NapalmBob presents: Brain-Vomit and PHaT BeaTZ

Farcry 2 ... perfect ?

2009-09-02T21:34:00.002+10:00

Been having a blast with this game. Sure, its not very realistic, but it has enough realism to be believable. But it still has gameplay elements that make it fun. Maybe I'll make this review longer later, once I play it more. Which is exactly what I'm going to do now :D

OLD TRACK: Liquid Phantasy

2009-08-31T20:45:00.000+10:00

Some acid from a few years back:

NapalmBob-LiquidPhantasy

Kill Bill

2009-08-31T20:36:00.002+10:00

Awesomeness. I've seen them before, but they were on sale and I couldn't really remember them that well, so I bought their asses.

I have to say, I really connected with these movies. The second one especially. I mean, when shes being nailed into the coffin, I was literally cringing in fear for her. I guess I have a strong empathy complex or something, because I get way to into films, but all the same...

I did enjoy the whole mythology of the movies, which I think the first movie sets up and which the second movie completes. Also, I like how one is mostly an Eastern samurai-style flick and the other is a spagetti Western style affair. And the music is insane. Alot of it is straight out of the 70's. Espacially the whole Pai Mai sequence.

Overall, very worth the $20 I payed for them :D

OLD TRACK: Cipher One Zero

2009-08-25T02:23:00.002+10:00

Its a minimal-techno/acid-house track I did for a competition. It didn't win, but did get many good comments. Here it is:

NapalmBob - Cipher One Zero

Also, di.fm has some nifty radio streams going atm, especially the Progressive channel. Run the 24-bit AAC stream if you want to save on bandwidth ;)

Digitally Imported Internet Radio

Rewatched the Matrix Trilogy

2009-08-24T07:14:00.004+10:00

I've been doing some extra shifts at work, go me!

Anyways, JB Hi-Fi had a buy two get one free thingy on their cheap DVDs and I bought the Matrix trilogy as seperate DVDs. Everyone says the first one is the best, and it is if you approach it from a purely commercial/Hollywood perspective of enjoyably forgettable movies. But when you take all three (especially the secong movie) and approach them with the same mind-set that you need to approach any of the Japanese cyberpunk animes with (ie: Akira, GITS, Texhnolyze, etc) then the movies really poses an interesting question:

Can we change fate?

Especially when they meet the Merovingian, who sees the world as just cause an effect. I thought about for a bit after the movie and realised its even simpler than action-reaction.

Humans simply react to their environment.

We don't instigate a single thing. Everything we ever do is the result of something external to our needs or desires. Even when we are just reacting to another person, they them selves are reacting to something else again. I guess the whole chaos theory is correct after all. We are all linked together through strange circumstances. The rule of 7 degrees of seperateion (and back to movies; Serial Experiments: Lain really stresses this point of connection between all humans). It would be interesting to somehow look back in time and find out what the initial trigger for all of mankinds' reactions was. I can't even begin to comprehend the magnitude of something like that.

Films about games

2009-08-20T23:05:00.002+10:00

Two films I have watched recently: eXistenZ and The 13th Floor. Both really explore the concept of a game that 'jacks in' to your senses so that it is just like real life. eXistenZ does a great job of conusing reality, until the very end. And 13th Floor reveals reality in such a neat way. Also, a cyberpunk film based in the 1920s? Awesomeness. While I did really really enjoy both, and felt a connection with them, I thought the exploration of the theme took a secondary postion to the story (which is what most films do, which makes them watchable (unlike the finale of Neon Genesis: Evangelion, which is completely unwatchable IMHO)).

Anyone know any more films about games?

Passage

2009-08-19T01:57:00.003+10:00

Here is a tiny little indie game that should take you less than five minutes to play. You may have to play it two or three times to understand what it is about (but who really wants to take part in a story if it doesn't make them think or feel anything?), but I just sat there in stunned silence after my second go.

Man truely is a strange creature...

Passage game

mmmm ... Cyberpunky ...

2009-08-17T02:08:00.003+10:00

Just watched Hackers followed by Escape From New York; I really love cyberpunk films. Also, as the opening credits were rolling in Escape From NY I was twisting the names of the names into decent track title. I might make an old-school Detroit-Techno/Electro-House EP with those names. Consider it in the pipeline.

It really boggles the mind as to how inspiration comes about. I mean, peoples names for christs sake. I bet that doesn't happen too often.

Up next in my movie marathon is Highlander. Not very cyberpunk but still a cult classic. And then maybe Renaissance, which is a very cyberpunk animation with an awesome twist at the end. Although I have already been up for nearly 24 hours so I may or may not get that far.

So, in conclusion, cyberpunk films are kick ass. That is all.

Over here budding producers...

2009-08-16T01:17:00.002+10:00

http://audio.tutsplus.com/

There is quite a collection of tutorials, guides and hints over there. Its where I've been hanging out between work and sleep. Here's the best find so far, enjoy:

10 ways to improve your mixdown

OLD TRACK: Another Dimension

2009-08-13T08:08:00.003+10:00

I just had a great idea. I'm going to link to some of my older tracks as well as the new ones. Not all of them mind you (because some really are terribly naive), just the ones that other people saw alot of value in. Today it is Another Dimension from the Napalmbob pseudoneum. Its a very spaced out psy-trance track made early 2008 (I think, I do have a rather selective memory though).

Enjoy: NapalmBob - Another Dimension (12mb)

NEW TRACK: Blue Raven

2009-08-12T08:36:00.004+10:00

Stupid name, I know, but its a little bit disco-house, so its all good. Made with reFX's QuadraSid VSTi in FL Studio 8. Drum samples from Vengeance Essential House Volume 1, which is quite possibly the only sample pack you'll ever need for dance music. I mean, once you have a halfway-decent sampler and the knowledge to use it, you could use just one sample for all your percussion (if you're one of those artsy types that likes to experiment like that). Anyways, its a 320mbps mp3 file, so fee free to take it and if you want to leave some feedback, OMG PLEEZ LEEVE SUM FEEDBAKKK!!!! argh...

Here's the new track: Unit 6 - Blue Raven (10mb)

Metropolis

2009-08-11T13:20:00.002+10:00

I just saw this film for the first time. Even after 80-odd years and chunks of missing footage, it is still incredibly inspiring. All I could think of while watching was Detroit Techno. I don't know if it was the giant machines or the shining city or the workers drudging along in perfect syncronisation. But there is something there that makes me want to write something like Aril Brikha or Juan Atkins (even though their styles are over a decade apart I still find similarities). It just helps to remind us how no thing is an island, and even then there is a sea that connects us. To quote another great piece of art: "We are all connected"

As such, you can trace back the history of many modern styles of dance music to the early 90's Rave style, which comes from the late 80's Acid House style, which evolved from the early 80's Detroit Techno style, which itself was inspired by 70's Funk and Disco. Which, etc. etc., you get the point. I think its amazing how we try so hard, me especially, to place labels on everything we see and hear. But at the end of the day they are just imaginary concepts that hold no real value. Only the physical truely exists, beyond all reasonable doubt anyways. I mean, people don't just wake up in the morning and create something from nothing.

hmmm...

Its amazing how much science has taught us about life. I like to think that the laws of physics can be applied to situations other than the strictly scientific.For example: The law of conservation of energy states that energy may neither be created nor destroyed. But this applies to music just as effectively. A style of music is not created from nothing, it comes from other styles of music and is morphed into a new style through inspiration and ambition. Likewise, a style of music doesn't simply die off, it leaves a legacy of influence in the styles that evolved from it.

Anyways, if you get a chance to see this film, you must without a doubt see it. Here's the imdb link METROPOLIS (1927)

Zero Hour

2009-08-09T07:30:00.000+10:00

I'm always late to the party. How long has blogging been around? How many blogs have you visited in the past week alone? I keep tabs on a few, but I've never had the foresight or determination to start one. Well, now I have. I mean, I have a Myspace profile and a Facebook page, and I thought about getting on the Twitter band-wagon (but whats the point of disrupting the flow of electrons everytime I take a shit or eat an Oreo), but they are all rather limited in there capacity to; a) give me enough space to vomit the contents of my brain onto the screen, and b) I didn't actually have a b.

So, to open up this blog I guess I should make some grandiose statement about my intentions and reasoning for why this now. Some crap about wanting to share my music with the world or how we should all work together and how everything should be free and that we should have colonised the moon by now and to hug a tree and eat only apricots on Wednesdays. But I can't. Because that is not what I want. All I want to do is dump my thoughts and probably some of my music into the great intercontinental highway of our collective consciousness loosely known as the internet. And all you guys really want is some free tracks to DJ with...

If you want to leave a comment, that would be appreciated. I especially love trolls, nothing like a bit of a war to strengthen up the economy. Maybe not this early in the piece though, since this simple opening salvo of brain-vomit probably isn't very interesting, but if you like a track or have an opinion about an idea, feel free to share it with the group. We are, after all, social animals.