man it was amazing what that guy can do. I looked forward to the Beastie Boys, but I couldn't hear the music, so it was just them yelling. not good. it supposedly got better but I went to the amphitheatre and got down to London Electricity which sounded fab!