Plutonic Rainbows

Copying Files

January 31, 2018

Learning how to copy files with Python. The script also checks the file size in bytes.

from sys import argv
from os.path import exists

script, from_file, to_file = argv

print "Let's copy from %s to %s." % (from_file, to_file)

in_file = open(from_file)
indata = in_file.read()

print "The size is %s bytes in length." % len(indata);
print "Does the target file exist? %r" % exists (to_file)

raw_input()

out_file = open(to_file, 'w')
out_file.write(indata)

in_file.close()
out_file.close()

print "All done."

Kuniyuki Takahashi - Early Tape Works 1986 - 1993 Volume 1

January 30, 2018

Bleep:

The Amsterdam crew delve deep into the archives of Japanese deep house sensation Kuniyuki to bring us six entrancing early compositions. MFM027 collects some of the choice early recordings from a man known for his expert sound design and earthy, percussive leaning dance tracks. The songs that Tako & Jamie Tiller have opted for show a rough and slightly amateur sounding approach to the stylistic traits that would go on to define a career. Blurring the lines between kosmiche, ambient, dub and electro this record is top quality as you’ve no doubt come to expect from the label.

Vinyl & Digital from Bleep

The Radiophonic Workshop - Burials In Several Earths

January 29, 2018

Boomkat:

Burials In Several Earths is a brand new work by the legendary Radiophonic Workshop. Nearly two decades after the Workshop was decommissioned, original members Peter Howell, Roger Limb, Dr Dick Mills, Paddy Kingsland and long-time associate composer Mark Ayres are back working together, featuring guest appearances from Martyn Ware and Steve ‘Dub’ Jones, creative an evocative suite of synth improvisations.

At first glance a new album from The Radiophonic Workshop may be viewed as something of a surprise, arriving long after the pioneering group’s last long player together. But it does make sense. A fair chunk of modern day archivalism has rightly focused on the group’s work for the BBC, after the workshop was established by Desmond Briscoe and Daphne Oram in the late ‘50s and crafted soundtracks that were well ahead of their time. This renewed interest led to core original members reconvening The Radiophonic Workshop in 2012 to undertake a series of live performances.

From this we now have Burials In Several Earths, released on the group’s own Room 13 label - the name a canny nod to the BBC Maida Vale studio where they did so much great work. Recorded with celebrated engineer Steve ‘Dub’ Jones and Human Leaguer Martyn Hare, this album finds the veteran work shoppers freed from the constraints of working to a script and expressing their creativity in a spontaneous manner. The resultant five tracks occupy a strange – but totally alluring – place; sat somewhere between the Workshop’s own iconic work and a cadre of modern day practitioners who have undoubtedly been profoundly influenced by them, such as Pye Corner Audio, and Alessandro Cortini.

Pool Boy - Pool Boy LP

January 28, 2018

Apparently Deluxe Oceanview was created in, and inspired by, a coastal Vancouver view, but the label upon which Pool Boy LP was released (Coastal Haze) is keeping the identity of the producer a secret.

Jonas Reinhardt - Conclave Surge

January 27, 2018

Great new album from this artist. Conclave Surge is a set of soaring pieces that bring to mind the work of Tangerine Dream, Jean Michel-Jarre and Klaus Schulze.

I also enjoyed Terekke - Plant Age.

Pitchfork:

Terekke’s music is like a warped, alternate-reality version of Burial. Though the two producers conjure disparate moods (where Burial is rainy and despondent, Terekke is warm and hopeful), they take a similar approach to abstracting dance music into its own world, inside your headphones and your head. The two producers also share an affinity for using samples from pop stars like Mariah Carey or Beyoncé, melting their voices into gooey echoes that feel familiar but unplaceable. On last year’s “i wanna what love is,” Terekke molded Carey’s voice into a spectral image, and on 2014’s “Untitled B1,” under his X alias, he sampled Sade’s “Is It a Crime” into a loose, rippling club jam. Terekke’s skeletal, dubby approximations of house reflect the same deconstruction-reconstruction of dance music as Burial, though Gardner meshes inspiration from Chicago house and Berlin dub techno, where Burial reflects the musical legacy of the UK underground.

Plant Age is an album as comfortable and versatile as your favorite sweater—it’s lived-in, welcoming, and warm. Recorded sporadically over the past five years, it’s considerately sequenced and is glued together in a fairly uniform haze. The congruousness of Plant Age, the ubiquitous smoky gel that cushions all of his tracks, speaks to Terekke’s fondness for recording to cassette tape. The album effectively sets a mood and continues to reveal itself more deeply upon repeated listens. “BB2” is the clubbiest cut on the release, a muted yet pounding house track that sounds like it’s being played through a pillow. “BB2” hews closest to Terekke’s older material, with gorgeous oozy chords peeking through a smoky haze, and a ghostly vocal sample makes the song both spooky and forlorn.