The Evolution of Drum Machines

In this video, Linn explains that our assumption of drum machines appearing in the early 80s is incorrect, and he takes us on a tour of early electronic rhythm devices such as Leon Thermin’s Rhythmicon (1930), the Chamberlin Rhythmate (1957), Raymond Scott’s Bandito the Bongo Artist (1963), Seeburg’s Select-A-Rhythm (1964), the PAiA Programmable Drum Set (1975) and the CompuRhythm CR-78 (1978). Craig probes with questions regarding interface design for musicians vs. engineers, discusses the development of drum interfaces, and talks about how the Akai MPC changed his production and composition techniques. -dubspot.com

via: E-Beats

Warp Films 10th Anniversary Posters

Warp Films is celebrating its 10th anniversary and to honour this occassion they asked artist Pete McKee to reinterprete some of their most iconic film posters. Above is McKee’s reinterpretation of the poster for All Tomorrow’s Parties (watch the trailer) – find more at Creative Review.

via: this isn’t happiness

The album cover of Joy Division’s “Unknown Pleasures”

Graphic designer Peter Saville talks about his iconic creation and its endless interpretations and transformations.

via: Das Kraftfuttermischwerk

Black Fax

Embrace the Remix

Kirby Ferguson is known for his web series “Everything Is A Remix” (check it out here and there). In this TED talk he explains the idea of the trychotomy of “copy – transform – combine” being the basic element of creativity -  a basic element that he does not see represented in copyright and patent laws. They run counter to this notion building on the creative work of others by using the analogy of property.

via: Laughing Squid

Infographic on Sampling

With 1967 different tracks using samples of his music, James Brown is the most sampled artist according to this neat infographic from whosampled.com – more fun facts below.

via: Jäger und Sampler

Heart of (Philip) Glass

Blondie vs. Philip Glass – Heart of Glass

via: The Fox Is Black

A lesson in history: Sampling

A nice little documentary about sampling from around 1989.

via: E-Beats

Beat this!

Being amongst the first documentaries about Hip Hop, Beat this! A Hip Hop History dates back to 1984 and features pioneers such as Afrika Bambaataa, DJ Kool Herc as well as the The Cold Crush Brothers. Oh, and Malcolm McLaren gets to recall his first Hip Hop party.

Hip Hop from Django’s Ghost on Vimeo.

via: Das Kraftfuttermischwerk

The elements of creativity

“The elements of creativity” is the title of the 3rd part of Kirby Ferguson´s series “Everything is a remix”. It´s online for some time now but worth a post nevertheless – the first two parts can be found here.