December's Nomad, part 2, solar-powered drums!

click to view December's Nomad, part 2

hmmm.... Breakbeat of the... Pre-ReLease?
Well i'm having a hard time deciding whether or not to include non-real-time videos here on BreakBeat of the Week... In some ways its not quite the same as fresh "vlogging"... In other ways, we're just catching up from editing studio snafus passed down to us from finicky technology... and before you know it... what happened to that blog?
So here it is, and partly 'cause I couldn't resist putting out 2 blogs back to back, saturday and sunday.... (well it WOULD've been sunday, but my local Brazilian web cafe had a Mac meltdown yesterday!) And so i guess the easy rule is, when in doubt: Vlog! 'Specially here from Brazil... where its been raining)
So this one is part 2 of a rather run-a-way piece i started editing (and couldn't stop adding to) throughout December and into January... as continuation of that episode called "December Nomad" uploaded on Dec 20... (half the footage was actually shot a month earlier on my birthday... during a strange batch of unseasonably HOT weather in Malibu CA... thanks to A for shooting and rapping) Tried to pull a quick editing frenzy to finish, but then it was time to get ready for Brazil! (AND i was outa' server space...)
So finally, here's the piece, and what comes next is a surprise even to me.... Maybe tune in later this week...? or better yet subscribe to EK_BBW... and as always, and for sake of no HTML in this future feed-burnt post, please click on eklektro dot net slash breakbeatweek dot html
and then you can see what's fresh on our channelized delivery, eventually daily!
Yes, from the perspective of conscious streams vs. episodes vs. documentaries... strange images and loops... blah blah vlogging...
So no more words / dig the drumming, and feel free to please leave blog commentary
cheers,
EKG

7 minutes of Eklektro: Talking Dread

Well we had to go and do it... Now that we've entered the world of syndicated video blogging and have our first few dozen subscribers, it was time to put the cam on the tripod and do one of those conventional "talking head" video blogs! In this case its "talking dread"...

click to view: Talking Dread

Long overdue, you might get a kick out of this, 'cause i take the opportunity to explain (for the first time viewer) exactly what Ek-Lek-Tro is all about! Electronic music? RVs? Solar Power? ummm... Random world travel and vague video?
Well, i can certainly ramble, but hey, you can load it onto your video iPod for later consumption... So give it a good listen, and i think you'll come to understand exactly what's going on here in the world of Eklektro... 'cause its just the beginning! (And yes, we ARE looking for LA contributors and like-minded bloggers worldwide for our video channel). Many projects in the works, so be sure to subscribe to Eklektro!
Thanks to Derek Lotek and Brian Naoism for quick knob-tweaking appearances and PA graphics in this episode...
Sorry for any messy editing, bad lighting, noisy bits and what-not, but hey, this isn't "film-making"... This is vlogging!
Enjoy! and happy Breakbeat of the Week-end!
Greg

Brazil Guest-Cam from Danny N, Road to Floripa

Traveling Brazil for over 3 months running, my friend Danny is a capoeira instructor and fellow electronic musician with an eye and ear for adventure! Also, his mp4 camera is a little more stealth than my Sony 3-chip, enabling him to pick up and shoot at the drop of a hat. So after hanging in Floripa a few days, we got around to comparing clips, and i offered to edit together some of his footage for this week's Breakbeat of the Week submission... So dig the lo-fi spy-cam flavor as you get to sit in on some uniquely Brazilian rituals and rhythms... Breaking beats from the streets, and the beach!
enjoy!
ek>G

click here or on the image to view part 2

camera by Danny N
(un)editing by ek>G

the above movie is an mp4 file, for wider compatiblity
an ipod compatible file is located here
but you'll need the absolute latest quicktime driver
(and perhaps a browser tweak or 2 in order to view)

Virtual Brasil: Be Here Now: Florianopolis

3/10/06: Missed the plane to the Amazon! ... a sure sign of being happy where i am:
happy with the here and now... happy with the studio jungle-house... my latest new home as a tech-nomad, Florianopolis, Brasil... affectionately referred to as "Floripa":

i laugh out loud ironic and otherwise non-complain
the day i missed the plane...
unbroken Mac still in my hands, still no stolen camera
no broken bones, blown screens or viral inflictions
Here are the nomad's weekly inflections
cast to the wireless wind...
cast to my non-minions...
noisy media aimed at those on the verge,
those on the non-grid...
cast to all otherwise getting by on the perimeters of life
expressive technology in tandem, or extension to the body
from mobile phone to new home in a wilderness-studio
sprouting up on jungle-backstreets
ocean sky in the jungle night
how else could i miss a flight?
floripa brasil '06

(good news is that despite what they told me on the phone... i got through a loophole...
went to the airport with Alessandra as translator... and rebooked the Amazon for early April!)

... and so here we are, and with fresh video!

In the middle of this clip, there's a street performance which is quite intriguing... shot in Brasilia, we'd love to get a line-by-line translation of the dialog! Bear in mind that this "performance" is totally improvised, made up on-the-fly! This type of street performance is called "repente", pronounced hey-PEN-chi. So here's a spontaneous offering from a very dynamic duo Danny stumbled across. And as for the rather rhythmic and impassioned repentista? I think she could go head to head and trade rhymes with Mike D, Ad-Rock or MCA anyday! Look out, Beastie Boys!

part one

...of a 3 minute trickle-down from 3 months of fresh life-surveilance video from my friend danny's incognito cam, edited in one rainy afternoon... backpack studio style

the above clip is posted as an mp4 file, for wider compatiblity
an more compatible file for ipod is located at here
but you'll need the absolute latest quicktime driver
(and perhaps a browser tweak or 2 in order to view)

Floripa grafitti

...and of course, archives are always located at:
Eklektro Breakbeat of the Week
enjoy!
ek>G

more street beats from Salvador!

Part Three

Crazy rhythms from the get-go, here's one more clip from Salvador...
Carnaval... the finale!
enjoy!

and in case you have trouble viewing, here's the same clip in non iPod codec
Part Three

Soon time to move onward: The splurge for the Brazilian Airpass was money well spent, considering the size of the Brasil and the epic 30-hour bus rides between regions. So you get 4 airline trips in 21 days, for $572 US. All this excitement and cultural absorption before settling down for a month in a beach house down south in Florianopolis.... where i'll switch to full-time editing mode and certainly some freshly-inspired electronic drum work.
But then a 5 day jaunt to the Amazon, early April... then Rio de Janeiro. Stay tuned for street-level jams from these locations as well.

Eklektro: eclectic electronics... everywhere!
over and out,
ek>G
aka gReg

Eklektro Trio Eletrico, Salvador, Carnaval part 2

Carnaval continues, and the energy picks up each night. This extended jam goes for 7 minutes as you watch the "trio eletrico" make its way down the street, like a pirate ship floating past historical buildings... with the singer's mantra repeating (rough translation) "keep that evil eye off of me..." Ending with the ecstatic laughter of little kids decked out in the colors of the group...

click here for Part Two

One scene i didn't dare try to capture on video (keeping my camera safely stashed), was a walk through a secret alleyway, then down an actual hillside shanty-town around midnight Monday. we passed through 3 raucous makeshift reggae "bars", built in front of people's homes, further and further down the random palm-lined hills, down steps cut into clay, cinderblock, balconies, outhouses, gardens, dogs and cats and dreadlocked kids up WAY past their bedtime (Carnaval is for everyone!)... all along this zig-zagging trail with dancehall reggae blasting to full distortion levels. Rastas everywhere... strange mixed vibe of absolute chill and absolute tension... but this was the ONLY place in the city our guide told us we could have a quick smoke in peace. (ahh, paz.... underground of the underground)

and so we keep blogging Brazil, but don't forget our archives at
Eklektro Breakbeat of the Week

cheers!
ek>G