Category: Nerdy Stuff

  • Is Janelle Monáe’s “Dirty Computer” the New “Purple Rain” or Something Else Entirely?

    Is Janelle Monáe’s “Dirty Computer” the New “Purple Rain” or Something Else Entirely?

    Welcome to Soundfly Slacks Off, a published team discussion. The following conversation took place among Soundfly team members on May 4, 2018 and has been edited to provide maximum interesting stuff and minimal snoody gibberish (but we kept some of that in there too). Want to nerd out with us on musical topics or get…

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  • Here It Is: Soundfly’s 2017 Bizarre Holiday Gift Guide for the Musically Inclined

    Here It Is: Soundfly’s 2017 Bizarre Holiday Gift Guide for the Musically Inclined

    Holiday content doesn’t typically get searched-for, found, or read, after the morning bells of January 1st stop ringing — but for some reason, people have been emailing me all year about Soundfly’s 2016 “Bizarre Holiday Gift List.” So, I guess there really is no time of the year when it isn’t appropriate to buy someone…

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  • How to Record an Album in an Abandoned Grain Silo (Plus a World Premiere!)

    How to Record an Album in an Abandoned Grain Silo (Plus a World Premiere!)

    + Welcome to Soundfly! We help curious musicians meet their goals with creative online courses. Whatever you want to learn, whenever you need to learn it. Subscribe now to start learning on the ’Fly. Earlier this year, I was delighted by a dynamic new solo piano album called The Moving Decade. Of all the types of albums to make sound original, surely solo…

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  • 4 Enormous Instruments Taking Music to New Lows

    4 Enormous Instruments Taking Music to New Lows

    Here at Soundfly HQ we love instrument innovation. We’ve hit PVC pipes with flip flops and tuned the spokes of a bicycle wheel, all in the name of creativity. So of course we take notice when we find musicians going the extra mile to get just the right tone out of their instrument. In this case, musicians are innovating to great…

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  • What Is Jazz Worth, Anymore?

    What Is Jazz Worth, Anymore?

    I love jazz. I love playing jazz, listening to jazz, shedding jazz, and talking with other people who love jazz, about jazz. I recently released, with my group the PLS.trio, a new modern jazz record in the style of greats such as Pat Metheny and Esbjorn Svensson. According to a review by All About Jazz, our music takes…

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  • Music to Fish To

    Music to Fish To

    I recently decided to hurl myself full-throttle back into saxophonist, composer and painter John Lurie’s intensely bizarre fishing program from the early 90s, Fishing with John, by binge watching every single episode in one sitting. This was not a difficult feat considering there were only 6 short episodes and each features a lovable celebrity guest fishing,…

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  • Happy Valentine’s Day: The Love Story of Robert and Clara Schumann

    Happy Valentine’s Day: The Love Story of Robert and Clara Schumann

      “You write to become immortal, or because the piano happens to be open, or you’ve looked into a pair of beautiful eyes.” – Robert Schumann   I’m a little ashamed to say I didn’t shed a single tear when I saw The Notebook. On top of that, I fell asleep about two-thirds of the…

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  • Mike Evin’s Music for Old Souls

    Mike Evin’s Music for Old Souls

    Mike Evin just released a new single. Most people don’t know Mike Evin. He’s a quiet, strange, talented Canadian who basically loves music and people and works just hard enough to keep those two things close to him, without making too big a fuss… I know Mike Evin, though. In fact, he was the first person…

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  • How to Make Music with Pigeon Whistles

    How to Make Music with Pigeon Whistles

    Last Summer throughout the UK, it was quite possible that if you wandered into an outdoor arts festival, you had a good chance of seeing a flock of pigeons flying overheard, producing a beautiful soundscape of tones. Introducing Nathaniel Mann, a London-based composer, sonic artist, instrument designer, ethnomusicological thinker and the man who strapped whistles…

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Ryan Lott: Designing Sample-Based Instruments