music

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Is That A Bird in Your Mouth, or Are You Just That Good?

Now that Peter, Bjorn and John are bringing whistling back, I've started to notice other young folks brushing up on their whistling. I was in Pinkberry yesterday wondering if I could disprove my friend's assault that the stuff tastes like foot cream (I can see where he's coming from, but it really doesn't; after years of Tasti D-Lite, you're immune), and some of my fellow berry-hoppers were busting out the tweets. They weren't very good, but it was pretty endearing. I've never been great, myself, but I can... READ ON

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EMI to Sell DRM-Free Music

Following The Open Letter-Off of '07 in February, it looks like Steve Jobs has reached one of the four major record labels (or they reached him, perhaps spurring his original open letter). Apple and EMI jointly announced yesterday that EMI will allow sales of its catalog without any DRM (DRM = copy protection) as "premium downloads" on all major music stores, including Apple's iTunes Store. DRM-laden tracks will continue to be sold at existing price points. At the iTunes Store, individual premium... READ ON

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My Life in the Bush of Ghosts

The classic 1981 album "My Life in the Bush of Ghosts," by Brian Eno and David Byrne, has an impressive web site, including a section where you can download the original twenty-four-track master recordings of several songs, to make your own remix. The album was re-released in 2006, and the web site demonstrates the fan community that still exists for the album. The Wikipedia entry has more on the history the album; here's a snippet: The album was one of the first non-rap releases to make extensive use... READ ON

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You play a what?

If you can't afford a violin or a piano, there are cheaper alternatives. And there are more expensive alternatives. People have turned a wide variety of non-musical items into musical instruments. Some may surprise you! Gas... READ ON

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The Open Letter-Off of '07

Over the past few weeks, the web has been buzzing with competing open letters about Digital Rights Management, all starting from a post on February 6 by Steve Jobs. We break down the dialog after the jump, in excruciating... READ ON

Article

Computer-Generated Zeppelin

(Warning, severely geeky content follows.) Programmer Steven Frank, creator of Spamusement and Basketball 2, has done it again. His new zep.pl program uses the power of your computer to randomly combine a set of words, eventually creating the opening lyrics to Led Zeppelin's "Black Dog" after a number of iterations. Let's walk through the source code to understand how: The program is written in Perl, a popular scripting language. All Mac OS X computers include Perl, in case you want to run the... READ ON

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Nerdcore Hip Hop Could Reign Supreme

Nerdcore Hip Hop, our favorite nerdy musical subgenre, is finally getting its own documentary: Nerdcore Rising. In case you haven't gotten the Nerdcore Memo yet, here's an explanation from the documentary's producers: Nerdcore hip hop is a sociological phenomenon born out of the internet and made possible by computer-obsessed geeks. Nerdcore Rising follows MC Frontalot - the "Godfather of Nerdcore" - on his first national tour to reveal both the roots of the genre and the dorky complexities of its... READ ON

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Art Garfunkel the bookworm?

Every now and then I stumble upon something online that just blows me away. Usually I share it with you all, like over the summer when I heard about the blind interior designer who got his own reality TV show. (Just curious: did anyone ever watch an episode? Was it as sad and awful as it sounded?) Anyway, today I happened upon something ever so slightly more elevated, but just as mind-blowing. On Art Garfukel's website, one can browse the titles of EVERY book he's read since "“... READ ON

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Rock Star Names (Kihntinued)

Yesterday, we discussed the real names of music legends. Greg Kihn was not on that list. That's because Kihn, who now hosts a morning radio show in San Jose, absolutely loves his given name. Consider the names of selected albums released by the Greg Kihn Band: Greg Kihn (1976) Greg Kihn Again (1977) Next of Kihn (1978) Rockihnroll (1981) Kihntinued (1982) Kihnspiracy (1983) Kihntagious (1984) Citizen Kihn (1985) Kihnsolidation (1989) Unkihntrollable (1991) Kihn of Hearts (1992)... READ ON

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What's your favorite Reginald Kenneth Dwight song?

Digital Dream Door has an exhaustive list of music stars' real names. How well versed are you in pseudonyms? Match the given name to the adopted one: 1. Reginald Kenneth Dwight 2. Walden Waldo Robert Cassotto 3. Eric Wright 4. Christopher Bridges 5. David Howell Evans 6. Ernest Evans 7. George Alan O'Dowd 8. Marvin Lee Aday 9. Yorgos Panayiotou 10. Gordon Matthew Sumner A. Chubby Checker; B. Sting; C. Ludacris; D. Elton John; E. Meat Loaf; F. Boy George; G. The Edge; H. Bobby Darin; I.... READ ON