Archive for: Tycho

Machinedrum Returns to Miami

Attention 305: Thursday, May 20th, Machinedrum returns to Miami to headline (((Shake))) / Get Low at the Vagabond. Shake is a weekly event at the Vagabond that showcases hip hop music. Once each month Shake takes on the moniker “Get Low” as part of a showcase of bass music. Hip hop and bass are definitely two popular ingredients in Machinedrum’s music, but let us take a step back to properly mark the significance of this show.

Back before the chirpy, pop-sampling “glitch hop” that we know today, there were a few guys out their blazing the trail for re-sampled hip hop and funk. Prefuse 73 you probably know. But not far behind was Machinedrum a.k.a. Machine Drum a.k.a Travis Stewart, bringing a more aggressive sound to the game, with more emphasis on rap and early hip hop (pre-Diddy).

Travis has been on the “indie electronic” trail since the early 2000s, mixing up his own blend of surgically modified hip hop music from his then-headquarters in Orlando. His connection to Miami comes way of Merck Records (2000-2007), Miami’s almost-famous IDM label that helped boost the career of Tycho, among others. There he established himself as one of the progenitors of experimental hip hop, going on to score some commercial success – like selling beats to Adult Swim. Not bad. Travis currently resides in Brooklyn, where we can only assume that chin-stroking hipsters (yes, that awful word) are debating the merits of album art as we speak.

Interested, but not sure if you’re down with his music? Rumor has it Bill Brasky will be there. Also, performing will be Miami’s dubstep alpha, Juan Basshead as well as friend-of-the-blog, Afromonk. And if that’s still not enough, then try a few of these:

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Tycho a.k.a. ISO50: Featured Music, Style & Art

Scott Hansen is a California-based musician (Tycho) and artist (ISO50) who collaborates on the iso50.com blog with: Jakub Alexander, who runs the Moongadget record label; Alex Cornell, who is a student at The Academy of Art in San Fransisco; Sam Valenti IV, the founder of Ghostly Records International; and Beamer Wilkins, who runs a software firm and creates electronic music instruments.

Hansen describes his view of design as, “the search for efficiency. Efficiency in conveying a message, efficiency of form. In this way I see some of my own work falling into the category of design, while some of my other work falls under the umbrella of illustration. With the more illustrative pieces my primary goal is to create something beautiful or striking in a visceral sense. These goals remain intact when I create a purely design-driven piece, but there is the added goal of minimalism and efficiency which constrains the process and limits the content. It is these constraints that force us as designers to reveal the core of the idea we are trying to express and to seek the most direct route to it.”

We unanimously agree at Brasky that Hansen’s music, style, and design is excellent, though he makes it clear on his blog that he doesn’t want anyone to take his work too seriously.
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