Goodbye Christopher Hitchens.

Not just the loss of a great man, but the loss of a man who personifies, justifies and gives humanity to the fight for reason. Luckily for us he wrote and spoke of the things he cared, and we can at least revisit him in books and on video. I advise reading and watching all you can.

M

Last of the lost Cosmonauts

I saw a man take his soul,

And smash it on a table top,

Shards caught in his clothes and hair,

He walked upright, but only through habit,

And he spoke, but only by mimicking,

He sleeps sound, like the way babies don't.

This bleak and comforting view from Worlds End,

Holds me above it,

Crawling through pipes and tunnels underground,

I found a place I could nearly be happy.

M

Stewart Lee on funding the arts

Brittle

Brittle

~

These bone dry bones

will crumble,

If you try to pick them up.

In a sheep's skull

an insect with a headache

tries to eat what the crows left.

And you will panic at the time,

But this will be familiar soon.

Rain rivers flow

thorough your kitchen cupboards.

Stray dogs on the roofs of cars like psirens.

And it will be frightening at the time,

but it will be familiar soon.

Beg for your life

if you think your knees can take that strain.

Wave your white flag in the air

if you want to.

And it will seem pathetic at the time,

But it will be familiar soon.

Michael

THE GHOST

THE GHOST 

 ~

 If you ever saw a ghost, 

Shiver in his sheets, 

A beat up, bruised defeat, 

With bloodied bleeding feet, 

In living fields, 

Tangled up in time, 

Stealing barks from the mouths of dogs, 

And smiles from faces passing by, 

You cross to him slow, 

Ships cross oceans quicker, 

Your short gait, not straight, 

But he'll wait, Like bait caught in teeth, 

Or teeth caught by bait, 

He'll wait. 

So if you ever reach a ghost, 

shivering in his sheets, 

Beat up in the street, 

With bloodied bleeding teeth, 

Your words will not get far, 

Fleeing with your breath, 

Breathing like a man, 

With a bag over his head.

Michael

Musical taste requires no justification...

I like the new Coldplay album. Deal with it. mike

Poster for next week's event

DEAD CALM - Mold, 29th October

DEAD CALM

Modulate-Reanimate Vs The Beard Collector

Please come along and get into the Halloween SPIRIT (sorry...). Maybe even dress up as Vlad The Impaler, or a garroted member of The Feeling!

FREE entry plus FREE CD, cheap beer, merchandise stalls, art, visuals, etc.

Lineup; an unholy mix-up of live music from....

Mechanical Owl (The Beard Collector)
Isla Nublar (The Beard Collector)
dead Batteries (Modulate Reanimate)
plus special guest - Relapse (DSC14/DBM/Scientific Wax/Pinecone Moonshine)

...we will also be featuring an exclusive art display from the very, very talented Jonathon Humphreys

Tech Tip #1: Budget Drum recording

WARNING! This is for people who like things a bit... "lofi"... yeah, i Said it!

Anyway:

People bang on (Boom boom) about recording drums, and there are of course hundreds of ways of going about the task.
Over the years I've not acquired much recording gear as such, when I do buy a new microphone it's usually to replace one I've just broken.
As such, it can feel pretty limiting to what can be achieved and recorded. I find drums difficult to record for reasons like not having the space or not wanting to annoy the neighbors. Having got around these issues (just book a room in a community centre or something), another pops up; Microphones. The thing is, I only have 4 microphones, 2 condensor and 2 dynamic.

Heres a technique I use that seems to work pretty well. It involves the 4 microphones, positioning them to get a nice image of the drums and retaining some (some..) control over the sound in mixing.

There is a name for this technique, I think, but I cant remember it now.... no... no it's gone, I think the Beatles used it. Some people like the idea of putting a microphone on each and every drum to get complete control over the sound. Unless you know what you're doing, I think it's a bad idea. At the end of the day you're going to need to reassemble all those drums tracks you separated to make it sound like a whole kit again.

So with this technique, all you do to start is put a dynamic mic on the snare and one on the kick. Just move them around to find the sound you want (technical, I know). For the rest of the kit, put one mic directly above the snare at about 2 drum stick lengths distance. The last mic then points across the toms horizontally to the snare at the same distance (see diagram)
That's about it, just pan the two distance mics left and right, and use the kick and snare mics to bring those out, add eq, compression and the like.

Like I say, this is a technique if you're short on gear, but I really like the sound you get. It's not the "best" sound, but what does that even mean? Sound quality after all shouldn't be a scale of how good a sound is, but rather the characteristics or personality of the sound. If you do have more microphones, then one or two to get some room ambience (if it's a good room) is a good addition, but too many and you'll probably get phasing and boring things like that.

Mike

The true price of piracy.

Every album you download illegally is one less album sold*. This means many bands and artists that made their names in the 70s/80s/90s can no longer afford to sit and live of their royalty cheques. These bands are now having to reform.
This is the true impact of piracy, comeback tours...

Every year, bands we once loved reform and start long and irritating tours with relentless promotion. Just £7.99 an album can help keep these bands from shedding their dignity and trying to recapture "the old days". Donations can be made at itunes or your local HMV.

M

* It definitely isn't

Why old casio/yamaha keyboards are better than pro synths. Reason #1

I can afford them.
M


The views expressed in this particular set of posts are probably opposed by some Beard Collector members... sod 'em.

Join us!

Soundcloud!

Our soundcloud page has streaming music and downloadable content, get over there, press play and go about your business.. Latest tracks by thebeardcollector

Something not to miss...

When: Saturday 29th October 8PM

Where: Bryn Griffith Social Club, Mold 

Who: Relapse (Jungle), Isla Nublar (Improvised ambient), Mechanical Owl (Pop) 

What (is the price): Free

How: Walk/Drive/Cycle

Why: We said so

This is a joint venture and the launch night of Modulate Reanimate.

M

Quality Not Geography - Compilation update.

SEND US SONGS!

We're putting together an awesome new compilation called "Quality not Geography". As the name suggests, where you are from is not an issue, (although if you happen to be local then you might get preferencial treatment, grapes, chocolates etc)... so as long as we like it, then you'll probably be on it!
What you get out of it?
Your song featured on downloads and CDs, exposure, reviews, gigs at The Beard Collector nights and a bunch of new friends/grapes.

You can either send your song via email to info@thebeardcollector.eu or drop it in the Beard Collector Drop Box.

Mike

Halloween

You may want to keep the 29th October free for some Halloween musical activities from Modulate Reanimate at Bryn Griffith Social Club, Mold.... Live electronic ambience - Jungle - More Details to follow M

WebGL: 3 Dreams of Black

If you have google chrome then visit www.ro.me for some in browser 3D rendering... Pretty amazing, and pretty.

You need a decent graphics card and internet connection for it to work properly. It's a demo of what HTML5 can do, accessing your computers graphics capabilities and the like.

SWIM by Half Avain

SWIM by Half Avian by thebeardcollector

Your sounds in our cloud.

Send us
your sounds
If you would like your track featured on a Beard Collector compilation ZIP/CD/Cassette, please use our SoundCloud Drop Box to send us your song. We will listen to everything and if suitable, we will feature your track.
Feel free to follow up an upload with an email to info@thebeardcollector.eu, if you would like the song reviewed, or something special to happen with it.

Much Love,

M&M

REVIEW (Kind of): Apparat - The Devil's Walk

THIS WEEK: Apparat - The Devil's Walk.

This album stands out for me by mixing production depth, melody and sampled glitchy acoustic instruments. It's by no means a lyrical masterpiece, but only if you compare to artists where lyricism is the driving force of their art. Here the lyrics simply help make concrete the emotional content of the music. I get the feeling the melody came before the words, but I could be wrong, and who cares anyway, it's got 15 second reverbs, big glitchy drums, more layers than a Dobos torte, timbre hooks, deep bass and singing... I'm happy with that. It even has some elements of folktronica, though not as a uncooked as four tet, more like Bonobo with additional German English vocals.
Like all music, most of it's power comes from association, which is of course unique to the person listening. So you can make your own minds up, it's not perfect for me, but I do recommend it.

Suggested place of listening:

Return journey home from a loud and raucous gig, maybe the M63 at night in the rain with your passengers asleep.

Verdict.

N out of 5

N= Your musical taste, personal experience and circumstance, prejudice and bias... and the quality of your speakers/headphones.


I'm not very good at this, but will persevere.
M

Electronic EP - Half Avian

A new EP from Half Avain is available from The Beard Collector shop.

Only £3
FREE Postage.

Half Avain - Electronic EP T-Shirt for Sale

FOR SALE (Click image to order).

Obey...

Busy organising another night for you all.

Keep this blog in ya retina for more info.

m

The Beard Collector Shop

Hello, we have set up an online shop, soon to be brimming with goods, powered by big cartel:
http://thebeardcollector.bigcartel.com/


Mike

TEN - Y Delyn wine bar - Mold - 08.01.11