Robert Moog's eponymous synthesizer was arguably one of the foundations upon which post-modern and popular electronic music was built. From prog rock to Krautrock, techno to hip-hop, from Radiohead to Kraftwerk, from Air to Missy Elliot and Timbaland, from Aphex Twin to Pink Floyd, the Moog (and it's descendents, such as the MiniMoog and synthesizers by competitors like Roland and Kurzweil) had an influence on music aesthetics and recordings that Robert Moog himself may have scarcely imagined when he first started tinkering with his invention decades ago. A lot of music that doesn't sound like it relies directly on the Moog, in fact, often is indirectly affected by the way the instrument is employed in so much studio post-production work producers, musicians and engineers. Robert Moog, rest in peace.

The New York Times has a substantial obit on Moog. Check it via the free archive link below.

Essential Linkage

Moog Music Company Web Site

Duuuude! Thundercut rules! We were walking around downtown New York City last year when we noticed several crosswalks (Walk-Dont Walk) signals that had been partially covered by stickers. The stickers were carefully designed cut-outs made to look like little adhesive articles of clothing. The stickers were affixed to the signals in such a way that the lit-up humanoid Walk and Don't Walk figures appeared to be "wearing" the clothes. There were various types of "outfits" -- a hip-hop dude carrying a boombox on one signal; a tennis pro in whites on another; a Yankees fan with a 40-ounce beer. (see above) on another. We later learned that the artist(s) responsible for these is called Thundercut. NYC street art doesn't get much cleverer nor much more playful than this. Now there's a web site where you can see some of Thundercut's best work. Check it out at www.thundercut.com and tell 'em Thurston sent ya'!

OK, it's official. Cornelius the Cat has made his musical selection of the month, and it's ... the new disc "Carolina" by Brazilian muso extraordinaire, Seu Jorge. For those of you unfamiliar with Seu Jorge, you may have unknowingly caught his acting and musical performances in the Wes Andersen film "The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou." Jorge played one of the ship's crew members that sailed with Bill Murray (as Capt. Zissou) in is quest. In the movie, Jorge could often be seen strumming an acoustic guitar and singing David Bowie (as well as his own) songs in Portuguese. "Carolina" reveals Jorge's broader Brazilian folk-pop sensibilties. Its catchy, soothing acoustic tunes won Cornelius's ears and ours, too. The album has been our favorite this summer for when we're lazing under a tree in Central Park and sipping green Tea frapps on hot and muggy NYC days.

There was another one of those excellent Pop Music stories by Sasha Frere-Jones in a recent New Yorker that's worth a drive-by on the Web. This time, Frere-Jones profiled the DJs Malboro and Diplo, who is largely the musical force behind the sound of British-Sri Lankan pop star M.I.A. and her recent album "Arular." Diplo is adept at assimilating disparate sub-pop musical style hybrids (Brazilian electro inspired by old-school Miami "bass," to name one) and foreign dance club hits (like "Bucky Done Gun," a big club hit by Malboro himself in his Brazilian homeland) and reworking them into a wholly fresh sound. That sound found its perfect compnaion in the singular vocal style and lyricsm of M.I.A. That, kids, was how a "shanty pop" supa' star was born. Now go read that NYer article for the deep and heavy intel. Chop, chop!

Essential Linkage

BRAZILIAN WAX
Two top d.j.s get together [New Yorker]

Diplo Profile at Big Dada

You could call Gameboyzzz Orchestra Project an art experiment. You can simply call it a band. More precisely, you can call them an electronic music ensemble from Poland. And while that's enough to qualify them as "unusual" in the global scheme of things, they are not the only collection of digital musicans to produce beats and bleeps in the former East European nation that brought us Kilbasa and a recent Pope.

No, what set Gameboyzzz apart and makes the group truly unique in this world is their chosen musical instrument. It's that very finest of gaming handhelds dreamed up many years ago by visionary otaku in Kyoto, Japan. Gameboyzzz make music using the Nintendo Gameboy. Or, rather, a collection of Gameboys. The group's musical output is something akin to Kraftwerk, but minimalist and stripped down to a Super Mario sonic palette.

Check out their site via the link below. Once there you can download MP3s of recent live performances and watch video of some TV appearances in Europe.

Gameboyzzz Orchestra Project Website

Gian Barbera is a name you probably don't know. But chances are you do know this Brazilian artist's work. If you've flipped through the recent issue of UK mag Dazed & Confused, you would've seen Barbera's illustration featured. Or maybe you saw his colorful, musically inspired design in the American undergroundish hip-hop mag Wax Poetics. Or maybe you saw an album cover or magazine ad that uses his work. In any case, Barbera's style is unmistakeable. Much of his portfolio consists of portraits of musicians from all over the world, but especially Brazil, where Barbera Estudio is based. The link below take's you Barbera's online portfolio. Check it!

Essential Linkage

Barbera Estudio