All 70 Posts in the Category: Music

Weekly Wrap Up

TV: The TV season is changing over. Of the shows I watched, Season 2 of Star Trek: Discovery wrapped up this week and The Orville has its season finale next week. Big Bang Theory would normally be ending around now, but it’s the end of the series and they’ve scheduled their final one-hour episode in mid-May. And of course, Game of Thrones is back! As is another season of The Amazing Race.

+ GoT Season 8. From a little over 2 million viewers for its series premiere, to over 12 million for the Season 7 finale (at the time of airing), the world’s most expensive TV show ($850m to make!) starts its final run. Apparently there is a 40 minute battle scene in an upcoming episode…

+ TAR is getting tired as a format, but my wife and I continue to watch it out of tradition.

+ Discovery flourished this season. As a die hard Trekkie, I found Season 1 really tough to digest given that it was meant to be canonical (why have we not heard about the mycelial network or Discovery or Spock’s sister before?). But Season 2 papered over the cracks in the timeline enough to satisfy me. I also found the idea of bringing in some key characters only for a season interesting (like Anson Mount’s Pike and Ethan Peck’s Spock). Now it looks like the Discovery is 930 years in the future. I have been waiting for a new Trek franchise to be set further in the future for a couple decades now, so this is an exciting turn.

+ Trek seems to be getting a lot of spinoffs. There’s Picard’s new series, Georgiou’s new Section 31 series, and now talk about a Pike spinoff. Oh, and there’s Short Treks.

Music: This is the best cover of Dire Straits’ Sultans of Swing like, ever. 

  9:53am  •  Music  •  TV  •  Tweet This  •  Add a comment  • 

What is this, I don’t even (Korean edition)

Try looking away. You can’t, can you?

This thing has over 32 million views.

  10:49pm  •  Music  •  Tweet This  •  Add a comment  • 

Paul Simon at the Fillmore

Like the scent of a ex’s perfume, some songs or artists trigger memories of certain past events in our lives. Paul Simon’s music reminds me of a particular period in my life which came with a lot of mixed feelings. That added something extra to the performance, which was highly enjoyable. And interesting. Mr Simon is pushing 70 and the crowd at the Fillmore tonight was aged to match. The median age of the audience must have been in the 40s, but there were younger people there too – but it seemed that the older folk were getting stuck into the music a lot more. We were standing next to a man in his 40s and someone who appeared to be his father. The music had clearly triggered some memories for the father. Age had reduced his dancing to violent jerking and spasming, but he was clearly enjoying losing himself in the music (in between liberal drags of a few joints being passed among his family members). A friend said to me: “I don’t think I’ve ever been to a concert where so few people have their phones in the air.”

Paul Simon started pretty promptly at 8.30pm. The old man still has his voice and enough energy to put on a great 140 minute performance, mixing some old classic standards with songs from his new album and a couple of covers. Catch him while you still can – he’s worth it.

  1:04am  •  Music  •  Tweet This  •  Add a comment  • 

Three moving capos

Trace Bundy plays a song on his acoustic guitar with three moving capos:

See also this song, where he uses 5 capos. And here’s a clip of him playing Pach’s Canon with Korean wunderkind Sungha Jung.

  10:53pm  •  Music  •  Tweet This  •  Add a comment  • 

New OK Go MV – timelapse & slomo

OkGO has another video out and this time they play with time. Very cool, as usual:

“The fastest we go is 172,800x, compressing 24 hours of real time into a blazing 1/2 second. The slowest is 1/32x speed, stretching a mere 1/2 second of real time into a whopping 16 seconds. This gives us a fastest to slowest ratio of 5.5 million. If you like averages, the average speed up factor of the band dancing is 270x. In total we shot 18 hours of the band dancing and 192 hours of LA skyline timelapse – over a million frames of video – and compressed it all down to 4 minutes and 30 seconds! Oh and don’t forget, it’s one continuous camera shot.”

  11:45pm  •  Music  •  Tweet This  •  Add a comment  • 

What passes for an “old classic” today

“I think that’s the great thing about Glee. Old classics like this get rediscovered by teenagers.”
– comment on Youtube, referring to Madonna’s Vogue video.

“Old classics?” Ugh, I feel old. I was in primary school when that song came out and remember watching the music video on Video Hits. I was too young and thought it was a pretty weird clip. But now I think it’s pretty cool.

  11:45pm  •  Music  •  Tweet This  •  Add a comment  • 

OK Go – This Too Shall Pass (RGM version)

In one flawless take. Truly impressive. This is the RGM version. The original is here.

  10:16pm  •  Music  •  Tweet This  •  Add a comment  • 

When karaoke turns homicidal

The NY Times has an article about how several people singing Sinatra’s “My Way” have been killed in the karaoke bars of the Philippines. Not while singing any other song. Just while singing “My Way”.

The killings have produced urban legends about the song and left Filipinos groping for answers. Are the killings the natural byproduct of the country’s culture of violence, drinking and machismo? Or is there something inherently sinister in the song?

Whatever the reason, many karaoke bars have removed the song from their playbooks. And the country’s many Sinatra lovers, like Mr. Gregorio here in this city in the southernmost Philippines, are practicing self-censorship out of perceived self-preservation.

The article also describes one creative method Filipinos have used to diffuse potentially lethal tensions in certain karaoke bars:

A subset of karaoke bars with G.R.O.’s — short for guest relations officers, a euphemism for female prostitutes — often employ gay men, who are seen as neutral, to defuse the undercurrent of tension among the male patrons. Since the gay men are not considered rivals for the women’s attention — or rivals in singing, which karaoke machines score and rank — they can use humor to forestall macho face-offs among the patrons.

  12:01am  •  Music  •  Tweet This  •  Add a comment  • 

Virtuoso pianist

Last year, 21 year old Nobuyuki Tsujii won the 2009 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, tying with Haochen Zhang. The pieces he performed for the competition included Chopin’s Twelve Etudes, Liszt’s La Campanella, a couple of Beethoven’s Sonatas, Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 (below) and Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2.

Nobuyuki Tsujii was born blind.

  10:34pm  •  Music  •  Tweet This  •  Add a comment  • 

Too soon?

Some Michael Jackson humour: CSI’s take on it. Oh, Wikipedia…. This isn’t funny, but its ironic.

  11:21pm (GMT -7.00)  •  Music  •  Tweet This  •  Add a comment  • 

Now accepting…

… suggestions for good music for a road trip.

  3:42pm (GMT -8.00)  •  Music  •  Tweet This  •  Add a comment  • 

U2 at Telstra Stadium

Fantastic concert! Had to wait a year before they finally came, but I don’t think anyone was disappointed! Set list for the night.

Crowd shot

Another crowd shot

“Coexist”: I think this was put up around the time Sunday Bloody Sunday and Miss Sarajevo were played

Aussie flag sans Union Jack: U2 were probably playing to the right demographic for that political statement

Everyone waving their mobile phones in the air: doesn’t come out very well in the pic, but the effect was cool

I thought it was a better show at Madison Square Garden in New York, but that was probably because it wasn’t open air and was a more “intimate venue” where Bono could interact with the crowd a lot more (it ran longer, Bono chatted a bit more, guest appearance by Mary J Blige for One, a few audience members were dragged on stage to help sing, etc). But on the other hand, Telstra Stadium did have 75,000 people, and that creates quite an atmosphere.

  8:02pm (GMT +10.00)  •  Music  •  Tweet This  •  Comments (4)  • 

Jaxter Artist Awards

The Jaxter Awards are now in their third year of running and there’s more than $9000 worth of cash and prizes available. This year the competition has two sections: one for music composition and another for graphic design (of a CD cover). Know someone who’s handy with an instrument or Photoshop? Get them to enter.

  11:49am (GMT +10.00) tomorrow  •  Music  •  Tweet This  •  Add a comment  • 

What’s that tune?

Can anyone tell me what the tune is on the Pepsi Max ad where a bunch of people jump in a dumpster, go tearing down the street, off a wharf and into Sydney harbour and go rafting? It sounds like it’s from an old tv series, but I’m not sure what… And while we’re on the topic of ads, that new Nike soccer ad is pretty cool, especially the bit where Ronaldinho gets taken out by the ref at the end.

  10:28pm (GMT +10.00)  •  Music  •  Tweet This  •  Comments (3)  • 

Michael Bublé Concert

Went to see Michael Bublé’s final Sydney concert with Denise and Jenny on Friday evening. When you fork out dosh to see a live performance, you’re really there to see the performer perform – not just a repeat of what’s out on their latest CD. Michael Bublé is great with the crowd and a surefire hit with the girls, at one stage jumping into the crowd to steal a kiss or ten from a particularly good looker in the front row. Her boyfriend took it in stride and ended up cuddling Michael. The girl, finding herself suddenly ousted from the action, leapt back in and threw her arms around the two of them, making it a threesome. (As Eddie Murphy said in his classic Delirious: “Being a comic though ain’t like being no singer. The singers get all the pussy.”)

More photos here

Most of the stuff was from his CD (including two of my favourites, That’s All and The Way You Look Tonight), with some other great pieces thrown in. There were also a few short bursts of George Michael and Michael Jackson thrown in for laughs (no moonwalk, but he did sing Moondance). Good mix of slow and snappy songs. At the end he stepped away from the microphone and gave an acoustic rendition of a verse from My Funny Valentine. The hall slightly echoed his voice giving it a really rich, resonant quality. I don’t know what it’s called if it has a technical label, but like all good singers, he has the ability to finish off a line holding a sharp, crisp note that gently introduces a softly pulsating vibrato before gradually fading away cleanly. Terrific stuff.

Another view from a concert-goer at Kazzart.

  1:10am (GMT +10.00) tomorrow  •  Music  •  Tweet This  •  Add a comment  • 

Soup Plus

I’ve known about Soup Plus for years, but I’ve never gone until last Tuesday. It’s a place that plays jazz nightly from 7pm with a bar and restaurant. It’s an aging, but cosy little venue down some stairs on George St near the old Strand arcade. We saw the jazz trio (drums, double bass, piano/vocals) of Brendan Clarke, John Harkins and Andrew Dickeson on the night. Excellent stuff. $5 cover charge on Monday to Thursday nights. The food is fairly affordable, and a great place to chill out if you like jazz. Especially if you’ve had a hard, longish day at work and don’t feel like going home to cook.

  12:55am (GMT +11.00) tomorrow  •  Music  •  Tweet This  •  Add a comment  • 

Jazz

Just bought tickets to see the last Michael Bublé concert at the Opera House. Should be good. I’d also pay to see James Darren but I don’t think he’ll be coming to Australia any time soon. He’d make a good convention guest for Holodiction, actually.

  12:56pm (GMT +11.00) tomorrow  •  Music  •  Tweet This  •  Add a comment  • 

MJ

Michael Jackson, King of Pop and alleged child molester, may be about to have another horrible year ahead, but the moonwalk is still cool. Here are some instructions on how to replicate it. Sounds like you’d have to wear out several pairs of socks before you can perfect it haha.

  12:01pm (GMT +11.00) tomorrow  •  Music  •  Tweet This  •  Comments (2)  • 

Cafe Del Mar

Finally! I got all ten volumes of Cafe Del Mar, plus the 20th anniversary set. Go BitTorrent! (Yes, I am still on 28.8k dialup. Yes, it did take a painfully long time.) Still need the chillhouse mixes and a couple other ones though.

My favourite is still Volume 7. Jose Padilla’s stuff is the best. Bruno’s selections (Vols 8, 9) are rubbish, although Volume 10 does manage to redeem him.

  3:31pm (GMT +10.00) tomorrow  •  Music  •  Tweet This  •  Comments (2)  • 

Matchbox 20 Concert

MB20 was absolutely fantastic. After a couple of very tepid supporting bands, Rob Thomas and his crew came on stage and kept the crowd going wild for almost two hours. Just about all the band’s hits were done, both new and old (I only noticed that “Girl Like That” was missing). The tempo was mixed, with the few traditional rock songs spaced out with slower piano pieces. “If You’re Gone” was done unplugged, although it felt emptier, missing the brass that fills in the gaps in the album version. “Downfall” was also missing the gospel choir, but a choir would have been a bit troublesome to bring along with them! I was also hoping to hear “You and I and I” which they only seem to play live, but unfortunately no luck. Nonetheless, excellent stuff. Good to sing along with, good to move along with. If you like MB20, I highly recommend seeing and hearing them in concert.

Set List: Cold, Real World, All I Need, Soul, Disease, Could I Be You, 3 AM, Mad Season, Feel, Hand Me Down, If You’re Gone, Bright Lights, Bent, (Cover), Unwell, Back to Good, You’re So Real, Downfall, So Sad So Lonely, Long Day, Push.

Click above for more photos (600kb)

  1:17am (GMT +10.00) tomorrow  •  Music  •  Tweet This  •  Comments (4)  • 

What Song?

Brownie points if anyone can track down the female artist/band that covered The Beatles’ “All My Loving” – the version played at the end of 2-DAY FM’s Hot 30 show (with Kyle and Jackie O) each night just before the greets and shoutouts. I haven’t managed to turn up anything.

  10:12pm (GMT +10.00)  •  Music  •  Tweet This  •  Comments (5)  • 

Digital Music Piracy

SMH Article: “The record industry says it is disturbed by a study showing more than half of young Australians are unaware that “burning” music CDs and swapping songs online is illegal.”

For heaven’s sake, if that is surprising to ARIA, the execs there are severely out of touch with society. Even for the older generation, having kids should be notice enough that music piracy is rampant. The same problems have plagued the computer software industry ever since its inception and we don’t hear them complaining of their imminent collapse at the hands of the pirating hordes. It is incredible that ARIA is suddenly so worried.

Law is only effective if it is (1) known and (2) enforced. Music piracy, bar one current case, has never given rise to criminal prosecutions in Australia. As a result, piracy is widespread as there are no repercussions. Even if we also assume that people are genuinely unaware that it is illegal (come on, everyone knows copying music is wrong, but it seems less wrong than theft of physical goods), enforcement is a good way of “publicising” the law, as ignorance of the law is no excuse for violating it. The fact is, digital piracy is easy, free, does not visibly deprive people of anything physical, and proceeds unhindered. Music CDs are the opposite. When CDs are stolen, it is more the theft of the actual physical good, rather than the intellectual property contained on the CD, that is thought of as the crime by the layperson – even though the intellectual property contained on the CD is responsible for the majority of the labelled price.

People have been saying this for years: The music industry needs to address the piracy issue differently. They try to publicise that piracy is illegal, but people don’t listen because no one gets busted for piracy. They then try to publicise piracy’s illegality by enforcing the law. The problem with this is that the customer base for music piracy is made up of a gigantic number of small consumers (many under 18). Picking on individual users is likely to cause resentment among the music community, and perhaps may increase the levels of piracy as a knee-jerk reaction. You’re only going to be prosecuted if you get caught, and for 99% of us, getting caught by ARIA is unlikely.

Other models, such as Apple’s iTunes service, where music can be purchased digitally online for micropayments, while not removing the prevalence of piracy, will certainly mitigate it. Piracy cannot be eradicated, the recording industry should accept that. There are always people who will steal if they can get away with it (and I know of no one without at least one illegal MP3 on their computer). Instead, they should be turning their attention to alternative ways to bring people back to paying for music, and that means addressing why people currently find buying their music unattractive.

I have no problem with the idea of music piracy being illegal. Intellectual property should be protected. I only take issue with how the problem is being addressed, though I don’t deny that there is no easy or completely satisfactory solution to this.

  3:19pm (GMT +10.00) tomorrow from Mac Bank  •  Music  •  Tweet This  •  Comments (3)  • 

Scary

The three students must have been trafficking a huge amount of MP3s to have been arrested over it… I don’t know anyone who doesn’t have an illegal MP3 (or hundred) on their computer.

  4:49pm (GMT +10.00) tomorrow  •  Music  •  Tweet This  •  Comments (1)  • 

Ad Music, Breaks and Beats

Ever wondered what songs or breaks a commercial was using? Here are two UK-based databases: AdvertSongs and Commercial Breaks and Beats. For example, that classic Peugeot ad with the Indian sculptor (full clip is here).

  12:00am (GMT +11.00) tomorrow  •  Music  •  Tweet This  •  Add a comment  • 

Escape

This summer the famous Enrique Iglesias had a concert in romania. It was all playback. But some of the sound guys recorded his real voice from microphone output: http://www.247365.com.au/extras/enrique.html.

I don’t know if this is legit, but it sounds horrendous nonetheless. Thanks Pete!

  2:19pm (GMT +10.00) tomorrow  •  Music  •  Tweet This  •  Add a comment  • 

Sheet Music

Here’s a whole repository of sheet music for Nobuo Uematsu’s Final Fantasy compositions, for all types of instruments.

  10:44am (GMT +10.00) tomorrow  •  Music  •  Tweet This  •  Add a comment  • 

Jaxter Music Awards

A friend is running a national music composition competition. It’s called the Jaxter Artist Awards. Entry fee is $25 for any original composition/song. You have to be under 35, but I don’t think that’s a problem given the demographics of this site’s readership :). Spread the word to any of your musically talented friends.

  1:01am (GMT +10.00) tomorrow  •  Music  •  Tweet This  •  Add a comment  • 

KaZaA

KaZaA still hanging on, despite a court order to shut down.

This is an interesting article on the potential follies of record companies releasing CDs that are unplayable through computer CD drives.

  3:13pm (GMT +11.00) tomorrow from Work, Burwood  •  Music  •  Tweet This  •  Add a comment  • 

Free MP3s

This site is offering 100 free mp3 downloads. You have to provide credit card details, but you can cancel after you grab your music. (It’s got Trek on the page, but I think they have more to download besides Trek music.)

  1:00am (GMT +10.00) tomorrow  •  Music  •  Tweet This  •  Add a comment  • 

RIAA vs KaZaA/Morpheus/Grokster

Napster’s Dead (and they want to charge US$5 a month for it? Do those guys have a brain?), Morpheus may be soon to follow after a lawsuit was filed against it by the RIAA yesterday. Wired article.

  10:04am (GMT +10.00) tomorrow  •  Music  •  Tweet This  •  Add a comment  • 

Napster Alternative

Ok we all know Napster has crap all on it now. I haven’t had time to try the 100 different alternatives floating around out there, but Morpheus does the job quite nicely. It’s got the usual file resumption and segmented download features. More importantly, it reaches around a quarter million users trading 100 terabytes of files during peak time. Pretty reliable (for a dialup connection) and it finds most of the stuff I look for. Seems to be growing too. (Download)

  7:00pm (GMT +10.00)  •  Music  •  Tweet This  •  Add a comment  • 

The Hangover Cure

Can’t remember the last time I went out and bought a music CD, but The Hangover Cure is a nice mix of songs. A few songs are a bit thumpy, but overall it’s not a bad compilation.

  7:20pm (GMT +10.00)  •  Music  •  Tweet This  •  Add a comment  • 

Rebirth

My friend Phil (of Tatterdemalion) has had another venture into music kicking off with four solid funky mixes of rock/techno. So, have a listen to Rebirth. Those tracks so remind me of the .mods they used for the old Star Control games.

  7:20pm (GMT +10.00)  •  Music  •  Tweet This  •  Add a comment  • 

a-Studyin’

It’s nothing but me, a book full of obfuscated text lawyers call law, and the soothing strains of some Café Del Mar CDs to help me maintain my sanity. Ambient music at this hour is terrific.

  2:40am (GMT +10.00) tomorrow  •  Music  •  Tweet This  •  Add a comment  • 

Saturday

I’ve just had the bludgiest Saturday afternoon. I decided to take the computer downstairs and hook it up to the home theatre amp downstairs. Also gave me the chance to try connecting the never-before-used SPDIF digital out of the SBLive to the coax in of the amp. Then I just laid back on the couch and listened to MP3s for the rest of the arvo. Relaxing :)

If you have the chance, try plugging your sound card into a hi-fi system (if you don’t have a digital out/in, you’ll need a 3.5mm stereo to dual RCA cable)… the difference between them and the comparatively pissy little computer speakers you’re probably using is huge (computers don’t normally have a 15″ sub).

  11:00pm (GMT +10.00)  •  Music  •  Tweet This  •  Add a comment  • 

Alternative Music

Great MP3 site (esp if you’re a regular Triple J listener, which I’m not) but there’s lots of good music there.

  1:50pm (GMT +10.00) tomorrow  •  Music  •  Tweet This  •  Add a comment  • 

Napster… Good!

A friend and I ordered Napster shirts from Offspring. We’ll wear them if we have to do a presentation of our research paper (which will be on MP3s) for IT Law later in the semester :).

  4:00pm (GMT +10.00) tomorrow  •  Music  •  Tweet This  •  Add a comment  • 

Napster Buycott

Seems to have flopped. (Via Tunney’s blog). Incidentally I got an e-mail from him, which was unexpected and gratifying :). Unfortunately, I’m not a Triple J listener, so I’ve never actually heard him on radio.

  4:00pm (GMT +10.00) tomorrow  •  Music  •  Tweet This  •  Add a comment  • 

MP3

The radio is dead. My uncle is now supplying mp3 music in his surgery for his patients to listen to. Ok, so the radio isn’t really dead, but I did find the fact that he switched over to playing stuff from his mp3 collection amusing.

  12:30am (GMT +10.00) tomorrow  •  Music  •  Tweet This  •  Add a comment  • 

Breathless

This mp3 Shaf sent me is incredible. It’s of some guy singing in Hindi. But what makes it incredible, is he sings for about 2.5 minutes straight on one breath (ie: he never refills his lungs for the entire duration of his singing). It’s no coincidence the song is called Breathless. Amazing. I swear, it makes you breathless just listening to it.

  3:00am (GMT +10.00) tomorrow  •  Music  •  Tweet This  •  Add a comment  • 

From CNN

Swap MP3s, go to jail? Software piracy is a crime too, but we don’t see that ending anytime soon, do we?

  4:00pm (GMT +10.00) tomorrow  •  Music  •  Tweet This  •  Add a comment  • 

Wrapster

Apparently a Napster add-on that allows transfer of files other than MP3s. Does anyone know where to obtain it?

  7:00pm (GMT +10.00)  •  Music  •  Tweet This  •  Add a comment  • 

Essential Download

I’ve said before that Napster runs on several separate servers, right? Napigator allows you to poll Napster servers (ping, number of users online etc.) and connect to any of them. Very nice.

  10:30pm (GMT +10.00)  •  Music  •  Tweet This  •  Add a comment  • 

Napster

There’s now a Beta 5a version out.

  11:30pm (GMT +10.00)  •  Music  •  Tweet This  •  Add a comment  • 

Napster Tip

There isn’t just one Napster server. There are several which are at present unlinked to each other. The master server transparently forwards you to the “optimal one”. So, if you can’t find a song on the server you’re currently on, disconnect and reconnect and most likely the master server will assign you to a different one, with different people.

  1:30pm (GMT +10.00) tomorrow  •  Music  •  Tweet This  •  Add a comment  • 

Napster

Beta 4 just came out. Looks nicer. Grab now and perpetuate copyright infringement on the net :).

  4:40pm (GMT +10.00) tomorrow  •  Music  •  Tweet This  •  Add a comment  • 

MP3 Organiser

Looking for a powerful program to catalog your MP3 collection? Try Shuffleplay. It has a feature called a “recursive search” that will find all your mp3s on your computer, on all harddrives. It also will do a batch renaming of files and ID3 tags. Very nice. And there’s always this place, if you want to crack it.

  12:20am (GMT +10.00) tomorrow  •  Music  •  Tweet This  •  Add a comment  • 

Schmick MP3s

Booya! has been pimping some schmick MP3s lately.

  12:00am (GMT +10.00) tomorrow  •  Music  •  Tweet This  •  Add a comment  • 

MP3 sites

Courtesy of Lonestar, which is further courtesy of Bence. Hear Ye! has no compunctions about linking mp3 sites ever since the swede teenager was acquitted :). Link here.

  1:30am (GMT +10.00) tomorrow  •  Music  •  Tweet This  •  Add a comment  • 

Napster

Plugged on Geeklife and Shazbot already, Napster is too good to be true. But it’s true, and it deserves another plug. Find bloody well any mp3 in 5 minutes. Haha I was taking requests for songs over icq with this and making everyone wonder how I could find songs so quickly :)

  9:40pm (GMT +10.00)  •  Music  •  Tweet This  •  Add a comment  • 

Useful Spam?

Strangely enough, this link is brought to you by spam (weird spam – it had a CC list). DJ008 is an MP3 site which offers DJ mixes. Some good stuff there.

  6:30pm (GMT +10.00)  •  Music  •  Tweet This  •  Add a comment  • 

MP3 Sites

Got bandwidth to burn while you sleep? :) Couple of “top 40” type mp3 sites – here (mp3 hitzone), here (mp3 direct download) and here (music lover).

  12:10am (GMT +10.00) tomorrow  •  Music  •  Tweet This  •  Add a comment  • 

Hey. Mr Tambourine. Man.

Despite William Shatner’s wife dying, I’ll make this post. Apparently back in the 60s Shatner released an album, but since he couldn’t actually sing, he spoke the words in a dramatic sounding voice. Listen especially to Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds and Mr Tambourine Man. Very much a case of don’t skip your day job. And there’s also a link to a related album on CDNow. Spock, also has an album. Thanks to Phil.

  2:40pm (GMT +10.00) tomorrow  •  Music  •  Tweet This  •  Add a comment  • 

Yo yo yo yo Yoda

To the tune of Lola. Hear this (Yoda, not Lola) in MP3 – 3.2MB. Very catchy :)

I met him in a swamp down in Dagobah
where it bubbles all the time like a giant carbonated soda
S-O-D-A soda

I saw the little runt sitting there on a log,
I asked him his name and in a raspy voice he said Yoda
Y-O-D-A yoda yo-yo-yo yo yoda

Well I’ve been around but I ain’t never seen
a guy who looks like a muppet but he’s wrinkled and green
oh my yoda
yo yo yo yo yoda

Well I’m not dumb but I can’t understand
how he can lift me in the air just by raising his hand
oh my yoda yo yo yo yo yoda
yo yo yo yoda

Well I left home just a week before
and I’ve never ever been a jedi before
but Obi-Wan he set me straight of course,
he said yoda yoda and I’ll show you the force
Well I’m not the kind that would argue with Ben
so it looks like I’m gonna start all over again
with my

yoda, yo yo yo yo yoda
yo yo yo yoda
(repeat)

so I used the force,
I picked up a box
I lifted some rocks
while I stood on my head
Well I won’t foget what Yoda said

He said Luke stay away from the darker side
and if you start to go astray
let the force be your guide
oh my yoda yo yo yo yoda

I know Darth Vader’s really got you annoyed
but remember if you kill him then you’ll be unemployed
oh my yoda, yo yo yo yo yoda

Well I heard my friends really got in a mess,
so I’m gonna have to leave Yoda I guess
But I know that I’ll be coming back someday
I’ll be playin’ this part  ’till I’m old and grey
The long term contract I had to sign
said I’d be making these movies ’till the end of time
with my

Yoda, yo yo yo yo yoda
yo yo yo yo yoda
(repeat ’till end of song)

  5:00pm (GMT +10.00) tomorrow  •  Music  •  Tweet This  •  Add a comment  • 

CDNow CDs

Hey… my Star Wars CDs from CDNow arrived… the double CD sets for each of the trilogy movies costed about $18 US, whereas they cost $50 in Australian stores. CDs are too damn expensive here.

  11:45pm (GMT +10.00)  •  Music  •  Tweet This  •  Add a comment  • 

Lyrics.ch

Hey! www.lyrics.ch is back up! Sort of… no lyrics… just album listings.

  1:33am (GMT +10.00) tomorrow  •  Music  •  Tweet This  •  Add a comment  • 

The Phantom Menace Soundtrack in MP3s!

Go and grab them before they get yanked off the net!

  12:36am (GMT +10.00) tomorrow  •  Music  •  Tweet This  •  Add a comment  • 

Sunscreen Song

forgo Daily posted a copy of The Sunscreen Song on his site (MP3, 16kBps degraded quality, however). So now you can get both The Sunscreen Song (Quindon Tarver version) and Not The Sunscreen Song (John Safran version). Although if you’re not Australian, you probably won’t get a few of the things said in Not The Sunscreen Song (“Forget Adelaide… it’s a hole.”). I can’t remember if the Safran version is zipped, or merely renamed. So if you can’t seem to unzip it, just rename it to have an mp3 extension.

UPDATE: I found a full quality MP3 of The Sunscreen Song (aka Everybody’s Free (to Wear Sunscreen)). 6 Megs or so, but it’s definitely worth it :).

  2:43pm (GMT +10.00) tomorrow  •  Music  •  Tweet This  •  Add a comment  • 

Not the Sunscreen Song MP3

I uploaded it and it’s available at this address (~5 MB). Enjoy. You’ll need to unzip it first (as opposed to merely renaming it). If you don’t know what this song is, it’s a spoof on Quindon Tarver’s “Sunscreen Song” (which is not really a song, just some guy giving advice on living life). This spoof is a cack.

  10:40pm (GMT +10.00)  •  Music  •  Tweet This  •  Add a comment  • 

Not the Sunscreen Song MP3

Yes I do have this Mp3 (lotsa search engine referrals regarding this). I don’t have space to put it up on the web, so just buzz me on ICQ (766185) while I’m online if you want a copy. Or, even better, does someone have any space where I can store a 4 Meg MP3?

  10:40pm (GMT +10.00)  •  Music  •  Tweet This  •  Add a comment  • 

MP3s

I know you’re looking for them :) Here’s a listing of the US Top 10 + download links. American Top 10 MP3.

  12:38pm (GMT +10.00) tomorrow  •  Music  •  Tweet This  •  Add a comment  • 

Remember Milli Vanilli?

They’re still infamous :). Click Here for a small diversion.

  2:22am (GMT +10.00) tomorrow  •  Music  •  Tweet This  •  Add a comment  • 

Plagarised from KillKrazy

Directly from Watch the World Die (other great stuff there :), is the answer to the question I asked on 18/12.

ask killkrazy
Inferno lobbed this question on his website…what’s the difference between the music genres rock, alternative rock, and alternative? Instead of emailing him what I thought, I’ll answer it here instead.

First off, alternative rock and alternative are one and the same thing, so the question really is, “What’s the difference between rock and alternative?” Nowadays, and this is gonna sound repetitive, there is no difference. Alternative died when Nirvana hit it big (and was buried when Nine Inch Nails also hit the charts) and record companies realized that the buying public was sick and damn tired of Madonna, Michael Jackson, Def Leppard, and Bon Jovi (and all their clones).

So, what the hell was alternative? Well, the genre can only be defined by the bands that were considered alternative. Janes Addiction and the Pixies spring to mind. So does The Smiths, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Skinny Puppy (before their music was classified as Industrial – this may be my own personal interpretation). Love and Rockets (and the previous incarnation of the band Bauhaus – although, as is the case of the Smiths and The Cure, these bands are retroactively called Goth Bands).

Basically, alternative was advanced garage bands that were too skilled to be ignored and two weird to gain “mainstream” attention – thus, they were “alternative” to mainstream tastes (as defined by record companies). That’s the best I can do for an official definition of the term.

But, like I said, alternative is dead. The music scene is one big melting pot of Marilyn Manson, The Prodigy, and Puff Daddy and his extended family. Ten years ago, these bands and others like them would be basically unknown with a hardcore following. Times have changed, thank all that’s holy, and now more exposure is given to bands and artists that don’t just sing shitty little love songs. Nowadays, the closest anyone comes to being alternative is, maybe, Ani DiFranco or Bif Naked. Maybe Rammstein and Atari Teenage Riot can be thrown in there, too. It’s a hard call, and not one I’d like to make to be perfectly honest.

Regardless…it’s all rock ‘n’ roll, which is even easier to define…it’s whatever music your parents hate.

Thanks! There’s your answer Yappy. So… it appears all the genres have blended somewhat.

  6:20pm (GMT +10.00)  •  Music  •  Tweet This  •  Add a comment  • 

Music

Can someone point out the differences between the genres – rock, alternate rock, and alternate?

  4:26pm (GMT +10.00) tomorrow  •  Music  •  Tweet This  •  Add a comment  • 

Music

Here’s a song that’s being played to death on MIX 106.5. I heard From this Moment On (Shania Twain) played 4 times in a 24-hour period, and 3 times in another 24-hour period within the last fortnight. I wasn’t even listening 24-hours – it just happened that every time we were in the car, that song was being played. As a sidenote, I *think* I heard somewhere that she was going to sing this at the Nobel Peace Prize… huh?

  12:00pm (GMT +10.00) tomorrow  •  Music  •  Tweet This  •  Add a comment  • 

Ray of Light

Help! I swear I’m hearing this damn song everywhere – radio, shops, malls – and at least once a day. Stop it!

  7:40pm (GMT +10.00)  •  Music  •  Tweet This  •  Add a comment  • 

Spice Girls

Old news, but it has to be said… One down, “only” four to go…

  10:48pm (GMT +10.00)  •  Music  •  Tweet This  •  Add a comment  • 

Aqua

There’s something about Aqua’s music that makes it fun to listen to. I know that it sounds stupid or annoying or whatever etc. etc., but I find their music enjoyable. As the band says about their own music: “it’s so … it’s so … corny”. So it is intentional. Secondly, they’re Danish, and they have strong foreign accents, but when they sing, that accent disappears. It’s the same with any other foreign based bands/singers (Celine Dion, The Corrs etc.) … they all seem to revert to an American accent when singing. How do they do that?

  9:33pm (GMT +10.00)  •  Music  •  Tweet This  •  Add a comment  • 

Oasis

Hosers. All o’ them. And their music isn’t too much better either. This letter to the SMH (2/3/98) says it all :

Lords of the Skies
If I, as an average citizen, became drunk and annoyed and harassed others on an aeroplane I would be restrained and then placed into the hands of police with charges ranging up to and relating to “Safety of Aircraft”.

But if I was a sportsman or a pop group…

C. J. Macpherson,
Tamworth.

Haha, Tandberg’s drawn a cartoon above the letter with one of the Oasis guys, guitar in hand, yelling at a couple of extremely irate passengers : “IT’S COMMON COURTESY TO REQUEST AN F’N ENCORE!”.

  10:55pm (GMT +10.00)  •  Music  •  Tweet This  •  Add a comment  • 

MP3s

Visit www.dimensionmusic.com for mp3 news – the site for MP3 related material (though I do have a sentimental attachment to the Aussie-run Outer Limits, which is unfortunately still offline). I’ll do a write up on what MP3s are later. See Dimension Music anyway, though. It’s one of the sites I visit on my “daily site runs” :).

  11:12pm (GMT +10.00)  •  Music  •  Tweet This  •  Add a comment  •