The Virtual Conductor’s “La Vida es Bella” is one of Eamonn Watt’s more experimental tracks, featuring classical guitar on cassette tape, mellotron flutes, strings and celesta to create a nostalgic, reflective sort of sound.
Although Watt is a classical composer from the Shetland Isles — he dabbles in other genres and seems to stretch the creative limits of his human mind. The fringe is where he resides.
Now sit back, relax, and feel free to reap the profound essence of all that is The Virtual Conductor. Here is “La Vida es Bella” off his new album ‘Aquarelle’.
Dakota Blue
Dakota Blue is an experimental indie pop artist from the concrete jungle of LA.
“At the Gala” is a lackadaisical single glimmering of a sweet nostalgic resonance off Dakota Blue’s upcoming album — ‘Specific System’.
The project utilizes the 12-string guitar and synths to create a dreamy atmosphere around a gala in a garden. “The gala hasn’t started. Drama arrives early. She wears a pricey dress. He looks always unimpressed.”
Crave On
Crave On is an intoxicating band playing rock and roll music from deep within the eclectic hub of Nashville, Tennessee.
Their latest psych-folk project entitled “Ace on the Outspeaker” is a shimmering reflection of a collection of small moments that seem to fade away into a distant memory — as life just seems to keep rolling on by.
“Black night putting my nerves to the test. Like I knew I was the best, like I was better than the rest. Wild child putting the first things first.”
Twas 66 & among the heads of the Haight, Spores of Disillusionment were germinating- inhaled twixt tokes of Acapulco G. Nam cocktailed with the Lysergic Prohibition were proving a potent downer
The bud of 66 bloomed a 67 & the Spores were palpable to a growing bouquet of Flower Chillen. The Dream was all but over when Time ran a story on hippies in Jan 67. No head had HEARD of a hippie & next thing ya know, they were coming to look at us like we was in a glass bowl, said Mickey Hart. Literally- 67 saw the maiden voyage of Gray Line’s Hippie Tour, billed as A SAFARI THRU PSYCHEDELIA
Press drew youth like moth to flame. FORGET FLOWERS IN YA HAIR The Oracle headline read- pilgrims bring sleeping bags & scratch instead
Like THAT, Utopia became a cesspit of B&E; VD; bum trips on STP. The Spores’ prime symptom, spiritual void, was taking hold- exacerbated by culdesac forays into krishna, zen & the occult
& in this darkness… The Living Room
Est. by ex-beats who found salvation on LSD, TLR was a coffeehouse that offered beds for bible readings. 1000s of youth dropped by in 67, listening to the word of these counterculture evangelists. Their Jesus was presented as a revolutionary outlaw and their strain of worship stressed direct contact with Jesus via drug metaphors aplenty. This was a mainliner to the soul of the disenchanted doper- soon TLR was Saving over 20 a week- Jesus Freaks were here
coffeehousi/ street ministries swiftly dotted the Coast. TLR convert, Lonnie Frisbee, held services at SoCal’s Calvary Chapel, now THE hippie church, it’s membership growin from 200 to 2000 in 3 months. Among the converts were musicians, many of which had played in bands in SF, who were now writing music for praise/worship, sonically rooted in the Frisco Sound. Performances by these freshly minted Christian Psych (dubbed Xian Psych by 90s collectors) bands were incorporated into services and went down a storm. Soon they were in the studio recording privately pressed LPs funded by the church/ by the bands themselves. In time, the lyrical subject matter had evolved, waxin not only on the XTC of Jesus, but also pre-conversion experiences with drugs/promiscuity & the alternative that was the Jesus Trip
As headlines blurred from RFK to MLK to Altamont, The Jesus People spread, with Calvary affiliates founding 20 communes across Cali before departing en masse, sending teams across the US & Canada. Other factions of Jesus People toured the US (& by the end of ’70, Europe) too, sharing the gospel/ the farout sounds of Xian Psych. New communes were founded as were new bands who lay down their own private press LPs, flying the Frisco Sound’s freakflag
As Nam’s curtain closed, counterculture was absorbed by pop culture and so too, most of the Jesus Freaks folded into m’stream Christianity. The once radical music of the movement was dropped in favour of an MOR sound, later the lucrative Christian Contemporary Music industry. Though some bands from the salad days of xian music became stalwarts of that scene, most disappeared but some, like NYC based commune/collective, The Trees Community, spent the rest of the decade travelling the US, sharing their otherworldly sound in a converted school bus housing 10 people 2 cats+dog 80 instruments. Now if THAT aint The Dream…
The cornucopia of Xianedelic delights on Tonight’s Programme were recorded largely by American Jesus Freaks, with a few sounds by their EU/CA counterparts. 92% of the records were privately pressed (with the remainder released by church funded indie labels), usually produced in numbers of 50-200, allowing the bands full creative freedom, which as you’ll hear, was used to the fullest
Now, Praise The Lord, Take a Trip & Take it Sleazy
Have you been thinking that you really want to hear a certain song and the song you were just thinking of suddenly pops up on shuffle — or that new personalized playlist Spotify just made for you? If that’s you, then you can thank Machine Learning for the pleasant surprise.
Shaping Music With AI
For those who are unfamiliar with technical jargon like AI and ML — they essentially refer to the algorithms used to shape the way that we stream music, or do anything really. These algorithms take into account everything from the listeners’ preferences to the tonality of the songs in order to create an experience that is optimally tailored to suit the individual user’s taste in music.
The Age of Manic Optimization
The level of convenience that Machine Learning has produced has led to a monumental and unprecedented boom in the popularity of streaming services like Spotify, Pandora, and Shazam — and the algorithm is only growing more complex. Who said AI ain’t got a soul?
Closing Statement
AI — in its various mutations — improves the efficiency of everyday life and augments the ability of individuals well beyond their capabilities. However, the human benefits to be gained from AI will eventually reach a breaking point — where further investment in AI will ultimately result in a fatal outcome.
“Some people call this artificial intelligence, but the reality is this technology will enhance us. So instead of artificial intelligence, I think we’ll augment our intelligence.” — Ginni Rometty
The 90s is making a sublime comeback, not only in style and fashion, but also in the form of cassette tapes.
These little pieces of plastic and magnetic tape have been resurfacing lately, with some major stores carrying cassettes and cassette players despite the continued rising popularity of digital music and streaming platforms.
Retro Rise
Cassettes saw double digit sales growth in the US last year, according to Genius. Cassette sales grew by almost 19 percent from 99,400 to 118,200 copies sold in the US alone.
Bands such as Pearl Jam and Smashing Pumpkins have been releasing their records on casette tapes, and surprisingly, they’ve been selling out from pre-sales alone.
Vinyl is also on the rise — but data reveals that vinyl is more popular among older records, while cassettes are more popular for newer albums. Meanwhile, CDs are dead.
Closing Thoughts
People adore cassettes because it produces that beautiful analog sound — a sound that our ears are made to listen to and love.
We might be living in some sort of dystopian future, but some things from the past are starting to make a comeback in a real, and physical way.
I’ve developed a habit of keeping numerous small cassette recorders in my house and in a bag with me so that I’m able to commit to tape memory song ideas on a constant basis. — Dwight Yoakam
Even with the prevalence of digital music platforms and music streaming services, vinyl records are making a huge comeback — and seem to be here to stay.
Companies such as eBay and Discogs have strong data that proves there has been a recent surge in vinyl sales — and popularity as a whole.
Here to Stay
Sales for both brand new and used records have gone up by the millions. And the figures don’t count offline sales — or seem to be slowing down anytime soon. Data shows that sales for vinyl started its meteoric rise back in 2011, and has continued to rise since — thanks to collectors and radical hipsters at heart!
Albums sold on vinyl saw double digit sales growth in the US last year, according to Genius. Vinyl sales grew by just shy of 12 percent from 8.6 to 9.7 million sales. It wasn’t quite the growth seen in digital streaming, but it’s still quite impressive for a medium that’s decades old.
Closing Thoughts
It’s quite obvious that the quality of sound on vinyl records are just so much warmer — and vintage sounding compared to music streamed online or even from a CD.
Vinyl record’s nostalgic value in the industry of music seems to be set in stone for the time being, but we’ll wait and see how this all plays out.
I’m a big collector of vinyl — I have a record room in my house — and I’ve always had a huge soundtrack album collection. So what I do, as I’m writing a movie, is go through all those songs, trying to find good songs for fights, or good pieces of music to layer into the film. — Quentin Tarantino
