a New Sound: 2010

Sunday, September 19, 2010

Monday, August 16, 2010

"Our Mission:
Here at VizOrg, we are artists working for artists. We are no stranger to the frustration that comes with being serious in your passion. That is why we try to provide an original aesthetic, for local up and coming Denver talent. This is a chance to come together and collaborate with other equally talented artists to showcase their passions."

A couple of weeks ago mike (GRABass) and I played a few sets at the monthly VizOrg artwalk party on inca and 7th (right next to santa fe). I met mike, ralph and alex through a mutual friend and have been to a few of their events now, have to say the most fun party on artwalk. It takes place in a huge open-air courtyard outside what used to be a church many decades ago. Pillar-like installations are placed all over the yard, with a stage for music and bar on the far side of the yard. This last event they saw some dude driving around this hilarious early 70s muscle car and had him park it in the middle of the yard for people to check out. We will be playing the next event on september 3rd (the last outdoor party of the summer before they move indoors) and from what i've gathered they are pulling out all the stops for this one, i.e. not ending at an appropriate hour.. A VizOrg video is in the works, which will include HD footage of New Sound DJs at the august party. Below I've included links to their pages online, mike's graphic design page (who is currently working on multiple New Sound logos and designs, coming soon..), a copy of their mission statement and pics from their last event. I'm personally very excited to be working more with these guys in the future as they have a great crew of talented and motivated artists. They've really just gotten started, already have the dopest spot on santa fe (in my opinion) and you should expect nothing less than amazing work from them in the future.

VizOrg Facebook Page

Mike's Graphic Design Page

Stasia's Blog (unofficial VizOrg blog)

Alex's VizOrg Page

Pictures from August Event

Flyer for July's Event

Thursday, July 22, 2010

New site up for The Professor check it out!!!

www.thedjprofessor.com

Sunday, July 18, 2010

Bedrockk

Bedrockk is a very unique group with a lot to offer this city. Heading the group is Dave Marquess, singer, musician, and producer. In the project, he plays guitar and synthesizer, sings, and is accompanied by electronic production. Music has always been an influential part of his life, being the grandson of a jazz man hailing from the Bronx. Attending school at CU Boulder, Dave met fellow rock-climber Scott Schorr, who is Bedrockk's production specialist. At school, Dave also met drummer, Spencer Perkins, who is also known as Sparks. The trio began playing music together about 5 months ago after Dave moved to Denver. That marked the formation of Bedrockk.

Bedrockk playing the Fox Theater in Boulder, 04/30/10

With a sound they can definitely call their own, Bedrockk’s material still reflects some of the group’s influences, which are many and varied. Influences range from classics like Jimi Hendrix, James Brown, Michael Jackson, and Bob Marley, to modern electronic artists such as Joker, Mimosa and Marty Party. These influences are easily heard in their music, but in a unique way. The sound can be summed up as electronic soul/funk with some grime and dubstep undertones, though it varies pleasantly from song to song. The songs “Future Child” and “Diamond in the Night” are very reflective of the soul and blues influences, while others like “Amazon” and “Fly in the Sky” have a grimey, westcoast dubstep feel. All in all, the music is upbeat, melodic and very conducive to booty shakin. Bedrockk is starting to play shows around Denver and is definitely an act to catch if the opportunity arises.

Latest tracks by Bedrockk

http://www.myspace.com/bedrockkmusic
http://www.soundcloud.com/bedrockk

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Jon Black (cloud-d)

Next up on the New Sound roster is young up and coming Denver producer Jon Black, aka cloud-d, aka earth tones. Jon is Denver born and raised, djs, has been producing for a little over a year and is a graphic designer. He currently attends the Art Institute of Colorado. Jon tells me he's always loved downtempo, started making it and this eventually led him into darker dubstep. I met Jon randomly shooting the shit on Soundcloud comments, liked each others stuff and realized we had a bunch of the same friends (btw.. time to buy stock in Soundcloud??). Most recently, I caught his set at Cervantes on the 7th and it was pretty impressive. A few of the other kids from The Mile High Sound Movement (a CO collective similar to ours, links below) also threw down good sets. I especially liked Wyatt and Project Aspect. Jon's set struck me as restrained (rather than over the top) and well-arranged. Any laptop kid can ask around, download the newest bangers and throw them together into shitty sounding "transitions", but i noticed Jon using minimal dub tracks (a bunch of them his own production) and drum loops to have his set flow up and down properly. Extra points for using a Maschine rather than an MPD. Another producer on our label (TK Kayembe, aka .anansi) also plays on and produces on a Maschine. A bunch of links are below for further exploration, including Jon's websites, old flyers and whatnot. His set from Cervantes this past week will be posted soon. This kid has a good work ethic, a good ear and is on the up and up. Watch out.

Latest tracks by cloud-d

influences:
-yukmouth
-three6
-techn9ne
-mrk1
-heyoka
-vinyl mind

Latest tracks by cloud-d

Review from last year's Mile High Meltdown

Mile High Movement Facebook Page

Monday, July 12, 2010

Ableton Workshops

Anyone know about any good sources for Ableton education here in Denver? Workshops and the like?

- Colin

checkers (jamie) said...

colin i'm going tomorrow night to a workshop put on by the Denver Ableton User Group and Creative Electronica. There are links on our facebook page to the event, but heres one anyways. hit me up if you or anyone else wants to roll with.

http://creativeelectronica.com/

Ableton Colorado -
"We have a free meet & greet on Weds 7pm central denver focusing on electronic music (industry) w/presentations on Ableton and Serato, you sound like our type of people!"

Sunday, July 11, 2010

The Professor

Hey guys. I'm Braden... more recently known as The Professor. I live in Scranton, PA working during the day and making music by night. I started messing around with Reason and a 25 key M-Audio keyboard in late 2007. Since them I have definitely upped my game. I am 1/3 of the band Laser Sex and do mostly DJ stuff for them. Lots of sound manipulation, looping and beat dropping using Ableton Live and Reason. I work with my APC 40 only because that's all I really need at the moment. When I'm not playing with Laser Sex I do a lot of my own podcasts and have recently been releasing originals. Check them out at www.soundcloud.com/djprofessor. I just launched my own website at www.thedjprofessor.com. I also have a facebook page and a twitter www.facebook.com/thedjprofessor and www.twitter.com/thedjprofessor. When I'm doing my own stuff I try to stick to danceable music whether its Dubstep, DnB, Electro house or breakbeat. I'm not sure what my future plans are for right now, but I do know I would like to end up back in Colorado sooner rather than later. For right now I'm a solid east coast connection for any of the boys out west. I'm really excited to be working with A New Sound and am ready to give it my all. If you have any questions hit me up at thedjprofessor@gmail.com. Thanks. This is the start of something big.

Latest tracks by DJProfessor

Michael Grab

Mike Grab is a.. "Vinyl Collector, DJ (Dubstep, Hip Hop, various electronic), Visual Artist, Rock Stacker, Researcher, Brother, Friend, Canadian, Jedi Shaman, Moon Watcher, and all around badass."

I've watched Mike grow as a DJ and artist immensely in the few years I've known him. Mike is the homie, kills records like its his job, takes ill photos and makes some really freaking cool rock stacks in various rivers and streams.

Mike will be posting regularly on a New Sound, with original material, various art projects and commentary on aliens and reptile people. Mike prefers tasteful and sometimes minimal dub as opposed to unnecessary wobbles and loud, harsh noises. In his free time Mike likes to drink crown and play with mika.

Mike has some dope mixes sitting around, some of which were in consideration for this post, but in the endless quest for perfection he has been in the lab for the last week mad scientist-style putting together a new set. There are a few Grab staples in there along with some new records. I just gave it a listen and it is pretty sick. Dope transitions, varied sub-genres of dub and solid song selection make it a keeper. For me, highlights are the buildup and mid-song drop of the Kromestar track, the mixing into the White Lies track (one of my all-time favorite dubstep tracks), and the last song, a seldom-played BoC record mixed uniquely with a much heavier Excision track.

Dubstep Dawn by GRABASS

1. Kromestar - Heavy Mental
2. Headhunter - Entity
3. Bar 9 - Murda Sound (Eskmo Remix)
4. Synkro - Hornz
5. Dread Foxx - Clash (ft Werd 2 Jah)
6. Kromestar - Poltergeist
7. White Lies - Death (Chase & Status Remix)
8. N-Type - Dark matter
9. Skream - Rottan
10. Bar 9 - Murda Sound (Riskotheque Remix)
11. Uncle Sam - Round the World Girls
12. L-Wiz - Amy Diamond
13. Dj Shadow - What Does Your Soul Look Like
14. Excision - Too Late
15. Boards of Canada - Dawn Chorus

Mike's Flickr (tons of dope shots)

Mike's Blog (art, photography and crazy conspiracy theories)

post on Denver Art Walk and the whomp truck

Recent flyer from the Lazy Dog in Boulder

Thursday, July 1, 2010

a New Sound

Hey everybody,

This blog is changing in a major way. This blog, along with another website in the works, is now the home of a New Sound Colorado, a Denver-based musicians and artists collective. The aim of this collective is to function as an umbrella under which artists can both express themselves individually and learn from and collaborate with one other. The whole point is to bring much-needed fresh sounds to the Denver music scene and beyond. There are a lot of unique and forward-thinking musicians and artists in Colorado that have yet to receive proper exposure, and this collective hopes to bring that talent to light. We all have a lot to offer in many different ways. A New Sound Colorado is a multi-faceted entity including a blog/website/podcast with frequent posts of original production, mixes, artistic endeavors and highlights of the beat music scene. Among us there are producers of all sorts, drummers, synth players, acoustic guitar players and DJs both vinyl and digital, all with too many different projects to name. Not to mention the Denver art scene has never looked better. I'm excited to see where this all goes..

"obama production" - unknown artist - denver, co - http://endlesscanvas.com/?p=983

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

daedelus - order of the golden dawn

i'm not usually the biggest daedelus fan, as his production is usually a little too out there for me, but this is simply a great song. really pretty, nice female vocals provided by daedelus' wife laura darlington, sort of a bossa-nova / samba / jazz feel. check it out.

"Hey, so Victorian-dressing electronic guy Daedelus has a new mini-album coming out on Flying Lotus’s Brainfeeder label.

Titled Righteous Fists of Harmony, it marks the first release on the new global Brainfeeder – which basically means they now have an international distribution deal – and preludes Daedelus’s forthcoming album for Ninja Tune, Bespoke.

Says FlyLo, “Daedelus was one of the first people I met in the LA scene, he hardly knew me or my sound at all and invited me into his home and shared stories and music with me when I was trying to find my way out here. He’s been such a great and inspiring friend ever since. I feel like with this album we’re close to coming full circle.”"

-brainfeedersite.com

daedelus - order of the golden dawn

Saturday, May 29, 2010

the dragonfly

DJ set @ the dragonfly

i played at the dragonfly on santa monica blvd this monday. cool venue, three stages, outdoor patio, but in the time waiting between sets my girlfriend and i racked up a $70 bar tab. some IDIOT girl kicked over the power supply THREE times, once during my set and twice during this kid spinning on serato before me. some of these LA people i don't know about.. i don't trust people who don't dance at shows. anyways played some new tracks, got drunk had a blast big up to the Collective CA, great bunch of people who put on the show

http://thecollectiveca.com/

Set One

DJ Set at the Dragonfly 1 of 2 by checkers

Set Two

DJ Set at the Dragonfly 2 of 2 by checkers

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

new tobacco album

Tobacco - Maniac Meat

http://www.mediafire.com/?mmmzzwqzmut

-not as synthed out as fucked up friends, not as danceable, but moving into new soundscape territories. really cool use of low pass filters, a couple songs produced by/featuring Beck. i give it an 7/10 (versus FUF's 9/10). however there are a few tracks that really stand out. figure out which ones and you get a sticker!

movies and friends

LA is great so far, although its definitely a different world than colorado. no one dances at shows.. its really weird everyone is too busy worrying if they look cool. driving everywhere sucks too. got a dope condo in sherman oaks, but living in the valley sucks because you are a 20min drive away from everything, downtown, hollywood, the west side.. hoping to save up some money over the next few months and move down to culver city or venice. anyways so i meet this kid joel at a friends party, and we go back to his studio after. turns out he and his friends have created this new music tour/album/film involving music and social change. from what i've gathered joel put together the film and the organization Playing For Change put together the music stuff, although it seems like its one big group working together.

the film is called ReGENERATION - A Documentary Film. it raises the issue of apathy in our generation, and whether or not kids really care about changing their world for the better.

“No matter what we do, is it really going to make a difference?” This corrosive statement becomes the core of ReGENERATION a new documentary that succeeds as a lightning rod for social change through thought and action. Strongly calling out the apathy of the current generation of youth and young adults, the film presents a cross section of perspectives from a society fed more through corporate media than truth. Unique commentary on the problems facing our society are explored through an inspired collective of musicians (STS9), a 20-something conservative family, and a group of five suburban high school students looking for their place in the world. As the powerful evidence of our reliance on technology, disconnection with nature, excessive consumption, and loss of history add up, leading scholars from around the world (including Howard Zinn), social activists (Noam Chomsky and Amy Goodman), and media personalities (Mos Def and Talib Kweli) stimulate the discussion with their wisdom and personal reflections. Narrated by Ryan Gosling, and engaging as it is insightful, ReGENERATION stands to be heard and energizes the audience to join its march to a world of passionate action."

heres why you should watch this movie -

the music is done by STS9 (good friends of joel's), if your into that sort of thing. they are also in the movie.

the movie stars such innovative and unique thinkers and artists as Noam Chomsky, Howard Zinn, Mos Def and Talib Kweli.

below i'm going to put links to the sites involved with the different projects at work here, i have seen the trailer for the movie and the footage from the concerts and its all great stuff.

Facebook Page

Seattle International Film Festival link

Friday, May 14, 2010

architeq

been digging architeqs stuff for a while now, out there theres a 30~min mix ("architeq in the mix", a small ep and the single "birds of prey" w a bunch of great remixes and a few other singles. heres a new single for listen/dl "mind games". look for an ep soon

http://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/mind-games-feat-ilija-rudman/id363774884

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Architeq/54436435192?v=wall
http://www.boomkat.com/item.cfm?id=287267
http://www.boomkat.com/item.cfm?id=237852

i'm back

sorry i haven't been posting much, the move to L.A. has taken longer than expected due to unforeseen circumstances.. ANYWAYS now that i'm finally settled down w new studio up and running its time for new tracks, new mixes and new posts on the blog. back to biz as usual

Monday, April 12, 2010

spring 2010 promo mix

mixed on an APC40 w/ added drum/synth/vox loops
dubstep/hip-hop/all that good stuff (and some r kelly..)

checkers - spring 2010 promo mix by checkers

Thursday, March 4, 2010

Supreeme - Roni (checkers remix)

Supreeme - Roni (checkers remix)
320 mp3

i hate how usually the only electronic hip-hop people know are the cool kids, who are ok. supreeme on the other hand is dope as shit. remixed w an apc40 using some custom effect racks and sampler.

Supreeme - Roni (checkers remix) by checkers