Being almost tone deaf wasn’t the only reason why I gave up on instruments when I was younger, but it certainly played its part. With a tool like this one back then, things might have gone more pleasurably. I would have been encouraged to keep at it for a little longer, and maybe (just maybe) reach the point in which I could actually play something. I find myself thinking that every time I go to a rehearsal of any of the bands I write lyrics for, and any member couldn’t make it there on time, leaving an instrument vacant. Today was one such day. Hence, today is the right time to review this site.
Found at http://pitchimprover.com, this a site that will let you learn to play instruments by ear. The site lets you choose the one you want to master from a list made up by “Piano”, “Guitar”, “Strings” and “Woodwinds”, and then it will let you do as many exercises as you want. These all revolve around a melody being played to you, and you having to reproduce it using an interactive keyboard. There are 20 different skill levels, and you are actually the one choosing the one you are in at the beginning of the process. Level 1 is “Major 1, 3, 5” (the one even I get right), and level 20 is “Chromatic” (the one I wouldn’t get right in twenty consecutive reincarnations). Continue reading →
Big news today as it has just been announced that the next F8 Conference will revolve around one thing: music. I’m sure someone at MySpace is having a heart attack right now…
The Internet has been abuzz with discussions concerning a possible Facebook and Spotify alliance, but Zuckerberg himself denied that. And most people (count me in) also saw such an alliance as unviable. But now it has been confirmed that Facebook and Spotify have indeed been discussing a joint service. And what’s even more interesting, Facebook has also been approaching other music service providers. If it’s not Spotify (again – I stand my previous ground), then it’s surely going to be an America-based startup. Which makes more sense, owing to the legal implications of streaming music online.
We can only try and guess which features Facebook music will have, but it’s fair to assume that a tab reading “Music” will be displayed on the left-hand side of the screen, right with your friends, groups and places, and that clicking on it will let you stream songs live from the one service that becomes Facebook’s music partner.
With Facebook being the most visited site on Earth, this can be the death knell not only for MySpace but also for services like Apple’s own Ping. We’ll have to wait until August to know more, as that is when the F8 Conference will be held and all these questions will be answered for good.
The winners of the Grafitti Awards were announced last Friday. The
Grafitti Awards are the exact equivalent to the American Grammy
Awards, as the work of musicians across different genres and styles
is distinguished and honored.
What I want to share with you now is the clip that romped home with the
“Best Video Award” accolade. The song is named “Gigantes” [Giants],
and it is by the Uruguayan band Orgánica. The clip was directed by Pablo Riera, and arranged by Paristexeas.
The name of Swift.fm might as well be familiar to those of you who are active on the Twitterverse. The site launched about one year and a half ago, and it basically stood as a Twitter-powered platform for the sharing of songs. Then again, you might not. It didn’t pick that much traction, despite some famous musicians (most notably rappers) singing it praises. Well, Swift.fm is back with a vengeance – the whole platform has been revamped in order to let people share music on practically all the main social networking sites available today.
This is how it works. People who join Swift.fm (it costs nothing) can link their MySpace, Twitter, Facebook and Last.fm accounts together, and share their own music (and the music that they have discovered online) with everybody and his wife. That is, provided everybody and/or his wife can access the Internet in one way or the other. But I think we can count on that in this day and age, right?
And the discovery quotient of the whole platform is pretty high, since users can follow their friends and see what music they have been sharing/uploading more recently. Continue reading →
“The Future Is Medieval” Is The Newest Album By Kaiser Chiefs. In A Bold Move, Fans Can Choose Which Tracks To Actually Buy
Can you imagine what would happen if bands let punters build their own albums using the songs they have recorded, arrange them in the order they want and also pick a cover to go with these? Would that be beneficial for the actual music recorded by bands, or would that be taking things just too far? I ask you because a band has done exactly such a thing, and it is turning to be the talk of the Internet.
British indie band Kaiser Chiefs has just finished recording a 20-track CD, and it lets people buy any ten songs from it, in the order they see fit, and give it a cover of its very own using lots of preloaded images. What’s even more interesting is that once a person orders this customized CD, he will then be given the option to sell this customized album himself online, and earn 1 pound per sale.
This is as interesting as it is debatable. While letting fans do such a thing is the ultimate way to get them engaged, it also lessens the unity of what has been recorded. In this specific case, Kaiser Chiefs has recorded 20 songs. The fans buying the album will get to listen to only 10. A system like this one might as well come with a large sticker reading “Forget about sequencing or continuity”.
Plus, the fact that there might be as many versions of an album around as fans of the band means nobody will have the same impression of what has been released. There are thousands of ways in which songs can be combined.
This is not really the first time something like this has been done. Not so long ago, Devo crowdsourced the tracklist for its album “Something For Everybody”. And going way, way back I recall how MusicMaker.com let you customize your copy of The Who’s “The Blues To The Bush” before ordering it. Granted, it wasn’t the same thing. That was a live album. But it made for multiple permutations of the same disc to be available to the public.
Kaiser Chiefs’ “The Future Is Medieval” is a brand-new collection of songs. The only way to listen to all of them is by ordering two copies with 10 cuts each. So, how will this go down with fans? If your favorite band ever did the same thing, how supportive would you be? Leave a comment below and let us all know, please!
By The Looks Of It, Spotify Might Be Coming To America Sooner Than Expected
Spotify’s much-touted disembark on American shores finally picks up some pace. The company has managed to sign a deal with Universal Music. This means that the one and only company that stands between Spotify and America is the typically-conservative Warner Music Group. By now, Spotify has already managed to nail deals with UMG, EMI and Sony.
The Warner deal itself might not be that hard to sign, actually. All four major labels have recently signed with Apple for its iTunes to the Cloud and iTunes Match services. This is a clear indicator that the majors are opening up to the concept of digital music. I know, I know – the European streaming service and Apple are in entirely different leagues. But that is something of a precedent all the same.
One thing’s for sure: if the Warner deal comes through, it will involve some kind of heavy compromise. Let’s see how Spotify can handle that – remember, it has already angered punters by cutting on the amount of music that can be streamed for free.
Stay tuned for the latest developments. This might as well turn to be one of the hottest stories of the year as far as digital music is concerned.
Google’s Doodles were implemented by the search giant as a direct response to the random backgrounds that one gets when using Bing. Doodles conmemorate the birth of famous people, the date in which discoveries and inventions were made, and the date in which remarkable products were issued. And just last week, one of the most interesting Doodles ever was featured on Google’s homepage.
I’m obviously talking about the Les Paul Doodle. It celebrated the 96th anniversary of the birth of Les Paul, unarguably one of the biggest names in guitar history.
This Doodle proved so popular during its original run that it was left online for two full days (Doodles are only left there for 24 hours at most). And the immense popularity of the Les Paul Doodle was confirmed when Google announced the musical logo would live forever on a page of its very own.
So, the Les Paul Doodle will remain accessible for perpetuity here. You will be able to create songs and have them recorded and shared with all of your chums. Just check the video featured below in case you have not seen what this latest Doodle is capable of.
There is something which is obvious, but which is not any less true because of that. Listeners are the only people who can truly determine how good your own band is. Forget about critics, forget about these radios that actually play your songs or shun them. Any band worth its salt knows the one answer that actually has any real meaning is the one they can elicit from the public. All the rest comes later.
And which better way to measure how popular a band is in the world’s eyes than a site where bands from everywhere can challenge each other out, and have punters vote on which is better? Well, that’s exactly what this site is all about. SoundSpar is a battleground for bands to fight for supremacy. The word “battleground” might be too much, come to think of it. Bands fight each other in what is comparable to a kind of forum where people can vote and opine as freely as they wish.
Each featured band has a record of its own, highlighting how many confrontations they have won, how many they have lost, and how many have ended in a draw. And these bands that step into the ring more often are all highlighted on the main page, for you to know who the champs you should aspire to challenge one day are.
A wealth of different styles are supported on this site – rock, pop, country, rap, electronic/techno… and something that definitely has to be mentioned is that the site is also usable by comedians. The will be able to battle for supremacy much in the same ways that bands are allowed to.
After Having Leaked In December 2010, The Official Video For Kanye West’s “Monster” Has Finally Been Issued
Way back in December, the video for Kanye West’s “Monster” was mysteriously leaked online. People immediately complained about the gory nature of the clip for what is unarguably one of the strongest cuts on “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy” (it features Jay-Z, Nicki Minaj and Justin Vernon).
Well, the clip has finally been released in its official form. And you can watch it below. But if you found the leaked video hard to stomach, just keep your distance – the finished video for “Monster” is even gorier than the clip we all had watched last winter. Heads falling from shoulders are the least shocking thing you will see here.
In fact, Kanye went as far as to add a disclaimer that goes “the following content is in no way to be interpreted as misogynistic or negative towards any group of people. It is an art piece and it shall be taken as such.”
OK, you’ve been warned. If you’re not the faint-hearted kind, check the video now:
There’s something that I have always wondered… just what did happen to Igor (the blue donkey that acts as Winnie The Pooh’s dear friend) to look so despondent? I mean, the poor thing looks as if a meteorite the size of Australia hit him squarely in the forehead and his brain fell out his left ear.
My theory is that poor old Igor listened to Tom Petty’s “She’s The One” album and his faith shattered. Like mine did when I listened to it. Because it wasn’t a proper album by any stretch. Petty had just two truly good songs which were “Walls” and “Angel Dream”. And to be fair, they were not just good – they were plain terrific. The things is, he built absolutely everything around them. The rest of the album is just the lapse of time that lies between these two songs. Or these four songs, to be more accurate – Petty included two different versions of each to pad the album out. And that was just atypical, not to mention disheartening. He had never done something like that before.
Well, last night it looked as if I was going to finally review “She’s The One”, and such a prospect was not really an upside one. Because I adore Petty, and I would hate having to pan him. Yet, a sudden twist of fate brought me into contact with the guitarist and singer from Suburbio [Suburb], a Uruguayan band with a tight, nice take on rock fusion. The guy’s name is Nicolás Sanchez, and he has just finished recording his first solo song. It is called “Lejos” [Far Away], and it is a nice acoustic track that stands as an interesting stylistic detour from his work with Suburbio. It is going to be part of his first solo album (which he is going to begin recording on November).
And around August, Suburbio is also meant to start working on its first album. (Listen to the band here.)
Below you can listen to “Lejos”. I have attached both the original lyrics and a translation into English.
Oh, and by the looks of it I am more likely to win the Wurlitzer prize than to review “She’s The One” now. I will review “The Last DJ” instead. Which is spotty by all reckonings. But at least it is an actual album.
LEJOS
Lejos de todo lo que no me hace bien.
Prefiero escaparme, no quedarme a ver
Lejos cierran las heridas del ayer
Pero las marcas no se borran de la piel
En la distancia encuentro aire otra vez
No siento el frío y me acostumbro a estar bien
Era verdad el tiempo nos hizo mal
Hay cosas que nunca se pueden arreglar
Era verdad el miedo nos hizo mal
Hay tantas marcas que no se pueden borrar
En mi balanza pierde peso lo que das
Estando lejos no se si quiera regresar
La soledad regala calma otra vez
No siento el frío ya no quema en la piel
Era verdad lo que brillaba ya no brilla mas
Algunas luces se terminan de apagar
Era verdad lo que quemaba ya no enciende mas
Algunas cosas no se pueden arreglar
Es que ahora entiendo no esta mal
Salir a respirar
Verme de afuera es ver lo que sentí
Es que ahora entiendo no esta mal
No querer regresar
Verme de afuera es ver como seguir
Intento seguir…solo intento seguir.
FAR AWAY
Far away from all these things that do me no good
I choose to run away rather that keep on watching
Far away yesterday’s wounds can heal
Yet the scars do not fade from your skin
In the distance I can find air once again
I feel no coldness, and to feel nice is OK
It’s true, time did us wrong
Some things can never be fixed
It’s true, fear did us wrong
There’s so many scars that you can’t erase
What you can give weighs nothing on my scales
I’m far away, and I don’t feel like coming back
Solitude gives me calm once again
I don’t feel that coldness which could burn my skin
It’s true, what was shining now no longer shines
Some lights go out once and for all
It’s true, what was burning now can no longer start
There’s some things that can never be fixed
Because now I understand, there’s nothing wrong
In feeling what I felt
To look at me from the outside is to feel what I felt
Because now I understand, there’s nothing wrong
In not wanting to come back
To look at me from the outside is to see how to carry on
I try to carry on… I just try to carry on
