This site over the years has pointedly refrained from discussing, exploring or endorsing other artists, at least on the front page. People come here for BT-specific news and information, and album recommendations are best left to members on the board, or the experts at Progressive Sounds and Resident Advisor. There are rare cases however, when overwhelming talent and sufficient overlap of community warrant a shameless plug. That time is now.

The artist in question is Jamie Watts, better known as KiloWatts, a BT Network regular for the better part of the last decade, and one of the most ridiculously talented up-and-coming acts in electronic music. His music is unquestionably good—I’ve witnessed decks burst into flames and speakers crumple into piles of smoking plastic because of it. Dave Tipper listened to this kid and said, “That’s it, I quit.” True story. Well, not really… but fact remains, there’s not another person in electronic music right now with equally masterful command of melody, songwriting, technology and sonic experimentation. At the same time the general EDM public were consumed with BT’s recent effort This Binary Universe, members of BT Network were completely engulfed with Routes, KiloWatts’ 2006 solo effort.

Released today online is Focus & Flow, the sophomore collaborative effort of KiloWatts & Vanek, a glitch-pop duo with Belgian singer/songwriter Peter Van Ewijk. Conceived back in 2003 during the height of Soulseek, the two musicians met online and began an unholy alliance of Peter’s traditional folk-pop songwriting and Jamie’s penchant for glitch-infested IDM. The result was a striking, wholly unique sound that eventually became the two’s debut album Rawq. This album was an immediate hit with anyone who heard it, whether electronic fans or not, and left us bitching and moaning for a follow up. It would take four years to deliver. But deliver they did. Focus & Flow hits in full form, exploring new sights, sounds, textures and creative paths with all the bounding youthfulness of its predecessor.

I have buried myself in this album for the last six months prior to its release, and it’s taken this long to fully appreciate all it has to offer. It was my album of 2007, that I wasn’t allowed to list because it wasn’t out yet. I have played it for electronic music aficionados who demanded a copy or a link to purchase one. I have played it for electronic haters and seen it pass with flying colors. I have tested it on $20 car speakers in dank pickup trucks and in home audio demo rooms with $10,000 worth of Martin Logan speakers. In short—I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend this to anyone capable of enjoying music, nor would I reach for anything else before this. The duality of practical song-oriented structure and electronic experimentation is so ridiculously fucking good, I could eat my shorts. This album deserves nothing less than a breakout into a mainstream success, 500,000 copies sold, and for Jamie and Peter to charge the full 18.99 retail sticker price while getting every penny back. It’s that good. I guarantee it.

Focus & Flow gets the big shiny BT Network Seal of Approval.

Now click this link and fucking buy it.

(Ongoing album discussion can be found here: http://www.bt-network.org/board/viewthread/184/)

BT tours quite a bit. His planner has dates set up to 18 months in advance, he travels more than even me (which is saying something), and he’s nearly impossible to raise on the phone or in email. He can’t help it, the ladies love him and he can rock the friggin’ house no matter where he goes. So it’s no surprise that he gigs on a constant basis. What makes this December 8th show different from his usual, however, is that it’s powered by a uniquely ulterior motive. In a week where Al Gore is being honored with the Nobel Peace Prize for his work on global warming, BT is participating with the National Wildlife Federation in a cause of a similar nature—no pun intended.

Turning the Tables on Global Warming

Because we’re all in the mix

Global warming isn’t fair. Americans make up just 5% of the world’s population, but we are responsible for producing 25% of the world’s global warming pollution.

The world’s poorest people are least-equipped to cope with the impacts that scientists foretell—drought, wild fires, floods, rising sea-levels—and they will suffer the most. And animals and ecosystems with the fewest options to adapt will be faced with the hardest battles for survival.

But there’s hope. We can turn this around.

What is Turning the Tables?

NWF is organizing Turning the Tables music events at premier nightclubs to raise awareness and funds for the fight to stop global warming. Turning the Tables will engage and activate 20-somethings through DJ-hosted club events. Our pilot event is in Washington, DC in December 2007. More events are planned for 2008 in other major cities, including New York.

Through Turning the Tables we will use the untapped voice of electronic music artists to mobilize the next generation of American voters to pressure Congress to pass strong legislation to:

• Register people to vote and sign our 2% pledge.
• Reduce global warming pollution by 2% per year to achieve an 80% reduction by 2050.
• Help poor communities in the U.S. and abroad cope with the ominous impacts of climate change.

You can find more information at http://www.myspace.com/turnthetables911

*This politically incorrect footnote points out that in Alaska, global warming is a good thing.

We’ll have some pretty groundbreaking news to share with you in a few weeks, but for now a brief bit:

As of Monday, BT and Blake Lewis have hit the studio and begun working on tracks. That’s right, plural. The plan is to nail down at least four good pieces of work, though with Jive master Clive Davis calling the shots that’ll probably be whittled down to one track making the actual album release. If Blake had his way, BT would be producing the whole thing… so as far as other potential projects are concerned, we’ll leave that as-is for now.

That’s all, folks. Sorry for the short update.

Back in February, David, who runs the Apple-authorized Logic Pro Help forums, offered up a gem to Logic owners: BT’s Key Commands.

For those who don’t know, BT has almost completely kicked his hardware synths (the Roland JP8000 and his circuit-bent tinkering, notwithstanding) and has been composing his tracks in the Logic Pro for the last decade. Logic offers a variety of customization options including your Autoload (the standard parameters and tracks for a new project) and Key Commands, for quick access control.

Here is something I’d like to make public.

I’ve tried to get together a consortium of people to use the same sort of key commands because the configurability of Logic is amazing, but it’s really frustrating when you sit down at someone’s rig and you’re like… (acting as if he’s pressing a key command) “God… damn it, R is supposed to do horizontal zoom...” and it doesn’t work, and then you have to get your key out.. and.. whatever.. but I actually got a large group of people to start using the same key commands: The Deep Dish guys, myself, Paul Van Dyk, Peter Gabriel, the whole Real World crew… there’s a bunch of us, we’re all on the same key commands. It’s really nice to be able to sit down at a computer and use them.

(...)

Some of them are based on Pro Tools commands which is nice because if you sit down in Pro Tools which I rarely do but I have to sometimes for film stuff, you’ve got some of the same zoom commands and stuff that you have in Pro Tools so you’re not completely lost when you’re in there. It’s pretty specific stuff. It just makes it really nice because now you can go to somebody else’s studio to work and it works great.
B.T. - ReMix Hotel 2006 Los Angeles

There are two files available here. One is a PDF with a list of all commands. The second is the Apple .plist Preference file. To install it, make sure Logic is turned off. Drop the file into your ~/user/Library/Preferences/ folder, and open Logic. You should be good to go. Sorry PC folks, but this is Mac OS X only.

BT Key Commands [PDF]

BT Key Commands [plist]

BT has joined a list of big names (including Paul Simon, Steve Vai, Phil Ramone and even Bill Cosby) to sponsor a Celebrity Online Scholarship Program for future students of Berklee School of Music. From the website:

The Celebrity Online Scholarship Program is designed to reward and assist outstanding online students who demonstrate superior performance studying in Certificate Programs at Berkleemusic.

Berklee has partnered with a growing list of celebrities to help our most promising online students achieve their dream of a life in music. These celebrities all support music education through their work and Berklee is proud to be associated with them.

The student recipients of each Celebrity Online Scholarship will receive an award of $1,250 to be used towards paying their tuition and helping them achieve their goals.

Hat tip to Sam of Berklee Music’s online-based continuing education department for this bit of news. You can read more about it here:

Berklee Music - Online Scholarship - Celebrity Online Scholarship from Berklee

After a wild weekend of nearly 10,000 hits, it’s nice to know people haven’t forgotten about this place… and it’s painfully clear we need to upgrade our hosting already. Things have settled down a bit and the site speed should be fine for now, but don’t be surprised to find some downtime in the next month or two while we switch. Eff me, some of the people here I haven’t seen in ages.

The most obvious change was the decision to abandon the long-running forum on ezBoard. At the risk of requiring people to sign up again, it was an easy decision to make because ezBoard sucks. Posts disappeared, ads are everywhere, the service is slow, and we had no control over it. At least here you can bitch to us directly. So even if you’re an old timer, hop over to the board and create a new account. This will actually serve you not just on the board, but throughout the entire site as well. More on that in a bit.

Now about the site and our future plans:

This was built and designed over a 2 month period, using the database-driven ExpressionEngine software. It’s awesome, and allows us to do anything we want here. The discography and FAQ are being fleshed out as you read this. Future rollout plans include a member-manageable photo gallery, a wiki module for people to contribute, hosting space for members to upload their own tracks and mixes, and possibly a radio station/podcast. Nearly all of these features will be accessible from the same profile you use to post on the board. This is a huge change from before, and one we’re excited about.

The download page is going up tonight, with previously free (and difficult to obtain) remix packs available for download. We’re also in the process of designing some rad-looking album covers for tracks that never had any. If you’re an artist and would like your work, wallpapers, photos, videos or any other kind of media featured for download, drop an email to webmaster at bt-network.org and we’ll hook up.

This is a community effort. We listen to your suggestions and criticisms both, in an effort to make this place the best it can be. Give a little. Help make it yours too.

Till the next time.

Love the music. It’s about the music. Always has been. Nothing else.

Brian is a great man. We all know he’s brilliant. You wouldn’t be here if you didn’t adhere. He takes time. He pauses. He searches life. He grows. He’s flawed. He’s human. His music bleeds it. It’s difficult to understand why as few get it as they do; I blame Darwin.

Brian innately tapped into something musically early on. He challenged us. His perfection was (and is) at the forefront, but he expanded himself beyond what most of us do. He did what he wanted. He tested. He flanged. He said he was an antenna, but the fact is he just did what he wanted. Perfection was secondary… perfection was driven by internal blacks.

There’s a method to this madness, though. There’s a reason. It’s obvious it drives him. And without any of us, he’d still be doing it. And he still will. So you might as well listen.

Mozart, Elvis, inventor of trance you can kiss my ass. Love the music. It’s about the music. Always has been. Nothing else. 

STANFORD, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Fair Use Project of the Center for Internet & Society at Stanford Law School announced that a New York federal judge has dismissed a copyright infringement lawsuit accusing prominent electronic music artist Brian Transeau (known professionally as “BT”) of illegally copying a nine-second drumbeat from another artist. In a thirteen-page order, Judge William H. Pauley III of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York held that plaintiffs failed to present any credible evidence that BT copied the drumbeat at issue. Accordingly, the court entered judgment in BT’s favor and dismissed the case against him.

Brian Transeau ‘89 is creating dance, film, and art music that’s a revelation for the rising generation of laptop musicians.

Mash a Kandinsky with a Duchamp, crumple one of Zaha Hadid’s smaller architectural experiments with H.R. Geiger’s eerie organic forms, cram the whole thing into a high-definition television, and you might end up with something like the art of Scott Pagano. Grind down the gritty, industrial detritus of Rotterdam — one of the world’s largest port cities — and process it in a digital audio factory and you may, if you’re lucky, get something that sounds like the mechanized mayhem of Jochem Paap, a.k.a. “Speedy J.” Blend it all together in a high-fidelity digital soup and you get, well, you get something entirely new.