If Ramp Chicago needed a poster boy it would be Scott Hansen—equal parts audio and visual, he executes both with finesse. As Tycho he’s a master of swirling, sun-drenched melodies and as the much-lauded graphic designer, ISO50, he’s equally stunning and mines a similar aesthetic. Having just shared a bill with Matmos, Tycho is at work on new material for Ghostly International, having recently released Past is Prologue on Merck records. Hansen will be performing and displaying artwork from his ISO50 guise, as well as his live set as Tycho.

You’ll regret it if you miss Chicago DJ, Mr. Automatic, a long-time veteran of collectives like Metropop Media, Retropop!, Boutique Sound and Iconoclast. He’ll be spinning an eclectic mix of downtempo, 60’s pop and disco. Also look out for our new resident DJ Liz Revision (a.k.a. Quantazelle), who recently appeared with a live set in January, as well as live video artist Spiderback, returning to Ramp Chicago with his distinct blend of synthesized visuals.

* Tuesday, March 13, 2007 @ Sonotheque [MAP]
* 1444 W. Chicago Ave., Chicago IL
* 9pm – 2am, 21+, $5

* BassUpTrebleDown presents Ramp Chicago featuring:
* Tycho (Live)
* Mr. Automatic
* Liz Revision [aka Quantazelle] (Resident)
* Emulsion (Resident)
* Live Visuals: Spiderback

Prepare to be blown away by the innovative minds behind Teh Choons. From the beautiful, sonic intricacies of Phylum Sinter’s “Ethyltrine Lumens” to the raging, dancefloor-igniting, Gameboy-created (yes, those Nintendo handhelds from the 1990s) “Information Chase” by Bitshifter, these twelve tracks will leave you craving for more sonic mind-candy.

I’ve contributed a track as Quantazelle: a cover of Daft Punk’s “Digital Love.”

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…by hiring an interior design firm that specializes in “24th century design.” However, to really get the full effect of living on a spaceship in the future, you’d have to be willing to cover up all the windows in your house and rely on the electronics within to regulate your Circadian rhythms. Probably not an easy lifestyle decision for most people.

But you can still get close to acheiving the same effect digitally. The “zoom” detailed photos on the 24thcid site are serendipitously close to screen resolution, which means that many of them would make excellent futuristic spaceship desktop backgrounds! Here’s a few of the best ones:

Enterprise bridge desktop background [view 1] [view 2] [view 3]
Any of these would make you feel like you’re an off-screen ensign, but blogging instead of working.

Brig wall desktop background [view 1]
Naughty you, you angered Picard and got stuck in the brig. Oh well, at least they let you keep your laptop…

White Enterprise wall with panel [view 1]
This is a simple one, where your desktop icons can stand out on an uncluttered surface.

Also, here’s an informative interview with the designer, Tony Alleyne, where he briefly discusses his previous life as DJ and electronic music producer, and goes over some of the more technical details.

Enjoy the new “view”!

4D Rubick’s Cube: A super cool, visio-spacially challenging, online puzzle game I found while reading about hypercubes.

And speaking of 4D, here’s a new concept for a force-sensitive, touch-screen computer interface that allows multiple points of information input. Meaning, in a simplistic manner, you can use all your fingers to drag multiple lines across a screen. This is something I’ve always wanted to do with music software–ie, turn one “knob” up while moving a “crossfader,” simulatenously.

Robot dance contest t-shirt at Threadless: quite amusing.