Now that the season is drawing to a close, I am really pleased that two of my favorite talents are in the finals - Martin Halla (of course!) and Leif Anders Wentzel. On Friday night Martin and Leif Anders sang a song together in the Red Room that was so awesome :-) Will try to figure out how to link directly to the clip so I can add that here.

Anyway a friend of mine in Oslo has bought me a gift card from the Norwegian iTunes store, and I'm like a kid in a candy store, downloading tracks I've never had access to before - and naturally Martin's single 'Take It With Me', which counts as two votes for him towards the finals. [See in iTunes]

It was actually quite simple to set up a foreign iTunes account in order to download the songs, I wish I had known how to do this years ago! Just a few days left until the final show, so be sure to vote for your favorite talent!

Really hoping they broadcast the show in full, and live, like they did for the first episode. We have a bank holiday next Monday so it's possible I'll be out of work early enough on Friday to get home and watch it!

Ok, enough shameless promotion of Magne's talent - I doubt he needs help though, Martin is currently at the top of the iTunes chart and has three other songs in the top 20. Still a lot could change in just a few days, so I'll be crossing my fingers until the end :-)

---> rushing in, slightly out of breath --->

Yet another long silence from me, which wouldn't be weird if nothing was going on in the mf world, but so much has been going on that it's one of those nowaywillievercatchuponstuffimissedwritingaboutwhenithappened times. But never fear, magnef.us will be updated in due course with posts about 'Rom 13', Magne's upcoming art projects, The Voice, Roskilde, and any other stuff I haven't had time to write about here.

However I have been doing my best to keep up with actual news and media links on Twitter, so be sure to follow there as it's much more timely than this blog lately ;-)

This is just a short post now to share some interesting info I found online last night. I was disappointed that I couldn't download any of The Voice performances from the last two shows from Norwegian iTunes, there have been so many good ones and of course I want to support Team Magne ;-) So I did a search to see if there was a way to download the songs legitimately from a foreign iTunes account - and found this.

Read: if you like the music, download the tracks, support the artists, and help Team Magne win! I am sure there will be some exceptional performances coming up in the final three episodes :-)

Anyway, I have been watching The Voice each week online here, and actually have a lot to say about the season, but no time to do it justice right now. More soon though ~

Apparatjik World Issue B is now available in iTunes for free download!

The issue is loaded with content from NNG Berlin, among other things (hell yeah, catch the banana video game!). Love the 'Everyone is a pixel' parts of the magazine, I was almost as captivated by the virtual cube wall image submission rotation interface thingy as I was by the real thing in Berlin. Almost.

EDIT: more screen shots added

( Spoilers / Screen Shots )

I was hoping that with the album and iPad magazine release, there would also be some news about concerts - maybe we'll hear something soonish. Right now I'm planning a trip to Oslo in September for the a-ha 30th anniversary weekend, so the travel budget is getting tighter and tighter. Really hoping I can get an Apparatjik concert in this year somehow :-)

The final draft of Apparatjik's new album 'Square Peg In A Round Hole' is available now in their official web shop. You have the option to buy just the album download (mp3 or WAV format), or download + CD. The download files are available immediately, CDs will be shipped from March 19.

There will also be a worldwide iTunes album release on April 2.



Apparatjik have also shared a preview of their upcoming free Square Peg In A Round Hole 'Augmented Reality' (AR) App, which will be available for iPhone and iPad in the App Store from March 19, 2012. You'll be able to download the App to enjoy your 'Square Peg In A Round Hole' CD Digipak in 'Augmented Reality'!

Square Peg In A Round Hole 'Augmented Reality' (AR) demo from Apparatjik on Vimeo.

Tracklist:

timepoLice (feat. Auto Goon)
cervux seQuential (feat. Lisa A)
tell the bAbes
signs of waking uP
do IT myself (feat. Auto Goon)
BlastLOCKet (feat. Ceto A and L Gortex A)
pakt
COmbat disco music
your voice needS SUBtitles
(don’t Eat The whole) banana
gzMO
superpositions
control Park

Delighted that 'Tell the babes' made it on the final album, as well as 'Gzmo', both of which grabbed me right away for very different reasons.

As much as I love 'That's the thing about us', I didn't expect it to be on the album, and am content with the simple gifting to us during the draft process; same thing with 'Pixels', 'Quantum Suicide' and 'If you can, solve this jumble'.

I can also happily revel in the fabulousness of '(Don't eat the whole) Banana [Draft 2]', 'Sequential [Draft 6]', 'Control Park [Draft 3]', 'Hidden (banana) clue [Draft 8]', 'Your Voice Needs Subtitles [Draft 5]' etc, without the benefit of them being on an official release. There are so many amazing draft versions out there. I can't believe that the same 13-15 songs could have inspired so many variations and captivated all of us for the duration of the 14 weeks since November 11 when we first heard them.

However I am gutted that '.,,.(dot comma comma dot)' didn't make it on the album! I knew there would be at least one song I would miss on behalf of the unknowing public who won't investigate the draft project. Sigh. Maybe the guys will perform it though - how awesome that would be to dance to :-)

Link to buy the album: The Outland

Today's updates in list form:

~ The man himself is on Twitter, follow him here (sidebar link also updated --->)

~ Tonight is the premiere of 'The Voice' in Norway. It is possible to subscribe to TV2 from outside Norway and watch the show on your computer more info here.

EDIT: I can't help but think that if I'd been a little lucky and planned better in advance, I might have been at the taping of this episode on December 5 (I left Oslo on that day, missed it by just a few hours!). Anyway, you can keep track of the talent teams here and you can watch the blind auditions from last week here. So it looks like no subscription is needed to watch the most important parts of the show, which is good!

~ The concensus among fans on Twitter seems to be that the 'nerd glasses and graying chin scruff' are a good look for mf - and I gotta agree

~ The Voice coaches performing 'Viva La Vida' ---> file under 'awesome'

I am not ashamed to admit I have watched that clip a dozen times at least since Friday :-) It's so great to see Magne on stage again, and he sounded amazing.

~ Apparatjik and Bowers & Wilkins have made 'Square Peg In A Round Hole' available in all its 24-bit glory! Download the album (draft 1 version) for free on Apparatjik's Facebook. This is a superior quality sound version of the album and should be listened to in 24-bit with the best speakers you can find, preferably in the semi-dark surrounded by friends in a chilled-out mood on a Friday afternoon ;-) However if you have trouble listening to the files for any reason, you can still download the MP3 version of the album over here and on SoundCloud.

A post about 'That's the thing about us' has been drafting itself in my brain for a couple of weeks, and this phrase from Epitonic yesterday nudged me to pull together my thoughts in some kind of communicable format:

"Possibly the world’s least-known supergroup, Apparatjik makes eccentric industrial dance-rock music to soundtrack tales of futuristic robot love stories."

(Sorry, but when I read that I couldn't help but think of these unlikely soulmates :-))

Those of us who have been following along from the beginning generally know about the World of the Apparatjik and the storyline around Josie (find it over here in a more readable format), and we're used to lyrics referring to this strange digital love relationship. Some references to it are sweet, some fun, some questioning, and some - like in 'That's the thing about us' - almost painfully beautiful.

The story has changed over time, but what seems to be consistent is that there are two people (Apparatjiks or humanoids or robots or whatever, I'm just gonna call them 'people' because it's easiest when writing) who have an amazing attraction to one another, who for some reason communicate over a distance and seem to never have clearly declared their feelings for each other. So even though there is a wonderful, deep bond there, and we get clues that they belong together, there is some kind of mysterious and tragic disconnect ('supervoid') keeping them apart.

Do they speak different languages?
Are they of different 'ancestry' and thus physically incompatible? Or is there actual danger in being together? ('we are running, we are hiding..')
Are they in parallel universes, only able to communicate via technology somehow? ('can you see the writing on the screen?')
Is their relationship ultimately doomed, or is there a way to be together if they can only find it? ('will you be my digital valentine?')

Yes, this is all modern mythology around artificial beings, but the way the story is told sounds like a very human experience, and I think many people can probably relate to the emotions in the songs.

( more back here )

So is there any hope for these two? They both lack confidence and trust in each other's love. The only way to build trust and confidence is to risk everything and be open for once. If she can learn to trust herself - and to trust him - and if he can find a way to let her know how he feels and that she is safe with him, they could actually get somewhere.

If this were a Hollywood movie, it would probably play out like this: he would find the courage to finally declare himself clearly, somehow convince her she is safe with him, and then there would be a passionate kiss and all her defenses would magically disappear and they'd start a new life together, fade to credits, where did we park the car? But in real life and in the World of the Apparatjik, I doubt it could be that simple ;-)

...or lack of it. Pfft.

Let me start off by saying, yet again, that the 'everyone is one bar' music collaboration project is a brilliant idea. I just wish it wasn't so difficult for an average fan to participate, because for sure we'd have a lot more cool and interesting mixes if people had the tools and knowledge to be able to contribute.

It seems like most people are using GarageBand - fine if you have a Mac, which not everyone does.
Other people are musicians and have ProTools and/or an actual studio at their disposal.
And the rest of us...well, we either gave up at the outset, or we're struggling with other tools to find a way to participate.

I don't have a Mac but I do have an iPad, so I downloaded GarageBand on that and played with the stems there for a few days. I managed to record some vocals (that should be "vocals" with really big air quotes LOL) and add them to a track, so that was fun :-)

Unfortunately when the stems are imported, GarageBand assigned them the 'Audio Recording' track source thingy, so I don't get any of the editing controls you'd get if the stems were recognized as guitars or bass or keys. In the end I had to bag the GarageBand for iPad idea, it wasn't getting me anywhere.

Then I tried Audacity, which is a free software for audio mixing, but the options aren't great and it doesn't come with any loops or instruments to work with.

Next I heard about Adobe Audition, and downloaded the free 30 day trial. I had some difficulty figuring it out, so I asked my neighbor (who knows ProTools and GarageBand) if he could show me what the options were - he wasn't familiar with Audition, but given his other experience, he was able to figure it out and show me how it all works. I've also watched some tutorials on YouTube. So far, so good.

Now I have 12 days left of my Audition trial, and I'm only just getting started..! And I don't have a proper microphone, so I can't re-record the vocals I wanted to add, although my neighbor says he has one somewhere. The key is him finding it before my software trial is over ;-) The world is probably better off without my vocals though!

All this to say that it's not exactly easy for the average person to jump in and play along, even if you really want to. Speaking for myself, it has been a lot of effort just to get the right tools in place and learn how to use them.

With time getting short, I am focusing on 'Control Park' and possibly 'Your Voice Needs Subtitles'. At this point I'll be really pleased if I can get just one decent mix together to submit :-)

EDIT: I just finished my first premix! It came out ok for a first try, I already uploaded it and feel a bit relieved to have done at least one that I like. The rest is (cup)cake(s)!

Just a quick post for now ~

A while back, I realized that it was hard to keep all the different 'Square Peg In A Round Hole' draft track versions straight, especially when they turned up on shuffle on my iPod. So I played in PhotoShop a bit and came up with a few sets of album covers, which include the draft number, so I would know which version of a song is playing just by glancing at the cover art.

If you are interested, you can find and download the set of covers here on Flickr. I used four different font variations, the most Apparatjik-like is 'Soviet', but my favorite and the one I am using in iTunes is 'Papyrus'. Here is a sample of each font used:

I received a Google alert today about this newly uploaded YouTube clip, it's audio from a 2009 interview with Morten and Magne by Fiona Julian. I thought there were a couple of interesting comments to share here:

FJ - Mags, you're doodling there, you're an artist as well.

MF - I have worked parallel since my first exhibition in 1989, and I've since dedicated approximately half my time to visual art. Having said that, I have about twice the amount of time in me than most people do.

FJ - You don't sleep, Mags?

MF - I start the day on European time, and I restart it when America wakes up and keep going around.

FJ - Has that been forever, or is it since touring and things?

MF - No I used to be one of the world's best sleepers and I think I have slept enough in my youth for my whole life [...] I have my fair share of energy and I have spent it on music and art.

[...]

MH - You are doing very well as an artist.

MF - Yeah for some parts of my life, obviously the fame and the money and the music gave me a unique starting point. (A) I had to be careful not to be kind of seen as a 'celebrity painter' and I had to kind of say no to most of the things that were offered me and (B) I had a financial security so I could work on a professional level from the word 'go'. I could start a project on my own, I didn't need a galleriest, or some guy coming in and funding my projects, I could do it on my own.

At some points in my life, the music was funding the art. But at certain years over the last 10-15 years, the art has funded the music. So it's been a priviledged position to be in.

[......]

MF - We have one advantage, and that is that repetition dulls, and sometimes you lose fascination and interest because you know things too well. I think most people find that in their marriage or in their lives, that something you are exposed to always is something that you take for granted. And I think one of our advantages is that we are guests in the English language.

I am really passionate about English. I kind of got that from my mother, being an English teacher, but I also got it from my high school teacher who was almost a dictator in the way that he taught English, and it made me appreciate the precision of the language and the possibilities. Every time I read a book, I only read in English. Even Norwegian authors these days, ironically, but it's because I am always looking out for linguistic finer points. I am always making notes, I have this kind of advanced way of making donkey's ears, bending down the pages [...] Every time I finish a book I have to re-read all these pages and write down the passages and [...]

(That last bit is timely, since swordznsorcery commented here recently about how it is interesting that Magne presents his art/poetry in English - I knew there was an interview somewhere where he talked about being fascinated by English, but I couldn't find it. This isn't the one I was thinking of, but it's definitely relevant :-) )

I was going to post about my mixing progress, but the arrival of Draft 5 distracted me. And that's because IMO it's the most distracting draft since #2. If you don't have it yet, what are you waiting for? Go get it.

(psst, it's over here)

Random drafting observations:

~ Draft 5 has already been downloaded 3x as much since yesterday as Draft 4 was in an entire week. That's a good sign that the project is gaining attention! I noticed a slightly minimal and under-informed but nonetheless clearly good-intentioned post by 'It's a trap' earlier today on Twitter, which directed people to Apparatjik's Facebook to download Draft 5, and the guys sent out a newsletter this evening too, so those things may account for the higher downloads this week. Hey, whatever works!

~ The Draft 5 version of 'Your Voice Needs Subtitles' has cool guitars and has greatly increased in fabulousness over the previous versions due to it ROCKING MORE. Do it justice, listen to it turned up loud.

~ 'Sequential' disappeared for Draft 3, returned for a snazzy-fab remix on Draft 4, and disappeared again for Draft 5. I am really attached to that song, I will be mildly devastated if it isn't on the final album. Just saying.

~ Yes, I know other songs have come and gone throughout the draftings and that we still have a long way to go. But the guys keep adding NEW songs that are also COOL and they can't include everything on the album, so statistically some good songs will get the boot. The trouble with packing in so much variety is you're not going to please everyone, but I like that they're going to try :-)

~ Speaking of getting the boot, the only two songs I could do without are 'Pakt' and 'Super-positions', and only because of ranking and not because I don't like them. After that, I could be ok without 'Combat Disco Music', but that's because I feel like we've had it for a long time already.

~ Draft 2 version of '(Don't Eat The Whole) Banana' is still the best of that song IMO. I really hope that one makes the final album, although I somehow think it probably won't.

~ If you haven't done this yet, try sorting your Apparatjik tracks in iTunes/whatever and listening to all versions of a track in a row. I find that I am not too perceptive about the more minor changes between versions, so this is often the only way I can tell what's different :oops:

~ The new song, 'That's The Thing About Us', is stunning. The honesty and the complexity of the bond in the song are so unique. I could probably write a whole post about it, but I'm holding off on that until I have more time with it. For now it's enough to say that there are some truly beautiful lyrics: 'have you ever been so close to a star that you could have felt it? / ever been so close to love that you could stroke it like velvet?' I can so relate.

~ When the weekly drafts are done, what will make Tuesdays interesting? ;-)