tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19182540Tue, 01 Sep 2009 10:19:57 +0000Poorly filtered brain leakagehttp://ukiro.com/noreply@blogger.com (ukiro)Blogger36125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19182540.post-4941363803435160904Tue, 01 Sep 2009 09:25:00 +00002009-09-01T12:14:27.800+02:00Before I reveal to you, my imaginary horde of loyal readers, what the final outcome of my quest to replace my old speakers is, I will briefly summarize the previous posts in this series:Part I briefly touched on my approach to music and attitude towards high-end, or audiophile, sound, before telling the story of how my eyes (or rather, ears) were opened by what may well be the most impressive http://ukiro.com/2009/09/hunt-for-hifi-vii-verdict-prelude.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (ukiro)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19182540.post-5249277517704261805Tue, 18 Aug 2009 08:05:00 +00002009-08-18T12:34:16.921+02:00hifimusicin englishLater today I will sit down and compare the Focal Diablo Utopia with the MBL 121 speakers side by side. I won't purchase the winner today, and if I didn't have such a rich history of financial recklessness I'd say I may never buy them. But having bought into my own justification pitch, I realize I might pull the trigger eventually. Age has at least taught me to take a few deep breaths before I http://ukiro.com/2009/08/hunt-for-hifi-vi-final-showdown-before_18.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (ukiro)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19182540.post-5865127260992417979Mon, 10 Aug 2009 09:19:00 +00002009-08-11T07:27:13.671+02:00hifiin englishI stole this image somewhere in an attempt to illustrate what is generally an accepted costly hobby. This really is over the top though.While it's easy to point out when audiophile excess has entered the land of absurdity, it's a bit more interesting to look at the conditions where purchasing high-end components makes sense. Since all of my recent hifi posts are basically just http://ukiro.com/2009/08/hunt-for-hifi-v-justification.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (ukiro)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19182540.post-4171944695752172187Sun, 09 Aug 2009 19:36:00 +00002009-08-10T10:14:40.312+02:00Having exhausted the options of speakers cheaper than Focal Diablo Utopia that has my preferred dry, tight and precise sound, I was beginning to think that I might have to either buy the damned things, buy something cheaper I wasn't fully happy with, or just keep what I have and take up knitting instead. But in a last attempt to make sure there were no options, I asked what else there was in the http://ukiro.com/2009/08/hunt-for-hifi-iv-attack-ov-ze-germans.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (ukiro)5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19182540.post-2149693080853243391Thu, 06 Aug 2009 16:44:00 +00002009-08-06T20:01:13.378+02:00Audiophiles are often ridiculed for spending time and substantial amounts of money on snake-oil products. These can vary from little wooden blocks to place speaker cables on like a monorail so that it never touches the ground (presumably to prevent static electricity, or something) to all manners of vibration dampening hocus pocus. The criticism spans from entirely valid, as I would say is the http://ukiro.com/2009/08/hunt-for-hifi-iii-trap-doors-and.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (ukiro)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19182540.post-1408427228316422792Wed, 05 Aug 2009 19:09:00 +00002009-08-05T22:59:42.945+02:00Some time back, before I bought my Logitech Squeezebox Duet, I was touring the hifi stores auditioning CD players. Not only is my CD player the oldest component in my system, but I had also heard some mantra about "source first" in composing a stereo system, not giving it any thought beyond the initial "sure, OK". I ended up with the Squeezebox instead, and have since made a complete 180 in termshttp://ukiro.com/2009/08/hunt-for-hifi-ii-what-is-good-sound.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (ukiro)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19182540.post-4306964285695972678Wed, 05 Aug 2009 17:52:00 +00002009-08-05T21:42:00.251+02:00hifimusicin englishAs a music aficionado I am concerned about sound quality, in the sense that I want to experience the music at its fullest potential, be it ultra minimalist ambient, goa trance, black metal or wall noise. Spending a fortune on hi-fi equipment will leave nothing for records, and to me it's clearly better to listen to a huge selection of great music on mediocre equipment than to listen to just a http://ukiro.com/2009/08/high-end-fever.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (ukiro)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19182540.post-4209853707215734492Thu, 02 Jul 2009 19:56:00 +00002009-07-02T22:02:46.687+02:00The new world order for this weekends party is that I play between Battle of the Future Buddhas and Filteria, instead of after them. This makes a whole lot more sense, seeing as I will now be taking over from howling psychosis while it's pitch black, and leave to über-melodic power-trance in broad daylight. This lets me leave the "normal" goa trance to the other DJ's while I can dig really deep http://ukiro.com/2009/07/schedule-change.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (ukiro)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19182540.post-3942241167305502105Wed, 01 Jul 2009 07:12:00 +00002009-07-01T11:10:59.787+02:00My first and possibly only outdoor gig for the year is going to be this upcoming weekend. The flyer:Pretty damn sweet lineup if you ask me! I'm playing 03:30 - 06:00, which means early dawn -> full sunlight. The music will go from dusk hypnoticism to orgasmic sun worship (as if Filteria doesn't provide enough sun worship =).I will also play in the chillout, from 22:00-00:00 if all goes well. I http://ukiro.com/2009/07/yearly-swedish-forest-gig.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (ukiro)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19182540.post-2322885293341943949Mon, 22 Jun 2009 07:41:00 +00002009-06-22T09:48:18.570+02:00Not much happening here lately (as usual, I suppose) so while waiting for my planned series of posts on ambient overlord Steve Roach I'll post this short clip from a private party where I played with Kompressorkanonen:I don't think I will ever get tired of that sound.http://ukiro.com/2009/06/intermission-acid.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (ukiro)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19182540.post-4445871502104496398Tue, 21 Apr 2009 13:04:00 +00002009-04-21T15:15:13.770+02:00So I finally have an artist entry on Discogs thanks to poking Jannis in the kidneys while he's making music. Some short comments on the two tracks from his latest album that had me involved:Filtertraces – this was a complete track that was pretty nice, but we sat down one day and completely rearranged it, added layers and tweaked pretty much everything. It was me shouting commands and Jannis http://ukiro.com/2009/04/im-big-boy-now.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (ukiro)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19182540.post-5683298138810411788Mon, 06 Apr 2009 16:43:00 +00002009-04-06T18:51:08.775+02:00in englishtrancemyspace...and yeah, I'm a bit ashamed about it. Not enough to avoid posting this, but still. I have actually had the account for some time but never did anything with it. So over the weekend I made some half-hearted (at best) attempts att designing the thing, and put up some partial tracks I had lying around. I never finish anything and they're not really the second coming of Simon Posford, but whateverhttp://ukiro.com/2009/04/im-on-myspace-now.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (ukiro)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19182540.post-414354966378555538Tue, 03 Mar 2009 13:29:00 +00002009-03-05T10:25:49.783+01:00in englishbelgiumI had my second DJ gig in Belgium this weekend, and it went fairly well – I played a lot darker and more demanding music this time and I was happy that so many seemed to appreciate it, but for some it was "too much" or they expected something more melodic.A few minor technical mistakes are par for the course (I still don't have CD players at home, so I can't practice!) but what bugs me the most http://ukiro.com/2009/03/belgium-part-deux.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (ukiro)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19182540.post-8566674794929946238Sun, 30 Nov 2008 14:58:00 +00002008-11-30T16:07:56.049+01:00I've been making add-on maps for DOOM and DOOM II for 14 years now. In recent years I just haven't had the time needed to produce something worthwhile, but occasionally I fire up the editor and poke around in some old maps. This weekend I've actually made some progress (!) on an old map of mine, part of which can be seen above in all its satanic glory. Wether it'll ever get released is difficult http://ukiro.com/2008/11/hello-darkness-my-old-friend.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (ukiro)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19182540.post-7116692827111543107Sat, 13 Sep 2008 08:21:00 +00002008-09-13T10:53:04.222+02:00I have had an extremely hectic period at work, so there was unfortunately never time to do any posts leading up to my DJ set in Belgium last week. I worked so much, in fact, that I barely even had time to pack my bag. When I went to bed the day before I flew to Belgium I had been awake over 36 hours, working non stop for 33 of those. This meant that any form of set planning or other preparation http://ukiro.com/2008/09/i-belgium.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (ukiro)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19182540.post-6175362027591979057Sun, 17 Aug 2008 21:17:00 +00002008-08-17T23:29:31.755+02:00Just a quick note to say I will be playing a DJ set in Ghent, Belgium on September 6th. The lineup looks pretty awesome and I can't wait to hear Tim Schuldt and Green Nuns Of The Revolution. In the 3 weeks leading up the the event I'll try to write a few posts on the type of music I'll play. I'm really looking forward to unleash some mental morning goa trance for the infamous Belgian party http://ukiro.com/2008/08/dj-gig-in-belgium-september-6.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (ukiro)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19182540.post-6960532600593405708Thu, 14 Aug 2008 17:34:00 +00002008-08-14T20:19:35.330+02:00black metalin englishWhen a black metal band lists Juno Reactor among only 4 visible friends in their MySpace profile you can probably conclude that they're somewhat more prone to electronic experimentation than the average band. This is indeed the case with Swiss trio Darkspace, who rely more on synthesizers than any of the bands mention previously in this series, and possible more than any in the genre. There are http://ukiro.com/2008/08/black-metal-trance-part-v-darkspace.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (ukiro)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19182540.post-7888754803524683568Thu, 14 Aug 2008 08:19:00 +00002008-08-14T10:58:10.892+02:00black metalin englishWhen listening to introvert and contemplative music I can't really escape the thought that it feels odd when it's made by a band rather than a single person. Weakling (see below) sort of get away with it since they have more of a desolate, post-war and somehow "open" sound, but Burzum clones that are multi-member bands will just never feel legit. With The Ruins Of Beverast we're on the safe side http://ukiro.com/2008/08/black-metal-trance-part-iv-ruins-of.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (ukiro)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19182540.post-5187277430618838937Wed, 13 Aug 2008 20:10:00 +00002008-08-14T10:19:32.189+02:00black metalin englishWhile Burzum achieved a lot by simple means, his music can sometimes become too simple. Mood, sound and structure can get you very far, but add complexity to the mix and the music can become truly mindboggling, as well as hold up better to repeat listenings. Among the literally uncountable bands that have been influenced by Burzum, I find Weakling to be the best by far (do click that link, it http://ukiro.com/2008/08/black-metal-trance-weakling.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (ukiro)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19182540.post-8878315857602865892Wed, 13 Aug 2008 19:33:00 +00002008-08-14T10:18:47.484+02:00black metalin englishIf you're familiar with Burzum you can skip this post as it's mainly directed to people who are new to the genre.I wasn't really sure if I should bring up Burzum here at all - not because of his unfortunate political ideas, but rather because he must be the most discussed black metal artist ever. A quick googling gives something like 3,4 million hits...But it's only fair to bring him up, because http://ukiro.com/2008/08/black-metal-trance-burzum.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (ukiro)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19182540.post-5373137167224669199Wed, 13 Aug 2008 18:57:00 +00002008-08-14T10:18:02.478+02:00black metalin englishLooking at my musical preferences throughout the years, one of many recurring themes is intensely energetic music with a majestic and euphoric, yet introvert and melacholic mood. That may sound like an oxymoron, but imagine being flown out from earth through the solar system. You would likely be in extatic awe of its unfathomable size and majesty, yet at the same time taken aback when realizing http://ukiro.com/2008/08/black-metal-trance-prologue.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (ukiro)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19182540.post-8847728787455625777Fri, 18 Jan 2008 21:03:00 +00002008-01-18T22:12:56.735+01:00This post is in English for reasons I'll get to soon. First, this: I've started at a new job. It's pretty awesome and although the pressure is certainly high, so is the reward. Everyone is super talented, funny, and smells lovely. At this place I get work with some people who don't speak Swedish, so I get to practice my English a lot. I enjoy this, partly because I like practicing my language http://ukiro.com/2008/01/linguistic-agility.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (ukiro)3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19182540.post-6313695883224743470Sat, 15 Dec 2007 14:27:00 +00002007-12-15T15:28:00.801+01:00Vi har lite bråttom med att hinna bli klara med allt, men info kommer finnas här:http://www.discogs.com/groups/topic/152123Det blir en inspelning av hela faderullan också.http://ukiro.com/2007/12/varannan-1512-lyssningsinfo.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (ukiro)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19182540.post-2694458366095091568Thu, 13 Dec 2007 10:12:00 +00002007-12-13T11:12:52.320+01:00Som musik- och skivnörd är jag alltid sugen på ny musik, och ett väldigt praktiskt och underhållande sätt att möta det behovet är något som kallas varannan. För den som inte orkar läsa länken så går det kortfattat ut på att alla tar med sig ett överenskommet antal skivor, ofta 30 st. Sedan samlas man hos någon med döva/döda/förlåtande grannar och brassar loss. Alla spelar en låt var, och poängen http://ukiro.com/2007/12/varannan.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (ukiro)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19182540.post-1338783803878830207Sun, 02 Dec 2007 21:21:00 +00002007-12-02T22:27:40.386+01:00mänsklighetenmusikvideodunkadunkaJag manglar på med lite mer innehåll på svenska när jag ändå är igång, och plockar fram ett bokmärke ur musikvideomappen:Jag är ingen anhängare av Faithless, och även om den här låten på papperet är lite poppig och slät för min smak så måste jag erkänna att den är väldigt fin. Men den stora behållningen är förstås videon, som dock inte verkar gå att köpa på DVD. Man tycker att DVD-singlar borde http://ukiro.com/2007/12/musikvideodags-faithless.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (ukiro)0