User:Djbrokenwindow/Sandbox

Hand2Mouth
Hand2Mouth is an ensemble theater based in Portland, Oregon

Links
Hand2Mouth Theatre webpage: -

Synthpunk is a music genre name invented by Damian Ramsey in an attempt to retroactively identify a small sub-genre of punk music from 1977-1984 that involved musicians playing synthesizers in place of guitars. The word is a portmanteau of the words "synthesizer" and "punk" (or "punk rock" or "punk music").

The term "synthpunk" was first originated for Damian Ramsey's web domain name hosting the Synthysteria! web pages that he authored in 1999 at http://www.synthpunk.org. The contents of this page documents his selection of American music groups Nervous Gender, The_Units, The Screamers, Tone Set, Our Daughters Wedding, and Voice Farm under one curatorial umbrella. The site collected text and images of discographies, flyers, interviews, anecdotes, and listed sources through research Damian organized between 1999 and 2005.

Characteristics
Due to the predominant use of guitars in punk music's rock music influencial roots, the use of synthesizers was controversial in the punk scene even though the culture of punk music commonly embraced an anti-establishment political stance. It was very rare, particularly in America, for punk musicians to use synthesizers or keyboards at all, let alone replacing the guitars with them. While the rejection of using guitars in punk music was an extension of the logic of punk music's anti-establishment politics, it went farther than many fans were willing to go. It is probably due to this issue that the identification of a synthesizer-based, sub-genre of punk rock took so many years to become named.

|thumb|right|150px|Cover of the first synthpunk single The Units' The_Units]]

Skacid is a genre of house music from 1988-1989 that is a mix of ska and acid house. The name most probably originates from Longsy D's House Sound 1988 "Mental Ska", where the lyrics repeat the word skacid in the second verse when he raps about his new style of "hiphop-reggae". Skacid clearly follows on the heels of the briefly popular hip house genre and borrows from most of hip house's form.

The word "skacid" appears as the name of a few remixes of Longsy D tracks published in 1989, as well as the catalog number/name for Beechwood Music Label's "Ska Beats 1" compilation in 1989 as "SKACID 1LP". This compilation is possibly the only skacid compilation in existence, and it contains skacid recordings by Longsy D, Ranking Roger, Buster Bloodvessel, Ministry of Ska, Double Trouble & The Rebel MC, and Roughneck

Characteristics
Skacid usually features the signature characteristics of hip house, namely Roland TR-909 drum machine for percussion and a rapping MC vocalist, and sometimes a Roland TB-303 Bassline synth. Skacid often replaced the breakbeat sample with a ska or pitched-up reggae rhythm sample. Though, in the case of Double Trouble & The Rebel MCs "Just Keep Rockin' (House Mix)", the bass intro from "Mr. Big Stuff" by Stax label artist Jean Knight is sampled and pitched/sped up.

The most sophisticated of skacid tracks had melodic horn sections in the same arrangement that a typical ska song would include horns.

Cosmic Disco
Cosmic disco is reference to the Cosmic Disco nightclub in Lazise, a little town near Verona, on Lago di Garda, in northern Italy. Also, Cosmic Disco simultaneously refers to the Cosmic club's resident dj Danielle Baldelli 's signature style of mixing of disco music that was featured there between 1979 and 1984. Baldelli's mixing style stood out for extreme shifts of playback speed (sometimes from 33RPM and 45RPM and a diverse range of disco played unusally slow, at roughly 80 to 110 BPM.

The term "cosmic disco" has been used somewhat interchangeably with the genre name space disco, but cosmic disco differs in that it is more specific to the slowed down tempo established by Baldelli and usually features a large variety of acoustic percussion and electric bass and guitar.

There is a new generation of artists making this style: Prins Thomas , Hans-Peter Lindstrom and Terry_Terje

Links
DJ Mooner has made a cosmic disco oriented mix: http://www.soulseduction.com/common/item_detail.php?ItemID=167171

An afro-cosmic disco style mix from 1981 from Baldelli's colleague/contemporary, DJ Beppe Loda: http://www.rhythmism.com/forum/showthread.php?t=42737

An interview with Baldelli by Daniel Wang: http://www.discopia.com/portal/issues/issue3/baldelli