Of Recordings

Last year Tom at Music Thing (RIP)¹ had a nice bit for 808 day.  Those are big shoes to fill, but I couldn’t let 9.09.09 pass without a mention.

I tried to think of some quotes about the 909 but drew a blank.  The 808 was as common in hip-hop as in techno, while the 909 is exclusively a house and techno machine.  I enjoy listening to hip-hop, but I don’t really feel connected to hip-hop culture.  But I do feel like techno, and electronic music more generally, is part of me, not just something to consume but something to participate in.  Perhaps that why I am so fond of the 909.

Here’s Daft Punk:

Here’s Jeff Mills:

1. RIP to the blog, not to Tom.  As far as I know.

I am nearly as unenthusiastic about mediocre amateur rap as I am enthusiastic about subatomic physics.  But here it is anyways in case you have yet to see it:

Physics: A.  The video is informative without being too technical.  Alpinekat expresses a very high level confidence that the experiments will either confirm or deny the existence of the Higgs boson, which surprised me.
Lyrics: C-; not bad for the most part, but several lines scan poorly and I cannot abide that.
Arrangement: D+.  It is no longer clever to use Simpletext-rendered “gangsta” phrases in a song.  Sorry.

There’s a somewhat bizarre FAQ at CERN’s website to reassure the public that the LHC will not destroy the world.  The first beam test is scheduled for Wednesday, and you can apparently watch it live.