Thursday 25 February 2010

[CRYDA 010] Spaced Out/Holy Ghostz

Crydamoure is a French House label created in 1997 by music gods Guy-Manuel De Homem-Christo (of Daft Punk fame) and Eric Chedeville (currently Rico the Wizard). CRYDA was the first French House label I ever got into, and boy am I glad I did.



The 10th installment of Crydamoure's fantastic releases is courtesy of Play Paul, the younger, and more attractive, Homem-Christo brother :P Like his world-famous brother, Play Paul has a knack for turning out short riffs of sampled disco songs that can be seamlessly repeated for minutes while still keeping us entertained.

Spaced Out (Xtended Mix) is an French House tune of epic proportions that incorporates all of the elements seen in early 2000s French House, a time in which Nu-Disco was coming alive. These features include subtle drums, powerful layers, cyberpunk-style synth riffs, and quick 1-beat backtracks. It all comes together to make an orgasm for the ears.



Holy Ghostz (Yes, I spelled it correctly, alexdaftpunk91 did not :P), happens to be my all time favorite Crydamoure track - not only by Play Paul, but by all of it's star line-up. It's so smooth and precious, and the sample is like heaven to my ears. The EP version takes a little while to develop, unlike the Waves II edition which jumps right into the action. But hey, the pleasure goes on for longer :) It's good stuff, and totally belongs in your library, if it isn't already.



So that does it for this installment of Crydamoure posts, expect MANY more in the future. I hope you enjoyed.

Comments are more than appreciated,
Prez

Wednesday 17 February 2010

Ilictronix Update!

Hey guys, sorry to cover up music posts, but this is a follow to yesterday's "This is a Test!" post. I think you'll enjoy it.

So for those of you who were not around, I announced how I wanted to make the switch over to HTML5, which would make our music players load faster, look cooler (to some), be easier to code, and would use up less bandwidth. Unfortunately, not every browser supports the HTML5 audio tag. I have, however, found common ground.

Now, when you load the page, everything will look normal. But if you look over to the right side of the page, you will see a link to change the audio players to HTML5. If you don't have HTML5, you'll get a big fat warning when you click that link, so just refresh to reset everything :)

Anyway, you can try it by clicking either that link or this link. You must have JavaScript enabled, otherwise nothing will happen. Since it's too early to change it for everyone, I'm just going to leave the option there for those who want it. I personally prefer the HTML5 players, and the sound quality is a bit better, if you notice it. :P

Now here's some slamming Funk and Disco to try it on :) Please note that only posts written since yesterday have this feature, but all tracks posted in the future will be capable of switching to the new HTML5 audio tag.

Enjoy. If you had no idea what I'm talking about, whatever :P Just enjoy the music!





Enjoy, and let us know what you think of the new features/music in the comments section,
Prez

Tuesday 16 February 2010

This is a Test!

Ever since I started posting tracks back in August, I've stuck to the same flash player that you've all become familiar with. Well, the new wave of HTML5 websites has begun, and converting is looking like a better idea each day.

What does this mean? Starting soon, we might be using a simpler way to allow you guys to stream music, the audio tag. This will use less bandwidth, have more flexibility (such as a play count), volume control, and might even be faster! There's much testing to do. But for now, let's run a trial.

If you are unable to see the music player below, that means you are currently viewing this website in a web browser incompatible with HTML5.



Can you see the audio player? What do you think? Let us know in the comments section.

For those who can't, don't worry, you can listen to the track too.



See more from Pierce on MySpace.

Thanks for your time,
Prez

Saturday 13 February 2010

Product Review (with some tracks)

I bought some new equipment last weekend and it deserves a little review, so let’s get started.

Since I bought some headphones a couple of years ago, because ear buds were giving me a headache, I never went back. Although they take up lots of place, I usually just hang them around my neck without much trouble. The sound quality on them is multiple times better. The only problem was that I always bought some plastic shit with not such great sound quality for a very reasonable price. They broke often, but they were just as easily replaced with a new pair. But this all changed when I bought these beauties:

The Pioneer HDJ-1000 Stereo headphones
They look awesome with a clean color scheme. Some might call them futuristic, I would describe them as looking professional. I’m thinking about painting some of the metallic parts black though, better fits my style.

Looking at the specs you can immediately guess how great they are:
  • It has 3500 mW of maximum input, making distortion practically non-existent.
  • It weighs about one pound, so no trouble wearing them for long periods of time.
  • Frequency ranges from 5 to 30000 Hz (human hearing goes from 20 to 20000 Hz), making it the perfect headphones for your dog to use.
  • The output sound is somewhere around 107 dB/mW ( below the dangerous values).
  • Cable length is 1,2 m – 4 ft long folded and 3m - 10 ft unfolded.
The shape and joints allow you to fold the headphones for space-saving and to turn them in each direction for single ear sound monitoring. It is easily adjustable to fit my head size and doesn’t seem to break easily (trust me, I tried). The fact that the connection cable is one sided also help the ease of putting them on.

Another cool feature is the mono-stereo switch on the side, which allows you to instantly change from single ear monitoring to stereo listening enjoyment.

Above all is the sound quality. The 50 millimeter dome encompasses your ear completely, providing great sound insulation (I didn’t even hear my parents calling for me while wearing them) and great clarity.

The only downside about these gems is off course the price, retailing at €200 or $270. I managed to get mine with a €50 discount ($70 for all you Americans).

I know I’m going to enjoy these for a long time…

And for your enjoyment, here are some mp3’s (because let’s face it, what’s a post without songs) to enjoy on your very own headsets.



This first one is a pretty recent housetune. It gets my groove on from the start, but wait till the magic happens at about 1:30 and the 50’s theme unveils itself. And say hello to some great vocal sampling.



Next one is to check if all your bass are belong to us. Who else but Rusko could do us the honor. I know most of our readers don’t appreciate Dubstep, but I know some of you do.

But what if you like neither house or Dubstep? Hmmm, better provide you an alternative. Maybe some kick-ass electro will do the trick for you guys.



On to a question for all of you: would you be willing to pay big bucks for high quality equipment?

Enjoy, Mr. Brown.

Thursday 11 February 2010

Let's Just Relax

I'm snowed in, midterms are finally over, college stuff is finally done. The rest of you are surely busy as well this time of year, and there's a lot of stress going around. Let's chill.



One of my personal favorites, this Japanese experimental song is so beautiful, and it's a shame that it's not commonly known. I can listen to this one for hours and hours on end.



And leave it to Royksopp to create another relaxing melody. This songs catchy, light-hearted, and goes with every mood, prompting one to say "Jesus Christ, Royksopp, please release Senior already!!" By the way, Senior should be hitting shelves this April, if all goes well. Whenever it comes out, I'm sure it'll be just as fantastic as Junior was.



One of the smoothest songs of all time is Daft Punk's Emotion. Since everyone already has that track, and if you don't, go get it...now, let's listen to a nice remix, straight off of Android After All. Not the mellowest of songs, it's still fairly relaxing.



And finally, let's relax... Oizo style. Oh god, my ears!!!

Mr Oizo - Quick Relaxing

Okay, maybe this was a poor song choice.

Enjoy, and don't pull your hair out too much that things have been kinda slow around here. Also, stop spamming me with Japanese emails, I can't even read them.
Prez