Ready to blow your mind with a little vintage electronic experimentalism? Thought so. UK producer, filmmaker, and light-show artist (among other things) Ian Helliwell decided to crate dive some early pioneering efforts in recording, and Tone Generation, a ten-part podcast series, is the result. So far, Tone Generation has landed in Great Britain and France. Tonight, they voyage to Germany. Italy is up next — and then, beyond.

The creators describe the program thusly:

Olly Farshi from Defunktion.net writes to share their interview with Toshio Iwai and a performance via podcast. I’m not sure that I agree with Olly that the TENORI-ON has generated a “hurricane of hype” (maybe more like a rain shower of enthusiasm), but they’ve got a terrific interview. Mr. Iwai talks about how the relationship with Yamaha developed, his thoughts on the response from YouTube and the blogosphere, and most importantly, his vision for the device and music making:

The reality right now is that many people, including professional musicians and kids and simply passive listeners, have the chance to create their own music. This isn’t a traditional musical instrument though, it’s got the perfect balance between being a musical instrument and a device for listening to ready-made pieces.

For all the recent comparisons to the Monome (hey, they do both have grids of light-up buttons in a square), among other alternative musical interfaces, on this point there’s a truly fundamental departure philosophically. Most research and design on alternative interfaces has focused on either creating new instruments for musicians or making the experience of the listener more active/interactive. In the case of the Tenori-On, the device is really both simultaneously, covering the range from being an interactive, sound art take on the iPod to being an expressive performance instrument for musicians (as Mr. Iwai himself uses it). The fact that Gary Kibler, as a professional composer, here on CDM found that the device was so immediately accessible is promising — it suggests the user can have that range of experience individually. (Gary wrote that “the Tenori-On has probably the best elapse “zero-to-flow” time I’ve ever experienced as a musician.)

Now that the launch is done and TENORI-ONs are getting out into the hands of the public, we’ll see if this translates to a broad audience and real longevity.

Interview & Podcast: Toshio Iwai - Tenori-On Special [Defunktion]

Producer/composer Simon James, aka Corky Burger, has produced over an hour celebrating Bob Moog. Dr. Moog’s voice booms over a rich and wildly eclectic mix of music built on his instruments, interspersed by the voiceover from an old Moog Music demo piece. The timbral variety that results speaks volumes. While the mainstream press in their obituaries for Dr. Moog last year sometimes described his analog synths as outmoded or dated, these sounds are actually becoming more familiar to our ears over time, not less. With Moog still producing new instruments (Little Phatty, Moog Voyager), software emulations of the classic models, and virtually every software and hardware instrument deeply impacted by his designs, Bob is alive everywhere you look.

Simon writes:

Hope you enjoy the show and pardon the seriousness of the intro, on reflection I could have been a bit more celebratory in tone. It was sad when Bob Moog passed away but the show celebrates his life.

And before we get too serious, let’s admit it: we’re glad we get to live in an age where Nancy Sinatra’s Daytripper was covered on Moog synths.

Totally Radio: A Bob Moog Celebration

For shorter musical moments, Simon (”Corky”) has an extensive collection of Moog ringtones, so you can keep those Moog sounds ringing everywhere you go. Simon has also produced the fantastic Welcome to Mars podcast, filled with wall-to-wall Moog Voyager sounds.

You can download CDM’s own Moog Voyager ring tone, created by Corky, here:

Create Digital Tone

Preview CDM Tone

And, of course, Moog Music yesterday remembered their namesake with their 20-second Moment of Moog:

Moment of Moog

Composer Ken Soper reflects, “These sounds remind me that Bob, like the Minimoog Voyager, is alive.â€Â?

Macworld is always the highlight of the Mac year, and today was no exception. Apple’s keynote focused on the broad consumer market, but there was still plenty of good news for Mac musicians and audio pros. (Plus a few question marks, as usual.) Here’s CDM’s quick take:

Want something to put on your sexy new iPod other than Madonna tunes? Podcasting continues to grow into a rich, independent channel of music, and a useful source of information for digital musicians. Here are a few recent favorites:

Auxar is a netlabel cum blog cum podcast, filled with dark, digital electronic music. And while the majors get cold feet about digital rights, it’s all Creative Commons — watch the indies jump to a commanding position in sharing actual music over podcasts (which seems to me a big part of the appeal.

Steve Cooley has a great sound blog / podcast thing going called Some Sounds We Like. Best of all, check out Episode 2, with lots of coverage of gear and tools including a full pocket music roundup (PSP, Palm, etc.). Excellent! See also the bonus track.

Online retailer AudioMIDI.com has jumped into the fray with a superb, highly professional podcast with gear news, interviews, and 60-second lessons. AudioMIDI’s Doug Edge writes us and says the podcast “covers recent product announcements and info on the latest
gear. The Podcast also features the Tutorial Minute, which covers examples and explanations on everything from creating a beat to basic sound design techniques. You will also find interviews with artists (like our recent interview with film composer Rob Simonsen), as well as the people that
create the gear you use everyday (like our interview with Line 6’s own Marcus Ryle).” Wow, it’s amazing what these people with real jobs can do — very cool. Though I certainly can’t teach anyone anything in a minute, more power to you. (Disclosure: AudioMIDI is a CDM advertiser.)

Got your own podcast, or one you like to listen to? As always, let us know!

For more great listening, don’t miss Cris ‘Atariboy’ and his epic series on indie music for CDM, Dithered is the New Black — part 1, part 2, part 3. He promises he’ll be back soon with more.

CDM’s resident expert in indie music Atariboy is back with still more selections from the world of indie music. Get those headphones ready. -PK

Here we are again. The third installment of dithered is the new black, albeit,
3 weeks late :P

I like albums. I like the end to end experience instead of just listening
to a bunch of single tracks. So if a blog came along offering a new free album
a day, I’d be all over it. Ooohh [a
link!] *Cris
jumps all over it*

Speaking of jumping, there is nothing like some disco to
get you up. So from
the above blog, I must point out Cuebism’s
Circle EP.
Discofunkcut-upalicious! (and so is the CD cover art)

Behold the instrument-designing prowess of Roger Linn. You can check out his resume at the museum page of his site, but to make a long story short, it ranges from ground-breaking sampled drum machines to the legendary MPC sampler series from Akai. Without Roger, hip-hop as we know it would probably never have happened.

Fortunately, the man isn’t becoming a museum piece. With new AdrenaLinn gear and the Black Box guitar/drum box for M-Audio, the dude is going strong. Our friends over at the Fake Lab Report podcast sit down with Roger in the latest edition of their digital music-centric program; don’t miss it!

CDM’s friends at the Fake Science Lab report have a new podcast up, featuring Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason. As the creators point out, this is one small step for Nick, one giant leap for podcasting — Mason is the first industry figure to weigh in on an indie podcast. He talks about the book, the band, and some candid thoughts about the future of the music industry.

Fake Science has some other interesting guests on this show, too: talented German ambient producer Markus Guentner and cellist/violinist/producer Rena Jones (Rena’s been on CDM before to talk about her festival featuring women in electronic music).

I’m anxious to check out the new book Inside Out in paperback; it’s already on Amazon. I’ll add that to the reading pile inbox! (Check out the cover by long-time cover artist Storm Thorgerson!)

James Polanco of Fake Science writes us to tell about his new podcast, the Fake Science Lab Report. The show features new music (Creative Commons-licensed) and coverage of digital music technology and industry trends.

On the current show: an NPR vet's plan for Technopop, a proposed show
that would cover the impact of tech on music, plus the 5-cent song
model, Psychedelic Chili, and more. The first show profiled streaming
maestro David Biderman (Nullsoft, AOL/Time Warner, Apple) and others.

Thanks, James! We'll be listening. Readers, let me know what you're podcasting — as a listener or broadcaster.