Modulate This! - Electronic & Experimental Music Tech, Technique, & People

Thomas Dolby Wins 2012 Moog Innovation Award + Tours US + Releases New Video for "Mulu the Rainforest"

Moog Innovation Award

A big congrats to Thomas Dolby who won the Moog Innovation Award award this year. Past winners were DEVO in 2010 and Brian Eno in 2011.

Dolby is a self made man, synth pioneer, and mad scientist.  Like Bob Moog, Thomas Dolby’s quest for knowledge and desire to sculpt the world around him led him to the world of electronics, where he designed his own synths, founded his own software company, and charged head long through the world of pop music and into America’s consciousness.  To say he was blinded by science would be doing him a disservice, for science has been his guiding light, and technology his namesake.  For expanding the sonic boundaries of the new wave movement and for fearlessly embracing the future, Moog is proud to present Thomas Dolby with a custom Minimoog Voyager XL, in honor of being the 2012 Moog Innovation Award winner.

He’ll receive the award at Moogfest this year which is October 26th & 27th. I won’t be there so if you end up going take some photos :^).

US Tour – See You At the Denver Show
Thomas Dolby is also touring the US to support his new album “A Map of the Floating City”. He'll be playing Denver on October 23rd at 8:00 pm at the Bluebird Theater. I’ll be at the show so if you come down say hi. Below is a screen shot of his upcoming tour dates. Visit his tour page to get tickets.

New Video for Song “Mulu” With Cool Quadcopter Shots

Here is the brand new video for the 1983 song “Mulu the Rainforsest”. I’ve always loved this track so it’s great to see a video for it after all these years.

• The song "Mulu the Rainforest" from Thomas Dolby's classic album "The Flat Earth".
• Shot and Directed by Chad Johnson in August 2012
• © Lost Toy People / Chad Johnson 2012
• Shot with a GoPro attached to the XP2 quadcopter: ‪‪http://xproheli.com/affiliate/25/quadcopter/xp2-rc-aerial-video-quadcopter‬‬
• This video was shot in the Rockefeller Forest in the Giant Redwoods of Northern California.

Thomas Dolby Links:

• Official Web Site
• Twitter
• YouTube Channel
• Facebook Page
• Flick Stream
• Thomas’s Page on Moogfest Site

More Modulate This! Articles on Thomas Dolby Here

Mark Mosher
Electronic Musician, Boulder CO
www.ModulateThis.com
www.MarkMosherMusic.com

Thomas Dolby Video: Tipitina's,Time Capsule, and Belly Dancing

Thomas Dolby just posted a promotional video for his upcoming show at Tipitina’s in New Orleans. Sometime last year I saw a post on his Facebook page where he was bemoaning the fact that nonsense are videos getting more traffic than produced music videos.

I think this motivated him to create a very fun promo video to explain the “Time Capsule” trailer and promote a song with a belly dancer. More study might be required, but my guess is sex still sells - Rock on Thomas! Checkout his new album Map of the Floating City  on iTunes.

Links:

• http://www.thomasdolby.com/
• http://www.thomasdolby.com/tour/

Mark Mosher
Electronic Music Artist, Boulder, CO
www.ModulateThis.com
Official Web Site: www.MarkMosherMusic.com
Listen/Download Albums: www.MarkMosherMusic.com/music.html

Thomas Dolby Releases New EP 'Oceana'

Thomas Dolby is releasing his new album in EP segments to members of his fan club the Flat Earth Society. Membership is free and you can join up here.

He’s said on his blog that each segment will have different styles. The first EP was Amerkana which released in June and had a bluegrass vibe. In a recent newsletter Thomas discussed the styles of the first two segments:

I was flattered that so many people embraced it (Amerikana) without being too judgmental about the style I adopted. No 'oh god now Thomas has turned into a country singer--next he'll be doing Grand Ol' Opry wearing sheepskin chaps!' You knew it was just another musical idiom I adopted to help tell my stories, and I thank you for staying so open-minded. 'Oceanea' is a wild journey to a different time and place altogether.

I got an email from the fan club list today that Oceana is now available to members - Click here to visit the online store.

I just downloaded, and haven’t had time to listen yet. I can say the three tracks on the EP are:

1. Oceana
2. Simone
3. To the Lifeboats

You also get liner notes in PDF format which are quite nice.

Enjoy,

Mark Mosher
Electronic Music Artist, Boulder CO
www.ModulateThis.com
www.MarkMosherMusic.com

World Debut of New Songs from the Upcoming Thomas Dolby Album "A Map of the Floating City" + "The Singular Thomas Dolby"

 

Thomas Dolby is the guest DJ this week on the Wired Playlist Podcast (link launches iTunes). In this podcast, he offers a sneak peak at 2 1/2  songs from his first album of new material in 18 years - A Map of the Floating City.

In the podcast he debuts the songs “The Toad Lickers”, “Oceaneer”, and part of “To The Lifeboats”.   He’ll release the album as 3 downloadable EPs followed by a physical CD and full album release.

Interestingly, the podcast was broadcast from the wheelhouse of a restored 1930’s life boat located off the coast of the North Sea (his new studio). The podcast was powered by wind turbines. Visit the link to his blog at the bottom of this post to learn more about this interesting studio space.

In other Thomas Dolby related news, he’s also just released The Singular Thomas Dolby. The press release describes this as:

This 2-disc CD and DVD (PAL) collection features all Thomas Dolby’s singles and videos. It is released in the UK on May 18th 2009 and is available worldwide as an import.

Thomas Dolby Sole Inhabitant Concert DVD, CD, and Podcast

In my last post, I offered links to Thomas Dolby's recent appearance on NPR. In this follow-up post, I  want to  mention that he has produced an audio CD, DVD and podcast with live material from his 2006 'Sole Inhabitant Tour'.

I recently eceived the DVD as a gift and have to say its simply fantastic! I was in the audience during the show in Denver last spring and think the DVD does a nice job of capturing the feel of the show. In addition to concert footage, the DVD contains the following special features:

• Thomas Dolby: An Interview with DAvid Hoffman
• Layering.looping technique explained
• Story behind the songs
• A voyage around his rig

If your a Dobly fan, a digital musician, a computer-based producer, or a someone interested in performing live with computers I think you'll find the DVD both entertaining and informative.

Below I've provided a link to the DVD on amazon. www.thomasdobly.com has a list of other outlets as well as a cool video podcast section.

Thomas Dolby on NPR Weekend Edition

Thomas Dolby recently paid a visit to NPR's Studio 4a. The interview was broadcast today on New Years Eve. NPR has posted links to the interview as well as links to performances of 'She Blinded Me With Science', 'Hyperactive', 'Airwaves', 'Your Karma Hit My Dogma'. Click here to visit the NPR site. There are is also a link to a 1993 interview on the same page.

Visit www.thomasdolby.com for more details on Thomas Dolby.

Thomas Dolby - The Sole Inhabitant Podcast Series

Thomas Dolby has launched a new page for "The Sole Inhabitant Podcast Series".  The series is a weekly video podcast.

After a 15 year break from touring, Thomas Dolby is going back out on to the road

After a 15 year break from touring, Thomas Dolby is going back out on to the road. The tour is called the "Sole Inhabitant Tour 2006". From the looks of the info on his web site and blog, this is one man show driven by a Mac G5 running Logic Pro. He's sporting a cool new look that still stays true to his "Flat Earth" image. Click the image on the left to see a bigger version of the poster for the tour.

In the 80's, I had the good fortune of seeing tours supporting the albums "The Golden Age of Wireless" and "Aliens Ate My Buick". The shows were fantastic on many levels so I highly recommend you catch one of the upcoming shows if you can.

Thomas has a great web site, http://www.thomasdolby.com, which is filled with audio, videos, photos, tour dates, and more. He also has a new blog, http://blog.thomasdolby.com, which is a must read for both fans, and those interested in performing digital music live.

Use this link - http://version.thomasdolby.com/projection/live2006.html to see a video of him playing his first solo performance of the new tour which was recorded at the House of Blues Anaheim, CA. January 28th, 2006. I want to point out that this video illustrates his approach on this tour to interact with technology live, not simply use it as a static backing track. In the video, he builds up tracks live as the song starts - very cool!!!!

One more thing - Thomas - if you happen to read this blog entry, please schedule a show for Boulder Colorado :^).

Mark
www.newecho.com
www.markmoshermusic.com