The Making of Music
The making of music — one thousand years of classical music
The making of music — one thousand years of classical music
Amazing story: If a great musician plays great music from great composers on a great violin, but no one cares, was he really any good? [via Paul J.]
Paul Carlile recommends some new bands: The Black Angels, Silversun Pickups, and Band of Horses
Crib Rock — "Full Metal Diaper is a compilation of your favorite 80s hard rock and metal songs, except done up in a fun, baby-friendly way. These are songs that nearly everyone will recognize, and ex-metalheads will love them. Did you ever think you'd hear a xylophone version of Enter Sandman?" [via Rich]
Okay, this probably doesn't mean much to some of you, but I think it's huge: Steve Jobs advocates DRM-free music. I'm eager to see where this will lead.
The listener's guide to space-age pop (repeat?)
Lyrics from Alanis Morrissette's "Ironic" modified to actually make them ironic
The Library of Congress has an on-line Ragtime exhibit. This is perfect material for Vintage Pop, once it launches.
Yet another reason to hate Microsoft. Zune sucks. I've essentially been MS-free for five years with no adverse effects. If I could find a decent spreadsheet for OS X, I'd be completely Microsoft free.
Beer-Activated Girl — this is probably funny to like five people on Earth, including me. It helps is you're familiar with The Dresden Dolls' fantastic song Coin-Operated Boy [5mb .mov]
Weird Al video: White and Nerdy
Video: Hellzapoppin — fantastic 1941 clip of some mind-blowing Lindy Hop [via mefi, where you can find links to more]
8-bit opera [via scrubbles]
For Kris: Jitterbug — a deleted scene from The Wizard of Oz
This groovy Bollywood clip has to be seen to be believed: Solla Solla Enna Perumai [via waxy]
The Ion iTTUSB Turntable with USB Record — For $150, I can make ripping vinyl to mp3 easy instead of the chore it is now. I covet this. [via Andrew P.]
Photo of Mozart's widow found [via Dave]
How to manage a large iTunes library by Kirk McElhearn (originally from July 2005 MacWorld). I have a huge iTunes library. It needs managing.
The internet keeps getting better and better: Top of the Pops on YouTube
Sarah McLachlan's World on Fire (lyrics)
Holy cats. Check out Bob Keller's Jazz Page, an enormous collection of jazz-related links. I'm going to MeFi this if nobody else has...
I've resisted watching The Evolution of Dance for a couple of days, but now that I've seen it I'm not sure why I was so resistant. It's great! Thanks, Rich.
AskMe: I need more sad songs
Stairway to Heaven, backwards (and forwards backwards, if that makes sense) [via waxy]
Inconceivable! Josh and Paul are in a new band called The Revenge Business, which will play its first gig on May 6th.
The Internet Archive has a volumnous collection of mp3s from old 78rpm records. I collect this sort of thing, and think this resource is the best I've ever found.
Hack your brain with an iPod: "You can modify the electrical activity in your brain (the stuff that's picked up by EEG readings) by hearing sounds that mimic those waves."
The last record shop. This is a great story: this Ohio record store closed its doors in 1971, and for thirty-five years has sat untouched. What's it like to go inside now? Like walking into a time-machine.
The best sci-fi concept albums. I've been looking for science-fiction themed music lately. I'll have to check these out.
Here's a confession: I love Pomme & Kelly, the two young women who are kicking ass in the finals of Google Idol. I love their enthusiasm. I love Pomme's name, though I don't know how to pronounce it. Fun stuff, if you haven't seen it yet.
iDupe is designed to process duplicates and dead tracks in iTunes in a smart way.
Awesome! Indie rock bands routinely refuse lucrative licensing agreements with Hummer, sticking to their principles instead of giving in to evil.
Excellent info for future reference; how to deauthorize iTunes on all computers. (I've been worried that if one of my computers died, I wouldn't be able to use my purchased music on a replacement machine.)
Fuck the bastards: RIAA says ripping CDs to your iPod is NOT fair use. Here's the deal: if you comply with these greedy corporations, if you continually grant them greater power over the media and over the copyright laws, eventually they will be able to charge you for access whenever and whereever you want to use your media. It's time to take a stand, folks, it's time to tell Big Media to shove it.
Netflix sends frequent renters to the back of the line — the company's shady business practices go mainstream. I've become increasingly frustrated not because of the inability to get new releases, but because the turnaround from Netflix has dropped from two days to five days. That, my friends, is unacceptable. [via Dave]
How songs get popular: the science of hit songs. [via /.]
Nick and Kris, rejoice! Musical genius has been rewarded with an eighteen-inch Freddie Mercury action figure. I know what my wife is getting for her birthday...
I don't know much about modern pop music, but I like the video for Pink's new song, Stupid Girl — it's a condemnation of the return to traditional sex roles and the vapidity of modern role-models for girls: "What happened to the dream of a girl President?" (And Kris would want me to ask: why, once again, are we calling these women girls?)
Hell yeah! Amanda Palmer, part of a duo called The Dresden Dolls (one of my favorite bands), keeps a weblog.
Top 65 music videos of 2005 (including links to downloads) [via waxy]
Schwing! Uncle Neptune's Song Factory features songs of the twenties performed on a modern ukelele. (Ukeleles were big in the twenties.) I love this music and have a large library of it. I'm glad to find others who love it, too. [via mefi]
Edward O's top-100 singles of 2005 is an outstanding list of pop music featuring mp3 samples. Absolutely brilliant! (This page is a better entry page, but is probably less permanent than the one I linked to.)
Outstanding: Soul Train, circa 1974. Best of the web! Though I was only five — and white — I remember these heady days.
Did you buy 45rpm records when you were a kid? I did, and I loved them. This list of the top 100 b-sides takes me back. For example, #2 is Duran Duran's "The Chauffer", which I listened to again and again. A great b-side. (I even have a mix of my favorite b-sides.)
The cylinder digitization and preservation project seeks to archive early sound recordings
Pandora, created by the Music Genome Project, is a fascinating web-based service that recommends new music based on the songs and artists you tell it you prefer.
Fantastic advice: How to live without the music industry — methods of legally obtaining music without buying into the whole mass media empire
Fascinating: two stories of Digital Rights Management run amok. Sony, rootkits, and DRM gone too far. Also, DRM-crippled CD: a bizarre tale in four parts. Both are longish and technical, but simply vital reading.
AskMetafilter questions about discovering opera: where to begin? and where to start? I've added a question of my own. Apparently Discovery HD shows high-quality operas every Friday night!