Deoxit cleans dirty pots like new!

photo credit: kbcanon

I aint talkin’ about doin’ the dishes. Caig’s Deoxit is a miracle worker for old electronics that start to glitch out. Older audio equipment like electric guitars, amplifiers, receivers and the like will inevitably start to exhibit some problems sooner or later. If you hear scratchy noises, channel imbalance or other distortions when you adjust the switches and knobs (potentiometers, AKA “pots”) it’s often just because the contact points have gotten dirty and/or oxidized. This may even cause the sound to cut out completely which is what happened to the tweeter an old Acoustic Research speaker I picked up off eBay.

photo credit: conskeptical

Amazingly, there’s a quick fix for that. Just pop the top off, toggle the knob or switch in order to identify the metal contact point. Spray some deoxit in there making sure to target the contact point. Pots are often enclosed with small vents that you can spray in to get at the metal contact surface. Apply a short burst of Deoxit, then work it in for 30 seconds by operating the control across its full range of motion. This helps to break up oxides and contamination. Apply another short burst of Deoxit. Finally wait at least 2 minutes before turning the equipment back on and you’re good to go!  I fixed a vintage amplifier and a pair of AR-4x speakers from the late 60’s / early 70’s just like that.  At ~$25 a can, deoxit isn’t cheap but it will last most people a lifetime.

Radioshack brand Tuner Cleaner used to work but they recently changed the formula. Steer clear, big tuna. There, I fixed it.

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The Notwist are Something Wonderful

photo credit: angela n.

The music we listen to is the soundtrack of our lives.  I’ve spent years branching out and exploring lots of different music, 160 gigs / 1,700 albums / 22,000 songs if you count what’s on my hard drive.  The process of music discovery has been a fun and rewarding one.  But lately I’ve been showing all the signs of something… and just now have I put it all together and realized what it means.

The end of Pela :(

Pela, an indie rock band from Brooklyn who were on the verge of releasing a new album, seemed poised to do big things but as of Friday they’ve called it quits. Check out my post on Music Vixen for more details including new unreleased songs.

Photo credit: Whatthefunk

Elbow – One Day Like This

This song came up on my iPod while on shuffle this morning and I really enjoyed it.  I also love this video so I’m declaring it my personal pick of the day.  Silly Polydor / UMG not allowing their videos to be embedded.  What control freaks.  I’m embedding it anyway, in protest, even though it won’t play.  (You can just click through)

the Notwist & Andromeda Mega Express Orchestra

The Notwist are touring with Andromeda Mega Express Orchestra.  Unfortunately for those of us in the states, it doesn’t look like they’ll be coming here.  However, the group has released a couple of live videos on youTube in very high quality!  Hopefully a live CD or DVD will be in the works.

Upcoming tour dates:

Notwist, only
02.10.2009 PT Fundão – A Moagem-Cidade do Engenho e das Artes

Notwist and the Andromeda Mega Express Orchestra
09.12.2009 DE Berlin – Astra Kulturhaus
10.12.2009 DE Dortmund – FZW
11.12.2009 BE Brussels – AB Hall
12.12.2009 UK London – Union Chapel

The Notwist Side Projects of Plenty

The Notwist are a wonderful alternative indie rock-pop-electronic band from Germany. Just recently, allmusic.com led me to discover the various side projects from the members of Notwist. Here is a brief exploration of those projects.

Console – Suck and Run

(switch to HQ to fix the sound quality!)

Console is a side project for Martin Gretschmann, the lead programmer for Notwist.  Console has released 4 electronica albums on various labels.

13 & God – Men of station

13 & God was a calaboration of Anticon label members Themselves (Adam “Doseone” Drucker, Jerry “Jel” Logan, Dax Pierson) and Germany’s the Notwist (Markus Acher, Micha Acher, Martin Gretschmann, Martin Messerschmid).  They released a self titled album in 2004.

Tied & Tickled Trio – Revolution

Tied & Tickled Trio was formed in 1994 by Notwist members Markus (drums, programming) and Micha Acher (trumpet, upright bass).  Their debut features Christoph Brandner on drums as well as serveral other German musicians.  The group has been described as a fusion of modern electronic and contemporary jazz.

Lali Puna – Faking the Books

Guitarist Markus Acher is a member of Lali Puna along with vocalist Valerie Trebeljahr and drummer Christoph Brandner (of the Tied & Tickled Trio).  The experimental electro-pop group released 3 albums in the 90’s and 00’s.

Ms. John Soda – Number One

Ms. John Soda is a “part-time” project by Couch keyboardist Stephanie Böhm and Notwist bassist Micha Acher.  They’ve released three albums, most recently Notes and the Like in ’06.

Loyal eMusic Customers Disenfranchised

Monoliths and Dimensions, the new album by Sunn O))) has a Metascore of 87 which is currently the 3rd highest Metascore of 2009.  This is the type of critically acclaimed yet difficult to digest experimental indie album that eMusic users should eat right up.  Which is why I was surprised to see the eMusic user rating is a mediocre 3.0 out of 5.  So what gives?  It turns out the users who gave negative reviews were actually expressing their contempt for eMusic’s new pricing structure in lieu of rating the music on the album.

So I can get this 4 song album for 12 song credits? Score!