Articles by Mark Zip

PoOPlists, PoOPlists 2013 January 13, 2014

Mark Zip Poop 2013

Albums     Buy New or Used via Amazon Disclosure – “Settle” – I was pleasantly surprised that this showed up quite high in a number of other US-based year -end lists. It’s a really good contemporary pop LP, made from a UK perspective. The beats are varied and interesting, house, two-step, garage- funky and, I’m sure, some other micro-genres with names I’m hip enough to know. They also manage to integrate many different guest vocalists remarkably seamlessly. Unlike the Major Lazer record (see below), Disclosure make a real effort to integrate guests into and overall sound and feeling. This one…

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IP, Music Industry January 8, 2014

The Full Story Behind the ‘Chinese Democracy’ Leak (Or: How the FBI & RIAA spent millions pursuing a guy for promoting a record for them)

The Full Story Behind the ‘Chinese Democracy’ Leak (via Antiquiet). A good long read about how the FBI and the RIAA spent millions and millions dollars pursuing the guy who leaked parts of Chinese Democracy. By the actual, real, leaker. (Who had the track up for less than an hour, and didn’t allow downloads) Dog, meet tail… Now get ready to be wagged.

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PoOPlists, PoOPlists 2013 December 25, 2013

Call for PoOP!

Our fearles leader writes: ———– To the POmpous and OPinionated: ‘Tis the season to write POOPlists Fa-la-la-la-la. . . . It’s that time of the year. A refresher about the rules and deadlines: Limit yourself to what would be 2 sides of 8×11 paper. Leave a slight margin so your swill does not get lost in the binding of the hard copy. Any layout format that works for you works. Copy sent as a WORD DOC works best for me. NEW RULE: Despite my past pleas, last year set a record for $$ lost putting this together. Even though I…

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Music Industry March 5, 2013

A (very) quick video explanation of how your ability to sell stuff you purchased legally is threatened

You walk into a record store and buy the new UK import CD of 2NE1’s new record 2nd, (because you are in the mood for some k-Pop and glitter). You listen to it a few times and move on. You have a yard sale and put out a few CDs for sale. A kid buys it from you. You’ve got a bit of money you can use to buy more CDs. The kid gets started on a whole new trajectory of glitter-pop and hipness Sounds like a pretty normal day-to-day transaction, no? Well, yes, but it relies upon a legal…

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Charts February 24, 2013

Yes, we do feel somewhat vindicated…

The Harlem Shake phenomenon has us feeling somewhat vindicated. But we should not feel too clever. I was chatting with a a couple of the neighbourhood kids last Monday and quizzed them about the number one track in the country. These two are usually singing Carly Rae Jepsen and every other Top 40 radio hit. They had no idea what I was talking about. This was even after I reminded them that they had laughed at me when I played the track for them during the summer. I did my stupid superior dance internally and moved on. I did, however,…

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Music Industry, Music Technology, video January 30, 2013

How the 808 drum machine got its cymbal, and other tales from music’s geeky underbelly

Trent Woble at TheVerge has a fascinating story from the NAMM convention on Don Lewis, a pioneer of electronic instruments and a consultant to Roland. The feature then goes on to highlight a few of the out of the way innovations on display at the convention. Look at all those knobs! See all those dials! http://www.theverge.com/2013/1/30/3932574/how-the-808-found-its-cymbal-musical-tales-namm-geeky-underbelly

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Live Shows, Music Technology January 27, 2013

Fancy yourself a DJ? Don’t have space for gear? PDJ Portable Disc Jockey is for you

The annual NAAM show is on, and that means all sorts of vendors showing all sorts of new ways to play the Electric Slide to grannies at weddings. Engadget has details of an interesting hand-held mixer featuring touchscreens and buttons both. Hit the link below for more details and hands-on video. PDJ Portable Disc Jockey is a complete DJ system that fits in your pocket, we go hands-on video.

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Music Industry, video January 25, 2013

Recording Business Case Study – 1 song, 7.5 writers, 18+ versions

A funny/sad/ridiculous tale of how record companies often don’t know their asses from their elbows. Told with grace and humor. Let’s be clear, this is the recording industry* we are trying to protect with our constant attempts to pass internet-killing legislation. *I say “recording industry” because I think that is a different animal than the “music industry”. Unfortunately, too many people, including the uploader of this video, use the terms interchangeably. (Thanks to my friend and ex-housemate Eric, who is a high-powered entertainment lawyer in LA, for sharing this)

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Music Industry, WTF? January 23, 2013

Are the USPS’s New International Postage Rates the Final Nail in the Coffin of Physical Media?

On January 27th the USPS will be raising postal rates. The First Class Forever stamp goes up by 1 cent. Other First Class prices also go up by 1 cent. Priority Mail goes up by 6 to 10 percent. other rates go up by similar amounts. But hidden among the run-of-the-mill price hikes there is one rate chart which is threatening to kill off international mail order sales. This is a new rate called First Class Parcel International Service (.xls) For instance, a four ounce parcel to Europe (like a single CD) goes from $6.12 to $12.75, an increase of…

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Music Industry, Releases January 19, 2013

Do you like sub-bass? Hip-hop? Repetition?

A couple of days ago the top NY producer posted Just Blaze posted a collaboration with Trap scene wunderkind Baauer. It is a killer. And what an intro! I don’t know if it is for sale anywhere, but you can guarantee that DJs all over the world are ripping the track right now and will be including it in their sets tonight.

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PoOPlists, PoOPlists 2010 January 19, 2013

Ken Beck Poop ’10

 Buy New or Used via amazon 1. JUNIP – Fields [Mute] Jose Gonzales reforms his old band of Swedes who have a thing for 70s keys and synths that John Paul Jones must have leant them.  Buy New or Used via amazon 2. THE BESNARD LAKES – The Besnard Lakes Are the Roaring Night [Jagjaguwar] Blissed-out, droney heaven that Kevin Shields would thoroughly approve. The album Low should have made right after “The Great Destroyer”.  Buy New or Used via amazon 3. BOB DYLAN – The Witmark Demos [Columbia] Spare, nuts & bolts versions of songs we all know, but…

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PoOPlists, PoOPlists 2012 January 18, 2013

Mark Zip Poop ’12

  Buy New or Used via Amazon Gaslamp Killer – Breakthrough Wacky LA Low End Theory DJ makes record. Samples include the requisite “Global” influences and bottomless sub-bass. The addition of California psych and Gonjasufi’s voice are nice bonuses and so the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.   Buy New or Used via Amazon Various Artists – Subway Salsa: The Montuno Records Story I remember the first time I ventured down into the Time Square subway station and visited Record Mart. I think it was the second record store I ever visited in the city. I went back…

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Music Industry, Music Technology, Radio January 4, 2013

‘Boil the Frog’ – From Kraftwerk to Professor Longhair in 14 steps (via Sha Na Na)

Here’s another fun way to waste time on the web. Choose two artists and Boil the Frog will link them for you. The coder’s blog post tells you how it works. Reading that post explains how it took 14 steps from both Kraftwerk to Professor Longhair AND Roska to Professor Longhair. Each reload gave a slightly different path, mostly using different songs from the same artists. Asking to go from one long tail artist to another quite different long tail artist yields a larger number of steps. Not surprisingly, it took me 23 steps to get from Disclosure to Iris…

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remixes October 12, 2012

Two versions of a house classic, separated by 21 years. Frankie Knuckles “re-directs” “Whistle Song”

Frankie Knuckles’ “Whistle Song” came out in 1991. It was one of the favourites on my radio show “Forward In All Directions” for years and years. He’s just released a new “R-Directed” version of it. FACT posted it on Soundcloud and Pete Tong spoke with Frankie and played the track on his BBC Radio One show today. The new version still has the flute-like lead line and the whistle. The bassline is basically unchanged, but he’s pushed the beat further forward and has made it skip more. The track is still deep and if it were released as new today…

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Critics, Music Industry August 28, 2012

Beyond lies the wub: a history of dubstep

Here’s an *excellent* primer on the history of Dubstep from Joseph Lately over at The Verge. The story touches on all the key points (Croydon, pirates, MAH, cheap software) and includes interviews with British and American producers and thinkers. There is a Soundcloud mix of some of the big songs (and some non-obvious) so you can listen along. Highly recommended reading and likely to become a touchstone in journalism about dubstep. Beyond lies the wub: a history of dubstep | The Verge. PS. The Verge is known as a gadget/consumer electronics site, but this shows that they were not kidding…

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Music Industry, video July 23, 2012

King Britt Talks Vinyl With Dust & Grooves

King Britt Talks Vinyl With Dust & Grooves on Vimeo Elion from Dust and Grooves interviews King Britt. Have a look at the video and consider contributing to the Kickstarter campaign for the Dust and Grooves project “A Photography Book About Vinyl Collectors”. Britt also tells his version of “the great vinyl massacre of ’87” – his involves a video arcade.

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Uncategorized June 29, 2012

The Internet could not care less about your mediocre band

Dave Allen (Gang of Four) wades in to the Emily White / Dave Lowery fracas with a considered piece defending White. The question of Free Culture’s approach to the current (and past) music industry is yielding some of the most interesting discussions and thinking about the venn diagram of internet, culture and law. The Internet could not care less about your mediocre band. (Dave Allen, North)