This is really sad news. One of the last Exotica icons of the 1950s. She experienced several resurrgences of interest in her life and was a truly unique artist. This text is from her homepage.

Nov-2-2008

It is with deep sadness, that we report that Yma Sumac passed away at 11 am on Saturday Nov 1st. It was peaceful. Those closest to her were at her side.

A very, very private funeral will be held at an undisclosed location. Per her and her closest relative’s instructions, she will be interred in Hollywood, where she spent 60 years of her life.

Her last year was spent surrounded by people who loved her and looked after her with the very best care possible. It should be a consolation that she was always surrounded by flowers, your beautiful cards, photos of her glory days, and an extraordinary view of Los Angeles’ west side. Also, her personal assistant’s two little Chihuahua’s, whom she loved dearly.

Although this news is written as “news” we are all devastated here. Indeed, there was plenty of time to prepare, but when that final moment comes, one finds they may not be at all prepared.

Yma Sumac – Official web site – the Inca princess

Some Yma Sumac videos.

CNN on Yma Sumac

Update:
I got it today, but could only read bits here and there so far.
My favorite quote currently is Johnny Bartlett saying:
“See, a lot of surf bands (in recent years) got it so wrong. It’s not just the guitar you use, or the sound you get, or the clothes you wear… it’s the whole package.”

I encourage anyone with an interest in Surf to buy it asap. It’s just epic.

Pop Surf Culture: Music, Design, Film, and Fashion from the Bohemian Surf Boom: Brian Chidester, Domenic Priore
This is going to be a must have book – just trust me. If you’ve read previous publications by the authors (like the latest Dumb Angel Magazine for example), you know they get deep into their subjects and have great sense for entertaining writing. They take you right there, with coolest people – connecting all the dots of southern california youth culture of the sixties.

link to Pop Surf Culture on Amazon for your pre-order. I am Amazon affiliated, which just means by using this link for a purchase you get a great book and support this blog at the same, for the same money. Why give it all to Amazon ;–?

just what the headline says.

go to bookmark

This is another one. The modification of olf hi-fis to support modern media-components seems to become popular. And I understand it. They are too beautiful to throw away if you have the space and they sound incredible.

Mister Jalopy artwork on display in Los Angeles gallery Nov. 1 – 18, 2008 – Boing Boing

see Groovy Dance Party in 1963 — with Groovy Fun Music

When I was asked to DJ Exotica music on a boat recently I had to burn some vinyl of mine to CD. So I could see the sound waves and made two screenshots of the perfectly mastered Arthur Lyman album Bahia.

The reason I chose this one was that the loudest and first track I ripped peaked at 0dB without the limiter catching it. I just left the dials to their own devices and hoped I can capture the entire album with this “magic” setting. It was just plain luck. So I ripped this particular vinyl record without any additional limiting or compression, peaking at 0dB and all the music of that album perfectly relative to that peak.

When you see the soundwaves you will recogn that each one has got its own shape. This means that the creativity of the musicians is reflected in the volume at any given point in time, allowing for drama, surprises and expression. Sure there was some kind of processing going on even in those days, but it was to get a good, hi-fi sound at the end-consumer, with the goal being a natural room impression – heavy compression doesn’t allow that. See that one very quiet track – it’s meant to be that way. How they made it? They played their instruments softer. You have to be quiet yourself to clearly hear it, you start interacting with the music.

It all made me realize on a new level, what beautiful works of art music masters can be.

Here are two Heavy Metal soundfiles for comparison. It’s the same track, the upper, more dynamic one was given to a game company, the lower one is from the CD album. Wether this was a mistake or the less dynamic sound was considered more desireable I don’t know.

related posts:
Turn Me Up! | Bringing Dynamics Back To Music
Loudness Wars Explained
Article on Metallica‘s new album at Wired.

Now you can cover your boring Apple iPhones and Motorola Razr V3 cell-phones with wild low-brow Tiki art by MySpace friend Big Toe. If it wouldn’t have been for his bulletin this would ’ve completely passed me by.

Visit Big Toe at Ding Life and MySpace

limited edition of 500!

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see Go Getters – No Heart to Spare

see Heartaches