Blizzardboy | A Kiwi in Australia

One of the things I have been doing recently is writing product descriptions for DJ gear, particularly for sale on ebay. Now, most of the product descriptions out there are pretty boring, so I thought I would give the process a new twist. It does make a difference – people invest time in reading about the products, and that leads to increased sales.

Here are a couple I have written today (I am posting these more as stories than as product descriptions…). The first one transposes Brad and Janet of Rocky Horror fame:

Vestax PCV-275 DJ mixer

Once upon a time all was dark and all was silent. A crowd of expectant punters grumbled and mumbled across the dance floor. Brad could feel a cold sweat upon his brow. He had no mixer. And without a mixer there would be no tunes. And with no tunes there would be a riot or worse.

Just then a voice from the great beyond boomed down to him “I have been to the mountain and I have found thee a mixer – a Vestax PCV-275 DJ mixer.” A bolt of lightning flashed across the forest, raining chubachubs down on the punters and striking the dj booth with all the force of ancient magic.

Once the smoke and the hubris had cleared, there lay the Vestax PCV-275 in all its magnificence. Cables snaked their way across the desk. And boom! the bass kicked in. With its 3 channels (3 decks/6 line/2 mics) with 3 band eq, and kill switches on each Brad knew he could save the party and the day.

The crowd went wild as he mixed in the melody line. Pulsating bodies felt the power flow.

From close by Brad could hear Janet moaning “Oh Brad, Oh Brad.” The Vestax PCV-275 had won the party.

And this one, with a bit of a Robert Louis Stephenson theme:

Vestax PMC-08PRO Hybrid Digital Mixer

The ship had broken upon the rocks the night before in the most terrible storm ever witnessed by woman or beast. Demarnia’s life had been on the line as she slipped in and out of consciousness, half wrapped around a friendly piece of flotsam.

Waking at dawn, damp and dazed on a sandy beach, Demarnia took a few minutes to gain her bearings, and also to realize that she was being watched. She had landed on the mystical island of the SlipMatt, and she was soon surrounded by the acid head freak SlipMatteans.

“You, our graceful visitor will play for us. Play well and we will spare you. Spin sh*t and you shall die,” a SlipMattean who appeared to be some sort of leader politely informed Demarnia.

Still groggy from her ordeal Demarnia looked around in panic. The expectant faces, the horror! the horror! They carried her from the shore on a bier of heavily scratched Rotterdam 12 inches up over a rise, through the forest for some time and into a clearing. The clearing had a heavily stomped floor and a white tent.

They laid here down inside the tent. She slowly got to her feet and got her bearings. On the desk was a brand spanking new Vestax PMC-08PRO Hybrid Digital Mixer. Demarnia could feel her confidence rising. This 2 channel digital mixer with its analog AD/DA conversion and digital signal processing at the lowest latency rate and the highest performance level was truly the greatest thing since sliced wholemeal bread. The cutting edge fader technology for extreme scratching – the most sensitive crossfader on the planet – would save her salty skin.

She got a groove going, she mixed in some funky beats. The SlipMatteans started to get into the mood. With the DSP EQ and the Vestax PMC-08PRO’s isolator features she made that grove sing, the deepest of deep and warm wafted out through the crowd and bang, bang, bang. Was that the sharpest kill ever!

Two hours passed like a Jesus and Mary Chain set. The SlipMatteans supplicated themselves in awe. The leader came forth with a crown of daisys.

Demarnia was spared. And they booked her for the next full moon party. All thanks to the Vestax PMC-08PRO Hybrid Digital Mixer.

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This is from Upstairs For Thinking, with the low down on the up coming highs (how was that for a mixed metaphor) of Pitch Black’s forthfrothing gig in Tokyo. I’m sure he wont mind…

FUSH & CHUPS
New Zealand music event, featuring electronic/dub unit Pitch Black plus Ben Kemp, NZ DJs, surprise kiwi guests, pick ‘n’ mix visuals and monster drinks from the land of the long white cloud.

GIG INFORMATION
Entry: 1,000 JPY. 6pm till the cows come home, May 16, STEREO @ Flower, 2F Roi Bldg, 5-5-1 Roppongi, Minato-ku, Tokyo, e-mail: stereo@tigermusic.jp, web: www.stereojapan.com

ARTIST INFORMATION
Pitch Black is one of New Zealand’s leading electronic outfits. Impossible to pigeon-hole into a single audio category, Pitch Black is a combination of entrancing musical journeys created by Paddy Free and Michael Hodgson. Their sound is distinctive, ranging from organic layered soundscapes and skanking keyboards to razor-sharp acid riffs and thumping rhythmic grooves. For more on Pitch Black, see www.pitchblack.co.nz

A live sample from their gig at Liquidroom in Tokyo last year can be found here: www.pitchblack.co.nz/?s1=downloads

FUSH & CHUPS (日本語)
ニュージーランドの音楽イベント。エレクトロニック／ダブユニットPITCH BLACKやベン・ケンプ、ニュージーDJsのＰＬＡＹに加え
、サプライズゲストやスペシャル映像、ドリンクまで全てアロテアロアから！！

GIG INFORMATION
入場: 1,000 JPY, 18:00~, 2007年5月16日, 『STEREO @ Flower』東京都港区六本木5-5-1 ロアビル2F

e-mail: stereo@tigermusic.jp, URL: www.stereojapan.com

ARTIST INFORMATION
PITCH BLACKはPaddy Free と Michael Hodgsonによるユニットである。1997年の活動開始以降彼らは、ニュージーランドのダンスミュージック・シーンに多大なる貢献と多くの賞賛を得てきた。 彼らの創りだすサウンドは、ひとつのジャンルに囚われず、聴く者を壮大なサウンド・ジャーニーへと導いてゆく。オーガニックなアンビエンスから、アシッディなメロディ、重厚なリズムとビート、それらの要素をDUBサウンドが包み込む。ある評論家曰く、『リッチー・ホーティンがキング・タビーに出会った瞬間。またはテク二カラーに染まったリズムとサウンド』と評される。過去に３枚のアルバムを発表、特に2004年リリースの３rdアルバム『Ape to Angel』は、UKのDJ MAGAZINEのアルバム・オブ・ザ・マンスにノミネート、同誌で５ツ星を獲得。アメリカでのデビューも果たし、世界中で４５都市のライヴ・ツアーを敢行する。また彼らのライヴは、音に完全にシンクロするヴィジュアルが高い評価を受け『ニュージーランドのHexstatic』との異名を持つ。他にもファッション・ショーのサウンドや、昨年オスカー賞ノミネートの『Whale Rider』のサウンドを手掛け、UKのビッグ・チルにも過去３回出演するなどそのクオリティーは世界において実証済み。今回まさに待望の初来日＆ライブである。

PITCH BLACKについてもっとお知りになりたい方はこちらへ www.pitchblack.co.nz

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Here is the second video for today – showcasing the Pearl Chorus Effects Pedal CH-02. Chorus pedals transform the sound by adding multiple layers giving off a kind of ghostlike sound reminiscent of 80′s gothic greats such The Cure’s Robert Smith. I added some photos from a trip we made to Sendai in the north of Japan a few years back to the video. Some of the signs are quite amusing if I may say so myself.

No longer manufactured, the Pearl Chorus CH-02 effects pedal was made in Japan and can produce a wide range of sounds, including Leslie Speaker and vibrato. It has strong fat sound from a vintage analogue circuit. This pedal has four knobs to control the speed, tone, depth and the amount of mixing between the sound of the instrument and the pedal. It makes some pretty crazy sounds, so could also function similar to a phaser.

Again, if you like, you can check out the Pearl Chorus Effects Pedal page at our webshop at aquaeffector.com.

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I put up a couple more effects pedal videos on youtube. This is the first one for today, featuring the Boss T-Wah TW-1 effects pedal. I put in some random photos from Korla in Xinjiang to spice things up a bit. The sound quality isn’t great, but hopefully it gives you a chance to hear what the T-wah sounds like clean and with amp distortion.

The Boss T-Wah is not the normal type of pedal that one associates with the types of wah pedals made famous by the likes of Jimi Hendrix. As you can see from the video it is a stomp box so more correctly it acts as an envelope filter. It is the only Boss pedal with a toggle switch. This model was manufactured in Japan and is a third generation model. The Boss t-wah is great for psychedelic guitar sounds or Brit-pop style playing.

If you are interested, you can check out the Boss T-wah pedal at the webshop we have had setup at aquaeffector.com.

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Suomi Kings Freakdance Records is 5 years old and it is time to party!

From their website:

“ DIGIPAK REISSUE NOW AVAILABLE!

Freakdance is celebrating its fifth year in existence, and we’ve got some HOT STUFF back in our stock – Faerie Dragon Records from Hong Kong has licensed Puoskari’s “The Audio Hustler” album (cat.nr. FDCD04) exclusively and the album is now available again as a digipak CD.

Get your own copy from the mailorder – section!

You can check out some tracks by Puoskari at mikseri.net. Rockin’

Shouts from Chooch and Psymeg:)

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This is part two of a series giving an example of various effects pedals. Like the first video, this was also recorded at First Avenue Studios in Yokohama, Japan. Kojiro played a Fernandes Stratocaster through a Marshall JCM-800 with of course the Pearl Thriller TH-20. This pedal was made in Japan during the 1980′s.

The video was made on my old mac with the imovie package.

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Haven’t been posting much recently. Have been working on a webshop for AquaEffector. The site is a nice little mix of joomla and a shopping cart called virtuemart. Took a fair bit of tweaking to get it up and running, and I would say it is still in the epsilon stage if you think about things in terms of this brave new world.

You can have a poke around at www.aquaeffector.com. As always feedback will be appreciated. I will have a bit more time next week to tidy things up.

Here is a video of a Boss Spectrum SP-1 which is a rare effects pedal made in Japan. It has a very heavy rock sound.

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Boss Spectrum SP-1 from AquaEffector by Blizzardboy
[/coolplayer]

Nice matched cut in there if I may say so myself! Shouts to Stanley K.

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Listening to Radio One (Dunedin / Aotearoa Radio Station) the other night and they had an interesting feature on Damo Suzuki. This is the first I had heard of Damo Suzuki and I liked what I heard. Damo Suzuki, born Kenji Suzuki in 1950, was busking in Munich when approached by 2 of the member of German krautrock legends Can. Asked to join the band, he ended up performing with them that evening. As lead singer for Can, Damo Suzuki went on to become a highly influential force in music. There is an interesting article “I am Damo Suzuki” by Craig Johnson at Spike Magazine that is well worth checking out, as well as a brief wikipedia article if you want to find out more about Damo Suzuki. Damo Suzuki also has a website: http://www.damosuzuki.de (English).

Damo Suzuki is currently on tour, or if I heard correctly, still on tour and has been on tour for 20 years. He is playing three gigs – Auckland tomorrow, Wellington the night after followed by what looks like the highlight – February 24th at Arc Cafe in Dunedin. I haven’t been to a show at Arc Cafe since 1995, but it is a great venue, and with people like Michael Morley, Robbie Yeats and Alistair Galbraith along with 21 other talented musicians from the Dunedin area jamming together it sounds like a night not to be missed.

Following the New Zealand leg of the tour, Damo Suzuki is bringing the Damo network to Japan for 7 gigs – three in Tokyo (March 1-3) followed by Osaka, on the 4th, back to Tokyo on the 8th and then off down to Fukuoka (March 9th), then back again to Tokyo, this time for a show in the back blocks of Tokyo at Kunitachi on the 10th. He home to Europe after that. Quite a full on schedule.

We are planning to check him out at Billy Barews Beer Bar in Aoyama on the third.

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Listening to RDU this morning (afternoon New Zealand time) and they had an interview with Wellington group Ragamuffin Children. Ragamuffin Children seem to be new campers on the block, and they mentioned their myspace page, so I checked it out. Three tracks on there, and they sound quite deliciously haunting. A cross between Bjork and Portishead, with a dash of Dermania Lloyd thrown in for good measure.

From their profile:

About Ragamuffin Children

Anita and Brooke moved to Wellington with the intention of becoming pirates. But after realising it was quite fashionable at the time they decided that they would prefer to be SERIOUS musicians. So they pawned their wooden legs and eyepatches in for a fiddle and an electric piano. After many years singing seashanty’s and drinking whiskey, Anita has developed quite a lovely voice. Brookes many life threatening experiences at sea has given her an insight into lifes beautiful complexities which she now expresses through melodically written lyrics that flow like the tide… They currently reside in a pirate house overlooking Wellington Harbour where they write music, garden, hold teaparties, and occasionally go to University. In their spare time, Anita plays spider solitaire, and Brooke compulsively cuts up garlic. They have three house matey’s Claire, Aisling(the wonder dog), and Midget(the giant cat). Their music is a delightful blend of new folk with soulful melodies, that might possibly charm your socks off…(or bore you to tears-let us know which one!)

They are playing tonight at the Wunderbar in Lyttleton near Christchurch. Sounds like it is going to be a great gig. I wonder when they will make it to Tokyo or somewhere else in Japan. Would love to check them out live. The Wunderbar is one of Christchurch’s best kept secrets, an energetic venue with a great vibe out in the harbour town of Lyttleton.

For a long time, RDU - the station I used to religiously listen to when I was a teenager and on into university didn’t have a web radio service. I guess they started a few months ago. Definitely worth checking out. You can listen to rdu online here.

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