I didn't want to go see Oscillator X last night. I've been sick as hell all week—pale-faced, shivering, and bed-ridden. Being in a club surrounded by dancing bodies and pounding music sounded unappealing as f***. But I dragged my germ-ridden self to Fremont's Nectar to find out what all the fuss is about the Vancouver-based dance-pop duo.

Last night marked Oscillator X's (John Mendenhall and Kyle Ward) first live show in Seattle, despite the fact that they've been active for more than a decade. The guys have recently gotten a lot of attention for their Daft Punk-esque track "Dynamo" which is on heavy rotation on C89.5 FM. And their performance turned out to be well-worth my getting out of bed.

Oscillator X took the stage with two synthesizers, a turntable, and plenty of theatrics. They pulled out all the stops; pyrotechnic effects like flames shooting out of their keyboards, an onstage glowstringer, and several bursts of glittering confetti. I felt like I was on esctasy.

For anyone who misses Aqua and Real McCoy, Oscillator X's music is unapologetic Euro-dance at it's finest. Their often cheesy anthems contain plenty of melodic hooks, call-and-response verses, and strong bass sections. The guys just dropped their new album Techno Techyes and will hopefully announce some performance dates in the near future. I'll keep you posted.

An uptempo remix of the song "Shine" from the album "Techno ~ Techyes". We did this version because we wanted to add the song to our live set, but needed it to fit with the intensity of the rest of the set. The breakz mix is about 35 BPM faster and features breakbeat-styled drums and some new F/X, etc.

Oscillator X will be performing live in the Seattle area on April 24th. Not only is this an ALL AGES SHOW, but it is also FREE! Oscillator X will be sharing the bill with Electric Players Club DJ's Me & the Doc, White Collar Syndicate, Pressha and Sony Chiba. The show is at KTUB (Kirkland Teen Union Building) in Kirkland, Washington. Doors open at 7:00 PM - Hope to see all of you there!

I just uploaded 4 new songs from the new Oscillator X CD - Techno * Techyes. Oscillator X is my vocal music with my partner Kyle Ward. Several of the songs are currently being played on FM dance radio throughout the country. "Dynamo" is #1 in Seattle and # 26 Nationally on the dance charts (so - pretty excited about that!)
The new songs uploaded are:
Dynamo
Shine
Style (Fashion Mix)
London Bridge

Check 'em out and let me know what you think!

~ John

SCI Recordings is proud to announce the brand new album from Oscillator X - Techno ~ Techyes. The 15 song album is being manufactured now. For a very limited time, we are offering advance presale copies of Techno ~ Techyes in the SCI Store. Each limited edition CD will be autographed and numbered and mailed directly to you or the gift recipient of your choice (a great Christmas present!). These special CD's will only be offered for a limited time and are only US $12.00 each, plus S & H. Order today for yourself and the lucky people on your Christmas list! (Note: There are 2 items listed in the store for this CD, one for US and one for outside of US - please order the correct one for your location)

TO ORDER GO HERE:
http://www.scirecordings.com/dlg/cart/index.php?c=5


Techno ~ Techyes Track Listing:
01) Party People (All Night Long)
02) Dynamo
03) The Neon Underground
04) Style On My Speed Dial
05) You Bring The Rain
06) Dance All Night
07) Shine
08) DJ Superstar
09) Super Collider
10) Sanctuary
11) Style (PlayMaker Fashion Mix)
12) Safety Net
13) The Neon Underground (PlayMaker Digital Edge Mix)
14) London Bridge
15) Rock Robotic (OSX Mix)

I have just uploaded a brand new song, entitled "You Bring The Rain". This song is in the epic trance style, longer than most of my songs, featuring male (me) and female vocals (Coconut). Check it out and let me know what you think!

I am compiling a mailing list to keep those interested up to date on my upcoming concerts and releases. Please use the widget below to sign up. (Don't worry - I won't flood your inbox or disclose your e-mail address to anyone). I very much appreciate your interest and support!

The Neon Underground is a song about the underground dance clubs of my younger years. I recorded the original version (still on my artist page - scroll way down....) in 2004. This version has been completely re-recorded with my Oscillator X partner Kyle Ward for our upcoming CD. We decided to re-record it to update the sound quality and to get it into Ableton Live so that we can add it to our live set.

I am pleased to announce the release of my new song "Style On My Speed Dial". Produced by my Oscillator X partner Kyle Ward and myself, the song blends our familiar Eurodance style with elements of rock and pop to create a fresh new dance sound. Have a listen and let me know what you think....

~ John

I just returned from performing a concert in Europe and have uploaded a small photo set of the event. Check them out here:
http://www.soundclick.com/members/default.cfm?member=robot%20rock&content=photos&albumid=13953&id=276875

Just uploaded my first new song for 2008 - Epilogue.
This is one of the heaviest tracks that I've done - a very aggressive, bangin' song with lots of vocoder. It is to be the ... well, epilogue (end) of my new CD. Turn it up and let me know what you think!

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page_music.cfm?bandID=418236

SCI Recording artists KaW and When Machines Dream will be performing at the 2008 Machine Dance Championships on March 14th in the Netherlands. Joining WMD and KaW will be G-Powered from Finland. The event is the release party for Positive Gaming's new Impact dance platform and will kick off the 2008 Machine Dance Championships.

Date: March 14th, 2008
Venue:
Silverstone Partycentre Weerenweg 21-23 1161 AE Zwanenburg, The Netherlands
www.silverstone.nl

For More information:

http://www.positivegaming.com

I just uploaded a brand new recording of an older song of mine - "Shaman Song". I thought that it would be interesting to put up both versions for comparison.
The original was recorded in 1995. It was played entirely by hand (no computer, no MIDI) and recorded to 4-track cassette. I used the following instruments:

Roland Juno-60
Korg Poly-800
Roland TR-606
Oberhiem DX
Akai S-01 sampler

For the new version, I used Ableton Live and the following VST instruments:

G-Force Minimonsta
G-Force impOSCAR
Novation V-Station
Adventus 1.5
Korg Legacy Polysix
Samples of my TR-606

I have been re-recording several of my older songs, mainly to get them into Ableton Live so that I can perform them live. I am trying to strike a balance between updating the sounds and fidelity, while remaining true to the original song.
To listen to both versions:
http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page_music.cfm?bandID=418236

I hope that you enjoy the comparison - let me know what you think...

John

I just uploaded an updated version of the song "Cosmic Unconsciousness" from the first When Machines Dream album. I re-did it to update the song from a sounds/fidelity standpoint and also to "get it into" Abelton Live so that we could add it to our live set. I am in the process of updating several tracks from the first album currently. While I am generally trying to stay true to the original versions of the songs during this update project, this one got a whole new ending part.
To listen, go to:
www.soundclick.com/whenmachinesdream

Let me know what you think!

"Rock Robotic", my most popular SoundClick song, just got a total rework. I re-recorded the vocoder, bass, kick and re-mastered the track resulting in, err.... more rocking. Also thanks to my musical partner in crime, Kyle Ward for help with the re-mastering. The previous version hit #1 in both the Electronica and Dance charts and has remained in the top 5 for a few months.

Please check it out and let me know what you think.

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/default.cfm?bandID=418236

How When Machines Dream + KaW Perform Live



I am frequently asked how When Machines Dream + KaW perform live. First off, let me explain the concept. When Machines Dream is myself and KaW is Kyle Ward (together we are Oscillator X – but that's another blog…), When we do live performances, instead of a traditional show whereas one act would play, followed by another act, we perform together as one group. We select what songs to play from each others repetoire, and then learn each others material and perform it together. Another thing that sets a When Machines Dream + KaW performance apart from many live electronic/ dance acts, is the "show" element. Most of the live electronic shows that we have seen either consist of a person hunched over a laptop all night with a projector behind him or a (typically) female solo vocalist singing along to a backing track. When Machines Dream + KaW shows utilize costumes, staging, effects lighting, and aerotechnics to bring the audience a visual live experience similar to our counterparts in the Rock world. As far as the actual musical performance goes, our current core live set-up is as follows:



John:

Korg MicroKorg – synthesizer

Alesis Micron – synthesizer

Roland SPD-S – Electronic Drum Pads

TC Electronics Voiceworks – Vocal processor

American DJ Pro-Scratch – DJ CD player

Yamaha MG 10/2 – Mixing Console



Kyle:

Roland V-Synth – Synthesizer

Korg MicroKorg – Synthesizer

M-Audio Axiom 49 – MIDI Keyboard Controller

Dell Laptop running Abelton Live 6

Elextrix Warp Factory – Vocoder



The "heart" of our show is run on the laptop with a program called Abelton Live. With this software we are able to manipulate the backing tracks (essentially the basic drum parts and any parts beyond what we can play with our four hands) in real time, thus freeing us up from being locked into a static backing track. We can adjust tempo, key, length of verses and choruses, etc. all while playing the show. Kyle handles this part of it. In the event that the computer crashes (hasn't happened yet – crossing our fingers) during a performance we have the backing tracks also on a CD, which I would then play using my DJ CD player. The DJ CD player still gives us the ability to manipulate many aspects of the music in real time, but not as much as the Abelton Live software.

As far as the keyboards go, Kyle and I each have multiple synthesizers that we play. These are usually set up in "split mode" whereas the bottom half of a keyboard will have one sound assigned to it and the top half will have a different sound assigned to it. This allows us to play the 2 to 4+ parts each per song necessary to perform the songs. In addition, I (and sometimes Kyle) play percussion parts on the electronic drum pads.

In a similar fashion, we divide up the vocal duties as well. I perform all of the singing parts, using the TC Electronic vocal processor to duplicate the effects used on our CD's, while Kyle performs all of the vocoder (robot) vocals using the Electrix vocoder.

The signal (sound) from all of the synths, electronic drums, laptop, CD player, etc. all go into the Yamaha mixer (we mix from the stage generally) and we send a stereo feed to the main house sound system.

In between all of this I control some of the visual effects as well. The lighting is primarily automatic and is just synced to the beat of the music, but I manually do a few tweaks during the show as well as keep the fog machine pumping out fog and both Kyle and I shoot off the aerotechnics.

I hope that this answers most of the questions as to how we perform our music live. If you have any questions that I didn't cover, feel free to send me a message.



~ John

Just uploaded a new song entitled "Love Eternal". This is a bit of a departure for me as it is my first Drum 'n Bass song.
The song is slated to be featured in the new arcade video game "Pump It Up Pro", which starts shipping in May.
Hear it before the game comes out at:
www.soundclick.com/whenmachinesdream

~ J