Cool Video Mashup of 2012’s 50+ Most Popular Songs
Regardless of how you feel about pop music, the dreadful corporate control of mainstream radio, the ’14 songs repeated to inifinity’ playlists, and so on … Source: Buzzfeed
Music Diary
AC/DC Finally Comes to iTunes, Posts Big Sales in First Week
I remember that with the rock band I played with in high school, one of the first songs we learned was the (new at the time) Highway to Hell by AC/DC. The following year AC/DC really exploded with their greatest album – Back In Black, with a load of classic rock songs that most people would recognize. It was a solid record with little ‘filler’, but AC/DC was really a singles rock band in an ‘AOR’ (album oriented rock) time. Why do I mention this? Because AC/DC has been a hold out in terms of getting their stuff digitally on…
For Jimi Hendrix 70th Birthday, an Announcement of a Release of All-New Material in 2013
Jimi Hendrix is perhaps the most famous (or infamous) member of the so-called ’27 club’, promising artists who died way too young. But today (November 27th) also marks his birthday – and he would have turned 70 today! To celebrate, his estate has announced that a new album filled with previously unreleased and newly discovered tracks would be released on March 5, 2013, under the title People, Hell & Angels. The tracks are all blues-based numbers, mostly featuring his late rhythm section of Buddy Miles and Billy Cox – but also including Steven Stills, Lonnie Youngblood, Larry Lee and others….
Dying to Hear the New Ke$ha Album? Stream It FREE at iTunes!
My wife likes to call Ke$ha a guilty pleasure similar to Nickelback – she would never call it ‘good’, but enjoys grooving to the tunes on occasion. I reviewed 2011’s Cannibal here, and called most of it ‘garbage’ – which is an opinion I still hold. Now she has a new album ‘Warrior’ launching on December 4th, but you can stream it for free on iTunes right now! But considering I like pretty much all of Cannibal more than the lead song ‘Die Young’ from Warrior … my expectations were pretty low – and based on sampling the stream I…
Pyle Audio Drums up Partnership with Wiley to Create First Drums for Dummies Kits
For decades now, the ‘For Dummies’ book series has shown itself to be much more than just basic advice on computer and home tasks. I had done a comparative review between an ‘Idiot’s Guide’ and a ‘For Dummies’ book – on music theory, no less – and found both to be excellent resources. Now the publisher Wiley has teamed up with renowned audio product maker Pyle audio to bring drumming to the masses! Pyle has produced two drum kits to meet the needs of users at all levels. There is the tabletop drum kit for $179.99 that features 7 pressure-sensitive…
iGrand Piano for iPhone and iPad Review
Type of app: Music Making Software Platform/where to buy: iPad (iPhone version here); available in the App Store Developer: IK Multimedia Description: iGrand Piano puts an entire gallery of the world’s finest pianos right at your fingertips with studio-grade quality never heard before in any other app that stands up to the most powerful virtual instruments available on a computer. iGrand Piano features: – 8 world-class, multi-velocity stereo grand and upright piano instruments (including one by registering) – Expandable library of 9 additional studio-grade instruments instantly available via in-app purchase – Intuitive instrument edit controls including ambience, lid, brightness, release,…
RIP Ambient and Electronic Music Pioneer Pete Namlook
This week we learned of the passing of electronic music giant Pete Namlook. His real last name is Kuhlmann, with Namlook being the sound of that name pronouced backwards. He was 51. I am often amazed at how I come to listen to certain artists – it is like a game of ‘Six Degrees of Separation’ at times. Pete Namlook is one of those. As my musical horizons began to expand in the late 70’s and into the 80’s I discovered a great number of musicians, and as a bassist I was directed to Bill Laswell. Laswell released a solo…
IK Multimedia Releases iPhone 5-Friendly AmpliTube 2.7!
More and more apps are being released that take advantage of the new iPhone 5 (and iPod Touch) screen, and it is great to see that they are actually taking advantage of the screen rather than just filling out the space. Today IK Multimedia announced that their popular AmpliTube app for iOS has been updated to take advantage of the larger screen. Here are the details from the press release: AmpliTube 2.7 takes advantage of the extra screen size and the Retina Display to deliver stunning graphics, which accompany IK’s industry-standard sounds and features. The app comes with 24 gear…
Pioneer DDJ-WeGO Video Unbox and First Impressions
I announced the release of the affordable yet feature-packed DDJ-WeGO from Pioneer here. The folks at Pioneer recently sent us a DDJ-WeGO to evaluate, and we are planning a full-on review for the next couple of weeks. I wanted to get in a quick unboxing and hands-on out there in case anyone was planning some holiday shopping for the DJ enthusiast and had the DDJ-WeGO on their list! Manufacturer: Pioneer Description: Pioneer Electronics (USA) Inc. Professional Sound and Visual Division today unveiled its most affordable controller to date, the DDJ-WeGO, an ultra-compact system that enables consumers and music enthusiasts alike…
‘Jazz On The Tube’ Delivers Curated Classic Jazz Videos
Last week I wrote about a long-lost video from the Jazz Goes to College series. That series is all but unknown now, and the only reason I came upon it was that someone in a Facebook Pat Metheny fan group posted a link to a audio-only YouTube video of a 1976 Gary Burton group show featuring Pat Metheny, and one of the related links was of Gary Burton as part of the Stan Getz quartet. As most people know, YouTube is often like that – while we often go there for a specific video or song, we tend to keep…
“Ask a Network Head” Answers Why MTV No Longer Plays Music Videos (Parody, NFSW-Language)
It is a common mantra, the irony of MTV standing for MUSIC television despite no longer being a music video (or even music-oriented) network. In this mock-Q&A session the basic question is answered “Why Doesn’t MTV Play Videos Any More?” Check it out, but be warned there are some NSFW-ish elements:
Stereo Sound Test Review – Kindle Fire HD vs iPad Mini
We now know that the iPad Mini is the first iDevice with stereo speakers. But they are located on either side of the downscaled Lightning connector port. I have also touted the excellent sound and stereo separation of the Kindle Fire HD. Now that I have both tablets … let’s put them to the test! The first thing I did was a series of basic stereo separation tests, some of which you can find here. The results? The Kindle Fire HD shows much more dramatic stereo separation and better ‘sound location’, which makes it very immersive when watching a video…
iRig Keys iOS/USB Keyboard Controller Review
Keyboard controllers are not a new concept – soon after MIDI became a standard, sound modules were released that allowed you to access the sounds of a synthesizer without all of the other hardware bulk or expense. It also allowed for keyboards offering a robust piano-like feel, or guitar-like portability – all while bringing along the great sounds offered by the hot synths of the day. As we have gotten to the point where it is possible to make high quality music with an entire suite of software synths, the need for external keyboards and sound modules has declined to…
Check Out an Entire ‘Jazz Goes to College’ Episode from the Stan Getz Quartet
Jazz Goes to College was the name of a Dave Brubeck album based on music played at various colleges, but was later a BBC series that apparently brought in jazz artists for full sets in a live setting. I was checking out an audio-only concert of Gary Burton from 1976 when I saw a link to this 1966 set and had to check it out. When I looked into the video I couldn’t find much on the series (even the BBC site lists only this episode!), but over at JazzOnline they had more info and even some context from Gary…
Green Day Streams Second New Album of 2012, ‘¡Dos!’ in Advance of November 13th Release
Back in September Green Day streamed their ‘first of three’ albums ‘¡Uno!’ on Facebook for a week before retail release. Now that ¡Dos! is coming out next week … they are streaming THAT as well. You can check it out on the Rolling Stone website. The band also pulled the release of ¡Tre! from 2013 into December 11th as a gesture to fans after recently deciding to postpone all tour dates through February based on the rehab situation for singer Billie Joe Armstrong, as noted at Guitar World: ¡Dos! is slated for a November 13 release, with its follow-up, ¡Tre! recently…
Forbes Lists the 6 Top Earning Dead Musicians
There is an old maxim about an artist suddenly becoming much more wealthy and famous after death, which has been turned into countless ‘movie of the week’ plots about faked deaths and so on. The reality is the more often than not – famous people remain famous for some time, and unknowns tend to stay that way as well. But there is still considerable interest in those artists who continue to generate loads of revenue for years and even decades after their deaths. Last week Forbes rounded up 6 artists who made more than $5 million in the last year,…
IK Multimedia Opens New High-Tech Facility in Italy
The business model for a low-cost product maker seems fairly established: have some in-house designers, an intermediary group in Asia to work with a prototyping partner, and a contract manufacturer in Asia to handle mass production once the design is finalized. But in the last couple of years more companies and countries have sought to bring more manufacturing back to their home nations. There are a number of reasons for doing this, from speed of innovation, information control (i.e. leaks), and the fact that more and more companies are finding ways to develop a cost-competitive infrastructure. But it remains mostly…
IK Multimedia Brings iGrand Piano to iPhone!
I’ve already written about the release of iGrand Piano for iPad, and I’ll have my review coming soon … but now you can get the same excellent sounds for the iPhone and iPod Touch! IK Multimedia has just released iGrand Piano for iPhone in the app store for $19.99! Here is what IK has to say: IK Multimedia – the leader in mobile music-creation apps and accessories for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch – is proud to announce the release of iGrand Piano for iPhone and iPod touch, a concert quality, highly playable, and extremely expressive app, offering 17 gorgeous…
One of Five Albums (yep, 20%) Sold Last Week Was Taylor Swift’s ‘Red’
Last year I was very vocal about calling shenanigans over the way Lady Gaga used a $0.99 ‘giveaway’ on Amazon.com to basically game her way to ‘selling’ over 1 million albums. It has been documented ad nauseam that the ‘record industry of old’ is dead, but that execs at the three remaining majors try to continue pushing their hand-crafted ‘stars’ and product … to ever shrinking annual sales. This week we get the exception that proves the rule – Taylor Swift’s ‘Red’ sold ~1.21 million copies, the most in a single week since Eminem in 2002. First some background. Every…
Thankfully, Apple Delays iTunes 11 Until Mid-Late November
Let me be blunt – I agree with those who have been increasingly critical of the state of Apple’s software releases in terms of readiness. iOS 5 was patched almost instantly for some awful bugs, iTunes Match stumbled out of the gate late and feeling like it should have been later, Siri was beta at release but hasn’t made all that many strides, … and then there is Apple Maps. So when the news that iTunes 11 was being delayed into November came out, I was actually relieved. I was glad that they hadn’t forced it to release for the…
Google Music Will Get ‘Match’ Capabilities
Google has a huge blog post here related to their product announcements On November 13, we’re bringing music on Google Play to Europe. Those of you in the U.K, France, Germany, Italy and Spain will be able to purchase music from the Google Play store and add up to 20,000 songs—for free—from your existing collection to the cloud for streaming to your Android devices or web browser. We’re also launching our new matching feature to streamline the process of uploading your personal music to Google Play. We’ll scan your music collection and any song we match against the Google Play…