The Smush Newsletter, September 19th, 2001, Vol 1.8 Contact: oskillator@hotmail.com Home: http://www.mindspring.com/~pfister_/smush/ Back issues available upon request. Table of contents: 1. Gear ............. 14 2. New Smush Music .. 54 3. Classics ......... 85 4. Seeyaz ........... 106 GEAR ---- We at Smush have a love-hate relationship with our music Gear. We know that to make 'lectronic music like we love to do, you have to have gear to perform, sequence, record, and all that shit. But it's so damn expensive. My Number One wish on the list for Xmas this year is a software package that is robust enough that I'll never have to use anything else to sequence or play back samples in. I know, I know, it doesn't exist. I've got the design for one worked out in my head, but if I take long enough of a break from writing Smush music to develop it, then we'd starve to death, because the funding we get from the National Endowment for the Arts would dry up. This is the catch-22: it takes a talented artist to make artists tools, but artists are, as a rule, unable to support themselves and rely on government subsidization, and if they don't spend 40 hours a week making art, then the govt stops sending the checks. That's why I haven't yet created the ultimate composition and sound design tool for yallz. But that's not what this article is about. It's about some fuckin' fantastic gear I found while on vacation in Tallahassee last week. Before I say anything else, let me clarify something: contrary to popular belief, Buffalo is not the anal cavity of humanity. Tallahassee is. But it has a glut of pawn shops, and amongst the racks upon racks of used copies of American McGee's Count of Monte Cristo and barrels of TB-303s for $1250 apiece, I found a device that rained down a choir of celestial radiance from the heavens. I voice rang out in my head: "I AM YOUR GOD, AND I BRING YOU..." and then my eyes fell on the hand-lettered label pasted to its front panel: the Rohde & Schwartz model UBM Astimmbarer Anzeigerverstarker Tunable Indicating Amplifier". In layman's terms, it's a manually-tunned resonant highpass filter, capable of a range of 45hz to 600khz. You might say that due to the nyquist principle, 600khz is overkill, but it was originally designed for testing communications equipment, not for turning dinky tr-606 bass drums into rotund booming sounds that would induce diarrhea in a small child. Never mind that. It's very useful for keeping your relative's kids in line when they come into the studio and run around knocking over racks and screaming for chocolate. NEW SMUSH MUSIC --------------- This is new smush music. None of it's available yet, because mp3.com sucks. DAL - We took a quote from the classic "Dr. Akkermans Is Frowning" and changed it around a bit -- first we put it in a major key, and then we made it last for four measures, and then we changed the key for each measure -- each time it played through. Mario Mario played the bass in this one. Rumble on Rock Beach - It's new because we had to re upload it to mp3.com. They bitched about the excessive whammy bar motion in the original version, saying it sounded unrealistic -- well guess what, mp3.com, we just happen to be or have access to some good guitar players who are capable of that kind of arm extension! But we cut it back to appease them. In any case we took the excuse to rerecord the drums, and they sound fuller and more expressive... and rework the bass line a little, now it's a little bit less predictable (i.e. similar to that AAAAAAAH Wipeout! song). We also rerecorded the organ solos, taking the advice of the late Walter Carlos, which are now 15% funkier and include some of the classic hammond palm slides. Thanks to Wendy Carlos for cleaning the bloodstains off of the note that she found in Walter's front pocket after she killed him. So the song is now dedicated to Walter, who never surfed a day in his life, but wrote music about it so very well. TDS - The Dirty Sanchez. I consulted Dr. Akkermans about the dirty sanchez I had on my torso. He said "You got to move it move it". So I wrote this song. The Dirty Sanchez is now on my upper thigh. CLASSICS -------- I'm running out of good smush songs to talk about. Once I go through all the good music, I'm either going to have to cut this newsletter back to a monthly basis, or I'm gonna have to start writing about Rubbahead's songs. Please send your vote to oskillator@hotmail.com !! But there are still some songs left worth talking about. Here are some writeups of a few of them: CHM - This is our attempt at expressing the futility of breakbeats. AFD - The processed 909 beats are one thing, but the Stanford-y, academic sounding FM gongs in the distance really make this piece. ACK - This was the first ever smush song. Appropriately for the dawn of a new powerhouse in art music, it's a remake of the classic Auld Lang Syne. We put a new-wave spin on it that we think you'll enjoy. SEEYAZ ------ If I was any closer, I'd be overlapping you. CHOCOLATE! I WANT CHOCOLATE! I WANT CHOCOLATE! CHOCOLATE! CHOCOLATE! I WANT CHOCOLATE! I WANT CHOCOLATE! CHOCOLATE! I WANT CHOCOLATE! I WANT CHOCOLATE! CHOCOLATE! CHOCOLATE! GIVE ME CHOCOLATE!