We interviewed John Cale in issue #156 around the time of his previous release, Mercy. He has just released POPtical Illusion, a collection of synth and keyboard heavy tunes that carry a heavy, and at times angry message about the state of the world. That is not to say that that Cale has lost all hope and there is optimism that we can still bring about change. POPtical Illusion was produced by Cale along with longtime artistic collaborator Nita Scott.
AES Chicago Section June 2011 Meeting Notice
Please forward this notice to interested friends and colleagues. Members and nonmembers are welcome. Not a member of the AES? For information about joining.
The next meeting of the Chicago Section...
I received several CDs recently, notably the Monsters of Folk (Jim James, M. Ward, Conor Oberst and Mike Mogis) and Porcupine Tree's The Incident, that I really wanted to listen to but was unable to hear. Why? Because these promo discs were...
My pals have finally lost their minds. Apparently they wore blue ribbons to the Grammy Awards last week in protest of the use of Auto-Tune, and specifically mentioned Kanye West's new album, 808s & Heartbreak. Okay guys, I'm thinking of asking for a...
Super producer T Bone Burnett has released The Other Side, a new album featuring guest performances from Lucius, Roseanne Cash, and Steven Soles. The album was recorded over a three week period and, is the last of a trilogy of albums, following...
This is a fascinating article about a brand new study in human auditory perception that is showing that there have been "naive" applications of mathematical formulas onto our understanding of human auditory perception. I cannot claim to...
August 17th marked the release of a new Joe Meek restrospective.
The full album's title is Joe Meek: From Taboo to Telstar 1962: A Year In The Life of 304 Holloway Road (Joe Meek's Tea Chest Tapes).
This is not necessarily "new" music from...
(me and Elliott rolling in Jackpot!'s original MCI JH-16, Feb. 1997)
As most readers of Tape Op may have picked up on by now, I have been involved in the archiving and cataloging of the music of my late friend, Elliott Smith. Here's an interview I...