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Critics, Music Industry July 15, 2009

Latest Odds on Winner of Mercury Music Prize

The Mercury Music Prize is a “prestigious” prize awarded to an album made by a British or Irish act in the previous year. Current top 5: Florence And The Machine 5.00 Lily Allen 6.00 Bat For Lashes 8.00 Doves 8.00 Little Boots 8.00 I’m a little surprised by Lily Allen and Doves being so high up. Their stars had seemed to be declining. Florence and Doves apparently benefited from well-received performances at Glastonbury (despite the prize being awarded “solely on the basis of the music on the album”). You can see the full list at the: Ladbrokes betting line on…

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Music Technology July 7, 2009

VLC player hits 1.0 – Best multimedia player anywhere

The single best media player for your computer, VLC, just hit version 1.0 today. If you have ever had trouble playing media on the web, this is the one for you. It plays everything. I’ve never hit anything it can’t play. Also, it takes up waaaay fewer resources on the computer. It does not load a ton of extras like Apples awful Quicktime and MS Media player. See a longer article about it at Cnet. Ans download it her: VideoLAN – Download from mirror

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remixes June 27, 2009

Sounds that make you plotz (Or, Why Remixes Matter)

(Disclaimer: At the risk of pissing you off before we even start, this post works best if you have a sub attached to your system. I know, I know… Hey, headphones will do in a pinch) Sounds that make you plotz I was going to entitle this post “Best Remix of the Year So Far” and merely reference the awesome Nero remix of The Streets’ “Blinded By The Light”. But then I was talking with a kid at robot job about how I thought a great remix can be more/better than the original track. He did not believe me and…

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Critics June 26, 2009

Steven Wells Says Goodbye

RIP Swells – He was equally annoying and entertaining, and never pulled punches. His takedowns of pompous and self important NME faves were always worth reading.   Steven Wells Says Goodbye (Philadelphia Weely)

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Live Shows June 22, 2009

Sonic Youths

SFJ with a Lee Renaldo memoir of seeing/hearing/experiencing Rhys Chatham’s Guitar Trio for the first time:  Sonic Youths

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Live Shows June 17, 2009

Live review: #majorlazer at SOB’s June 13 2009 – Qualified Bangin’

I have had a chance to think a bit more about the Major Lazer show. My initial reaction still stands, but I figured I’d try to tease out a little more. I haven’t seen any other reviews of the show yet, so I’ll write this and then go looking. SOB’s was sold out. The crowd was not as painfully hip as I feared it would be. My suspicion is that there are two reasons for this: The “real” hipsters have not yet cottoned on to Major Lazer AND because it is shamelessly populist party/dance music, the “real” hipsters may consider…