Cyber Secrets #1: Mining The Deep Web
The world wide web has become a virtual universe illuminating the reach of collective human imagination, which stretches farther every day. In our new series, we explore the forgotten corners and disused spaces of this universe, revealing some of the most ingenious, absurd and wonderful rest stops of the information superhighway.
"The Internet is a natural expression and embodiment of the aspiration of modern society for unlimited and immediate access to information and unlimited means for individual creativity and self-expression. These are characteristics of the mental stage of social evolution."
Thus argues Roy Posner, the founder of the self-empowering Growth Online website (which is a strange cyber-corner in and of itself) in a 2010 essay entitled The Internet In Society’s Evolution. And with nearly three billion people regularly online, the amount of individual free expression approaches the infinite. The daily torrential outpouring of new webpages (estimated to be around 750 thousand per day) continues to overwhelm us with information – and the vast majority get lost in the shuffle. Which is why – whether dealing with online music posting, vintage YouTube finds, sketchy business ventures, video art and essays – we attempted to gather nine curated nuggets from the far corners of the deep-web. Enjoy.
Gabor’s Progressive MIDI Pages
Hungarian net-hobbyist Gábor Kerényi, MD, enjoys playing his saxophone, geo-caching, wind surfing and making the most labor-intensive MIDI files ever spanning the gamut of progressive rock. Here you can download MIDI transcriptions from Egg, King Crimson, Premiata Forneria Marconi, Goblin, Soft Machine and Gentle Giant, repurposing them for your pleasure from the comforts of your bedroom DAW. Since you’re not actually downloading the songs, we think this is legit to recommend.
BONUS: If you’re really adventurous, you can try the 500+ Dutch hardstyle MIDI collection here.
The Original 5 1/4" Disk Sleeve Archive
For complete design inspiration check out the alphebetised archive of 5 1/4" floppies, the ubiquitous disks that stored such classics as Commander Keen, Prince Of Persia and King’s Quest.
Edge Of The Wedge With The Severed Heads
Here, Australian pseudo-industrialists Richard Fielding and Tom Ellard of Severed Heads explain how to synthesise video imagery and, err, exploding watermelons respectively for ABC Television. Filled with keen, practical advice for today’s music makers, we suggest taking a trip to your nearest green grocer this evening. Our favourite Ellard quote? “Recently somebody pointed out that I’d used a Roland 303 Bassline to make trance music in 1982. That means I am Elvis Presley.”
The Immense Discography Of Sir Juan Mutant
One good rule of thumb when collecting music is that if the album art is bad, you have a decent chance of the music being good. The other rule to remember is that if an artist has over 70 albums, there is a decent chance that there are at least a few good songs. In the case of the of misunderstood Sir Juan Mutant, he has over 140 on offer at CDBaby. Many with tracklists running over 50 songs long. Having only been through a small fraction of the sounds, we can safely assure you that at least 27 are really good so far.
Deborah King lives just outside of Edinburgh, Scotland. She spends her days working in the social care sector and her nights wilfully crossing the ‘uncanny valley’ by making the most horrifically exact, lifelike dolls imaginable. However, they make great presents and lend themselves perfectly for repulsive practical jokes.
William Gibson, on camera, explaining the movement and manifesto of the burgeoning wired youth culture. Complete with vintage CGI, extended drum-breaks, deep databases and stories of federal crackdowns, this is one documentary you might want to phreak.
An extensive archive of the evolution of our dear machines. Complete with pictures, diagrams, manuals, advertisements and specs. With 256kb of RAM for only $4995, you too can harness the power of the future.
Dave Soldier, the visionary behind the world’s “most wanted” and “most unwanted” music initiated an after-school program for children in the mid 2000s, where children were asked to write and produce rap songs without any direction. They were divided into groups of four whereby they named their ‘band’ (coming up with gems such as The Muffletoes and The Boys And Girls Club Of The Night), were given hard-to-break MIDI controllers and drum machines and Dave pressed record. You can download the whole compilation off Dave’s website here. Highly recommended.
Red Bull Music Academy Website (Circa 2000)
Let’s just say that things around the Academy used to be a little different... “At the Red Bull Music Academy, you’ll meet lawyers, record company bosses, DJs and general music business personnel who’ll pass on their impartial advice on how best to deal with the sharks out there... We will be looking and experimenting with... Cyberpop: the internet, your future as an MP3.”
Proof that it may actually be best if some things do remain hidden.
Submit your own cyber secrets to cybersecrets@redbullmusicacademy.com.
