ALARM

Guest Spots: DJ Rob Swift on his foray into classical music

Rob Swift: “Rabia – 2nd Movement” (The Architect, Ipecac, 2/23/10)

Rob Swift’s online radio show: Dope on Plastic

DJ Rob Swift is one of the premier turntablists scratching and mixing today. His most recent album, The Architect, explores a distinctly classical sound — a genre totally foreign to Swift until recently. After his girlfriend turned him onto Frédéric Chopin, Swift immersed himself in the culture of classical music, and he soon found himself bridging the gap between the centuries-old compositions and his modern-day craft. Swift penned this piece for ALARM explaining the intersections of classical and hip hop in his own music.

My Introduction to Classical Music
by Rob Swift

The genre of classical music has helped me reinvent my approach to making turntable music! I know it sounds sort of odd coming from a hip-hop DJ, but it’s true. When you think about it, we all have some sort of connection to classical music, whether it was learning about it in music class as a child or listening to it in movies and commercials. At one point or another, you’ve been touched by classical compositions from the likes of Frédéic Chopin, Ludwig Van Beethoven, or Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, my personal favorite composers!

Gallery Spotlight: Odessa

An interactive and progressive gallery space in Memphis, Tennessee, Odessa is slowly gaining attention as a unique underground arts and music space in the South. It’s situated in the Broad Avenue Arts District of the Binghamton community in Memphis, a neighborhood that originally was on the railway line between Tennessee and North Carolina. Eventually, the suburban area was annexed by the city of Memphis. Although the neighborhood remains underdeveloped, it boasts a strong sense of community and is gradually emerging as an important addition to the city’s aspiring arts scene.

Under Byen’s video for “Unoder”

Concert Photos: The Books @ the Vic

Experimental duo The Books recently brought its meticulous audiovisual production to the Vic in Chicago. Touring in support of its July album, The Way Out (Temporary Residence), Nick Zammuto and Paul de Jong played to a rapt, seated audience, with their trademark found-video mash-ups and cut-and-paste audio collages seamlessly synced. ALARM contributing photographer Samantha Hunter was on hand to capture the show.

Moses Supposes: Sean Parker, high-tech mob boss

Moses Avalon is one of the nation’s leading music-business consultants and artists’-rights advocates and is the author of a top-selling music business reference, Confessions of a Record Producer. More of his articles can be found at www.mosesavalon.com.

Is there no limit to this guy’s narcissism? The old saying goes, “When three people tell you you’re drunk, maybe you should sit down.” When the US Supreme Court says, “You are a thief who stole from millions of artists,” and when the Attorney General investigates you for 400 million counts of computer trespass, and then, finally, when Hollywood casts you as the villain in the hottest movie of the season, maybe it’s time you take a look at your values.

With Limewire now due for permanent shutdown, the blogs are lit up with opinions on the fallout. Sean Parker, the co-founder of Napster, thinks all this will do is create more heads of the hydra — in other words, more P2P will spawn from the death of Limewire, thus validating his 2001 position that the labels are fighting a losing battle against piracy and should just give up. Clearly, the tech-heads agree with their icon, even if the statistics tell a different story: piracy is passé, the lawsuits worked, and the “free music” generation is growing up and opting in.

The Metal Examiner: The Rival Mob’s Hardcore for Hardcore

Every Friday, The Metal Examiner delves metal’s endless depths to present the genre’s most important and exciting albums.

The Rival Mob: Hardcore for Hardcore 7″ (Six Feet Under Records, 8/6/2010)

The Rival Mob: “Hardcore for Hardcore” [audio:https://alarm-magazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/01-Hardcore-for-Hardcore.mp3|titles=The Rival Mob – Hardcore for Hardcore]

The Rival Mob has collected all sorts of praise with its approach to the New York hardcore sound of the late ’80s, and it doesn’t hurt that vocalist Brendan Radigan splits time playing drums in niche-loved Mind Eraser. Although everyone knows not to judge an album by its cover, the lush, conflict-laden painting adorning Hardcore for Hardcore, the band’s new six-song seven-inch, primes the listener adequately for what lies within.

Phantogram: Dream-Pop Duo Unifies Its Vision

United by a mutual appreciation of hip hop, Josh Carter and Sarah Barthel combined as Phantogram to make layered, starry-eyed pop with shadowy undertones.

Jonsi @ the Vic

Swans: An Art-Rock Ensemble’s Raw Return to Form

With My Father Will Guide Me Up a Rope to the Sky, songwriter Michael Gira and his influential, experimental Swans emerge as elemental and potent from 13 years in the grave.

World in Stereo: Copal’s Into the Shadow Garden

Each week, World in Stereo examines classic and modern world music while striving for a greater appreciation of other cultures.

Copal: Into the Shadow Garden (self-released, 11/4/2010)

Copal: “Roots”
[audio:https://alarm-magazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/Copal_Roots.mp3|titles=Copal: “Roots”]

A profound understanding of past worlds and global traditions are required to make music like Copal does. The New York City-based music collective specializes in old-world sounds with careful modern flourishes, drawing influences from a wide variety of ancient societies. Copal’s debut album, Into the Shadow Garden, has a meditative sophistication; it’s a string- and percussion-driven album that recalls a time when these instruments alone were used to express a musical ambiance and atmosphere.

Morrow vs. Hajduch: John Zorn’s Ipsissimus

Scott Morrow is ALARM’s music editor. Patrick Hajduch is a very important lawyer. Each week they debate the merits of a different album.

John Zorn: Ipsissimus (Tzadik, 10/5/10)

John Zorn: “Warlock”
[audio:https://alarm-magazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/John_Zorn_Moonchild_Warlock.mp3|titles=John Zorn: “Warlock”]

Morrow: In 2006, indefatigable composer John Zorn launched another of his countless ensembles — Moonchild, a sludgy power trio built around vocalist Mike Patton, bassist Trevor Dunn, and drummer Joey Baron. In the four albums that began with Moonchild: Songs without Words, Zorn has used the group to explore heavy and spastic improvisations amid composed riffs and directed song structures.

The lineup has expanded a bit for a few releases, but that wild trio is the group’s heart, with Patton offering wordless shrieks, chants, and vocal spasms over Dunn and Baron’s distorted notes and progressive rhythms. Ipsissimus is the group’s fifth release in less than five years, and it’s the first to prominently feature the guitar work of Marc Ribot, who appeared on one track of the 2008 release The Crucible.

Hajduch: In description, this sounds like a whole lot of John Zorn’s projects (in the case of Naked City, you sub out Mike Patton and add Yamantaka Eye of Boredoms, but the description still fits to an extent). In practice, it’s very different. Patton feels extraneous to an extent — like Attila Csihar‘s work with Mayhem, it can seem sort of like there is just this guy, making noises. But also like Attila/Mayhem, there are moments where it just fits perfectly and feels exactly right.