Remember last month when I talked about the Song of the Day podcast from the Current? Well today’s song of the day is “Black Mirror,” the new single from Neon Bible, the much-anticipated release from Arcade Fire. Worth checking out.
Category Archives: Music
Fall Out Boy & the Record Industry’s Botched Incentives
So Steve Jobs threw down the gauntlet and said that digital rights management (DRM, the digital copyright protection that keeps anyone from buying a song from iTunes and giving it to everyone) is a requirement of the record companies and if they’d be willing to get rid of it, Apple would drop it in a heartbeat. In one smooth step Jobs redirected any ill will towards Apple for the cumbersome DRM to the feet of the record labels.
I comment on this because in his argument Jobs points out that the vast majority of music are sold with no DRM whatsoever (CDs). And while CD sales are declining, it doesn’t appear that this lack of copyright protection is bringing down the industry–nor are the record labels moving to add DRM to CDs (perhaps because every attempt has made them look foolish).
So while we wait for the record labels to realize that draconian rules about sharing music don’t work, they have other solutions. Like the latest Fall Out Boy CD, Infinity on High.
Continue reading Fall Out Boy & the Record Industry’s Botched Incentives
‘Naked Sundays’ Keep Christina Aguilera’s Marriage Spicy
In a world where Hollywood marriages have a shorter shelf life than milk, I think we should all applaud pop star Christina Aguilera and her music exec husband Jordan Bratman. This month they’ll celebrate an astounding 16 months of continuous matrimony. Their secret?
“We have something called ‘naked Sundays,’” Aguilera told Ellen DeGeneres during an interview for DeGeneres’ show. “You have to keep marriage alive, spice it up.”
The rest of us could learn from their heroic efforts to keep their marriage spicy after so many, many months.
Speaking of spicy, Aguilera and DeGeneres then had this exchange:
“We do everything naked. We cook naked,” says Aguilera
“You cook naked?” asks DeGeneres.
Aguilera replies: “Yeah, we cook naked.”
“Nothing with grease–that could splatter,” says DeGeneres.
“Well, unless you want the grease,” Aguilera replies.
The Current’s Song of the Day Podcast
The best radio station on the planet, 89.3 The Current, has a new Song of the Day podcast. You get a fancy new song delivered to you each every day. Sweet.
Today’s song, “The Sons of Cain” by Ted Leo and the Pharmacists from their forthcoming album is killer. Go download it now, before it’s gone (songs remain available for five days).
If you subscribe to the podcast with iTunes (like I did), getting the song into your music library isn’t exactly obvious (Yes, there’s a difference between your podcasts and your music library. If you want “The Sons of Cain” to show up with your other Ted Leo songs, it needs to be in your music library.) Here’s how you do it: Just right click on the song and click “Convert Selection to AAC”. It’ll convert it for you and put it into your music library.
Mmm… free music. Go the Current.
Shaun Groves Is Still Cool
For those keeping score at home, indie musician Shaun Groves did not topple Amy Grant as the FreeMusicFriday.com queen. Apparently Amy Grant and Michael W. Smith still proudly hold that title, though Shaun Groves, Sara Groves (no relation) and Jake Smith managed to bring in the third most visits to FreeMusicFriday.com. There’s just no beating Amy Grant and Smitty. They’re unstoppable.
But Shaun is still cool.
His blog offers a lovely little peek behind the curtain of the contemporary Christian music world (which is something you may not want to see). His series of entries “The Jesus You Never Heard” is a great example. Basically a controversial lyric in one of his songs was causing problems for a Christian bookstore buyer and was going to be yanked from the CD. But then he does an interview for an article about it and only the inflamatory comments make it into the story, stripped of their context. And now Shaun is turning it into a separate exploration of Christian radio. Good stuff. (Be sure to catch part 4, it’s not linked from the first three parts)
Amazing Grace by Justin McRoberts
Speaking of new music, you might want to check out Justin McRoberts’ version of “Amazing Grace”–you can listen to it at MySpace or buy it from iTunes.
There are a only a few songs I’m willing to listen to multiple versions of–U2’s “One” is one of them and “Amazing Grace” is another one (my dad has a CD with nothing but different versions of “Amazing Grace”–that’s a little overboard for my taste).
Justin’s version is backed with the Lily of the Valley Gospel Choir (read more about how the song came together). I got to hear it a few months back when Justin played a rare Green Bay show and we happened to be in Green Bay. He played it off his laptop for me and my first reaction was “It reminds me of ‘I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For’ from Rattle & Hum.” Justin smiled.
The song is also helping to abolish modern-day slavery in a partnership with The Amazing Change. In conjunction with the new movie Amazing Grace there’s a call to become an abolitionist. Sounds like a familiar idea.
Shaun Groves Wants to Kick Amy Grant’s Ass
OK, so those are my words not his, but indie artist Shaun Groves (who was recently dropped from Rocketown records, basically thanks to music piracy–it’s a longer story than that, but it would take me too long to find the link–scour around at Shaun’s blog if you like, he’s got lots of insightful stuff) wants to get more downloads at MyFreeMusicFriday.com than legend Amy Grant. The song is a free mp3 download–no sign ups, no giving them your e-mail address, no nothing. Just scroll down to Shaun Groves (he’s the third artist, there at the bottom) and click on “Click here to download ‘Miss Texas'”.
And it’s only available today. So get moving.
Vote for the Best U2 Songs
OK, so I’m still playing around with Squidoo’s new Plexo thingy. This time around, let’s vote for our favorite U2 songs. It’s a much broader field than the Five Iron list and probably appeals to more folks. Plus this time around you can add your own suggestions. I threw in a handful to get started, but it’s far from all the best songs.
plex5672
If you can’t see the list, check out my U2 lens to see it and vote.
What’s the Best Five Iron Frenzy Ever?
This is too much fun. Squidoo just added a voting/ranking functionality (I learned about it because CFCC/CMS is ranked among the top 59 smartest organizations online, currently at #5 (!?) in the voting). So let’s try it out, shall we? (click through to vote)
plex5563
Update: Doesn’t look like their widget is working very well. If you can’t see the list above, you can go to my Five Iron lens to vote.
I Like Christmas Music
Today I picked up a couple new Christmas albums. First I grabbed Justin McRoberts’ Christmas Songs EP. It’s just three quick songs, two classics and one original. I always like Justin’s stuff, and it’s fun to have some Justin tunes for the holidays.
Then I picked up Songs for Christmas by Sufjan Stevens. It’s a 5-disc, 42-song collection of Christmas songs recorded between 2001 and 2006. It’s very different from the usual Christmas music I like, but it’s fun. Kind of quirky and mellow, just like Sufjan Stevens.
Getting the album was a nightmare though. iTunes kept giving me errors when I tried to buy the album, saying the item was being modified and try again later. That persisted for two days. Then every record store in town seemed to be out of it. But I finally scored a copy at Borders of all places, and cheaper than I saw it anywhere else ($18.99). Of course if you’re not needing instant gratification you could just order it from Amazon.
And now that I write this it strikes me as slightly odd that the two albums I picked up have practically the same title only reversed (Christmas Songs vs. Songs for Christmas) and they’re at the opposite ends of the track spectrum (3 songs vs. 42 songs).