Designer experimented by lasering ridges into acrylic and paper
Step-by-step instructions explain how you can turn your own downloads into wooden records

By VICTORIA WOOLLASTON

You can now turn your favourite music downloads into playable records made from materials you have lying around the house.
Amanda Ghassaei, 24, from San Francisco has created the world’s first laser-cut wooden records using songs from Radiohead and Joy Division.
And the software engineer has made the instructions available to download, making it possible to create your own at home.

Ghassaei previously used 3D printers to print records from her MP3 downloads.
She wanted to find a way for people without 3D printers to make their own records, and has designed a way of making records out of paper, acrylic and wood.
Ghassaei created a digital waveform file from the MP3 and converted into a PDF.
Needles on a record player pick up vibrations based on the shape of the record’s surface.
The waveform was then cut into the wood using lasers to create the ‘shape’ of the song.

Full story at Daily Mail

You might never attend one, but keep this bit of information in your back pocket: A new trend today is the ‘algorave,’ in which people dance in a rave-like environment to music generated by algorithms.

According to a central algorave website – I abstain from dubbing it ‘official – the goal is to take a common piece of software that allows someone to create music based on an algorithm, and then compose the tunes live as people dance. The focus is not on the musician, incidentally, but instead on how people react to what they create.

Alex McLean, a proponent of the algorave movement, provided comment to BoingBoing concerning the idea, stating that:

“Algoraves are parties where people come together to dance to algorithms. It generally involves some live coding but any producers making music. [...] Generally some aspect of the algorithmic processes are visible, but the focus is actually on the audience, and having serious fun.”

Full story at The Next Web

Cable London’s web site is now displaying the following message:

We Have Closed with Immediate Effect:
Official Statement

Dear World,

It is with a huge amount of sadness that we announce Cable has closed with immediate effect.

We have been forced to close following two years of ongoing legal battles with Network Rail, who took possession of the venue this morning with an entry order, putting us out of business and leaving our 70 staff without jobs. This is due to them allegedly requiring the space back for the redevelopment of London Bridge station. It is an utterly devastating blow to what is a much loved, hugely successful, well respected music venue and media business.

This is not only a huge loss to the loyal fans and staff of Cable, but to London’s clubbing community as a whole. With enormous pride, we delivered the very best talent in an environment that upheld the history of the early SE1 rave scene and supported as many musical styles as possible.

We are obviously devastated and still in shock by the news and know there will be questions. As you can appreciate, there is much work to be done and many arrangements to be made behind the scenes. A full press release will follow.

If you are presently a ticket holder for an event that was scheduled to take place at Cable, please do not worry – further information will follow in due course.

Our sincerest thanks,

The Cable Team x

Full story and photos at Cable London