ListenUp: Lou Reed Tribute: Our brief look at the iconic artist’s musical legacy

ListenUp: Lou Reed Tribute


Lou Reed: See That My Grave Is Kept Clean After 71 colorful years the immensely influential musician Lou Reed (born on 2 March 1942) passed away on Sunday, 27 October 2013. Not since Elvis has rock’n’roll…

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gTar by Incident: A digital MIDI guitar powered by an iPhone app for novices and budding rockstars

gTar by Incident


Anyone who has tried to learn guitar has, no doubt, found that there’s more to shredding like Jimi Hendrix than paisley scarves—playing guitar takes hours of practice and serious dedication. For those looking for a more interactive guitar-learning experience as well as accomplished…

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ListenUp: From The Flaming Lips’ “Turning Violent” to Jesse Woods’ “Lazerburn,” our look at music this week

ListenUp


The Flaming Lips: Turning Violent One of the Flaming Lips’ darkest works yet; the lyrics, instrumentation and video for “Turning Violent” are uncharacteristically reserved. Steven Drozd’s falsetto vocals and an oscillating bass synth lead you into…

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Arranged Collections by Jim Golden

Le photographe américain Jim Golden réalise de magnifiques images en réunissant de véritables collections d’objets selon différentes thématiques. Ces clichés étalent des dizaines d’appareils photos, des instruments de musiques ou encore des armes à feu. L’ensemble est à découvrir dans la suite de l’article.

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Arranged Collections by Jim Golden
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Link About It: This Week’s Picks: South Korea’s toilet museum, Bond’s 3D-printed Aston Martin, facial hair fanatics and more in our weekly look at the web

Link About It: This Week's Picks

1. 3D-Printed Aston Martin Though the story called for a precious 1960 Aston Martin DB5 to be decimated, producers of “Skyfall,” the latest Bond installment, saved the rare icon by combining 3D printing with creative modeling. Propshop Modelmakers Ltd. employed a Voxeljet VX4000 large-scale printer to produce a series…

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Firebird X

A review of Gibson’s latest attempt at marrying technology, design and acoustics
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The new Gibson Firebird X marks the iconic brand‘s latest venture into a range of new technologies by building features typically associated with studio recording software directly into the guitar. Having heard mixed reviews, we felt compelled to enlist our friend and lifelong guitar player, Luke Janklow to weigh in. After spending a few days hands-on with the Firebird X Janklow, admittedly a purist and tough customer, lands firmly in the negative camp. His experience reinforces the idea that, while this particular iteration may go down as more of a stepping stone towards the evolution of a truly advanced, beautiful and acoustically sound instrument—most would agree it’s just not there yet—the shift it’s taken in the world of electric guitars maintains its overall relevance. Janklow even went so far as to call the Firebird X “an important, if not watershed moment in the guitar’s modern evolution.” Whether this version becomes the harbinger of change in the field remains to be seen, but in the meantime, Janklow had the following comments to make on the current model.

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“This is a fantastic bit of technology, but not necessarily a great guitar just yet,” he says. “The Gibson Firebird X is a fantastic effort, loaded with an astounding range of sounds and flexibility, but it’s ultimately not completely successful as a musical instrument.”

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While the infrastructure under the hood is extensive, the intricate stockpile of “amp sounds, effects, echoes, reverbs, compressors and acoustic-type sounds” aren’t configured to be played on the fly. Janklow discussed the the seemingly endless array, while pretty fabulous, also serves the source of the real problem. Having to memorize the location and combination that yields the sound you seek—triangulated by a dizzying combination oddly placed of switches, knobs and sliders—can be potentially clinical and distancing. “The process feels a bit nerdy and stilted, and I, personally, faced a steep learning curve to make it my own,” he says, adding that the inherent sexiness of guitar playing has been minimized for the sake of its powerful features when the physical and virtual should, ideally, be harmonized in a good instrument.

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In Janklow’s opinion, the Firebird X (“meaning ‘X’ not ’10’, sadly”) showcases Gibson’s firm commitment to exploring, embracing and blending technology into its future. The company is throwing down the gauntlet and shaking the traditionalist foundations of guitar enthusiasts everywhere with this model, which marks an invitation to non-professionals to immerse themselves in a comprehensive library of classic sounds that are very alchemical and complex to create in the real world.

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One highlight, for Janklow, were the sounds. “Firebird has an on-board backwards-guitar setting, and a crazy Jack White sub-octave pre-set, so how bad can it be?” he asks. On the other hand, while this guitar has a thousand convenient sounds, “they do all seem to belong to someone else,” he adds.

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For $6,000, the Firebird should deliver on all levels, but Janklow found the strings to be hard and springy. “The guitar is a beast to play, and doesn’t seem to pack the potential for emotional, rocking tones in this current iteration” he confesses. “Playing guitar is an amazingly tactile and sensual experience, and if this model played and sounded more natural while housing all of its amazing technology and versatility, it would be a must-have piece.”

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Janklow sums it up: “The Firebird X marks a brave and noble effort but it’s not there yet. The guitar world needs a meaningful transformation in the spirit of a holistic technology design mind like Steve Jobs. Otherwise, let’s just work with what we’ve got.”


Sparrow Guitars Campaign

Une campagne d’affichage réussie pour les guitares Sparrow illustrant le fait que durant 2009, il s’est vendu plus de “Guitar Hero” que de réels guitares. Une baseline impactante “Stop playing games. Start playing Guitar” par l’agence Rethink Canada sur des clichés de Clinton Hussey.



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