Revisiting old friends...

Most of my friends know that over the past few months I'd given up on listening to music. That I'd only listen to podcasts, honoring the art of the spoken word over the manipulation of musical instruments. Well today I revisited some old friends, Rufus Wainwright and the Vetiver boys. I think I've started to make the transition back to listening to music as a recreational activity.

Yet another reason the musical landscape is shrinking...

Now, for just $10 a song music service Music Xray can analyze the "hit-ability" of your music. For just a few bucks more a real A&R guy will give you his two cents too... this is stupid, but i guess it works. They even predicted that Crazy by Gnarls Barkley "would be the summer's biggest hit."

"I know a guy in Barcelona who has started a company to develop algorithms to determine whether a song is going to be a hit. It analyzes music to figure it out -- and they're selling it to the record companies, and it's quite effective. If you expand on that, there's no reason you couldn't have your own personal search engine that understands your taste and can instantly analyze music based on a whole bunch of different, very subjective criteria to determine whether you might like it." -- Moby, musician

"Roller" by French Kicks

Just when I thought I had gotten over the French Kicks they go and record a song like "Roller" to get me all excited about their music again. It must be a sign. When I was walking to work yesterday in the light rain I slipped on the earphones and randomly chose "Following Waves" and only stopped after "You could not Decide" because I had reached my door.

So today I went on myspace and found them to add as a friend. As the page loaded "Roller" started streaming. The first few seconds sound like the start of one of my favorite Strokes songs (with a little too much bass in the bass drum), only to drop into a euro-pop euphoria. I don't agree with some of his vocal decisions but the song is so good from beginning to end, I can't help but loop it.

Listen to "Roller" by going to their myspace page: http://www.myspace.com/frenchkicks

BAND UPDATES: I'm getting back into Flash programming. I'm working on something like James Patterson's Presstube drawings for some of our shows. I got the Wiimote bluetooth hack to work! Now I'm just deciding how to use it...

You only live once...

Listening to "You only live once." It is currently my favorite Strokes song.

a little morning goodness...

The Way the Music Died - A Frontline special report on DVD

Last night I watched "The Way the Music Died," a documentary on the factors that influence music consumption in the United States. It was interesting and unsettling. It almost makes me not want to get signed. You can watch the entire program online by clicking on the link.