Month: October 2006

The Nine Beats of Ratatat

ratatat - 9 beats

It’s a bit of a cosmic coincidence that I happen to be on a huge Ratatat kick right now and a new Ratatat bootleg has happened to suddenly surface around the net. It’s titled 9 Beats and is apparently a rare look at the band’s early/demo work. How early? It doesn’t say, but it probably pre-dates their 2004 debut.

The tracks on the album aren’t songs per se. They’re mostly extended loops of beats and melodies that last between one and two minutes. Then, just as you’re starting to really get into them, they just stop. Most of the unnamed tracks don’t even get a fade out. Banagale has more info.

It’s pretty interesting stuff.

Here’s a taste for you. It’s track “two.”

[audio:061019RatatatTwo.mp3]

Update 3/29: Some tracks from 9 Beats have turned up as the backing music on Ratatat Remixes Vol 2. Specifically:

Beat #1 is used for Memphis Bleek’s Alright.
Beat #2 is used for Young Buck’s Shorty Wanna Ride.
Beat #3 is used for Notorious B.I.G.’s Dead Wrong.
Beat #4 is used for Young Buck, T.I. & Ludacris’s Stomp.
Beat #6 is used for Slim Thug, Bun B, and T.I.’s 3 Kings.

How to (easily) Sandbox WordPress and Kick back with Plugins, Themes And Hacks

Materials Needed

Webhost that allows you to create subdomains and an extra mysql database
WordPress (of course)
Technosailor’s WordPress-to-Wordpress package

When I set out to redesign this site a few weeks back, I, naturally, didn’t want to work on the files controlling my live site. Of course, I didn’t want you, loyal viewer, to drop by and see a sidebar floating in the middle of the page or find all my text covered by an image or (worst of all) run into an incompetence-induced php error.

At the same time, I didn’t exactly relish the idea of perfecting a design of static HTML+CSS pages then have to translate that design to WordPress template files. So, I kept putting off the work, hoping for a magic fairy to give me a way to emulate the functionality of the site without the risking a total kludge-up.

Then, like lightning or a side-swipe, I was struck by an idea: what if I set up a subdomain with which to stage my new design, complete with an autonomous, duplicate copy of my entire WordPress database? To my surprise, it turned out to be much more simple than I had assumed it would be. A couple plug-ins was all I needed to replicate my site in a snap. I was quickly able to populate the staging site with all my existing content: posts, comments, images… everything needed to make sure that the new design would work.

This method was very efficient. It allowed me to design and deploy the updated WordPress theme in my spare time over the course of a week.

Even though that project is complete, the staging environment is still active, so I’m free to experiment with future layout/design changes, try out new plugins, or play with hacks to core WordPress files without endangering the usefulness of the main site. In fact, since this article is a little more elaborate than usual, I posted there before posting it here so I could make sure all the formatting was proper.

Here’s how to do it:

Continue reading →

Ratatat really does make the world a better place

Take for example this remix.

Normally, I absolutely can not tolerate Missy Elliot. I just don’t like her style. And her 2004 single I’m Really Hot was a completely egotistical crapfest which couldn’t manage to display the slightest bit of talent or even a minisculey appealing hook.

So it is a bit of a minor miracle that Ratatat manages to not only make the song listenable, but the duo actually creates something awesome from it.

Have a listen:

and a free download.

All hail Ratatat. Truly musical gods.

A Gigantic Nuclear Furnace

they might be giants why does the sun shine

Classic

Stereolab – Sound-dust under your skin

sound dusted stereolab

Sound-dust was Stereolab’s first release since Cobra and Phases… the record that really exposed me to their music. It came out as I was slowly digesting the groop’s extensive back catalog. The previous records had built expectations and I was trepidatious toward the possibility that it might not meet them.

I was a fan, but I just didn’t know what to expect.

On the first couple listens I found it wasn’t a disappointment. Sound-dust had a cleaner, straight-forward sound to it that’s easy to breath. Space moth and Captain Easychord were both instant classics, the latter of which I have a pleasant memory of: sitting in traffic in Fort Walton Beach, Florida, windows rolled down in my ’93 Hyundai Sonata, blasting it as loud as I could.

Beyond those hits, though, the rest of the album lingered, failing to really catch on. And that’s how it deceived me.

For all its simple exterior, this album gets under your skin. The cleaner compositions hide within an engaging complexity, becoming more appreciated over time until suddenly you step back and realize almost every song has a five-star rating in your library.

In retrospect, I come to the realization that this one might be Stereolab’s best record ever.

on iTunes
Spacemoth (remastered version from Serene Velocity)