(Due to Bike vs. Car related injuries, Culture System has seen a bit of slacking in posts, but should pick back up shortly.)

In an indie-dance phenomena, Daft Punk and The Rapture have begun ravaging the country together with their infectious electro goodness. I have to say, the pairing of these two was a great decision. If you can’t get up and dance to this, I probably shouldn’t make fun of you because you’re likely to be in a wheelchair or on crutches.

But while the concerts have garnered fever inducing attention, the after parties might just steal the show. For those of you who prefer the club scene than the live concert (or simply missed your chance to get tickets for the shows before they sold out), this is for you. And the best part is, you can get in free…

If you’re in NYC, just RSVP through Going.com here,  then show up at Studio B on August 9th and you’re straight… Assuming you can afford anything once inside. I’d guess you’d need to show up much earlier than the 10PM start time to get in.

For rest of y’all not in NYC, visit MasBlog for details on your city of choice  - and thank them for throwing these parties.

"People don’t dance no more/They just stand there like this/They cross their arms and stare you down and drink and moan and dissss"

The New York Times recently did a story about a new police siren that New Yorkers can feel beneath their feet. Dubbed "The Rumbler", the new siren uses a sub woofer an entire street vibrate.

Below are MP3’s of the various sirens used by the NYPD.

The Yelp

The Wail

The Hi-Lo (or, The European)

The Air Horn

The Fast

The Manual

The Rumbler

(I actually did this post a while ago, but when I updated my blog software, the post got messed up. Sorry it it’s not fresh.)

It’s a stark juxtaposition: MySpace, the fashion world, and the inanity those worlds tend to focus on on the one side; the dilapidated state of the Vietnamese landscape on the other. Daps to Filippo Minelli, our protagonist for the day.

<Ecosystem via A Blog Soup> 

Sure, you could drop a couple thousand dollars on recording equipment and then travel around North America looking for field recordings like Amon Tobin did for his latest album, The Foley Room. But the rest of us are probably a bit too budget-challenged for all that.

For musicians looking for noises lifted from the real world, the world wide web can be a great resource. The three sites that I’ve found most useful so far are Freesound, SoundSnap, and FindSounds.

The first two use only Creative Commons licensed sounds and tag all of their samples for easy browsing. All employ high quality sounds, and can be downloaded in a variety of sound files. (If you run into a sound file you’re not sure how to use, like .ogg or .aiff, click here for file converters. You wont need to download any software.)

So, if you’re bored of hearing a setup that consists of a lead guitar, bass guitar, and drummer, work something out and flip it Musique Concrète style. With these sites, you can dig up sounds ranging from the audio from a factory floor to the rattle of a spray can to the purr of a tiger.

For a recent example of someone taking this idea as far as you could, check my post on Coldcut’s "Timber".

Damn, M.I.A. is taking this 90’s thing full throttle. Not only is every body in her new video (filmed in Jamaica) dipped in 90’s throwback, her video and web stuff is all full of bad 90’s web design.

The video is a promo for her new single, "Boyz", which drops tomorrow, and the song is definitely a club banger. This joint is thumpin’, but after a while, I’m ready for it to be over. It really doesn’t do much. But, as I was reading the lyrics - which say things like "How many no money boys are Rowdy/ How many boys are Raw? How many no money boys are crazy? How many start a war?" - I was struck by her delivery, even if it is lacking in subject matter.

Maya is scheduled to perform in Brooklyn on two dates: on July 21 at the Village Voice’s Siren Festival, and July 25, at Studio B. These would be good places to listen to "Boyz", rather than here on your laptop.

She’s had a history of difficulties getting into the States and missing shows, though. Will this be any different?

The girl has quite the story, which might have something to do with her troubles. As a little girl in Sri Lanka, her father was part of an organization the US labels as a terrorist. And her song "Sunshowers" probably didn’t help, what with lyrics like: " You wanna go?/You wanna win a war?/Like P.L.O. I don’t surrendo," and " Its a bomb yo/So run yo/Put away your stupid gun yo/’Cos we see through like a protocol call/Thats why we blow it up ‘fore we go."

But she argues that she was only trying to show people around the world what things are like in Sri Lanka.

"When I did it, I felt, ‘Am I seriously imposing some weird, strange way of seeing things on people?’ " she told the Washington Post. "Now it feels I was right all along. It’s totally relevant, and it’s what’s going on, and if that was the most shocking, outrageous thing, then look what’s happening every day. . . . It’s not that I’m shocking and injecting into society some strange concept. I’m just reflecting, piecing it together in one piece of work so you can acquire it and hear it. All that information floats around where we are — the images, the opinions, the discussions, the feelings — they all exist, and I felt someone had to do something about it because I can’t live in this world where we pretend nothing really matters.

"I have to show people what’s going on in Sri Lanka. It’s much better than me banging on about myself and where I get my hair done. It seemed more of a useful thing to do with my music."

While Tiesto, "The Picasso of Trance", might not usually fall under the spectrum of topics Culture System would cover; concert riots, fleeing thieves, and no-show DJs would catch anybodys attention.

When Tiesto failed to show up at a show in Bahrain, the audience went on a rampage and tore up the venue, attacked the opening acts, and looted equipment until the police arrived, according to a local paper. Tiesto refused to perform because organizers tried to pay him in Bahraini Dinars, the paper said.

But Tiesto says the event promoter tried to run of with all of the ticket money, and was still stuck at his hotel by the time the police showed up at the venue.

<Via Beatporter>

Since we’re on the biting tip, this comparison of Avril Lavigne to an almost identical Peaches song was recently pointed out to me. But hey, who cares who came up with what? It’s all good, right?

Most people have heard stories of how common it is for a surgeon to listen to music while they operate. But while this probably conjures up the sounds of Bach and Mozart in the minds of most readers, the reality is that doctors listen to a wide range of stuff. Bob Marley, the Beatles, and Coldplay are among the names that come up in this article by the New York Times.

One doctor who likes jazz changes up his selection during more complex procedures and turns to the Red Hot Chili Peppers, for example. "That’s good pancreas music," he told the Times.

The Associated Press even found a doctor that listens to 50 Cent in the operating room.

Who knew?

(Quick Fact: In internet time, these articles are historical documents, being published an astonishing one and two years ago!) 

I’d just finished a few hours of research on this girl that I was excited to write about when my lovely fact checker said, "Isn’t this Daft Punk?"

Ugh. It was nagging at me for a while, the idea that I’d heard this before, but I gave the thought up. The song, "Kingston Logic," by Jamaican raised Terry Lynn, uses the same lyrical style and delivery as Daft Punk’s "Technologic" but infuses imagery of the gutter life for subject matter instead. It also rocks a similar electro beat, but with a more grimy flavor than "Technologic".

I’m still diggin’ the song, but I deaded the 400 word review I wrote. Her website says nothing about Daft Punk anywhere.

Is it still biting even when the end result is better than the original?

Most discussions around music probably don’t involve some politician from Pittsburg, but a recent debate in Washington has interjected one into the conversation. And in a positive light, to boot.

It just so happens that the mashup artist Girl Talk lives in the district of a congressman who sits on the Committee that deals with the issues surrounding music copyright. The politico has been using Girl Talk’s music as an example of why using other people’s music to create your own should be considered a valid form of art in the eyes of the law.

Newsweek recently had the Congressman, Mike Doyle, sit down over lunch with the man who is Girl Talk, Gregg Gillis, and talk about what kind of laws could be passed that would allow artists like him to thrive. (Girl Talk’s music has been pulled from eMusic and iTunes over legal concerns.)

A Mash-Up Relief bill… classic.

Those plucky German label heads at Morr Records - home to acts like Duo 505 and Mum - have put together a little sampler called Music For Hairy Scary Monsters, which was released last week. The compilation includes some new and recent songs by mostly Icelandic groups in celebration of a couple events held there. (Feeling well traveled, yet?)

But the best joints on it are from the Brits featured on the album: the duo, ISAN. (I think the two songs they’ve contributed are new, but it’s hard to tell from the label’s broken English press release(pdf). Rather than "throwing" the events in Iceland, they "terminated" them.)

The MP3 samples I found were too short, but you can stream the full songs at Boomkat.

Their addiction to music finally put them in the streets.

The first Isan song on Monsters is a remix of Mum’s "Re-Spring My Sing Reverse". It sets in with an atmosphere on the cusp of tragedy with a pronounced rhythm, dark synths, and some glitched up, spectral Mum vocals. Then it hits the spot with a couple dark, overlapping electro melodies. Unfortunately, its stingy on the melodies, and loops them a few times, but the mood of the song is undeniably attractive. Also, the song has some interesting, but subtle, sound play; using breath as percussion, and taking a sample of the fuzz in the background of a record and chopping it up a bit.

The second, "Singing Bowl," is more Space Odyssey in its setting. You peacefully float through space with a sun on your back as they comfort you with distorted xylophones and wine glass rims, dispersing some crunchy drums here and there for good measure, as well. The wine glass rims get a bit too loud at times, but perhaps this is to add an element of danger to your journey.

Support NYC businesses, cop it at Other Music’s new digital store.