5 posts tagged “music”
Very simple idea: take YouTube - remove the videos and display more results per page. The result: instant gratification! Perfect for the times you want to listen to a particular song NOW! I'm listening to Rakintzis as I'm writing this ;P
http://streamdrag.com/
After a long absence (due to the incompatibilities between vox and Opera), I will try to resume blogging here. For the moment here's a great music podcast: Coverville!
Highlight shows include Kate Bush, Tears for Fears and more recently Johnny Marr covers!!
The sorry state of mainstream (and "alternative") music today shows not only by listening to a random radio station, but by seeing it as well!
From the Hometracked blog:
"As shown below, and forgive the hyperbole, much more than they sound the same all Linkin Park songs look the same. And while it’s easy to criticize the band for their overuse of a formula that’s by now cliche, the similarity between their tracks at least holds a lesson on the importance of song arrangement in pop music production.
The Linkin Park Formula
The standard Linkin Park structure looks like this:
Quiet intro: Each song has a relatively quiet two-measure intro.
The instrumental kicker: The full band come in together on the down-beat, and play two or four high energy measures, usually instrumental.
Quiet verse: The song eases off for a verse or two, heightening the dynamic contrast between the song’s sections.
Heavy chorus: Usually the same chords established in the kicker, with Chester screaming over top for added emotion."
See also the visualization of their tracks, it revealing!!
I've spent my whole day listening to the same album all day long... Can Cladders! It's as great as their last one Beet Maize & Corn, although this is a more upbeat affair. It's the perfect record for the sunny days of January in Athens (20 C!!). The record is graced with beautiful background vocals and the arrangements are as always top-notch (it's the Llamas' strong point anyway). Fav tracks for the time being: Winter's Day, Bacaroo, The Old Spring Town...
I think I'm begining to see a pattern in the Llamas' releases:
Snowbug (low-key)
Buzzle Bee (upbeat)
Beet Maize & Corn (low-key)
Can Cladders (upbeat)
Now if that Louis Philippe, Sean O'Hagan, Bertrand Burgalat collaboration would ever see the light of day...
There is a personal meme i've been using from my first days as a music enthusiast: fast food tracks. Fast food tracks are tracks -usually singles- that get you extremely hooked for 50-100 listens and then suddenly they fade away. This doesn't mean they're shallower than longer lasting songs. It's just that they FORCE you to listen them intensely in a short amount of time, which results in decoding them faster (to borrow a Hofstadterian concept). When the song is decoded we lose interest...
An instance of such a song is the single from Luke Haine's new album (btw: its great!). I can't stop listening to it, its broken disco just taps the right buttons on my brain!
