GarageSpin

I made some progress with song #2 this weekend, "Avalanche" (previously named "Take A Stand") after re-writing the chorus lyrics, and re-formating the verse melodies to give them a little more swing...something new for me.  (The cello parts are still giving me trouble...)

I was going to try recording them all tonight, but immediately realized that would not be possible...  We recently moved to a new apartment, and my "recording space" (i.e. part of a large living room/dining room space) now has a set of huge, glass sliding doors that open into a deck overlooking a backyard.  The deck is great, but the crickets are craaazy loud.  Normally, I love the sound, but it looks I'll have to wait until Fall or Winter to record anything after 8:00 PM.

Maybe I can use them to my advantage...like adding cricket chirps to the beginning of a track..?

Permalink | Comments (4)

I had sorta heard of Disney's High School Musical 2 in passing, but had no idea what kind of powerhouse it was until I read today about High School Musical 2 soundtrack reaching #1 in billboard this week (and the movie itself breaking the all-time audience record on basic cable with 17.4 million viewers).  Crazy.

Am I the only one that missed the HSM2 phenomenon?  I did a little digging...HighSchool Musical was about a basketball captain, Troy Bolton, and a smart, new girl, Gabriella Montez, that perform in a school musical against all odds, etc etc.  Simple enough.  Now there is a High School Musical 2 concert tourt, DVD, soundtrack CD, remix, poster, wallpaper, and endless catalogs of other merch.

The High School Musical 2 soundtrack is second only to the latest Linkin Park CD this year in terms of album debuts.  Crazy, I'm tellin' ya.  I need to rethink my music and lyrics to better hit that tween market..."Spinning Daydream" ain't no "Breaking Free"...

Permalink | Comments (8)

YIKES!  I was shocked to learn today that a ton of legitimate and brilliant comments were automatically dumped into my blog's "junk" folder these last few months.

Fortunately, I was able to have them all published -- it saddens me, however, to think that I may have lost several readers who were unable to see their contributions published. 

If this has happened to you, I sincerely apologize.  I'm still unsure of what caused the problem, but am looking into it.  (Maybe an overly-stringent spam-blocking rule or something?)  If you ever have a problem commenting on GarageSpin, please let me know at mike @ garage spin [dot] com...thanks!

Permalink | Comments (2)

The Spanish programmer recently responsible for MySpaceMp3.org (a site enabling music fans to download "streaming-only" mp3s from MySpace) published the code he used to create the MySpace hack.  He explains that the site was shut down without warning, and is now "...donating my site source code to the world." (via)  How sweet...though technically he probably is violating several user agreements, etc etc.

Hey, it's much easier to go to my music page to get a free music download -- no programming is necessary, just click on the link.  I'll try to get song #2 up there soon...

Permalink | Comments (1)

Create Bands is amusing for about 10 seconds, until you want to put your fist through your keyboard to make it all stop.

Choose your players, their audio loops, the backdrop, and lighting, and let the pain begin...

(Personally, I'm a much bigger fan of the pain-inducing pastimes Peanut Butter Time and Banana Phone.)  (via)

Permalink | Comments (1)

Last weekend, Girl Crusade (Tara), Gino, Xelle and I got together to shoot a music video for her track, "The Nose Job Song".  Armed with a digital camera (video cameras are for wimps), Vegas 4 (video editing software from 2003), and barbie doll knock-offs, we cranked out a video in 4 days.  Good times were had:

What do you think? Please give Girl Crusade a shout out on her YouTube page here -- you can comment, rate the video, make it "favorite", or subscribe to her stuff...

Though I'm listed as "featured" in the credits, I never actually appear in the video, for those of you that are wondering. Gino was too good at portraying craziness. Tara did all the editing herself, and it was her first time ever doing it...pretty impressive. Camera used: SONY 5.1 mega pixel Cyber-shot.

Permalink | Comments (4)

I love video games, and I love anime.  Lucky me, there's a hip hop artist MAJA that busts rhymes about both, along the lines of MC Frontalot, MC Chris, and the other Nerdcore artists out there. 

Apparently, MAJA has a following in Japan, which resulted from Japanese blogs noticing his track about watching anime with Japanese subtitles only.  (That's considered hardcore anime fanship...and way beyond my own level of devotion.)

Check him out, see what you think:

• MAJA's Transformer music video
• Free song download: Transformer bundle
• MAJA rapping in Japanese and English:  Anime Miru Toki video
• Interview with MAJA: video 

Permalink | Comments (0)

Oodle's Band Tracker launched today.  It's kinda cool, you create your own personalized list of bands whose tours you want to keep track of, and it lets you buy tickets as well.  Emails are sent to you with timely updates of what's going on, etc.  ...Some kind of widget would be way cooler, though...  A great tool for Scalpers planning ahead.

I'd love to say, 'hey, why don't you track my band?'  But that's impossible since I neither have a completed repertoire of music, nor do I have a solid band name yet (except for the filler, 'DreamSpin').  Maybe in 2008.

I'm going to immediately plug in my favs, Danity Kane, Pussy Cat Dolls, and Go! Team, and I suggest you do the same.  (via)

Permalink | Comments (1)

I had the opportunity to provide a little commentary to another recording-studios-facing-threat-of-home-recording themed article published today by the Courier News, kind of similar to the recording studio article last week.

My new hero is John Forrestal, a 19-year (old also quoted in the article) whose home recording studio became a small business while he was still in high school.  He records jazz artists, singer-songwriters, etc.  (I think I was still collecting comic books in 9th or 10th grade.  Fortunately, I also started playing guitar around that time.)  John's way ahead of his time, but then so is the entire Apple GarageBand generation, I guess.

It's great to be a songwriter in the 21st century.

Permalink | Comments (1)

YouTube is kicking off its week-long OnTheRise rap competition in two days.  $10,000 is at stake, as well as potential YouTube glory.  As well as a chance to meet 50 Cent, Common, and Polow Da Don (or at least be judged by them, anyway, since I'm sure they really are reviewing each of the 500+ videos that will be submitted.)

All you need is a few rhymes and a video-recording cell phone and blam, you're golden.  The competition is similar to the YouTube Underground contest for rock bands, which actually produced some cool stuff.

My money would definitely be on Girl Crusade to sweep this one, if only she would get out there and create a music video.

Permalink | Comments (2)

The Pickup Artist, a reality show following Mystery (apparently, a famous pickup artist) as he teaches 8 socially awkward dudes to pick up women, kicks off today on VH1.  Desperate men rejoice; I know I could've used something like this when I was in high school.  But then again, do you really want to take advice from a guy who wears fuzzy hats and eye liner?

My advice to those 8 guys -- join a band.  Then you can say, "I'm in a band."  It doesn't even have to be a good band.  That's why I joined an a capella group in college -- girls love a capella.  My wife won't admit it, but I'd bet it was my a capella skillz that won her over.

In any case, for those of you that are interested, some info about The Pick Up Artist:

PICK UP ARTIST CONTESTANTS:

Joe D.: The big guy that girls like "as a friend."

Pradeep: The mathematician who doesn't know when to shut up.

Spoon: The asian guy who gets seriously scared around women.

Alvaro: The breakdancing, boxing guy that turns mute near women.

Fred: A 45-year old virgin.

Scott: Also having troubles with women, and also a virgin.

Joe: A blonde, musical-loving pretty boy that's supposedly not gay.

Brady: A photographer who fears rejection.

PICK UP ARTIST JUDGES:

Mystery:  Erik Von Markovik.  The big time player on the show, and creator of the Mystery Method (collection of seduction learnings).

Matador:  Mystery's smooth wingman.

J-Dog:  Mystery's other smooth wingman, who's supposedly not gay.

Other PICK UP ARTIST Notes:

Pick Up Artist Blog:  The show's blog, starting with season 1.  Check out Pick Up Artist TV show listings, episode guide, cast and crew, recaps, video clips, spoilers, DVDs, etc.

The Game:  Penetrating the Secret Society of Pick Up Artists:  A 2005 non-fiction book by Neil Strauss detailing his induction into the pick up artist community and his rise from an average loser to a "master pick-up artist" under his pseudonym, Style.  He learned his technique from Mystery.

Ross Jeffries: A pick up artist focusing on hypnotic and neuro linguistic techniques in his 'Speed Seduction' teachings.  Neil learned from him.

David DeAngelo:  A pick up artist who founded the company 'Double Your Dating', who also influenced Neil.

Wikipedia entry:  A wikipedia entry for the show, the Pick-up Artist.

UPDATE:  I just watched the Pick Up Artist Finale, and Joe Alvaro beat brady for the title of "Master Pickup Artist.  Oh SNAP!!

Permalink | Comments (20)

Watching The Office yesterday, I unconsciously began singing the lyrics from the Malcolm In The Middle theme song to the The Office theme song.  They fit quite well, after the intro. Try it:

The Office theme:  mp3
"The Office Theme" by The Scrantones

Malcolm In the Middle theme:  wma
"Boss of Me" by They Might Be Giants

In case you want to sing along:

"Boss of Me" by They Might Be Giants

Yes, no.  Maybe.  I don't know.  Can you repeat the question?

You're not the boss of me now, you're not the boss of me now
You're not the boss of me now, and you're not do big.
You're not the boss of me now, you're not the boss of me now
You're not the boss of me now and you're not so big.

Life is unfair . . .

Permalink | Comments (5)

Scott Galupo of the Washington Times wrote an article titled Music from a Closet about the recent passing of many large recording studios (the Hit Factory, Cello Studios, Music Shoals Sound Studios, and most recently, Sony Music Studios), and the explosion of home/garage/closet-based studios.  A good read, check it out.

Scott was kind enough to invite my thoughts on the subject, but I (unknowingly) missed his deadline while boogie boarding in North Carolina.  Rather than let mediocre writing go to waste, I thought I'd include my thoughts here so they would have a life outside of Gmail:

"Digital audio recording has advanced to the point where it's difficult to differentiate between home-brewed audio and pro analog sound.  While audiophiles may disagree, the vast majority of iPod owners are perfectly happy grooving to mp3 files, a "low fi" sound format.  The recent 50/50 split between digital and analog single sales in the UK strongly supports that trend.

"The production process is evolving towards a point where the bulk of song writing, recording, tracking, and mixing will take place in home studios.  Some studios will always exist to provide superior acoustic spaces, superior mixing and mastering software and hardware, and most importantly, expert mixing and mastering expertise, all of which are difficult for any DIY artist to duplicate.  And of course, there will always be great bands who have no knowledge of or desire to record their own albums.  The studios that can offer bundled services (CD duplication, studio musician rosters, music submission channels, song advice, industry contacts, mixing/mastering expertise, etc.) and other difficult-to-duplicate benefits will survive and succeed."

Quoting one's self is so lame.

Permalink | Comments (5)

I've been taking a stab at recording a 4-cello part over the last few weeks for "Take a Stand"'s outro, and proved without a doubt that I am not a cello player.  Some recent learnings to share since then:

• Loop recording is SUCH a necessary tool for DIY recording artists (as is a metronome when actually recording). Sonar does a great job of allowing you to record multiple back-to-back "takes" in a single track, that you can later review, slice, 'n' dice.
• The said slicing and dicing process is pretty cool.  It's proved to me that 100 monkeys banging away on a piano (or cello) really could recreate Beethoven's 9th if you let them bang around long enough.
• Many more musicians on TV wear cowboy hats when you're watching TV in North Carolina.

It's true.  I'm on vacation (excuse me, I meant "VayCay") in NC, and they're all over the place.  Beware y'all...if I record vocals too soon after returning to NY, there may be a slight twang in my voice.  (No offence to Office Overlord, of course.)

Permalink | Comments (2)

The world of widgets (little pieces of code that add functionality to any website or social network page, such as MySpace or FaceBook, etc.) is exploding.  Ya gotta love all the Web 2.0 goodness.

ReverbNation is just one example of a widget-maker worth mentioning (more soon, promise), because it's focusing on indie bands.  Widgets including music players, show schedules, banners are all available, including a music store (powered by SnoCap).  They're also doing a good job of including a viral aspect to the widgets, by enabling fans to in turn copy and paste the widgets to their own sites, helping to further promote artsts.  Very cool. 

Nimbit and SnoCap are in the space as well....I've wrtten up a comparison, but have yet to post it...if you simply can't wait, check out HomeTracked's music store widget comparison here.

I love anything that makes me record music more and freak out about website coding less...

Permalink | Comments (2)

My search for a cool band name continues.  Some ideas that have been tossed about:

• DreamSpin:  What I'm currently using as of last November, but I never grew truly fond of it.
• AnvilBoy:  Randomly found, I like: the juxtaposition of something cold, large, invincible ("anvil") and something young, small, and vulnerable ("boy"); the fact that an anvil is used to take rough, raw material and hammer it into a shape and form (like music); the fact that it's an individual, which is appropriate since I'm currently a one-man-band.  However, my polling efforts returned a 5 to 1 count against it thus far.  Sigh.
  
• Misha:  Misha is "Michael" in Russian, which all of my family calls me.  I would absolutely use it, if it weren't for the 5-10 bands and musicians already using it themselves.  Matt, Kevin, and Tara also liked this one best.  Ah well.
• Liqui-fi:  Just a play on 'liquid' and 'hi-fi'.  And 'liquify'.
  
• Reverbatory:  A reverb laboratory...or something.
• Keystroke:  A double reference to heavy computer usage and a 'swift maneuver' of some kind.
  

Misha B and Anvil Project were suggested variations, but one seemed too hip hop, and the other kind of lost its luster for me.  It's also tough to find names for which the ".com" domain is still available.  (Even for DreamSpin, I only own ".net" and ".org", though I've done nothing with eiter.)

The search continues... Do you have any thoughts about the names above, or others not listed here?  If you think of a name I go with, you win free albums and show tickets for LIFE.  I'm serious.

Permalink | Comments (20)

I just about pee'd in my pants when I learned I might be able to see both the Transformers AND the GoBots wreak havoc on humankind.  Which trailer is better?  You tell me...

The Transformers Movie Trailer: 

The GoBots Movie Trailer (courtesy Black20):

Permalink | Comments (1)

A bunch of Net Radio stations shut down their internet radio services today in protest of the huge royalty rate hike happening on July 15th, which will basically obliterate much of radio.  Stations included:

• Pandora
• Real Network's Rhapsody
• Yahoo! Music
• Live365A
• WAMU (Washington)
• KCRW (Santa Monica)

They're appealing to listeners to go to SaveNetRadio.org to help the fight.  Meanwhile, the Internet Radio Equality Act was introduced in both houses to try to fix the situation.

We'll see how it all plays out.  I'll really miss Pandora if it disapears...*sniff*...

Permalink | Comments (0)

Mashable put together a nice little run down of what they think the 12 best music social networks are:

Flotones, Mercora Radio, MOG, Last.fm, GarageBand.com's iLike, JamNow, MusoCity, Haystack, Sonific, Midomi, iJigg, Sellaband.

There are simply too many of these to keep track.  Once I've finished song #2 and song #3 (I recorded some cello stuff today, by the way), I'll go through the arduous process of uploading my music to all of them.  Ok, maybe just to some of the music sites...

Permalink | Comments (5)

We hosted three, yes three BBQs this last weekend.  "Quick Lighting" charcoal is truly the best invention.  Ever.  One match and woosh!  Instant ball-o-flame.

I also got to work on music, which was great:

• Helped Tara (of Girl Crusade) begin recording her second song, "The Rumor Song".  She sure knows how to bust out girly rhymes.  Everything is finished, we just need to add a little instrumentation to the verses.
  
• Completed arrangements for all guitar parts for "Take a Stand" (which I plan to double track for that oh-so-full sound), as well as a 4-part cello section that will make up the end of the song; I thought it might be cool to END with a bridge, instead of slipping it into the midle of the song...I'm crazy like that.  (Pssst.  Here's a little secret...I plan on asking YOU to contribute your fine vocal talents for the bridge part for an amazing, crowd-sourced, 100-voice group sing!)  Cellos are hard to play, but loop recording rocks.
• Still considering various band name alternatives...sigh.  I must figure one out asap.
  

Permalink | Comments (1)

BurnLounge is basically the Amway of digital music.  Its customers run digital music stores and make money in one of two ways:  1) selling music downloads, and 2) recruiting other people to become store owners. 

This kind of business model resembles a pyramid scheme, since it's virtually impossible to make back the annual $29.95 to $429.95 fee you pay for a store by selling music downloads alone.  (You only earn something like $0.05 per download, requiring 1000s of sales)  The FTC seems to agree, and recently asked the Central District of California court to shut it down.

I can't tell you how relieved I am that I turned down a BurnLounge job offer last year.  The pay was good, the job involved digital music, the company was a profitable startup...but something wasn't quite "right".  As with Amway, a vast majority of their revenue came from recruitment; digital music was just the hook.

The company founders actually seemed like cool guys.  I believe they had no melicious intent.  But still, when you make promises of wealth to consumers ("Own your own store!") which consistently fail to deliver, there's a little sketchiness going on.  Hopefully they'll find a new model to follow.

Permalink | Comments (4)

Andrew at New Music Strategies recently completed an eBook compilation of blog posts titled "20 Things You Must Know About Music Online" that's now available for free.  (I was a little surprised -- I was thinking of doing a "Top Ten" series myself...but he beat me to it, and did an awesome job.  Definitely read or download it.)

Des at HomeTracked interviewed Andrew about it, which was an interesting read.  I enjoyed this exchange:

HomeTracked: A band tells you they have $500 to spend on promotion. How would you recommend they spend that money?

New Music Strategies: $500 is branding money. Who are they? What do they represent? What is their look, their values, their logo, their font (seriously), their story? These things make it easy for everything else to line up.

If you don’t have a story, then you have no reason for local newspapers to talk about you. If they don’t have a logo or chosen font, local promoters will always list their band name in ‘Generica Bold’. You need to stand out.

Perhaps the best thing you could do, if you live anywhere near a university or college with a media programme is to give $100 to the brightest PR students for a local PR campaign — community newspapers and the like; $100 to the best graphic design students for logos, sticker, t-shirt and sleeve design for promo CDs — as well as imaging for website use; $100 to the best television students for a half decent studio performance clip you can upload to YouTube, give away on DVDs, etc; $100 for web hosting, domain name and an enthusiastic web and new media student that knows their stuff about CSS to make the most out of a Wordpress-based site.

The last $100 is for new strings, drum heads, a piano tuner or whatever you need to get your work tools sounding as good as they can.  more of the interview >

Interesting.  My budget happens to be about $500, and I don't have a logo, font, CD, T-shirt, or local media contacts, and I'm on the verge of ditching my current bandname, DreamSpin.  ...hm...  At least I have this blog.  :)

Seriously, though, it's all true.  Bands must be able to answer the question:  "What's your STORY?" (In my case, I'm not 100% there yet, and could use the help of a web/graphic designer.)

Permalink | Comments (1)

Wow.  If you've never heard of Rosetta Tharpe, you've got to check out this clip of her wailing on the geetar, especially around 1:30.  She seems like such a sweet lady...I can't help but imagine her handing you a plate of cookies with milk, flipping on an amp, and blasting gospel and blues in the family room...  She's probably rocking it up in heaven now.  More cool info about Rosetta at NPR and in this book.

Permalink | Comments (4)

The Colgate 13 is an all-male a capella group at Colgate University, sort of a cross between a frat, a choir, and a comedy troupe.  It's a little different from most a capella groups, in that in addition to learning new music every year, the group retains older music dating as far back as the 50s, resulting in a tightly knit alumni community (called Crust).  A capella isn't for everyone -- but for me, the 13 made up some of the best times I had in college, and was a HUGE reason why I got into music so heavily after school, despite my molecular biology major.  (And girls seemed to be keen to crooners on campus, which was a perk.)

The group's been around for 65 years, and every 5 years the Crust gather for Reunion to sing and drink at Colgate University.  This year's 65th Reunion was an incredibly good time, involving BBQs, golf, singing, chugging, Wales Tales, and much else.  On Saturday, each decade of members performed a 3-song set for the other alumni and their families, ending with Colgate's alma mater, which every Crust sang (see photo above by Joel Currier).  Man, what a sound.  There were some unbelievable soloists that night, such as Clint from the 70s who roared out The Impossible Dream, and a bunch of other stars.  Definitely an unbelievable weekend.

If you're for some reason curious, you can check out some limited footage here, though the sound isn't too good.  For kicks, you can also check out a couple songs I sang while in the group including "I Need You", "No One Is To Blame" (by Howard Jones), or "Me and the Boys" (I'm the last of 4 soloists) on the album What It Is.  Those were the days...

Permalink | Comments (0)

That's right, you heard it at GarageSpin first, the first chick-core rap artist is here... Presenting:  Girl Crusade. (I googled "chick-core rap" and nothing came up.  Case closed.) Girl Crusade is sort of a cross between Eminem and Wierd Al, gone female.  Or something.  Check it out, brothers and sisters:

Girl Crusade:  "The Nose Job Song"  

Learn more or listen/get single here.

The backstory?  Tara (writer/playwright) wrote a song.  We sat down, recorded it, mixed it, and voila, a jolly good time resulted in a 192 kbs mp3 file.  Next, we're hoping to create a music video and catch some YouTube love.  All we need is a unique, entertaining, and word-of-mouth-worthy idea.  Sounds simple...Any ideas?

Help spread the word:  

Permalink | Comments (0)

I've never seen such an aggressive turtle (tortoise?) before.  Maybe it's one of those teenage mutant ninja turtles.

Permalink | Comments (4)

Exciting times are afoot -- after weeks of hiatus, I've been getting back to music, finally:

• Take A Stand:  My next song, Take a Stand (title may change?), is sounding good.  Funny, after spending weeks agonizing over multiple chord progressions for the chorus, I basically settled with the progression I started with.  I recently upgraded from Sonar 3 to Sonar 6, which took some getting used to, but I'm loving it now.  One cool thing:  I WANT YOU TO BE IN THE SONG.  More on that soon...
• Spinning Daydream:  My first song, Spinning Daydream, has been getting some love, lately.  I was hoping to create a new mp3 in Sonar 6 (should sound better) before posting it on Podsafe music sites, Creative Commons, and the like...apparently, I need to do that a little sooner.  I'm really excited about a Remix of the song Pimpstress RaH is working on.  More soon...
• The Nose Job Song:  I recorded playwright Tara Meddaugh's "The Nose Job Song".  It's genius.  Sort of a Legally Blonde meets Eminem.  Or something.  A music video is currently being planned as well...fun stuff.
• My 1st Music for Video:  I created music that may be used in a video clip that will intro a new website being launched.  However, this is sort of "non-news", since they might not use the music, and the website's launch is classified.  If I told you its name, I'd have to kill you.  It was fun to do, anyway.

There you have it.  What projects have you been working on, lately, or not?

Permalink | Comments (1)

Permalink | Comments (4)

This is quite a nice little ditty.  He's holding the acoustic guitar on his lap and tapping a nice little melody on it -- check it:

Permalink | Comments (5)

Say that 10x fast.

This is bad...it's the 2nd time American Idol has appeared on GarageSpin in less than a month.  But this time, it's about the American Idol Songwriting Contest; I felt compelled to after seeing the oh-so-cute Hugh in "Music and Lyrics" last night.

The backstory: the American Idol winner traditionally records a new, professionally-written song after the competition is over.  However, the song has traditionally sucked.  So, American Idol decided to start the American Idol Songwriting Contest.  Songwriters were to write a "journey-" or "quest-" theme song, follow a few simple songwriting contest rules, pay a $10 entry fee, and cross their fingers.  Fans will vote on the 20 selected songs. 

Boom.  Apparently, 25,000 entries were submitted (hey, that's $250,000).  So, besides raking in a chunk of songwriting contest fees, by involving fans in the selection process, American Idol should also be able to sell quite a few copies of the winning idol single.  Oh yeah, and hopefully, they'll find some decent songwriting talent.  Pretty smaaht.  Sadly, none of this will affect the American Idol Theme Song itself.

There've been some complaints about the songwriting contest selection process, apparently.  Hey, what do you expect when music interns are commanded to shrink a pile of 25,000 songs to 20?   And some believe the 20 selected songs all suck.  Ah well.  I'm not sure myself; unfortunately, the 20 finalist songs are no longer available for listening.  The winning song will be sung live by the winner on May 22 (and will surely become a karaoke hit soon after).

The moral?  Er, I dunno.  Maybe, "Create your own promotional opportunities, don't depend on 1 in 25,000 chances of succeeding."  Or, "Be sure to appeal to the masses in everything you do and create."

Just kidding.  Kudos to the winner-to-be; I'd love it if it were a DIY basement-bound musician.  People are posting what they know about the entrants here, in case you're interested.  Honestly, I hope someone great makes it.

Permalink | Comments (1)

Aggrega is touted as being the Pandora of music videos.  You build your own music video channel, vote for videos you like, and share video channels on your own websites, etc etc.  Interesting.

Speaking of which...if you are a Pandora-lover, and live outside the US...I am so sorry.  Pandora will be blocking non-US users this Thursday.  If this means you, try Last.fm, another great music site. 

Permalink | Comments (2)

This stuff is funny.  "Net_Work" is an online video series developed by Black20, a small video production group based out of some guy's Brooklyn apartment.  One episode follows below. Grimlock laugh hard. (They were just featured in a NY Times article, by the way)

Permalink | Comments (2)

My photographer and perpetual traveller friend Taylor told me to check out Andrew, a songwriter taking song requests at SongsToWearPantsTo.com.  You can make either a "free request" or a "paid request".  Andrew reads all free requests and writes 1:11 songs for the ones that interest him most.  He guarantees to fulfill all paid requests for $40-400 based on length, subject, genre, and deadline.

Kinda interesting.  I love the "free request" idea...it's fun for readers, but also a blast for the songwriter.  There's no need to impress with a fully-structured, well thought-out and arranged composition.  Just pump out some audio when you're inspired...that's what all songwriters should be doing anyway, no?  (..as my guitar slowly gathers dust, sigh)

Fun stuff, and a great idea.  Where do the pants come in?  I have no idea.

Permalink | Comments (7)

Create Digital Music, MakeZine, and Etsy Labs sponsored a "Handmade Music" night in Brooklyn, NY recently.  Seriously, these people are crazy.  But it's that lovable kind of crazy that paves the way for brilliance in digital music making.  You need only see the Sonic Banana, Slime-O-Tron, Shock Glove, Beat Blocks, and the Singing Fish-related device to understand.  I'm so inspired, I may trash my acoustic guitar and convert my Super Nintendo into a MIDI keyboard.

Check out video clips of the event at CDM here, or some pics of the instruments at Make here.  And if that's not enough, be sure to check out the Paper-made music event, also recently hosted by CDM, Make, Etsy Labs, and Popular Science.

Permalink | Comments (1)

Permalink |