Xperimental
Linkin Park
....
Linkin Park's new CD "Meteora" .blends heavy rock, hip-hop and electronics in subtly layered compositions.
They created waves with their 2001 smash hit "Hybrid Theory" - a CD worth adding to your collection if you're into nu-metal. With a fan base established, this innovative group took everyone by surprise when it created a remix album named "Reanimation" - a smart move which only increased the number of fans around the world. This group plays music it likes to hear, irrespective of any classification and they are flexible and liable to switch gears as the mood takes them.
"Meteora"
offers provoking lyrics of emotional tension and fury. The first piece,
however, is instrumental (no lyrics). It's called "Forward"
and it wouldn't matter to us if it just played over and over all day long.
"Don't Stay" is all about betrayal while "Somewhere
I Belong" underlines the pain of being on the outide - 
both
sung superbly by Chester "hot voice" Bennington. "Hit
the Floor"
is a mix of rap and synthesizer, definitely more conventionally metal in sound.
Linkin Park uses a fair amount of sampling throughout their music but the samples are original (they make 'em). This means they have a good knowledge of plug-ins; instruments and effects. To this end, they use Native Instruments software like Pro-53 and Battery, but it's the combination of analog and digital that sets them apart and which Linkin Park finds so enjoyable.
The eclectic track, "Nobody's Listening", contains long segments of a Japanese flute under a hard rap song. They wrote the song in the computer and then asked a shakuhachi player to come in and play the flute sections.
From Southern California, this six-piece band is known for its intense energy and emotion but what probably matters most is that they collaborate so well together. Originally named "Xero" and then "Hybrid Theory" they ended up with the name "Linkin Park" when a whois search revealed that the domain lincolnpark.com was already taken.
Linkin Park is made up of Mike Shinoda (vocals, song-writing), Chester Bennington
(vocals), Brad Delson (guitar), Phoenix (bass), Rob Bourdon (drums) and Joseph
Hahn (DJ).
Music from the Ether
by Audrey Regan
My introduction to experimental music was meeting Moby. I walked away with his album "Play" and a promise to read his interview on addict.com. Later, I researched "Mcwark Stoderaft", the Reaktor-based interactive audio track designed to be manipulated directly by the listener. It was created by lazyfish, the Russian hacker and composer and, while I enjoyed meeting lazyfish this year in New York, I concede to a certain leeriness about powerbook musicians.
In fact, they freak me out. Individually, they remind me of the intense, black-clad musicians in a symphony orchestra, totally immersed in their solemnity and that, of course, is the paradox, for they represent opposite ends of the spectrum. Still, it is easy to imagine that oneday we will file into Carnegie Hall to hear a symphony of powerbooks.
Stephan Schmitt (pictured below), the founder of Native Instruments in Berlin, would not be surprised. His company has revolutionized music with its creation of TRAKTOR and REAKTOR and KONTAKT and ABSYNTH, not to mention the B4 TONEWHEEL ORGAN and BATTERY STUDIO DRUMS and SPEKTRAL DELAY.
Some of the best professional DJ's - the true, free-spirits of the new musicians, use TRAKTOR, a single software program that combines DJ mixing, live remixing and mix production. It has two audio players, a DJ mixer including filters and EQ, a beat matcher, a digital scratcher, a cue and loop section, a playist manager and a whole lot of other features. The often blissed-out club crowds may not realize or even question from whence the music emanates. Maybe the DJ's prefer it this way. Because if you do not know, it is easy to empower the DJ as the sole magician. Which is only partially true, considering he or she has some of the most sophistikated electroniks on the planet.
But, back to the laptop geeks - I have listened to the album titled: "Kid606 the action packed mentallist brings you the fucking jams" and it was noise to my ears. Friends are taking me to a secret place (see what I mean?) in Brooklyn soon, to hear MicMary. MicMary is a recluse who rarely ventures outside, except to attend regular meetings with other laptop maestros. They sit in darkened clubs in NYC, hardly speaking - just trading files with each other. But, they cannot trade what hasn't already been created. The experimentation is in the mix, in the software and in the hundreds of professionally designed patches.
The musical computer, despite its endless possibilities, has one serious limitation for the listener and that is the contagious energy of the music maker - the air- thrusting, finger-pointing theatrics (hi fatboy), that have the power to incite human spirit.
"kid606 and friends - Vol I"
Electronika: Playing the Laptop
" The Powerbooks of today can conveniently be seen as just the 21st century version of the electric guitar, a relatively cheap way for anyone with the desire and the nerve to create their own music. Seen in this light, the tools of production are not revolutionary, no matter how different kid606's music might sound from Chuck Berry's. But even Chuck Berry needs a pickup band if he wants to perform; even the solo rock and roller collaborates with other rockers."
Nils Petter Molvaer on trumpet (the true fusion of jazz with"club")
While it seems unlikely that a jazz musician would use the software created by Berlin based Native Instruments, it's important to remember that jazz has always resided on the front steps of change and innovation.
We recommend Nils two new albums "Khmer" and "Solid Ether" which form a bridge between improvised soundscapes and the new worlds of trip-hop, drum'n'bass, ambient/illbient, techno, industrial, electronica and samples.
We'll be featuring Petter in our Spring issue.
Based in Montreal
our pick for best music site.
Check out epsilon's two new CD's "Paysages Matriciels" by Pheek (which we have heard) and "Elsonic Project" by Eloi Brunelle aka Elsonic (which we look forward to hearing).
The Theremin (1921)
It is one of the earliest electronic instruments, and is played without ever physically touching it.
Outfitted
with two antennas, a magnetic field surrounds the instrument, and when the
hands of the player 
enter
the field, changes in pitch and volume occur. The left side controls the volume,
and the right controls the pitch.
The Theremin was patented in 1921, after its invention by Russian physicist, Leve Sergeivitch Termen.
The sound is produced by two oscillators that "beat" together. One oscillator operates in a frequency range above the level of human hearing, while the other is varied when the hands enter the magnetic field. The "beat frequency" is the difference between the two oscillators, which is the sound that is heard.
The Theremin was originally patented and called the Ætherphone, which means " music from the ether ".
Termen, whose "westernized" name is Leon Theremin, arrived in the US in 1928, and much interest surrounded his new invention in New York society. Albert Einstein was a frequent house guest, interested in the more technical nature of the Theremin's phenomena. Theremins were produced by the RCA Victor company.
A full 10 piece Theremin-only orchestra even played Carnegie Hall. Being an instrument that is very easy to
make sound with, but quite difficult to play well, the Theremin did not enjoy mass appeal from musicians, and only a few great players were ever produced. The most notable being Leon Themein's protégé, Clara Rockmore (1911-1998), who played solo and with symphony orchestras around the world.
The Theremin's sound enjoyed cult status in many sci-fi movies of the 1950's, being used for spooky sounding effects.
