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Christmas Singles, Radio December 17, 2009

Shock! Rage Against the Machine swearing on BBC Radio 5 live

The UK Christmas Number One Single tradition has lead to all sorts of silly stuff over the years (Oasis vs. Blur for one), but the last few years have been dominated by awful, treacly pop songs spewing from the “winners” (or “indentured servants”, take your pick) of  Simon Cowell’s X-Factor TV show. In the last few weeks a strong campaign has developed to make Rage Against the Machine the number one single this christmas.  The campaign is specifically targeted at the Cowell machine, so the choice of RATM is particularly apt.  The song the campaign has chosen is “Killing in the Name” ,…

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IP December 14, 2009

Secret negotiations will kill the internet.

Here’s a really informative timeline put together by Micheal Geist about the ACTA Treaty. The ACTA Timeline on Dipity. This treaty is supposed to deal with anti counterfeiting (starting with things like handbags) but has expanded to include a chapter on the internet. Looks like they are trying to get the hated DMCA rolled out around the world. It also looks like they are trying to insert a “three strikes and you’re out” provision for alleged file sharers. Of course, most file sharers are “caught” by extremely suspect technological means. And this is all being done in complete secret. You…

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Music Industry, Music Technology December 2, 2009

MOG – Perfected steaming online music gets close, really close. Must try.

Just a quick break from the salt mines  (making my way through a large collection of CDs, with an interesting jazz collection in the wings) to strongly suggest that you check out the new features of MOG. MOG has been around for a while in the music blogging/socializing sphere and they have just launched a streaming music service.  (US only for the moment, others soon come) This link is to the overview page and the guided tour. Free trial now going on (it lasts one hour) and after that the pricing is $5.00 a month or 6 months for $25.00  You…

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Critics, Music Industry, WTF? November 19, 2009

NPR, NME (also P4k, Paste, Uncut) release “Best Albums of the ’00s” – Reliably, predicatably, play to own audiences

NPR: An important distinction: We’re not looking for everyone’s favorite albums or songs, but rather ones that had some sort of historical significance. These are the game-changers — ones that signaled some sort of shift in music, or ones that were particularly influential in some way. We’re looking for the albums and singles people will still buy, share, listen to and talk about for years or decades to come.” NPR: The Decade’s 50 Most Important Recordings is the plain, unadorned, list. You can see a written discussion of the list here. They take pains to say that these are “important”…

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Record Fairs October 20, 2009

WFMU Record + CD Fair this weekend

Friday to Sunday October 23 to 25 125 West 18th NYC All the details are here:  WFMU Record + CD Fair Includes dealer list and .pdf of  the table placements. Poopsters Zip and Greak will be at there own tables selling (and, no doubt, buying). Others are sure to want to join them.

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Music Technology October 10, 2009

Could it be that Bass Culture is in trouble?

Wayne&Wax has several posts and discussions jumping off from this post: Mobile Music & Treble Culture. With the proliferation of bad sound on iPods and phones, can we see a march towards treble in the way we consume music? Here are parts twoand three of the string.  It’s an interesting exercise, thinking about the ways in which the physicality (or lack of it) of how we listen to sound sound affect the way we hear it. Or should that be the other way around?

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Critics October 10, 2009

One nation under a Moog.

Simon Reynolds in The Guardian on the development of synth pop (in the UK in particular) Takes in quite a bit for a mainstream pub: One nation under a Moog | Music | The Guardian (Reynolds often publishes the uncut version on his site later.

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WTF? October 6, 2009

New Brisbane bridge named after Go-Betweens

Not content with having critical success, these attention seeking songsmiths have finally been given the ultimate accolade, having a major civil engineering project named after them:   New Brisbane bridge named after Go-Betweens

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CD reviews October 2, 2009

The White Album, Heard in 1968 and Pronounced Boring. And Now?

This weeks NYT Popcast has a fascinating discussion between Ben Sisario and one of my favorite writers, Nik Cohn. Really good insights into how the times influenced Cohn’s review in The Times back in ’68.  I found myself nodding in agreement and saying “Yes! You put your finger on it!”   The White Album, Heard in 1968 and Pronounced Boring. And Now? PS: You’ve heard the term “He’s got a face fit for radio”?  Well,  Jon Pareles has a voice fit for the newspaper.  Someone really needs to help him with microphone /  headphone  technique and perhaps give him a nice expectorant……

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Radio October 2, 2009

RIP Mister Magic

He died this morning, apparently of a heart attack. A true hip hop pioneer, one whose show, “Mr. Magic’s Rap Attack“, I listened to religiously whenever I was close to the signal (and sometimes when I wasn’t). Somewhere in the stacks I have a beat up cassette tape of one of his mixes (this is not it, but it’s close) from 83 or 84.  Just the damn coolest. You see, kids, many years ago we were not able to listen to everything all the time from everywhere ‘cos we didn’t have no intarwebs. Just the “World’s Best Lookin’ Sound” (WBLS) (who have…

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Uncategorized September 27, 2009

My heroes… Chase & Status

Perfect record for a soggy and gray day spent fiddling with records. Their LP from last year was pretty good drum n bass, but nothing could have prepared us for this. I first heard it back in April and it’s been growing on me ever since. Once again, turn up the bass if you can. (Available on the B-side of the new single “Against All Odds”)

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video, WTF? September 16, 2009

HEH! Prince Zimboo comes to rule…

Prince Zimboo “Love Diareha” – A fun, funny track with a great groove. This deserves to be huge. It wasn’t on YouTube yet so I cobbled something together and put it up. Zimboo first came to our attention with his contribution to the Major Lazer record earlier this year. Despite the brevity of the track, it was obvious that the Prince was onto something… Then I heard Toddla T play “Love Diareha” on the “In New DJs We Trust” show on BBC Radio1 at the end of August. It was just soooo different from everything else that I tortured my…

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Uncategorized September 2, 2009

HUGE MUSIC YARD SALE! – 10,000 CDs, LPs, 45s, DVDs – Labor Day Weekend

HUGE MUSIC YARD SALE! – 10,000 CDs, LPs, 45s, DVDs – Labor Day Weekend Zip’s Ziggurat presents another Insane! Music yard sale 10,000s of LPs , CDs +12”s Rock, pop, hip hop, country, dance, world, folk, reggae, soul, alt.rock, jazz, funk, punk, r+b, metal, classical, techno, new wave, house, old-timey, breaks, spoken, 80’s, electro, blues, DVDs, promos, tons more. At insultingly low prices as low as $0.50 (hey, some are even “cheaper than free”) Listen before you buy Free refreshments! Saturday, Sunday and Monday – September 5, 6 and 7 10am – 5pm All covered, so it’s rain or shine…

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Live Shows August 4, 2009

PoOP-associated live music shows coming up in the Hudson Valley

A long-standing PoOPster, Mike J, is curating/putting together/hyping/ slaving over a series of interesting looking shows at the Howland Cultural Center in Beacon NY. We’ll push an update closer to each of the shows, but here are the details in case you wanna get a jump. Seating is limited, so it might be a good idea… The Howland Cultural Center is at 477 Main Street, Beacon NY 12508 914-474-7758 http://www.howlandculturalcenter.org Prices vary by show, but seating is always limited. Tickets for The Howland Cultural Center are here Saturday, August 22, 8pm Marilyn Crispell, Solo Piano Only 2009 HV appearence $25.00…