Ben Kling

If there is a fly on your monitor you can shoo it away with your cursor. This makes sense but also...

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 17:25:42 -0400

If there is a fly on your monitor you can shoo it away with your cursor. This makes sense but also has blown my mind into very small pieces and I probably won’t recover.

1. what are your nicknames? 2. what book(s) are you currently reading? 3. will you ever move to LA? 4. what's your favorite root vegetable?

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 17:17:01 -0400

1. I’ve never really had a nickname, although my roommates call me Benjalls.

2. Currently reading Norman Mailer’s Prisoner of Sex alongside Germaine Greer’s The Female Eunuch, which I first read at fourteen, having picked it up at a library sale for five cents because it contained descriptions of the inside of a vagina.

3. I don’t know! I don’t have any desire to in the near future, but if I didn’t nurture a healthy distrust of my ability to predict Future-Ben’s preferences, I’d have a Fight Club tattoo on my back from my freshman year of high school.

4. Red onion, then beetroot, then salmon.

This song is the reason I finally caved and got a Spotify...

Sat, 15 Jun 2013 21:29:01 -0400

This song is the reason I finally caved and got a Spotify account.

Tryna capture my last Cambridge sunset.

Sat, 15 Jun 2013 19:58:00 -0400

Tryna capture my last Cambridge sunset.

There is no good reason to call a company Kickstarter when you could call it Funders Keepers.

Fri, 14 Jun 2013 22:05:45 -0400

There is no good reason to call a company Kickstarter when you could call it Funders Keepers.

Working on a new song based around a sample from Chile’s...

Fri, 14 Jun 2013 21:00:09 -0400

Working on a new song based around a sample from Chile’s anti-Pinochet ads from the late 80’s.

It’s comprised entirely of sliced up, slowed down, or reversed portions of four songs:

The Jackson 5 - You’ve Changed

The Four Tops - I Can’t Help Myself

The Winstons - Amen Brother

Chile, La Alegría Ya Viene

I’m supposed to be doing something else but instead...

Fri, 14 Jun 2013 00:25:00 -0400

I’m supposed to be doing something else but instead I’m pumping these out.

My latest thing is improving the conclusions of very tense films...

Thu, 13 Jun 2013 18:22:20 -0400

My latest thing is improving the conclusions of very tense films in a very specific way.

Miley Cyrus just released a new song and it’s a...

Thu, 13 Jun 2013 00:00:00 -0400

Miley Cyrus just released a new song and it’s a I-iii-vi-IV just like Party in the USA.

I’ve got absolute pitch and I hardly ever listen to lyrics, so progressions leap out and bash me in the face when I listen to music, getting tangled up with every other song I’ve ever heard that uses the same combinations and intervals.

So I decided to messily throw together a handful I-iii-vi-IV songs off the top of my head, which resulted in this here scribble, which has given me an idea.

I think my next album’s going to be sort of like fiddling with a radio dial and overlapping songs with the same progressions. I’ll clean it up considerably and prioritize certain song elements; lord knows there are enough building blocks to make something really cool.

This is what listening to a song for the first time sounds to me, and you should feel sorry for me.

what do you look for in a potential partner?

Wed, 12 Jun 2013 23:55:26 -0400

Intelligence, eyes (you’ve got to have them; it’s a plus if they’re nice to look at), honestly/directness, willingness to go 50/50 on spooning positions.

I just fished a fruit fly out of a glass of wine with a bridge pencil, so I can afford to have these standards.

I did this today.

Wed, 12 Jun 2013 17:20:00 -0400

I did this today.

Search “Ben Kling” on Vine for more nuanced...

Thu, 06 Jun 2013 01:19:58 -0400

Search “Ben Kling” on Vine for more nuanced political humor.

Got an email containing a guy's theory about my mashup album.

Sun, 02 Jun 2013 16:45:00 -0400

Hey so I noticed some things in Double Dutch Part 2 that I was wondering if you did on purpose.

Specifically, there seems to be a narrative about the tension between the sexes/genders, power struggles, and desire.

In “Here We Go” you use the “here we go” sample from Hey Arnold, and then it transitions into “Here It Goes” by OKGO. This seems to signal the start of the narrative/fight.

Then in “Oh No” it sounds like Luda and Khia are fighting with their aggressive lyrics, him saying “move bitch get out the way” and her demanding oral sex.

Then “Hit the Road Jack” comes on and talks about kicking the guy (Ray Charles) out and team guy (Luda) goes “oh no!” and then 50 cent starts saying “go, go, go.”

Khia’s song is all about cunnilingus, a girl saying she wants to get some, and then the next song is “do you think that I could get some?” from a guy, and then Green Day comes in with “give up the fight.”

But then Azealia comes in with “I guess that c*nt gettin eaten.” (The track “Rock You” is named, I guess, after the Furious Five saying “We wanna Rock You!” but the track before it also sampled “We Will Rock You.”)

After Azealia it goes into the Furious Five saying “there is no peace […] because men love money!”

They say “because to share shows that you care for everybody.”

BUT then when Bowie’s saying he saw his girl crying, Lil John comes in with “we don’t give a damn, we don’t give a fuck”

And then “shots” starts, which reminds me of the Green Day sample “lay down your guns” you used earlier.

And right after “Shots!” it goes into Eminem saying “you only got one shot” and the track is called “Let it Go.”

But then all the Arrested Development samples come in, saying “you’re a chicken” (and the track is still called “let it go” - reminds me of Back to the Future)

At the end of that track, you’ve got Soulja Boi bragging about his swag while Carly Rae Jepsen asks him to call her maybe.

Then the Kinks are like “you’ve really got me so I don’t know what I’m doing” and it seems to be all about power.

And then you go into “Soulja Boi” and the military drums start (which is brilliant) but as the soldier boy is rapping, the backing track is “Love Will Keep us Together.” More war/fighting stuff.

Then Captain and Tennile say “Stop! Because I really love you.”

And Lil John says “Stop” at the same time (the track is called “Don’t Stop”)

Then Oingo Boingo comes in with “from my heart and from my head / why don’t people understand my intentions?”

(then of course Gene goes “a ding ding dong” to preface Lil John’s “badda dum dum dum”)

Then it’s all about men’s desire/addiction for women (“Don’t Stop”) with “you are my candy girl and you got me wanting you” and “celia, you’re breaking my heart, you’re shaking my confidence.”

(And then the guitar lick from “I can’t get no satisfaction,” PERFECT.)

Then the real “don’t stop” comes in with Junior Senior saying “Don’t Stop The Beat” and Daft Punk telling us to be faster and stronger, and that “our work is never over” (“don’t stop” again). That track seems to be all about guys. It’s also mostly classic rock artists/electric guitar samples.

Then the girls come back in “Finale” with Zooey Deschanel saying “I’m just sitting on the shelf” and Joan Jett being fierce with “I don’t give a damn about my bad reputation.” And the Baha *Men* saying “who let the dogs out?”

Then Green Day with “Brain Stew” which is all about being exhausted, like they’re tired of the fight. Billy Joel Armstrong’s voice is pitched up, just like it was when he sang “lay down your arms, give up the fight”

And another female voice, Lipps Inc, singing “Gotta make a move to a town that’s right for me” suggesting giving up and separatism.

But then in Encore the first sample is “Lean On Me” which is all about needing each other.

And it seems to be structured like a finale/showstopper with all of the breakdowns.

Lil Wayne comes in being aggressive to “Soul *Man*” and then you cut up his “ch ch ch ch chopper” to mach the “ch ch ch ch chance” in ABBA’s “Take A Chance” which is like “if you change your mind [about being aggressive?], I’ll be here.” Then Iko Iko comes in and you have a woman singing about setting the opposing side’s flag on fire and killing you dead.

But THEN the Beatles come back in with “Come Together”!

And then of course you go into the them of “An Encore” sampling Jay-Z’s “Encore” and The Jacksons’ “I Want You Back” which is both asking for an encore and a sort of coming together.

And everyone cheers together when he starts rapping (the power of music to unify us? super meta)

Then there’s a sort of parade beat as Jay-Z sings “grand openin’, grand closin’” which is a perfect way to end it.

I can’t imagine all of this is coincidence. Can you confirm any of it?

-Pete

(PS: I donated 10 bucks on the bandcamp.)

Hey Pete! Thanks for the 10 bucks! Most of the obvious stuff in there was intentional; I tried to keep lyrical/tonal motifs going and it’s fun to pair things/harmonize both musically -and- semiotically, but there wasn’t really a grand narrative to it.

Some of the fighting stuff was intentional, even between male/female vocalists (part of the fun is making it seem like the songs are in conversation with each other) and the “Here It Goes/Here We Go” level of stuff, but your interpretation gives me too much credit.

PS: You should watch Room 237 sometime.

PPS: Really, thanks for the 10 bucks.

I’m sure Pete will notice that my response, when translated into Latin, is an acrostic poem for “IT WAS ALL INTENTIONAL.”

Here’s a track from the 100-Artist mashup album I did this...

Fri, 31 May 2013 22:27:18 -0400

Here’s a track from the 100-Artist mashup album I did this week.

Download the whole album for free and pass it around. Illegal art is meant to be shared.

I haven’t posted any mixes in a while so here’s...

Fri, 31 May 2013 16:56:00 -0400

I haven’t posted any mixes in a while so here’s compensation:
100 different artists in a half-hour gapless mashup album.

Download DOUBLE DUTCH (Part 2) to hear a symphony performed by, among others:

Green Day, Run DMC, Ben Lee, Thao and the Get Down Stay Down, The Ramones, Styx, Beck, James Brown, “Footloose,” Afroman, Kanye West, Queen, Schoolboy Q, Benjamin Britton/“Moonrise Kingdom”, Jim Lang/Hey Arnold, OK GO, Ludacris, The Isley Brothers, 50 Cent, Ray Charles, The Beatles, DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince, Azealia Banks, Vampire Weekend, Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five, David Bowie/”Labyrinth”, Lil’ John, Dexy’s Midnight Runners, LMFAO, The Bee Gees, Eminem, Gob, Lucille, Buster, George Bluth/Arrested Development, Tally Hall, April Smith & The Great Picture Show, LL Cool J, Rihanna, Soulja Boi, Carly Rae Jepsen, The Kinks, The Troggs, Captain & Tennille, Meco, Oingo Boingo, Gene Belcher/Bob’s Burgers, The Archies, Simon & Garfunkel, Michael Kamen/”Brazil”, Junior Senior, Daft Punk, She & Him, Autolux, Joan Jett, The Baja Men, Lipps Inc., ABBA, Datarock, S Club 7, Peter Bjorn & John, Lil’ Wayne, The Jackson 5, Jay Z

Everyone pictured is sampled, everyone sampled is pictured.

PS: If you like it, pass it around.

Photo

Fri, 31 May 2013 14:39:15 -0400

Well hey MAYBE YOU SHOULD STOP MAKING ASSUMPTIONS, iPHONE

Thu, 30 May 2013 17:19:04 -0400

Well hey MAYBE YOU SHOULD STOP MAKING ASSUMPTIONS, iPHONE

Word to your mother.

Sun, 12 May 2013 01:56:45 -0400

Word to your mother.

Seeing as tomorrow is Dia de las Madres, here’s my...

Sat, 11 May 2013 17:10:50 -0400

Seeing as tomorrow is Dia de las Madres, here’s my favorite Yo Mama joke.

I did a little image series a few years ago about...

Sat, 11 May 2013 03:30:32 -0400

I did a little image series a few years ago about identity/identification and mythology but I had to type in tags/titles to get through the glitter text generator, and I liked the screenshots of those better than the actual images.