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03 Jul 2010 03:01

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Music: Mixest: A pretty badass HTML5 take on the Pandora model

  • Know how we know Mixest is awesome? Because this song came up on the playlist. It’s seriously one of our favorite songs (your ears should be burning, Cymbals Eat Guitars). It’s a dead-simple idea that reminds us of a radio Muxtape. Plus, it’s done in HTML5 using the jPlayer framework, which means it will work on your iPhone and iPad. Hello new radio station. (Hat tip Hacker News) source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

01 Jul 2010 21:34

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Tech: The RIAA: The Viacom/YouTube decision is “bad public policy”

  • So says the group that sues suburban mothers for stealing two dozen songs. President Cary Sherman says that the ruling “will actually discourage service providers from taking steps to minimize the illegal exchange of copyrighted works on their sites.” To that, we say, make it easier to exchange content legally and you won’t have an issue. Fewer lawsuits (actually, wait, no lawsuits), more cool things like Lala and Rdio. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

24 Jun 2010 22:37

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Music: One-word album reviews: Jimmy Fallon’s house band made an record

Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

23 Jun 2010 10:03

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Music: Real headline: “Weird Al ponders Lady Gaga parody”

  • I don’t want to give anything away. All you’ve got to do is look at the top of the Billboard charts; that’s what I’m looking at, too.
  • “Weird Al” Yankovic • Discussing the process he uses to make parodies of pop songs. He’s currently in the midst of working on a new album; he hasn’t had a big hit in a few years. (We have to admit that the headline made us think of this.) He claims his job is tougher nowadays because of the high number of parodies online. “It makes it harder to be fresh and unique,” he says. “It’s frustrating, but it does help me step up my game. If I can’t be the first and only, I can be the best.” We just want to see him wearing a Lady Gaga hat. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

11 Jun 2010 11:24

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Music: Thank the Lord. Sufjan Stevens is finally working on his next album

  • We’ve played on some of the tracks and been listening to some of the stuff as he’s been working on it. … It’s going to be incredible. It’s going to probably blow people’s minds.
  • The National’s Bryce Dessner • Revealing that Sufjan Stevens finally got off his butt and decided to start recording that new album, a whole five years after “Illinois” (and a whole year after we scolded him for keeping fans waiting). It’s not like he’s been quiet, though. He still runs his Asthmatic Kitty label, he’s done Christmas music, he released his “The BQE” art project last year, and he’s been a little too frank in interviews. No word on whether this will be another “state” album. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

02 Jun 2010 12:01

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Music: M.I.A.’s prison is YouTube, based on her new album cover

  • Youtube just got the avant-garde treatment. MIA has pretty much always been the most out-there pop star in the best way possible, and the cover for her new album “/\/\ /\ Y /\” (that’s “Maya,” for the non-hipsters) looks like it’s going to keep up that trend, putting her behind a wall of Youtube players. See the symbolism? source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

30 May 2010 14:47

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Politics: Old ladies on the oil spill: Good message, terrible song

  • We like the idea, we like the sentiment, but could we, you know, possibly have like Spoon or Kanye or Radiohead or someone else sing it? Heck, we’d even be fine if Nickelback sung it. Nothing against “Battle Hymn of the Republic,” but it’s seriously the un-hippest song ever. These gals seriously sound like a bunch of lefty bizarro hippies.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

25 May 2010 23:38

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Music: One-word album reviews: Scott Weiland’s off the heroin, guys

Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

22 May 2010 16:19

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Music: These budding Deerhunter fans are more talented than we are

  • As some of you may know, one of of favorite bands is Bradford Cox’s Deerhunter, one of the more ambitious, experimental acts out there. And these kids above, well, just nailed their most well-known song. We’re not talking like knowing three chords. No. We’re talking the bass part on the intro that hooks you in. We’re talking the distortion. We’re talking the dueling guitar solos at the end of the song. It’s the kind of performance that makes music fans like us realize exactly how mediocre we actually are. Yeah, we’re pretty mediocre.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

20 May 2010 01:06

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Music: (Sine) Wave of the future: Multitouch musical instruments

  • what roger linn can do Linn has created a cool new musical instrument that plays music on a touchscreen in a pretty innovative way. The organization (in chromatic scale) is key to this setup being fairly easy to play. The downside: Amazon bought the technology Linn used to make the device.

  • What Bebot can do It’s actually kind of reminiscent of an iPhone app called Bebot, which allows you to play a touch-sensitive synth in a similar fashion. It doesn’t use a scale in the way Linn’s awesome instrument does, but it does have a cool robot who sings your tunes. Hooray!
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
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