3
08
2009

Many things are on the go, maybe too much same time.
- On Garageband still no reviews for Hox Vox, seems like in august most of reviewers are on the beach. Meanwhile, I continue in doin’ mine to earn another contest entry.
- I’m a little stuck with Maya 3D. The usual wall of complexity at 25% of self-instruction, mostly based on the great number of new info (brain refuse to fill in further, it’s “bored”). I need it for my job and next videos. Anyway I learnt basics in modeling and rigging, which is the most important thing. I’ve seen I can re-use my old bevelling basic solids Lightwave tecnique, and add new sculpting features to a defined shape. I prefer to go into deep with these two parts then start with FX (liquids, sparkles, fluids, mass scenes management and so on).
- I have to do a Clash cover (Complete Control from first record) for Apskaft, we’re doin’ a compilation based on Rolling Stones top 500. As usual we random assigned tracks, I had to choose between Who’s Baba O’Riley, Clash’s Complete Control and a song by Springsteen. I eliminated Springsteen immediately
, and I was uncertain between clash and one of the very few songs by Who I like, but Clash was nearest to me, I listened a lot to that record (and to London Calling or Sandinista!)
- Collaborations. I’m keeping contact with various musicians to make a team-up record in the next future, but I’m too busy to start anything. Good luck they are all calm, pacific and patient people
- I found a NING group pretty interesting: http://progrock.ning.com/ and joined immediately. After a half dozen NINGs by electronic musicians, I can talk about avant & prog with a few nice people. They inserted three songs of mine (intro, Behind the Curtain and Møre og Romsdal) in the main playlist, and we started to exchange info and opinions via forum or shoutbox. Friendly, (and freaky, as prog deserves). Well I’m passing most of the NING-time
there.
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Categories : Planning
24
07
2009
Today I entered Garageband’s Experimental Rock contest with Behind the Curtain (from Étoile). I was unsettled on what genre, as this song is progressive but also math rock, a friend of mine told me it’s quite kingcrimsonian, and KC are one of the biggest example in oblique music ranging from avantgarde to prog or simple mechanic rock.
Zappa is one of the Big artists suggested by Garageband to define “Experimental Rock”, with Mogwai (!). Really, can’t see anything in common. But seems to me I’m more zappian than similar to Satriani, suggested by Instrumental Rock (another hypotesis I pondered on, but left after this evidence).
OK, cross my fingers and let’s see what’s happening! Wooooohoooo!
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Tags : GarageBand
Categories : Étoile
18
07
2009

Fourth release by Hox Vox, it’s a concept album about stars – both intended as prima ballerinas and celestial bodies – and their issues.
Genre is a series of mixes with world music, symphonic progressive, a bit of contemporary and kraut electronics, always with the free approach of Rock in Opposition tradition (from Zappa to Henry Cow): sometimes resulting in complex structures with mindbending pairings of melodies and subtle detuned arrangments.
Étoile start with a Residents-like intro sung by a couple of real pigs, then a piece of math/art rock, sounding like a too dry death metal. Then from Rhythmbox the record begins wedging prog, contemporary, world and electronics.
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Tags : Étoile
Categories : Uncategorized
5
02
2009
This afternoon I modified last tiny details and saved master file for Thar Desert, 3rd videoclip from an Outskirt track.
This time I worked on a more ordinary videoclip concept, but I couldn’t just trace out. I recorded by a viewcam me playing Thar Desert and extracted a discreet number of frames (a nightmare cutting them out, really), then assembled again in animated sequence form.
Alberta Marchiori gave me pictures she shooted in Egypt last December, so I made a great use of them to create the environment and some absurdities (as usual).
The result is obviously grotesque as I still believe in The Residents / Frank Zappa / Pere Ubu and share at 101% their nothing-is-sacred approach.

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Categories : Hox Vox Box, Outskirt
17
01
2009
Belief: Greed videoclip is OK, I uploaded it in Youtube Hox Vox Box channel.
I worked on a video of mine which won a couple of animation contest prizes in first 90s, called “Peyote”. The strange process was 1) clean the video like it was done nowadays 2) add animation part missing and create… an aged film aspect, like it was an old documentary film.
Seems strage but the real video damages were very bad, the computer-generated are somewhat pleasant, they look like vintage but without destroy too much the footage.
Plot is about a peyote experience by a late 60s hippie on mexican mesa. I think is a good companion for Belief: Greed, as song and images are both dealing with psychedelic (but song is more aptly tagged as avantprog/rock in opposition).
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Categories : Hox Vox Box, Outskirt
8
01
2009
I just finished first videoclip from Outskirt, and uploaded to my new Hox Vox Box channel on Youtube.
I’ve chosen Belief: Wrath because that anti-song (which I tag as “grindcore classical”) was very apt to a sarcastic point of view about live concerts. I was always surprised how people are totally mad during them, but calm and serious just before and after.
I mean, it’s more noticeable than people disguised in carnival… seems like they were waiting for eons to give vent to their need of raising against normal boring lifestyle. It sound me as a clear pent-up driven expression.
While I respect it, I got the right to kid it. I used a mixed technique (die-cuts in the usual way but also 2D puppet which gives movements a gummy elasticity) so the result is very near to Terry Gilliam’s (of Monthy Python) animations, it has the same “Max Ernst meets Tex Avery” taste.
Probably frenzy animation rhythm override music in itself, I mean it tends to steal the lead role; as the music is mechanical and obsessive, so it goes on the back. Not the steel snare, of course, it sticks in your cranium as a nail. You can’t forget it.
I think it’s exactly what I wanted: a video not confortable, but funny all the same. Here is it: enjoy!
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Categories : Hox Vox Box, Outskirt
8
01
2009
As I was almost at the end of Belief: Wrath videoclip, I found a little time to open a Youtube channel dedicated to Hox Vox, called Hox Vox Box (a little cacophonic, but very modular – better than Lego – so I like it).
According to the name I created a logo, a carton box with some blue (my favorite color) stars coming out. I love ochre + warm blue (with a little % of yellow in it) pairing, so I didn’t spend too much time searching for right colors. That’s what I like in a solo project: nobody disagree
.
I’ll use it like a TV channel logo, superimposing it in classical position – on the right corner down.
Now the page is a little basic, with a tiled background with the name of the channel, but I think few more will be done as YouTube pages’ scheme is quite rigid, with few customization possibilities.
Seems like You can change box colors but not shapes, or put a texture behind a title area: just have a background, and not bigger than 256 KB).
Anyway, after a couple of days needed to make the channel start, now it’s ready to fill with videos.
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Categories : Hox Vox Box