Mojo’s Pick of the Week – Mothership “High Strangeness”

Posted on March 23, 2017 by Mojo

Stoner rock stalwarts Mothership have returned with a new album, “High Strangeness”, released on March 17, 2017, and it’s a sweet ride. Starting slow and easy with the title track before picking up speed with rumbling tracks like Midnight Express and Crown of Lies, High Strangeness is a great addition to the genre, full of what bassist-vocalist Kyle Juett calls “supersonic intergalactic heavy rock and roll”.

The Texas trio is currently on the road with Black Pussy. Catch them if you can.

High Strangeness is available to stream or buy from Ripple Music on Bandcamp here.

Crown of Lies

Mothership on the web:
http://mothershipusa.com
https://www.facebook.com/mothershipusa
https://twitter.com/mothershipusa

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Mojo’s Pick of the Week – Logic Pro X 10.3

Posted on February 15, 2017 by Mojo

My pick of the week is the latest, greatest version of Apple’s digital audio workstation, Logic Pro X 10.3. This is no minor point release, but an overhaul of an already world-class DAW. You must have OS version El Capitan (10.11) or greater to install it, but reluctant as I was to leave the comfort of 10.9, even that upgrade was a performance bonus.

The actual list of new features, enhancements, and bug fixes in 10.3 is so long I’m not even going to try to cover more than a few standouts. The full release notes are here:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT203718

Some of the more obvious changes are with the UI itself.

The colors are different – the background is lightened from the bold darkness of 10.2, it’s now somewhere between the look of v9 and X. This is to make it easier to see in different lighting conditions.

And the buttons and tools all have a simplified 2d look that goes along with the aesthetic of the last couple OS versions. The whole thing is very responsive and slick.

My personal favorite changes in 10.3:

When you move the ends of a region, a ghost region appears so you can better see where you are in the audio file waveform.

There is a new standalone loudness meter that measures in LUFS (Loudness Units).

The cursor icon now changes more obviously and intuitively for the different selected tools.

You now get the choice of stereo vs dual mono in each stereo track, and true stereo panning. (What was it before? I don’t even know!)

Less obvious changes:

Faster startup and shutdown times
Less unexpected quitting when switching between projects
Touch bar support for the latest MacBook Pros
64-bit summing engine and support for 256 busses per project
Ability to process clips separately within the same audio track

Bottom Line

If you have OS X 10.11 or higher, this is a great update to a great DAW. And if you don’t, I recommend updating. My mid-2012 MBP is so much happier with El Capitan, and so am I. And though I’m not 100% thrilled to be re-re-learning my daily use DAW, I’m loving the new features so far.

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Mojo’s Pick of the Week – Metallica “Hardwired”

Posted on November 22, 2016 by Mojo

How can my pick of the week be anything else besides the long-awaited release by a rejuvenated Metallica, returning to solid form with “Hardwired… to Self-Destruct”? Teased with videos leading up to the release, then essentially released for free on YouTube, this album is their most solid, heavy, and musically sound since the Black Album.

The basic version of Hardwired includes 12 new songs including the dark, relentless thrashy title track, and other early favorites like Moth Into Flame and Spit out the Bone. The alternately soft and heavy Halo on Fire is a testament to a mature, confident band. I have a feeling that one will grow on a lot of people and get some serious airplay in areas that still have the stones to play hard rock on the radio. The deluxe 3 CD set includes 4 additional new songs plus 10 live classics, most of which were recorded at their killer small show at Rasputin Music in Berkeley in April 2016.

This is a don’t-miss release for Metallica fans. Stream it on YouTube, Amazon with Prime or pick it up now!

Metallica website
Metallica YouTube channel

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