This is MP3Monster's blog. The blog covers music, technology, photography and anything else Monster considers worthy of blogging about.Jools Holland - Bare Faced Lies
Posted by monster in Books
I’ve just finished reading Jools Holland’s tremendous autobiography - Barefaced Lies and Boogie-woogie Boasts. Its a brilliantly engaging book, describing his slightly unconventional childhood, through how he came to meet Chris Difford and Glenn Tilbrook
to help form Squeeze to the development of his Jazz Orchestra and how the tremendous Later… TV series came about and is driven.
Each chapter is relatively short, and you find yourself wanting to ‘just read one more’. Jools doesn’t dish dirt on anyone, but then I don’t think having read the book he sees dirt - but just the best of unique individuals. That is not to say the book isn’t insightful, as he describes the life on the road with some of the hilarious adventures such as chatting to one of The Ramones while they’re given a little ‘oral relief’, and tackles some difficult times such as the tragic death of Paula Yates.
The book also communicates Jools’ immense passion for music with a perspective a bit like that of the late John Peel - that being of a huge fan.
Amazon MP3 to go global
Posted by monster in Music, Technology
Horrah, Amazon have finally announced that they are to expand their MP3 store to work outside of the USA. Although no explicit time line has been specified the hints are that it will happen in the next year. given the demographics I’d imagine that the European stores will be the next to receive the MP3 store.
The press release can be found here.
The real excitement for this announcement is potentially very interesting opportunity exists with Amazon, that being their infrastructure for the Marketplace means that very small indie artists and labels could play on a fairly level playing field with the major labels.
Monster’s YouTube Channel
Posted by monster in Technology
YouTube tends to be associated with personal video clips of chunks of broadcast programmes illegally shared. However more academic material has been posted. The quality of this material can be variable, for example:
the panning and capture of the slide material isn’t great, BUT to listen to the presentation is very informative and interesting.
To show the material that I’ve been watching (and recommend) I registered and established my own Channel along with playlists.
Matthew Ryan - new video & album
Posted by monster in Music
Matthew Ryan is releasing a new album world wide on April 1st, according to his blog on MySpace it will be called MRVSS. There is also video material to go with it as you can see below
Links:
Reunions an indication of the dire state of music?
Posted by monster in Music
When I first started hearing about reunions such as The Police and The Eagles I didn’t see this as a bad thing, in fact I have to admit I found the idea exciting, particularly given that all the musicians concerned are successful in their own right. Then came the Spice Girls - and my feelings where ho, hmm, what ever floats your boat. But recently we’ve heard of Yazoo reforming and now according to Idolator, New Kids On The Block are due to announce that they to will get back together.
This leaves me feeling that the record companies are adopting the same approach as the mid-80s when CD came out falling to the easy thing - recycling old material/artists rather than investing new artists and records. Now they say that when times get recessionary or even plain tough retrenching can be harmful, as anyone who even invests a little will make grounds over you. Now if this is true, then the record business (or at least the major labels) who claim that they are struggling now are on the verge of committing suicide. Lets hope that I’m wrong.
More exciting releases for 2008
Posted by monster in Music
Aside from the previously mentioned releases by Thea Gilmore and Kathryn Williams we’re also watching out for:
- Dido (yes I know not most original things to get excited about)
- Van Morrison - Keep It Simple (March)
- Joseph Arthur - We Could Survive EP, Crazy Rain and Boredom EP (and several others from March onwards)
- REM - Accelerate (April)
- Daniel Lanois - Here Is What Is (March)
- gutter Twins - Saturnalia (March)
- Coldplay
- Peter Gabriel
- Gnarls Barkley
- David Gray
- Kaiser Chiefs
- The Killers
- Madonna
- Massive Attack - Weather Underground (?)
- Mercury Rev
- Moby - Last Night
- Muse
- Nine Inch Nails - Year Zero Part 2
- Jewel
- Counting Crows
- Starsailor
- U2
- Morcheeba - Dive Deep
- Mike Oldfield- Music of the Spheres
- The Delays - Everything’s A Rush (April)
- The Verve
- Duffy - Rock Ferry
- M83 - Saturday-Youth
- Thea Gilmore - Liejacker
- Kathryn Williams - Two
- Alanis Morissette - Flavors Of Entanglement
- Matrthew Ryan - MVRSS (April)
- Jamie Cullum
- Paul Weller - 22 Dreams (June)
Skype via Pidgin
Posted by monster in Technology
As a user of several different platforms, N770, U3 as well as laptop & desktop PCs I’ve found Pidgin to be very helpful as it allows me to communicate still using my Windows Live Messenger account.
Business wise a number of my contacts use Skype, so ideally to make my presence visible those people having Pidgin and Skype integrated would be perfect. well I’ve found something at http://www.imessengr.com/2007/11/skype-plugin-for-pidgin-gaim-and-adium.html that may well do the trick.
M83 - new album to follow up Digital Shades
Posted by monster in Music
M83 have announced on their MySpace site that their follow to last summer’s Digital Shades will be released in April. The album will be called “Saturdays=Youth”. The album shows influences from the likes of Tears For Fears and Cocteau Twins. For more information check out M83’s MySpace web pages at http://www.myspace.com/M83.
Free Linux References
Posted by monster in Technology
If you’re working with the common versions of free Linux (Ubuntu, openSUSE and Fedora), and particularly if you’re jumping back and forth between them then having a single reference for information would be invaluable - which is what Techotopia provides - free as well. With it the Linux guides are also guides for windows and common programming languages (particularly for web based development such as PHP and JavaScript). A site worthwhile booking marking.
Kathryn Williams - new album
Posted by monster in Music
There is a fair of excitement about the likes of Adele and Duffy as up and coming female singer-songwriters. However, I am pleased to say that I’ve just heard that the Mercury Prize nominated female singer-songwriter that can easily match these new hot things, Kathryn Williams is releasing a new album. The album called Two is a collaboration with Neill MacColl (Kirsty MacColl’s half brother and respected folk musician). Samples of the album can be heard at their new website http://www.williamsmaccoll.com/. The album is due out on the March 3rd.
To support the album Kathryn and Neill will be touring, more information on their website, along with a single on 24th February through iTunes (unfortunately).
More information about Kathryn Williams can be found at:
Watermarked MP3s
Posted by monster in Music, Technology
Further to my previous blog on MP3s being watermarked (go here), according to Digital Music News Sony and Universal are already watermarking the MP3s albeit only with indicators as to the retailer. for the full story go to Digital Music News here.
First Live-Action 3D Concert Movie
Posted by monster in Music
3ality Digital are releasing a 3D (visual & Audio) film of U2 on stage. Dates for the UK cinema general have been set for a major release in late February.
According to their website (U2 3D: The First Live-Action 3D Concert Movie ) the 3D effect is achieved without needing ‘gimmicky’ tricks. Presumably by gimmicky they’re refering to the old fashioned colour glasses.
3ality’s website doesn’t explain how it work, but does quote a number of journals which have made glowing reviews of it.
What happened to Massive Attack’s - Weather Underground
Posted by monster in Music
Just over a year ago the music press got excited about the next Massive Attack album to be called Weather Underground and had meant to be released later in 2007. A year later and not a word on what is to happen about this release, so what happened?
Event Processing - Time is an illusion. Lunchtime doubly so
Posted by monster in Technology, Work & Technology
When it comes to event based processing such as CEP, time becomes an important (and complicated) issue. To your average Data Analyst timelines may seem relatively simple issue - data is in the timer period of interest or not. However when you’re dealing with events from different systems as they occur time becomes all important - the first issue that needs to be considered is, are all the systems feeding us events reporting against the same time clock. Imagine events that happen at the same time in from two different systems but a reported against different clock times would look they your event system receives them. Then how do you handle things if systems switch in and out of summer time ? Marco Seiriö in his blog Marco on CEP provides an good explanation to some of the issues and strategies for dealing with them in his blog entry Time is an illusion. Lunchtime doubly so.
It is interesting comparing the approaches that RuleCore takes compared to those here at SeeWhy and it seems that here at SeeWhy we’ve taken the possibilities a step further by allowing the user to have policies on handling timing uses associated to each event stream.
DRM Is Dead, But Watermarks Rise From Its Ashes
Posted by monster in Music, Technology
The Wired article - DRM Is Dead, But Watermarks Rise From Its Ashes describes how record labels have seen the sense to drop DRM and are now looking to use Watermarking to try and establish that copyrighted material is transferring between the machines on the Internet. The article goes to present some rather Orwellian possibilities such as demanding that ISPs scan files that pass through their servers for the watermarks and use such transfers to potentially prosecute people. Whilst I accept that IPR (Intellectual Property Rights) need to be protected, some of the suggestions may seem sensible on the surface, are actually deeply flawed.
A watermark in digital terms is a discreetly placed bit pattern in a file. Given simple probability, sooner or later I will have a file which will appear to have a watermark. Given that probability, does my ISP have a right to automatically start interfering with that file? Next as storage costs drop, and the amount of data people have increases the adoption of net based backup services will accelerate rapidly. So if I backup my legitimately purchased music files to such a service, but the service is then compromised and my files find their way to peer-to-peer sites - how do you defend yourself from being accused of illegally sharing material? A far fetched argument, not really we hear of websites being attacked and people’s credit card details being traded in shadier parts of the net, merely the 21st Century version of the pick pocket. Or even simpler does my ISP have the right (or the music industry for that matter) to prevent my transferring my music between computers using the web?
There is also an interesting undertone in the article which suggests that despite the dropping of DRM that the music industry is still failing to embrace technology and exploit it and acting the victim. The reality is that, since music was recorded it has been copied - go back to the days of printed music - and people would hand copy charts; with the arrival of the cassette - people taped albums and radio broadcasts (why else do DJs have to talk over intros & outros). Yes MP3s and the net allow more to be stolen more quickly but it also gives unrivalled access to greater numbers of new ears and potential buyers. Of course the argument against this is that the amount stolen is far greater than possible returns and profits reflect this, but the RIAA’s own figures (here) show that CDs are dropping in price by 5 - 10% per annum in real terms, so when you compare headline figures year on year they’re bound to drop.
Love is a Mix Tape
Posted by monster in Books, Music
I recently finished reading Rob Sheffield’s Love Is A Mix tape (currently on Jools Holland’s biography - also proving to be a good read so far). The book in essence is very simple as brief biography of Rob’s, it doesn’t delve into the glitz and gossip of what has encountered as a music journalist and DJ; but addresses part of his life including the tragic death of his wife after only having been together less than 10 years.
Two things makes this book engrossing; firstly the perspective - by telling his story through some of the mix tapes he received or made at the different points in his life, and secondly the very matter of fact and honest way he describes the feelings and experience of being a bereaved husband at a young age.
Rob closes his book with a some cool words …
A lot of my music friends don’t touch cassettes anymore; they stick to MP3s. I love my iPod, too - completely love it. I love my iPod carnally. I would rather have sex with my iPod rather than with Jennifer Lopez. (I wouldn’t have to hear the iPod whine about getting its hair rumpled.) But for me, if we’re talking about romance, cassettes wipe the floor with MP3s. This has nothing to with superstition, or nostalgia. MP3s buzz straight to your brain. That’s part of what I love about them. But the rhythm of the mix tape is the rhythm of romance, the analogue hum of a physical connection between two sloppy, human bodies. The cassette is full of tape hiss and room tone; it’s full of wasted space, unnecessary noise. Compared to the go-go-go rhythm of an MP3, mix tapes are hopelessly inefficient. You go back to a cassette the way a detective sits and pours drinks for the elderly motel clerk who tells stories about the old days - you know you might be somewhat bored, but there might be a clue in there somewhere. And if there isn’t, what the hell? It’s not a bad time.
The book also made me think about whether the art of the mix tape is a dying skill. With the arrival of CDs and then MP3s and their playlists the skill needed to neatly fit music onto a short fixed period and deliver the peaks and lows in tempos (aesthetics) along with the care for editing the tracks together are disappearing as Nick Hornby described in his book High Fidelity or here.
Thea Gilmore new album news
Posted by monster in Music
Thea Gilmore has announced her next new album, to be called LieJacker out on March 31st. The album has 12 tracks with an extra track on the digital version of the album. The album has a number of notable guest appearances from Joan Baez, Dave McCabe (of the Zutons), Erin MacKeown and Steve Wickham (the Waterboys).
For more information checkout Thea’s website over the coming weeks.
Thea has also contributed the the Number Ones project - a charitable record which also aims to mark Liverpool’s status as the European Captial of Culture in 2008. For information at the website http://www.thenumberoneproject.org/
Artists to watch for in 2008
Posted by monster in Music
With the ever increasing number of people creating lists of ‘the best of’ at the end of each year - making lists of things or artists who pundits (or even your average Joe) will make it big seems to be on the increase as well. Stereogum have listed several UK experts forecasts.
Of the artists listed, I have to say Duffy is certainly someone I shall be watching for in the coming months heaving heard her performance on Jools Holland’s Hootenanny (and from earlier in the series).
Duffy I would have to describe as being a 21st century Dusty Springfield.
Stream Music from BitTorrent Downloads with WeStream
Posted by monster in Music, Music Resources, Technology
I came across this interesting solution - from Bitlet called westream which allows you to point the service at a bit torrent and listen to it as a music stream.
I’ve not yet tried it - but I lovely the idea, such technology has the potential to allow for people to establish Internet radio solutions with low levels of bandwidth (although it doesn’t solve the huge licensing costs). Admittedly unlike traditional web radio, there would be a lag as torrent peers need to get going.
Eddie Izzard - animated with Lego
Posted by monster in General
A number of Eddie Izzard sketches have been hilariously animated using Lego and posted on You Tube, Cake or Death …
You Tube also animations for several other Izzard sketches.
