No Picture

Critics June 20, 2011

Hear the whole SBTRKT album now!

One of my most looked-forward-to albums this year: From the record label hype: sbtrkt’s debut album pulls off a series of impressive feats: it’s bursting with fresh ideas, and yet it sounds immediately familiar. it’s sound-patterns and rhythms can easily soundtrack the ecstatic hands in the air dance floor moments as well as reliving the monotony of the morning commute. its influences are incorporated with subtlety and sophistication: dense enough to interpret, light enough to dance to. while he has had multiple releases in single and ep forms, this is his first full-length, and about that he says “this release…

No Picture

Music Industry, Radio June 12, 2011

RIP Darryl Pandy

Darryl Pandy sang the vocals on one of the first “proper” house record most of us ever bought or heard. It was Farley jackmaster Funk’s “Love Can’t Turn Around”. It was the commercial hit version of the earlier JM Silk track “I Can’t Turn Around” (which itself was a version of an Isaac Hayes track). Sure it was an important track because it was one of the very first house tracks to bust out of the Chicago scene and become an international hit, but for me it was important for a couple of more personal reasons. It was the first…

No Picture

Music Industry, Music Technology May 10, 2011

Updated: Google Music Beta – Request your invite

My last post was about the Amazon Cloud Player. Now Google has done the same thing. I am waiting for my invite. The About Google Music page has links so you can request your invite too. (US only for the moment) The video below gives a quick tour. Features include a playlist maker. It will be interesting to see if Google can match the clever algorithms used by Pandora, iTunes and the rest. Early reports suggest that the service lets you store 20,000 songs. I cannot tell if that is a space cap or merely a “number of tracks” cap….

No Picture

Music Technology May 7, 2011

Happy in the cloud – A few weeks with the Amazon Cloud Player

Engadget has a good round up of the various online streaming and cloud music options:  Streaming music breakdown: how Google Music and iCloud will affect today’s options. I signed up for the Amazon Cloud Music service the first day and I’ve been really pleased so far. 5 gigs free to start and then after I bought one mp3 album on amazon they automatically added it to the cloud and expanded my free cloud to 25 gig (mp3 items you buy on amazon can be automatically stored on the cloud player and do not count towards your space quota). I then…

No Picture

video April 13, 2011

TV On The Radio – Nine Types of Light

Andrew S says: “Not sure if you have seen this, but it struck me immediately as Poopworthy. TV on the Radio’s hour-long “film,” basically a music video of their new album in its entirety. Pretty f*cking cool.” From the blub: “Nine Types of Light is as much an album as it is a movie by TV on the Radio. The movie is meant to be a visual re-imagining of the record, and includes a music video for every song on the album. The band personally asked their friends and the filmmakers they admired to help direct the music videos. Tunde…

No Picture

IP, Music Industry April 13, 2011

The best report ever on media piracy (now with video)

Joe Karaganis, program director at the Social Science Research Council and vice president at the American Assembly discusses their report “Media Piracy in Emerging Economies.” And another good write up about it here http://blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmon/2011/03/29/the-best-report-ever-on-media-piracy/

No Picture

remixes, WTF? April 11, 2011

The Record Books – Music as Literature

“Well loved albums > Well thumbed tomes”. A fun and fascinating set on Flickr. Famous records imagined as book covers by a pretty good graphic designer. Apparently, they will soon be available as a set of postcards. The Record Books – a set on Flickr.

No Picture

remixes, video April 5, 2011

Rusko new “single” shows two sides of one artist

Rusko’s new “single” arrived digitally today. While he has been in LA for almost two years now, some prominent members of the dubstep scene have been throwing no so well disguised darts at him, accusing him of foisting “brostep” on us. With this single’s A-side “Everyday”, he continues the move towards the summer festival and the girls which he began with Hold On. It’s almost clinical how this one makes you put your hands in the air and feel the sun on your neck. The single version included above is almost so basic that you can imagine it being used…

No Picture

Music Industry, remixes March 24, 2011

“The 30 Greatest Hip-Hop Demos”

Chairman Mao over at complex.com does a fine job of ferreting out some real gems. Some are rough as hell, as you’d expect, others are smoother. The thrill of discovery persists in all of ’em. Most of the demos have more than one track, so there’s the opportunity for some extended listening. There’s also the opportunity to marvel at the amount of talent which did not survive past the first few recordings… The 30 Greatest Hip-Hop Demos  | Complex.com.

No Picture

video March 23, 2011

Imma Homo – Rainbow Noise

Rainbow Noise Entertainment is a lesbian owned record label specializing in LGBTQ music artist with an independent name and mainstream appeal; But it doesn’t stop there… We are also committed to representing LGBTQ dancers, models, comedians, and entertainers with something to be proud of.

No Picture

Music Technology, OT? February 12, 2011

OT – The White House Asks: Whats Blocking Innovation in America? – Answer: IP Laws

Groklaw is a very useful, very dense site covering the intersections of law and technology. PJ’s work has been invaluable in advancing understanding of the complexities of the ways in which law, and IP law in particular, influence the world we live in, the culture we consume and the technology we use to do it. From the article: The White House is asking us to give them ideas on what is blocking innovation in America. I thought I’d give them an honest answer. Here it is: Current intellectual property laws are blocking innovation. President Obama just set a goal of wireless access…

No Picture

Live Shows February 6, 2011

Robyn at Radio City Music Hall – Feb 5 2011

Robyn at Radio City Music Hall – Feb 05 2011 The crowd was absolutely fabulous. There were light-up swizzle sticks in the overpriced drinks. As Will said, the Gentlemen’s Lounge was probably the gayest place in town this night. When I came out of the stall I wanted to scream “enough with the skinny jeans, boys!” And at least one of them seemed to appreciate the prospect of a bit of upstate rustic rough. I was flattered, but I think he was pretty far gone already. Robyn had two drummers and two keys and nothing else. They were definitely voice…

No Picture

Music Technology, OT?, WTF? January 31, 2011

NYC Subways making music – mta.me

Conductor: www.mta.me from Alexander Chen on Vimeo. Impossibly cool! NYC Subway trains API describes art on screen and has a fun musical surprise too. Speeds up over time and is different each time you launch. Run it in multiple tabs for even more fun. Requires scripting, flash, HTML 5 and sound. MTA.ME.

NEIL YOUNG - Le Noise - 2010

PoOPlists, PoOPlists 2010, Yearly PoOP Analyses January 30, 2011

Main Poop Analysis 2010

January 2011 In a year marked by the earthquake in Haiti, Elvis-impersonating Chilean miners and the end of Lost, we are reminded that in the greater scheme of things, it’s only POOP. But while Tea Partyers, one JetBlue flight attendant and Cee Lo explored new ways to express their ire and frustrations, we 29 POmpous and OPinionated patrons of the musical arts embraced the new era of civility in our annual rite of peaceful pontification. No POOP libel here. If you’ve been here before, feel free to skip this paragraph. As usual, I’ve attempted to tabulate the entries and, as…

No Picture

PoOPlists, PoOPlists 2010 January 30, 2011

John Stewart Poop ’10

It was a revolting year, the Teabagging nuts took the Congress thanks to a Supreme Court filled with Nazis like John Roberts, Sam Alito, Clarence Thomas (whose wife is a Teabagger) and Antonin Scalia. Kudos to the San Francisco Giants who won. Wherever my dad may be, I am sure he was smiling. He loved the Giants even long after they left Harlem. Maybe Aston Villa will win the premiership in England. Only one championship since 1910, thus making them the Boston Red Sox of English soccer. Top 10 NEW RELEASES FOR 2010 This is a tough one because I…