Thieves Like Us » art

The Bookshelf – Reimagined

Brian Mars — Sun, 29 Apr 2012 21:42:30 +0000

I’ve gone public with the project statement for my new side-project: The Bookshelf – Reimagined. I’ve started some of the initial development work but it is still at a very early, very immature phase. Publishing the statement is my way of “declaring my intentions” and motivation to continue working on it.

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For Reference 2

Brian Mars — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 21:31:15 +0000

For Reference ...

For Reference

Brian Mars — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 20:49:25 +0000

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Music For Your Earhole – A new mixtape

Brian Mars — Sat, 01 May 2010 23:59:57 +0000

It’s been nearly two weeks since we got back from Coachella, and just over a month or so to go before Sasquatch, so it felt like the right time to record another mix. I typically am motivated by hearing that “one new track” that gets played on repeat for days, and this time there were two – Bit Funk’s remix of Florrie’s Panic Attack and the remake of Inner City’s Good Life by Geeneous.

Crimewave (Midnight Conspiracy Remix) – Crystal Castles
The Other Side (Extended Mix) – Seb
Nights (DJ Spider Remix) – Pase Rock
Panic Attack (Bit Funk) – Florrie
Only You Can Make You Happy (PUNCHES remix) – Au Revoir Simone
Good Life (remix) – Geeneus ft. Katy B
Daydreaming (Helsinki 78-82 remix) – Kid Sister
Get A Grip (The Loops of Fury Remix) – Dirty Super Car
I Wanna See You – The Aston Shuffle
Trial and Errors – Razmataz Lorry Excitement
I Wanna Be You (Grum remix) – Night Bus
Crave You (Bxcentric remix) – Flight Facilities
Lick – Sean Roman

(download)

(The “hidden” bonus track is an old Dunproofin’ bootleg that just seems to capture the mood of this weekend for me. Enjoy!)

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Sakura – A Spring Mixtape

Brian Mars — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 18:01:56 +0000

Just in time for Dramacon, comes Sakura, my latest mix of electropop, nu disco, and general squelchiness. It definitely is a bit faster and bouncier – I blame some of the amazing weather we’ve had lately. (Of course as I look at the forecast I see a chance of snow?! later this week).

Now, its time for me to clear my head of this dancey dance music and start prepping for Coachella…

Don’t Fear The Reaper (Holy Ghost! remix) – Van She
Spin (Russ Chimes Big House Mix) – Cassette Kids
Fembot (fourthrock edit) – Robyn
A Question For You – Bit Funk
Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air – Mustard Pimp
Californication – Loo and Placido
The Good News (Yacht Club DJs remix) – Philadelphia Grand Jury
Sea, Love, Sex, and Sun – Bag Raiders vs Serge Gainsbourg
Blue Scientist – The Teddybears vs New Order
Starry Eyed (Penguin Prison Remix ft. Theophilus London) – Ellie Goulding
The Phoenix Alive (Demo mix) – Monarchy

(download)

ps. I’m not sure which is the better line – “don’t take no astrophysicist to make your ass throw fits” or “I am a very scientifically advanced hot mama”. I have included both so that you can decide…

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SimStim’s Anniversary Re-Release of “Jack In, Log On, Nod Out”

Brian Mars — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 01:24:46 +0000

Wow, its been just over 10 years since Dee (Chim Chim) and I put the finishing touches on the last SimStim album. A lot has happened over the years: Dee’s recorded new Penal Colony and solo works, and I have recently returned to production and DJ work trying to relearn in digital what I knew in vinyl.

In a fit of nostalgia, I listened to the album recently. Surprisingly, or not, it still seems fairly fun. We were always careful to try and not fall into stereotypical genre patterns — things that tend to sound dated as music and tastes change.

So, for a short time, I am going to make the album and some extra material available for download here (link at the bottom). Sure, it might cannibalize all those iTunes sales we have (hah!) but what the hell.

Disclaimer: If Dee starts flinging poo at me for doing this, I’ll take it down and replace it with incriminating pictures I have of him.

These were the original “headshots” I drew for our press kit (oh such hubris!) We came up with the idea for a “virtual band” with a crafted backstory when we first started working together in the early 90′s. I choose to believe that Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett based The Gorillaz on our groundbreaking efforts. I choose to believe a lot of things that are probably not true. Anyways, the backstory is lost to the ravages of time and excess, but I do recall it had something to do with time travel back from an apocalyptic future… one that we may have had a hand in creating. (Then again that sounds a lot like the backstory we had for our industrial band Meinschlagen).

The album itself had a couple of different covers. Here they progress from earlier to later as they go left to right. It also had a few different track orders. What I’ve listed here is what I consider the “correct” one.

Jack In, Log On, Nod Out

Ready To Begin / Patterns

After putting the SimStim project away for a couple of years, this is the song that got it rolling again. After seeing the movie Π (Pi), we knew we had to create a song based on samples from it. The opening sequence is from the original Rollerball movie.

(Love Is The Law) Love Under Will

Oh, our crazy flirtations with Uncle Al and his wacky band of sorcerers. The title is obviously a Crowley quote. And that is definitely not a Dead Can Dance sample. Nope no way. Not a chance. We’re not fools like FSOL were…

The Eternal Question

How many times in your life can you get Ice Cube to name check you in a song? As many times as you can splice them in with an audio editing program, that’s how many!

Ghosts & Empties

A long with the name of the band, here is another nod to the man who created our future, or at least a dark dystopian view of it. To this day, William Gibson still ranks as one of the major influences on my ideas towards the uses (and abuses) of technology.

No Dancing

The vocals for this were rescued from a cassette tape recording of a performance Dee gave with his high school punk band. Add in some organs, a funky bass, and some sloppy rhythms and mix to taste.

Swamp Thing

The Chameleons, duh! It’s funny. I can remember we were always throwing out ideas about how “this or that “song would be great to cover. Must have had thousands of ideas. We ended up only doing this one.

Truly Bitchen’

We have “Chinanski” to thank for this one. James was a guy we hung out with back in the day. James had, let’s say, eclectic interests. One day he showed up with a cassette tape that we had “just had to listen to”. It turned out to be a recording some kids made while talking to an overnight security guard at Knott’s Berry Farm over Ham radio or walkie talkies. His unique vision of the future became the vocals for the song.

Street Trash

This one is very simple. It was written with specific imagery in mind. Stephen King’s The Gunslinger. Following the Man in Black across the desert and through the town of Tull.

Orgiastic

Dee worked audio miracles to extract that Germs sample from the rest of the song.

Parsifal

The vocal samples for this were taken from Truffaut’s film version of Fahrenheit 451.

Jack In, Log On, Nod Out – Bonus Track

Before we put the SimStim project to bed, we put out one last single, Pass The Plate.

SimStim – Ultra Rare Trax

The following tracks were never formally released. They were early works in progress. Some got rearranged in to new tracks. Others were just left as-is.

Desdemona

T.W.E.A.K. (Therapeutic Waveforms Evoking Ambient Kaos)

Zaibatsu

The Sinful Adventures of Bhagwan Dass

Razorblade

It’s been fun going through these tracks, thinking about the shows we played in lofts, clubs, parks, and farms. And yes, if you hear a story about a band that wore steaks instead of clothes, that was us at The Temple of Sound. Fortunately, no pics have surfaced to date.

A convenient zip archive of all the audio can be downloaded here for now.

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Shiny – A Mixtape

Brian Mars — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 02:25:25 +0000

Let’s see… a track with a French chick singing? Check. A Yeah Yeah Yeahs remix? Check. Some mashups? Check. A Dunproofin’ track? Check. Yep, all the hallmarks of another mixtape. Just some of the tracks that I’ve been loving lately. A little something extra at the end.

Homerun (Dabo “on the beach” Remix) – Man & Man
Seventeen (The Glass Remix) – Casxio
Earthquake (Treasure Fingers’ Epicwave Remix) – Little Boots
Comme Ci Comme Ça (The Twelves Remix) – Terry Poison
Honey Trap (Le Matos Remix) – We Have Band
Like A Player (fourthrock edit) – Lorenz Rhode
Hello Dust – dadahack ft. Hannah Robinson
4h30 – Danger
Heads Will Roll (A-Trak Remix) – Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Sex Diary (Kings of Leon vs. Yazoo) – Divide and Kreate
Bedroom Shotgun – Suck Shaft
Zzzz (ZZ Top vs. Miss Napalm & 4Kuba) – Dunproofin’
Our Time (Kap10Kurt Remix) – Ocelot

(download)

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In his heart the wolf was planning mischief

Brian Mars — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 16:50:40 +0000

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Another Season, Another Mix Tape

Brian Mars — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 23:51:38 +0000

A couple of months have gone by, and its time for me to compile the tracks that have found a way to stick around here in the lab. Just in time for Halloween, here is the MixDLT where we keep the hot side hot and the cool side cool. (In retrospect, had I known I would have finished these today, I may have gone for “Trick or Treat”).

In reality, the Hot side is filled with squelchy bits and rumbly bits, while the Cool side is Late Night Makeout Disco™

1. Heartbreaking Maps (Metronomy vs Yeah Yeah Yeahs) – DJ Clivester
2. This Must Be It (Rex The Dog K-DART Remix) – Röyksopp
3. I’m Not Your Toy (DATA Remix) – La Roux
4. Love.Cure.All (Suck Shaft Remix) – Baron Bane
5. Spektrum John – Dunproofin’
6. Mama Used To Say – Jupiter
7. Qui Est Cette Fille – Yelle
8. Distant Star (Deluce Remix) – Triobelisk
9. I Might Like Ghosts Better (Amanda Blank + Bad Cabbage vs. Deadmau5) – DJ Paul V.

(download)

1. Shelter (Them Jeans Drum Edit) – The xx
2. Stuck On You (Ouputmessage Remix) – Dmerit
3. What You Need (DCUP Remix) – Priors
4. Fight For You – Morgan Page
5. Sometimes – Miami Horror
6. Shooting Stars (Kris Menace Remix) – Bag Raiders
7. Starlighter (Steve Moore Remix) – Jupiter
8. Gold In The Fire – MONARCHY
9. Starlove – Marchand

(download)

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Prior Art: Kindle Currency Plugin

Brian Mars — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 16:59:12 +0000

Before starting, let me make it clear that a) I don’t own a Kindle and b) I don’t think it has a plugin architecture. But a) I will eventually (or one of its descendants) and b) it really should.

So, what I want is a plugin similar to the dictionary widget. That one allows you to look up a word in the current text you are reading. In this case, however, it triggers on currency amounts.

Suppose you are reading Jules Verne’s 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea (which, oddly enough, I am) and you see a line of text that reads

For a fare of twenty francs, the vehicle went down Broadway
to Union Square, took Fourth Ave. to its junction with Bowery St.,
turned into Katrin St. and halted at Pier 34.

I want to select twenty francs and have the plugin determine the publish date and tell me what that is in today’s US Dollars. Simple. To the point. And for me, incredibly informative.

Remember, as with all my “prior art” entries, if you make it and sell it, I want my cut.

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