Don’t miss Rob’s story and video of his amazing performance at the 2008 Air Guitar National Championships, in which he finished seventh overall. Rob is truly amazing on so many levels. I already loved this guy, but this just makes him that much cooler. Visit site »
So basically, Ice T said Soulja Boy sucks, and Soulja Boy came back with a long-winded video that basically called Ice T out of touch with the modern game. But more importantly, Soulja Boy noted that the last time he saw Ice T, he was acting in an episode of Law and Order. Soujla Boys said, “How you gonna make a song called ‘Fuck Tha Police,’ and then 20 years later, you’re playing the police on TV?”
Which sounded like a really good point, until about 10 seconds later, when I remembered that Ice T didn’t make a song called “Fuck Tha Police” — Ice Cube did (with NWA, of course).
I guess they’re both out of touch with the other’s generation. Via Rex. Visit site »
In the past four days, I’ve watched two and a half seasons of Weeds, and I’m really enjoying the show. In particular, I love the theme song (Malvina Reynold’s “Little Boxes“) which, in seasons two and three, is performed by a different artist for each episode. But here, Romany Malco (who plays Conrad on the show) drops his own entertaining version. Thanks to Bret, who pointed me to this on a comment on this site. Visit site »
Sasha Frere-Jones has a great little article in The New Yorker about Auto Tune, the effect so commonly heard in today’s pop, R&B, and hip-hop (it’s the effect T-Pain owes his entire career to). I’ve been a fan of this sound for at least 15 years or so — but when I discovered it (back in the days of Livin’ On A Prayer and California Love), it was generated by a instruments, like a vocoder or talkbox (see Peter Frampton, Roger Troutman, or Stevie Wonder). Today, a strikingly-similar effect is created in post-production using Auto Tune.
I personally have no real objection to the use of Auto Tune, and there are times I quite like it. However, I do see one glaring problem for artists like T-Pain that use it so extensively: you can’t perform live. Since Auto-Tune is a post-production effect and not something that can be done in real time (as can reverb, distortion, phasing, wah-wah, and many other effects we’re familiar with), there’s really no way to incorporate it into a live show. I once saw T-Pain sing “Buy You a Drank” on a TV talk show and it was laughable. It just sounded so wrong (and it wasn’t helped by the fact that T-Pain isn’t actually much of a singer). Visit site »
Simon has a long list of what he considers to be the best covers in music history. Many commenters have thrown their suggestions into the mix. A lot of music to discover, here. Visit site »
May 30th, 2008, 8 PM in Seattle, WA
July 11th, 2008, 8 PM in Auburn, WA
June 7th, 2008, 12 AM in Seattle, WA
May 16th, 2008, 8:30 PM
An interesting video of synchronization of five coupled metronomes in Lancaster University. Trust me, it’s more interesting than it sounds. Visit site »
May 4th, 2008, 10 PM
For the three of you out there who still aren’t convinced that Prince is the greatest artist of our time. via Rex Visit site »
April 25th, 2008, 9:30 PM in Tacoma, WA
The Blue Scholars, Seattle’s best and most popular hip-hop act, just released their third single from the Bayani album, for the track “Loyalty.” Love it. Visit site »
July 25th, 2008–July 26th, 2008 in Seattle, WA
Billboard is reporting that Beck, Lucina Williams, Stone Temple Pilots, and Neko Case are among the first headlines on board for this year’s Bumbershoot here in Seattle. Other confirmed acts include Jakob Dylan, Del Tha Funky Homosapien, Lee “Scratch” Perry, and John Vanderslice. This is, of course, not a full roster. Many more acts will be signed before August 30th rolls around.
Should be a good one! Visit site »