How to generate a Cocteau Twins style sound
Simulating the typical dreamy, spacey, ambient-type sound of the Cocteau Twins in the 1980s.
Cocteau Twins were a Scottish alternative rock band active from 1979 to 1997, known for innovative instrumentation and atmospheric, non-lyrical vocals. The original members were Elizabeth Fraser (vocals), Robin Guthrie (guitar, drum machine) and Will Heggie (bass guitar), who was replaced by Simon Raymonde (also bass guitar) early in the band’s career.
Whilst the entire band earned much critical praise, Elizabeth Fraser’s distinctive vocals received the most attention. At times barely decipherable, Fraser seemed to veer into glossolalia and mouth music. Allmusic reviewer Ned Raggett writes that “part of her appeal is how she can make hard-to-interpret lyrics so emotionally gripping.
The Cocteau Twins’ first US TV appearance, on the show featuring the host with the large jaw. Please don’t mention the name of the show, the host or the network, as that is how cool clips get deleted.
Full Foil Computer – Music for Drifting
Go drifting.
Loopmasters releases Dark Scapes Reason ReFill
Loopmasters has released Dark Scapes, a collection of dark and menacing sounds for Propellerhead Reason.
Aimed at Producers who make Cinematic, Atmospheric styles of music for TV and Film (think Horror, Drama and Sci-Fi) plus cutting edge musicians looking to mix up dark influences and moody soundbytes within their musical scores.
Utilising the full collection of awesome sound sculpting instruments and effects within the Reason 6 environment, Dark Scapes is a unique library fusing organic sounds with cutting edge technology to provide the user with limitless combinations of sounds at your fingertips. Included with this Refill are no less than 312 Combinator Instruments which utilise instruments including Malstrom, Thor, Subtractor, Kong, NNXT, which are combined with the effects including Compressors, Reverbs, Gates, Delays, Flangers, Chorus and much more. Dark Scapes for Reason 5 or higher is available to purchase for £19.95 GBP.
More information: Loopmasters / Dark Scapes
Patches In Detail:
- 63 Atmosphere and Drones
- 40 Pads
- 103 Fx
- 25 Leads
- 15 Real World Sounds
- 3 Kong Kits
- 62 Bonus Sounds
Melodicon – Air-Powered Instruments Inspire New Synth
The Lower Rhythm says that Melodicon was designed from the ground up to be lush, subtly dynamic and just fun to play. Borrowing ideas from a number of different air-powered instruments, Melodicon creates tones reminiscient of everything from flute to melodica, presented in an analog synth / electric organ flavor. Melodicon features dynamic systems such as vibrato, rotary speaker, air and even a tube-emulated channel in order to allow the user to build many similar but distinct sounds.
Feature List:
- 2 oscillators (one Sine, the other experimental)
- Vibrato, rotary and modulation effect
- Variable “Air”
- Variable tube emulated channel
- Global LP filtering and master volume envelope
Pricing and Availability:
$13.99
More information:
Experimental Ambient Samples
Experimental Ambient Samples – Drums and Synth Loops, Ambient Sound FX Samples.
Bluezone Corporation is proud to present ‘Experimental Ambient Samples’ from AV Production. With this sample pack you have access to a collection of 225 twisted grooves, glitched synth loops, surprising sound effects and distorted drum samples. As all sample packs at Bluezone, this percussive and melodic sound library is available for digital download and does not require additional costs.
This download is an exploration of a new dimension of ambient music with atmospheric vibes, disturbing FX elements, evolving rythmical sequences with modern audio treatment. All the loops are presented at 100 bpm. ‘Experimental Ambient Samples’ includes 123 loops and 102 one shot samples in WAV format. This pack is loaded with low fi drums, twisted short and long sound FXs and many more elements really usefull for Film Score, Game Audio, Dubstep, Grime, Ebm, Drum and Bass, Industrial and Breakbeat. This cutting edge collection can be used License Free in any music production. If you want a new artistic vision, add this fine sound selection to your favorite sequencer.
Suitable for styles such as: Ambient, Chillout, Soundtrack, Game & TV series, Downtempo, Hip Hop, Urban, Breaks, House, Deep House, Lounge and Experimental.
Experimental Ambient Samples Contents:
• Percussion Loops
• Drum Loops
• Textures / Sound Effects
• Synth Loops
• Drum Samples
Technical Specifications:
• 186 MB Data / 229 Files
• Formats : WAV
• Recorded at 100 bpm
• Instant Download
• Requires Winzip or similar utility to unpack
• Suitable for use in all major sequencers
• Royalty-Free with no extra cost
• Ready to use in commercial production
http://www.bluezone-corporation.com/catalogue/details/90/6/products/experimen…
Electronic video – Synthesized Landscape
Lars Larsen & Johnny Woods in Denton, Texas synthesizing an abstract landscape using only the LZX Visionary modular video synthesizer (no input video signals). Video output is directly from the modular.
Music by Josh Ascalon.
Rough Trade Release Electronic Compilation – Electronic 11
Rough Trade Shops’ latest compilation, Electronic 11, is due for release on the 16th January and looks set to be rather good. It gathers together a nice selection of music we’ve been posting about over the past year – everything from the synth-pop styles of Ford & Lopatin and John Maus through Azari & III’s fat, disco-leaning house to some bleak, bracing industrial/noise from the likes of Pansonic and Ekoplekz.
22 tracks, full sleevenotes. exclusive limited edition varnished sleeve available from rough trade shops only. the new rough trade shops compilation cd is aimed squarely at the new year. shiny, fresh, clean and minimal electronic music in your earphones provide the perfect soundtrack for the cold and frosty early january. as rob young writes in the sleevenotes – check emeralds’ mark mcguire’s glowing ‘alma’, which begins with a hymn; or nicolas jaar’s incantatory ‘space is only noise if you can see’, like a dubbed-out depeche mode. at the other end of the scale, prurient and keiji haino (in tandem with finnish sub-bass spelunkers pansonic) use the full throated roar and the abject howl of the avant garde and the hardcore. meanwhile, compare rustie’s dense ‘hyperthrust’, with its micro-events folded up and crammed into milliseconds, with alva noto’s ‘uni deform’ bitcrush collision, which emerges from the rarefied world of conceptual sound art. marcus schmickler, who can occasionally be found making exploratory post-rock as pluramon, sends your ears down a labyrinth of no return with the abstract operations of ‘discordance axis’, closely followed by ekoplekz’s hallucinatory tone-scrub, jarring and alienating as an mk-ultra mind-control experiment. in ‘and the world laughs with you’, brainfeeder’s shapeshifting boss flying lotus invites thom yorke to jack into a cybernautical call and response session. even the most outwardly conventional track here, hercules and love affair, has its house 4/4 scraped and sandblasted with gravelly patches of digital irritant. ford and lopatin’s ’emergency room’ is like some unearthly fusion of scritti politti and heaven 17; john maus’s swooning portamento synthi-fanfares summon up the fairlight manoeuvres of the thompson twins and blancmange. azari and iii’s ‘manhooker’ transports you back to sun-up at some orbital rave at the very close of that strange plastic decade” comprising sound art, dubstep, chill-wave, witch house, electro-pop, digital hip hop, tech-minimalism, electro-house, and metal-machine music supplied by labels such as editions mego, warp, blastfirstpetite, raster-noton, type, skam, tri angle and more. rte11 is selected by the staff at both london shops and is, stylistically, as varied a set of tracks that you would expect from us.
The full tracklist runs as follows:
Rene Hell – ‘Oxford Meter End’
Nicholas Jaar – ‘Space Is Only Noise If You Can See’
Flying Lotus – ‘& The World Laughs With You ft. Thom Yorke’
Shackleton/King Midas Sound – ‘Deadman (Death Dub)’
Ayshay – ‘WARN-U’
John Maus – ‘Head For The Country’
Ford & Lopatin – ‘Emergency Room’
Rustie – ‘Hyperthrust’
Hercules & Love Affair – ‘My House’
Azari & III – ‘Manhooker’
Modeselektor – ‘Evil Twin’
Death Grips – ‘Guillotine’
Sensational meets Koyxen – ‘+weekend2 (remix work)’
Alva Noto – ‘Uni Deform’
Anne James Chaton – ‘Pop Is Dead’
Marcus Schmickler – ‘Discordance Axis’
Ekoplekz – ‘Critical Condition’
Pansonic & Keiji Haino – ‘If I Could Incarnate This Feeling Would You Consider It A Creation’
Prurient – ‘A Meal Can Be Made’
Solar Bears – ‘Twin Stars’
Mark McGuire – ‘Alma (Reprise)/Chances Are’
Ben Frost – ‘O God Protect Me’
Matthew Dear – Headcage
Matthew Dear’s latest audio/video excursion combines the upbeat title track from his new ‘Headcage EP’ with mesmerizing abstraction from London-based director Morgan Beringer. The upbeat future-pop and signature Dear croon of “Headcage” meet shifting quasi-geological patterns, which eventually morph into hazy, near-perceptible flashes. Certainly a turn towards the light, following Dear’s work for 2010’s ‘Black City.’ 2012 will see a new full-length from Matthew.
Concept/Directed by Morgan Beringer: vimeo.com/morganism
Release info: ghostly.com/releases/headcage
Electronic instruments – Gravilux for Android
http://snibbe.com/store/gravilux
Gravilux lets you draw with stars: it’s a combination of painting, animation, art, science, and gaming. As you touch Gravilux’s screen, gravity draws simulated stars to your fingertips. You can tease and twist the particles into galaxies, or explode them like a supernova. You can color stars by their speed, change the strength of gravity, number of stars, their color, and even enable antigravity. Multiple fingers and multiple people can touch the screen at once, collaborating or competing. Gravilux was first released as a work of interactive art by Scott Snibbe Studio that was only available in galleries and museums. Now it’s available as an Android application.
“Apps like Gravilux awaken an ‘Avatar’-like sensitivity to electricity in the body, power in the palms and general connectedness.” – NY Times
“Every once in a while, an app will come along that has no practical application whatsoever but is just SO COOL that you have to have it! Gravilux is that sort of app.” –iphoneapplicationlist.com
“Of the millions of apps out there, none quite capitalize on the sheer fun and beauty of interactivity the way that Scott Snibbe’s do.” –CoolHunting
Loomeer – Midnight Ambient Performance
More info here:
http://www.last.fm/music/Loomeer/_/Midnight+Ambient+Performance+6
DATAMASKIN
