Elsewhat

Don’t sweat it if you don’t know who hip hop producer J Dilla is. I only had a rough understanding of who he was, and what his impacts on music were, before I read Dan Charnas’ amazing biography.

Dilla was a hip hop producer in the 90’s whose programming of drum machines brought in a style of drumming which nobody had ever really heard before. His beats were erratic and off time, which on those early drum machines took some effort to achieve. They weren’t quite straight time, and they weren’t swing time. They were in Dilla Time. He used this technique to give his music a slightly off, slightly drunk, even slightly unsettling feeling.

A great read, especially for those who love 90’s hip hop and sampling. Buy it at your small local independent book store.

The local art gallery near my house has a wonderful little exhibit this week with a variety of musical works by an artist named Nick Ryan, whose other work and biographical information I’ve failed to find.

The works consist of simple household object arranged in such a way as to play music when electricity is applied (which is accomplished by random timers). It’s simple, and playful, and can be completely explored in about 10 minutes.

On from January 24 to 28th or so at Produit Rien in Mile Ex.

My favourite blog post of every year is the best songs of the year by friend of Elsewhat’s Sean Michaels. I always discover a whole trove of new songs and artists.

Read 2023’s List Here →

Condition of Us by Montréal-based band La Force.

Directed by Winston Hacking

Friend of Elsewhat Sean Michaels has a piece up in The New Yorker this week about the intersection of AI and the music industry. It touches on tech, music sharing, sampling, and lots more.

Meanwhile, the pace of A.I. research has recalled the work of West Yorkshire rhubarb farmers, whose stalks grow so fast that they can hear the sound of them stretching. Tools with names like So-Vits-SVC, which has been used to generate A.I. facsimiles of Drake’s, Eminem’s, and Jay-Z’s voices, are introducing a new set of challenges to an industry that has barely recovered from covid-era concert restrictions. Musical artists, confronted by Big Tech’s tempo, influence, and affluence, have shown an understandable willingness to line up behind Big Media. Given a very real fear that generative tools will further erode, or permanently cripple, the already precarious economics of artists’ lives, why not allow globe-straddling labels, studios, and publishers to stand on their behalf?

Read it here →

A nice little companion to my post the other day about the book The Japanese House, friend of Elsewhat Sean sent along this music video from the band The Japanese House, whose band name was inspired by a Japanese-style tea house owned by Kate Winslet. The band and the book are both great.