Monthly Archive for October, 2007Page 2 of 3

Who is Actual? Who are these writers? Why should I care?

published
on October 18, 2007
by
ACtual
in technology
. Closed Tags: , , , .

These might be your first three questions. Your fourth question might be, “Who does this guy think he is? Every other blogger on here has a real name.” Unless, of course, you followed me here from a link or post on the CellarD blog. For those that have, welcome to the MMM blog serving you all things tasty and musical. MMM’s blog is running full speed now with a mix/match of musical contributors bringing you a wide assortment of content, perspective and writing styles. Now, with numerous authors, the MMM blog will match and mix and music more than any music and mix and match before it. I’ve been asked to contribute, and I revel in the idea of adding my two cents anywhere it might be added to 98 other cents. Dollars are good. But, your time is worth more than a cent, or even five hundred cents, and another question lingering in the back of your mind has to be: “Why should I read this guy’s posts?” Well, I know your time is valuable too, which is why I wouldn’t be here, spending my time writing and your time reading, if I didn’t think I could contribute.

With that in mind, here are my credentials as a blogger/music fan: former radio DJ, former radio Programming Director, CD collection of more than 1200, iPod of over  9,000 songs, fan of everything but country. I’m also a habitual blogger myself logging 200 posts and over 3,900 page views since March of last year (you can email me if you want the link…in my never ending quest for internet anonymity and my non-contractual contractual agreement with MMM, we’ve decided not to post it here). I don’t think that’s a lot, but it at least shows that some people, somewhere, do care. Even if all of them are related to me. In other words, I’m a huge music fan that runs the genre spectrum with a dedicated blog readership and a tendency to rant. What’s not to enjoy?

So sit back and relax…pull up your favorite bean bag chair and that frosty Rockstar (or Vitamin water if you prefer that type of thing) and get reading. You have more than four music-loving college-educated fun-seeking concert-going slightly literate bloggers here to entertain and educate you on all that is matched and mixed out in the world. I suggest you read all of our posts or face a lifetime of ignorance and potential failure, but you can always find our individual posts on the tidy categories section on the right side there. I think it’s pretty nifty, and I think you’ll agree. ¡Viva La MixMatch!

Beatboxing Flute Loops and More.

published
on October 17, 2007
by
Sandra
in music and video
. 1 Comment Tags: , , , , .

Live looping is pretty darn cool. As is beatboxing flute. Here’s an example of both:

If you like the beatboxing flute concept, apparently this guy is one of the masters. His inspector gadget remix has only been viewed like 8 million times on youtube…no, seriously. 8,795,136 last time I checked. Check out which other song he mixes in at the end.

Not everybody likes the flute though. This one time, at band camp…Anyway. If you’d rather watch a baby laughing adorably at its dad beatboxing, click here.

No. I'm Not Going to Write About Radiohead.

published
on October 11, 2007
by
Sandra
in music
. Closed Tags: , , .

Because everyone already has.

Plus, if you haven’t already heard about the band’s little social experiment, then you probably live in a cave. Or under a rock. Or under a rock IN a cave…Nothing against cavemen or flintstone types. You guys rock. (Pun totally intended.)

But, just in case you seriously don’t know what I’m talking about, click here or here. Or for NIN fans, here…They are almost as cool for being next in line.

Personally, I think this is the start of something big. And who better to lead the way than that obscure little quintet called Radiohead. The music industry is indeed evolving. This guy (who I stumbled across on Slashdot) seems to thinks so too. If your attention span is too short for his whole blog post, here are my favorite quotes:

“…they commenced suing Napster. We [Winamp] were naive to be sure, but we were genuinely surprised by the approach. Suing Napster without offering an alternative just seemed like a denial of fact. Napster didn’t invent the ability to do P2P, it was inherent in TCP/IP. It was like throwing Newton in jail for popularizing the concept of gravity.”

“Convenience wins, hubris loses.”

I don’t think any of us know where this whole consumer-name-the-price and divorce-your-record-label thing will lead, but I dig their audacity and forward thinkingness.

Ah, crap. I just wrote about Radiohead.

Somewhere Over the Rainbow

published
on October 10, 2007
by
ACtual
in genres, music, and technology
. 5 Comments Tags: , , .

Ever cognizant of the growing and rapid change in the way we obtain and listen to music, I’ve been intently following the release of Radiohead‘s new album In Rainbows which was rumored to have a price tag left up to the buyer.

Five years ago, the idea of buying mp3s was still relatively new and left mainly to the Napsters and Limewires of the global net…Tower and Warehouse roamed the Earth and used CD bins were the place to be. But as Apple announced their plans to launch a wirelessly accessible iTunes store conjoined with the fact that in the last fiscal year, 31% of music has been released in digital format ONLY, a new horizon of music store frontiers looms in front of us. It appears that Radiohead is one of the first groups ready to take the plunge.

Known for bucking the mainstream and having extreme problems with the state of the establishment, Radiohead has been groundbreaking for years, mainly in their musical endeavors of OK Computer, Kid A, Amnesiac and Hail to the Thief. Now, their new release In Rainbows, a mere (yes, I’m being sarcastic, this is longer than edIT and Felix) four years after Hail to the Thief, attempts to go even further in that it is being offered digitally only. While they say they have a box set ready for a few months from now, for now, the download only album speaks boldly of their lack of concern for traditional methods of distributing music, and their personal belief that their album will sell.

But Radiohead didn’t stop there. In the current world of .99 cent iTunes songs and 10 dollar albums, Radiohead has stepped up their opposition to the label war on the music consumer by giving their fans something different…you can actually decide what you think the album is worth. That’s right, you pick the price. You get to the checkout basket, and there’s a blank slot for the price that you fill in. There’s a ? link next to it, and when you click it it says, “you decide.” If you click it again, it says, “No, really, you decide.” It also allows you to fill in 0 if you want to download it for free. Talk about holding the artist’s livelihood in your hands! So check it out… www.inrainbows.com (if it’s not jammed full and busy at that point). Maybe a musical purchasing future like this is out there somewhere, where bluebirds fly.

For those of you interested…I paid 7.10L for my copy (roughly 15 dollars)…the .10 I put in there because for some reason Radiohead has centered around the number 10 for this album (released 10/10, 10 tracks, announced 10 days before release). I’ll also let you know that the first track has some…..Glitch!

Beirut. The City. The Game. The Band.

published
on October 8, 2007
by
Sandra
in music
. 3 Comments Tags: , , , , .

Beirut (Arabic: بيروت, transliteration: Bayrūt) is the capital, largest city, and chief seaport of Lebanon.

Beirut (aka Beer Pong) is a highly competitive drinking game in which players throw a ping pong ball across a table with the intent of landing the ball in one of several cups of beer on the other end. Much time and effort is of course dedicated to understanding the nuances and variations in rules of this beloved frat boy past-time, as seen in the Beirut-Guide, or on the Beer Pong Map (Beer Pong vs. Beirut – What is the game called?) Not to mention classic dramatic films like Beer Fest…

Beirut, it turns out, is also a pretty sweet new band. Check out their MySpace and have a listen. Recommended by a friend whose musical opinion I dare not take lightly, Beirut quickly secured special place in my heart after I heard the first few notes.

This review hits the nail on the head:

“While it may sound like an entire Balkan gypsy orchestra playing modern songs as mournful ballads and upbeat marches, Beirut’s first album, Gulag Orkestar, is largely the work of one 19-year old Albuquerque native, Zach Condon…like a drunken 12-member ensemble that has fallen in love with The Magnetic Fields, Talking Heads and Neutral Milk Hotel”.

At times very cobblestone-streets-of-Paris-à-la-Amélie with hauntingly beautiful melodies and sad accordian, Zach’s wistful vocals bring tears to your eyes. And yet, you can’t help but tap your foot to that dirty gypsy beat.

For more on the rise of this unassuming star, check out Rachel Syme’s review: “How a 20-year-old blogosphere star is dealing with massive hype, brutal flops, and a suddenly awkward name“