General ECC News
Robot Invasion: VOCODERS on The Sound Of Plaid
Tuesday, 09 November 2010 19:09
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Show archive now available: Part 1: [DOWNLOAD] ...or listen: Part 2: [DOWNLOAD] ...or listen: |
Hide, evolver! It's a ROBOT INVASION!
Well, at least it sounds an awful lot like a robot -- it's the vocoder, and its our topic for this week's episode of The Sound Of Plaid. For those that slept through the breakdancing craze in the 80's or Clockwork Orange in the 70's, the vocoder is that studio gadget that takes a human voice like yours and transforms it into a transformer ("more than meets the eye..."). But the vocoder's history is more than beats -- it was a top-secret military project that heads of state used to speak securely throughout World War II.
This bizarre and unlikely army-to-electro history isdetailed in the book How To Wreck A Nice Beach by Dave Tompkins. It's a great read, loaded with great tales of how this music studio magic trick started its career by saving (or maybe destroying) the world, serving as a private telephone line between presidents and prime ministers. It's also loaded with a great playlist of vocoder-laced music, be it the Clockwork Orange soundtrack, Kraftwerk, the majority of electro, Daft Punk, and beyond.
Join TradeMark and Frilly for the secret history of the vocoder on this week's episode of The Sound Of Plaid, live from the Centrum Sztuki Wspólczesnej (aka the Center for Contemporary Art) in Ujazdowski Castle in Warsaw, Poland. Many chances to hear the show, and if you can't make the times below, you can hear it at The Sound Of Plaid Archives later in the week.
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LIVE Thursdays on DFM RTV INT (DFM Radio International): |
8p-10p PST |
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| ...and DFM's Tuesday repeat: |
9a-11a PST noon-3p EST 1700-1900 CET |
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Sundays on KAOS Radio Austin: |
11a-1p PST 1p-3p CST 1900-2100 GMT |
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| Thursdays on Shouting Fire: |
6p-8p PST |
Subversion panel discussion
Friday, 08 October 2010 05:51
As we settle into our artist-in-residency here in Warsaw, we are starting to meet people of all sorts of artistic persuasions. One kindred spirit goes by the name of Micha? Libera, and under the guise of Fundacja Cztery Dziewiecdziesiat Dziewiec he moderates a series of panel discussions on topics that you evolvers would appreciate -- his previous one was on John Oswald. And the next one? Subversion and Dispepsi, the 1997 Negativland album.
The ECC's TradeMark G. and Christy Brand will join Jacek Staniszewski in a discussion moderated by Micha? Libera on Tuesday October 12th at the Zach?ta National Gallery in Warsaw.
Krew na li?ciach: Subwersja # Negativland
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| Time |
Tuesday, October 12 · 6:00pm - 8:00pm
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| Location | Zach?ta
pl. Ma?achowskiego 3
Warszawa, Poland
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| Created By | |
| More Info |
12.10: SUBWERSJA # NEGATIVLAND
Go?cie: The Evolution Control Comittee [USA], Jacek Staniszewski [PL] Miejsce: Zach?ta [sala multimedialna] Prowadzenie: Micha? Libera ...Czas: 18.00 Uwaga: spotkanie w j?zyku angielskim Subwersja – bodaj najmodniejsze s?owo w sztuce lat 90. Mia?a by? najskuteczniejsz? a by? mo?e wr?cz ostateczn? krytyk? kapitalizmu. G?ównie dlatego, ?e w?a?ciwie nie by?a krytyk?, ale wojn? podjazdow?, partyzantk? uprawian? bez z?udze? co do tego, kto jest silniejszy i kto ostatecznie wygra. W ?wiecie muzyki, rozumienie subwersji niemal pokry?o si? z pl?drofoni?. [...] |
The Sound Of Plaid -- From Poland, With Rogues
Thursday, 30 September 2010 00:34
Greetings evolver, and hello from Warsaw.
Yes indeedy, The ECC's Poland headquarters are now operational and in a few hours TradeMark and Frilly will prove it. This week's episode of The Sound Of Plaid will be live from the Centrum Sztuki Wspólczesnej (aka the Center for Contemporary Art) in Ujazdowski Castle. We'll still getting our feel for things here, and missing gear like mic stands have caused us to go rogue with some inventive alternatives, like in the photo to the right. With that in mind, this week's theme is: ROGUES.
As previously announced, the week's live show will now be Thursdays at 9am west coast, noon east coast, and 6pm here in Warsaw. The DFM chat room is a great way to find us then. Previously we would often be in the chat room for the repeat, but since the repeat show is now at 4am on our Wednesday mornings, that's a lot less likely nowdays.
Many chances to hear the show, and if you can't make the times below, you can hear it at The Sound Of Plaid Archives later in the week.
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LIVE Thursdays on DFM Radio: |
9a-11a PDT |
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| ...and DFM's Tuesday repeat: | 8p-10p PDT 11p-1a EDT 0500-0700 GMT |
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| Sundays on KAOS Austin: |
11a-1p PDT 1p-3p CDT 1200-1400 GMT |
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| Thursdays on Shouting Fire: |
6p-8p PDT |
Last Sound Of Plaid from the USA for this year!
Tuesday, 14 September 2010 17:11
The Sound Of Plaid's last show from the ECC studios for this year... and it's only September! Strange as that sounds, it's true -- TradeMark and Frilly are hitting the road in less than a week and won't see the ECC studios in San Francisco until 2011. But have no fear; The Sound Of Plaid will continue as a live radio show each week while the two Plaidsters enjoy being artists-in-residence at Warsaw's CCA Ujazdowski Castle.
There will be one major change, though: our live airing will move from Tuesdays to Thursdays on DFM RTV, starting with our first Warsaw show on Thursday, September 30th. Each week's live Thursday show will repeat on KAOS Radio Austin that weekend, and then again on the following Tuesday on DFM.
Now, ready for a surprise? The week before our first Warsaw show (that's the September 21st Sound Of Plaid) we'll hand over the show to a select few guest DJs, including Slander Bob, Big City Orchestra, Otis Fodder, and more! Each has a great mini-set of unique things never heard before on our program, and quite unique... a great show for us to catch our breath and set up shop in Poland!
So tune in this week for our bon voyage show, next week for the special guests, and the week after for our first sound from Warsaw!
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LIVE Tuesdays on DFM RTV INT (DFM Radio International): |
8p-10p PDT |
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| ...and DFM's Thursday repeat: | 9a-11a PDT noon-3p EDT 1800-2000 CEST |
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| Sundays on KAOS Radio Austin: |
11a-1p PDT 1p-3p CDT 1200-1400 GMT |
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| Thursdays on Shouting Fire: |
6p-8p PDT |
One Less Cat: It'll
Friday, 10 September 2010 06:24
It is with great sadness that we must announce the death of It'll, the cover cat of ECC's Rocked By Rape 7" single and an all-around awesome studio-wrecker of a feline.
Like Venetian Snares and many other digital music makers, we're quite fond of our cats and this is a big blow to us. It'll (yes, the contraction for "It Will") had massive paws, with seven claws on each of her two front paws. This gave her nearly-opposable thumbs and an <ahem> evolutionary advantage as a DJ, which made her the second ECC cover cat (after our first cat Haven't, who made the cover of our Whipped Cream Mixes 7" single). Her unique look was furthered by her "lazy eye", the result of an eye infection as a kitten, but it was her eccentricitiies that really made her memorable. Many ECC studios visitors will remember her scaling up a six foot high carpeted doorframe to look you in the eye, or drinking her water scoop-by-scoop with her paws. Her curiosity was frequently encouraged, and she took full advantage of it.
It'll was 14 years old and leaves tough shoes to fill, no matter how big the paws. Rest In Peace, It'll.
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