Ariel Bitran

Sort By: Post Date | Title | Publish Date
Scott and Pat, Bound by Ink
Sweepstakes
Ariel Bitran  |  Jan 22, 2013  |  0 comments
Congratulations to Scott Leslie of Portland, Connecticut winner of the Pat Metheny The Orchestrion Project Blu-ray Sweepstakes. Robert Baird named the original recording our February 2010 Recording of the Month. Scott's copy of this Blu-ray was signed by Pat himself. Everyone give a big hand for Scott! Now who wants some Fela Kuti?
Continue Reading >
Live at The Lab: Kashka
Ariel Bitran
Ariel Bitran  |  Jan 05, 2013  |  3 comments
I'm running sound at a new DIY venue in Brooklyn called The LAB, and occasionally I snag some good tunes. Here's a sample…

*******

Kashka is a Canadian synth-pop duo formed by vocalist/lyricist Kat Burns and synth programmer and multi-instrumentalist James Bunton. The pair arrived by way of Toronto with stacks of keyboards, drum machines, and a laptop. After a show of reverb-drenched harmonies and airy synth patches, Kat handed me a purple colored tape of their most recent album Vichada. A tape? I didn't quite understand.

Continue Reading >
Video: "Sweet Dreams" by Angel Olsen
Ariel Bitran
Ariel Bitran  |  Jan 04, 2013  |  4 comments

Her voice aches like a memory.

Continue Reading >
Music Has No Borders
Ariel Bitran
Ariel Bitran  |  Jan 04, 2013  |  3 comments
“Dude, I have a huge stack of records you should probably take a look at, tons from Tía Viví, Dad, Mom, and Bobe. There’s probably some stuff in there you can take with you,” Alberto advised.

“It’s fine bro. We’re gonna go record shopping on Saturday.”

“Dude. Just look!”

“I’m good for now. Trust me.”

My brother should not have tickled the monster’s belly.

Continue Reading >
Timothy Wins a Sonos for Christmas!
Sweepstakes
Ariel Bitran  |  Jan 02, 2013  |  0 comments
Congratulations to Timothy Brown in Omaha, Nebraska on winning the Ultimate Gift of Music from Sonos.
Continue Reading >
GigFi - Listen to Who's Playing Near You
Ariel Bitran
Ariel Bitran  |  Dec 14, 2012  |  0 comments
I've already admitted I have a live music problem, OK? I don't need something awesome like GigFi making my addiction worse. Much much worse.
Continue Reading >
Remix: Hugsnotdrugs do "Pale Flesh" by Crystal Castles
Ariel Bitran
Ariel Bitran  |  Dec 13, 2012  |  10 comments

At its onset, screeching and chopped vocals, a melody cracked off like a piece of firewood from Crystal Castles "Pale Flesh" from their record (III), play catch up with with a deep rubber-band like bass pulse. Crystal Castles' shrieks echo of Lizzi Bougatsos tribal and petrified screams from Gang Gang Dance's Glass Jar, but as the snare guides you to the turnaround and into the verse, a crackling fire-pit of of diced synthesizers and reversed vocal loops, it becomes clear were dealing with something much more electro, something much more IDM-based than the primal screams indicated before.

Continue Reading >
TDK A73 Life on Record Wireless Boombox
Ariel Bitran
Ariel Bitran  |  Dec 12, 2012  |  2 comments
Photos by Ariel Bitran

With its asphalt black casework, divine symmetry, and two front-facing gold-capped passive radiators, the gently-curved TDK Life on Record Wireless boombox screams thick gold chains and Adidas track-suits, but its elegant layout and sleek lines keep the design from being retro. At Pepcom, three whisky-sodas deep, the pulsing passive radiators beckoned me. I know this is Stereophile, a magazine committed to stereo listening, but how could I say no to a boombox I could hold on my shoulder at a basketball game at the Parade Grounds and actually look like I fit in. Well, maybe not me, but the boombox for sure.

Continue Reading >
Followup: The British Invasion Visits NYC at In Living Stereo
Ariel Bitran
Ariel Bitran  |  Dec 06, 2012  |  3 comments
This past Wednesday (12/5/2012) at New York City’s In Living Stereo, a diverse crowd of music lovers and audiophiles congregated on the listening room’s floor for a chance to hear a few choice sides from the new Beatles LP remasters. Attendees overflowed from the listening room into the lobby where they waited in anticipation to sit on that floor and get a listen to the new LPs.
Continue Reading >
Attention Screen at Goodbye Blue Monday
Ariel Bitran
Ariel Bitran  |  Nov 27, 2012  |  First Published: Nov 28, 2012  |  3 comments
Amidst the concrete bodegas and basketball court fences of Bushwick, there rests a blue-lit doorway hiding strange and warm sounds. A sustained piano, tinkling cymbals, and alien coos float across a colorful hall of books and busted boomboxes. A trumpet blasts and whizzes downwards as the bass plods on. What you hear is Attention Screen, a free-jazz-something super-group featuring budget loudspeaker specialist and all-around nice guy Bob Reina on the piano and special guest Stereophile Editor John “Entwistle” Atkinson on the electric bass. The show takes place at 8pm this Friday, November 30th at Goodbye Blue Monday (1087 Broadway) in Brooklyn, NY.
Continue Reading >

Pages

X