The Daily Render

A Digital Scrapbook for the Past, Present, and Future

The Base Map Installation @ Artomatic
|| 5/5/2008 || 1:15 pm || Comments Off on The Base Map Installation @ Artomatic || ||

About a month ago when I was planning out my Artomatic exhibit I came up with the idea to do a time-lapse video as a means to promote & showcase my upcoming exhibit. My friend Brian Liu made a similar styled video and I thought it would be fun to make one that shows both the location of the exhibit and teases viewers into seeing the actual exhibit.

The process involved in making the video was rather straightforward. Back in mid-April I went through my collection of printed maps and picked out a few that I didn’t care for. Then I went to my nearby CVS and purchased about 6 more DC, Maryland, and Virginia maps. I cleared out my dining room and laid out all the maps to see if they would cover the 12′ x 8′ space that I am alloted at Artomatic and once I realized that I had enough maps I began to cut them into roughly 1′ x 2′ sections. After that I went to the hardware store and purchased some wheatpaste and a paint brush. Finally, I contacted my friend Robin who’s done similar videos before and bounced the idea off of him. He thought it was a decent concept and after a few minor delays on Friday, April 25th, 2008 we went to the Artomatic space and recorded the entire installation from start to finish. About a week later I got the raw video from him, last night I edited it in Final Cut Pro, and today I uploaded it to YouTube.

I chose to use the tune “The Dub and the Restless” by Sonic Boom because it’s been a favorite of mine for ages and I felt it captured the essence of the time-lapse video quite well. I have contacted the musician and hopefully he’ll continue to let me use the video without issue.

Tomorrow I am going to the Artomatic space and will be doing some touch-up work to the wall because after my last visit to the site I noticed some of the map’s have become unstuck and I need to make sure they are securely fixed to the wall. Later this week I will be going to the space and putting up my maps over “the base map.” I’ll probably need to get some extra lighting in place and after that it should be ready for Friday’s opening! I have a couple other ideas for the exhibit, but they’ll be shared here when the time comes.

If you are in the Washington, DC area this Friday, please stop by and say hello!

Looks like someone from NOMA gave the Artomatic organizers one crappy raster graphic to use— notice the pixilation on their logo!

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The Athan Drum & Bass Mashup via YouTube Doubler
|| 4/24/2008 || 11:00 pm || Comments Off on The Athan Drum & Bass Mashup via YouTube Doubler || ||

The other day I wrote about Brian Kane’s YouTube Doubler. Continuing on the same style of taking a beat track and adding a new element, today’s mash-up is similar to one that I made before using dub reggae back in December of 2004. Unlike the last version, which was created before YouTube even existed, this mashup features the Muslim call to prayer, known as the Athan, combined with a very techy drum & bass mix.

First and foremost, if you are reading this and are offended by my use of the Athan, I apologize. It is not my intent to debase or make fun of the Athan in any way, rather this mashup was designed to expose others to different ways of hearing the Muslim call to prayer. One of the fundamental tenets of Islam is tolerance and I hope you are able to tolerate this mashup. Drum & bass is very abrasive form of electronic music and the Athan is normally sung without any instrumentation, so I feel it’s an interesting sonic juxtaposition.

What I like most about the Athan video is that it features mosques from around the world. So not only do you get to hear the beauty of the call to prayer, you are shown the beauty of Islamic architecture as well. If you are interested in seeing/hearing a different Athan, check out the call to prayer being sung inside of a al-Masjid al-Haram mosque in Mecca. It’s the holiest site in all of Islam.

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Thievery Corporation 2006 Blurb Book by Rob Myers
|| 3/23/2008 || 5:28 pm || Comments Off on Thievery Corporation 2006 Blurb Book by Rob Myers || ||

Last summer Rob Myers (1, 2, 3, 4) showed me the demo copy of the book and I absolutely loved it. There aren’t very many touring bands that have such a large cast of characters like Thievery Corporation and this book captures their 2006 international tour in a unique way that only a band member could. The 120 page photobook consists of 700 photos laid out in chronological order showing the band’s travels from Seattle to SÃ£o Paulo during the Versions tour. Rob uploaded the entire book to Flickr so you can see the entire book before purchasing (soft cover: $45 / hard cover: $55). I am looking forward to getting my copy shortly.

If you are in the Washington, DC area this week, Eric Hilton will be at this month’s Modernist Society event. It’s one of the Washington Post’s best picks, so show up early. Check the flyer below.

Below are some of my favorite pages from the book:

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The Rev. Dr. DJ Davidian will be in DC tonight
|| 1/30/2008 || 1:57 pm || Comments Off on The Rev. Dr. DJ Davidian will be in DC tonight || ||

My old friend Davidian will be in DC tonight! Last time I saw him was 5 years ago in Saint Louis at a New Years party. Davidian and his production company, The Superstars of Love, were the first to throw raves in Saint Louis in the mid-1990s and my first Saint Louis area rave, Megatron Monster Jam, was one of Superstars parties which took place on October 31st, 1998. I can’t fathom what path my life would have taken if I didn’t go to that rave, instead I am very excited to see an old friend! I look forward to catching up.

Click here to listen to one of his DJ mixes

#####
UPDATE 2/1/08

Davidian invited a performer named Baby Sinead to come down for the show. We had a blast being VJs in the DJ booth. I hope to party with that gal again- quite a lot of fun!

ESL Music website upgrade
|| 1/18/2008 || 11:17 pm || Comments Off on ESL Music website upgrade || ||

Screen Grab from the Supreme Illusion product page

Yesterday I was at The Consulate picking up copies of the record and I found that ESL Music has a new website up. Designed by Lightmaker, the website looks incredible. The intro banner animation is top notch! It makes me want to upgrade this website.

Queremos Paz – Gotan Project
|| 1/16/2008 || 10:00 am || Comments Off on Queremos Paz – Gotan Project || ||

Been a fan of Gotan Project for a few years and last night I found this video. It really captures the specific time (December 19, 2001), place (Buenos Aires, Argentina), and sound of the city (Tango). If my memory serves me correctly, a good friend of mine was there when that took place. I’ll have to ask him about his recollections. I was in Saint Louis in December of 2001 at home with my old girlfriend on Christmas break from school.

Related Music Entries:

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[Sunday Selections] Nickodemus DJ set from Power to the Peaceful Festival {9.8.07}
|| 1/13/2008 || 1:21 pm || Comments Off on [Sunday Selections] Nickodemus DJ set from Power to the Peaceful Festival {9.8.07} || ||

photo from the Power to the Peaceful Festival website

â€¢â€¢â€¢â€¢Nickodemus of Wonderwheel Recordings: Live at Power to the Peaceful Festival (2007) [right click to download] More information from Art Radio.

The flip side of the ESL110 (graphic on right) has a very good remix of Supreme Illusion by Nickodemus. He and Quantic produced the tune on Apple’s summer iTunes commercial “Mi Swing Es Tropical.” This DJ set is from Michael Franti‘s Power to the Peaceful Festival in San Francisco. After listening to it, I found that I really enjoyed the closing track the most [80 second clip mp3]. I’ll post the track ID when I get it. Enjoy dem riddems.

Senegalese Rap + Map
|| 12/5/2007 || 1:39 pm || Comments Off on Senegalese Rap + Map || ||

Today’s sweeeeet sweet Senegalese rap (en fraÃ§ais). What brings it all home for me is the simplified map of Senegal. Right Click on the map to download the MP3.

Copied from Paul Devro’s Mad Decent Blog:

Message from Ghislain Poirier:

I was in Burkina Faso in 1998. On my way back to Montreal in January 1999, I had a 12 hours transit via Dakar to take the plane Dakar-NYC. Yes, at that time there was a direct flight Dakar-NYC with Air Afrique.
During my 12 hours transit, all Senegal was celebrating because the Ramadan just finished and it was the first real big meal ! I had the chance to go downtown Dakar and driving a car for the first time in Africa (nice experience) to chase some African Hip-Hop cassettes that I wasnâ€™t able to find in Ouagadougou ( Burkina Faso ). On the many cassettes that I bought that day there was Senerap Freestyle 1 (1997) and Senerap Freestyle 2 (1998).Still today, I love these cassettes and I finally did a cassette rescue and digitalized them. BNP â€œYow milÃ©dalâ€ is taken from Senerap Freestyle 1.
Peace,
Ghislain

French parodies in parallax
|| 11/29/2007 || 7:20 am || Comments Off on French parodies in parallax || ||

“Confessions Nocturnes” by Diam’s Feat Vitaa.

“Mauvaise Foi Nocturne” by Fatal Bazooka feat Vitoo

Over the summer I created my first YouTube mash-up “Scratch Slavery,” which allows you to create a beat track to congressional hearing about slavery being used in the construction the American embassy in Baghdad.

Today I am posting something a little different- French Youtube videos.

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My first YouTube Mash-up : Scratch Slavery
|| 8/5/2007 || 2:11 am || Comments Off on My first YouTube Mash-up : Scratch Slavery || ||

Political Activism + Turntablism

Taking congressional testimony stating that your country is still engaged in slavery and mashing it up with a scratch demo video by DJ Loomy showing off the new Vestax Controller One.

Press the play button on both videos:

The scratch video ends first, but you know it deserves a rewind, because history is repeating.

(sometimes the videos do not show up in Firefox!)

Click here to view the updated version of this mashup created using YouTube Doubler

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Nikolas Schiller is a second-class American citizen living in America's last colony, Washington, DC. This blog is my on-line repository of what I have created or found on-line since May of 2004. If you have any questions or comments, please contact: