tunequest

This year's end summary is going to be a little shorter than in the past, for two principle reasons: 1) 2008 was a lot busier for me than recent years, so my opportunities to explore and listen to new music were more limited, and B) I spent a lot of the free time I did have listening to audiobooks and podcasts rather than music. Indeed, 2008 saw only 510 ...

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In the past, I've taken issue with the tendency in some circles to lump Ratatat's music in with that of the 8-bit crowd. I can understand the temptation, what with the band's programmed, electronic beats, screaming guitars and ample keyboarding. But while their tones may sometimes sound similar to those produced by the Nintendo Entertainment System, their origins are much more organic. So it surprised me to see that Ratatat ...

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http://youtube.com/watch?v=N-lADZG6-PI While perusing the Internet this morning, like you do, I stumbled upon this very compelling video at YouTube. I was drawn to it initially because the song used for the soundtrack is Ratatat's Gettysburg, and I'm a sucker for anything Ratatat related. The video is a taut and thorough overview of the current state of nuclear weapons technology and proliferation in the world. It showcases all the nations that currently ...

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Links to interesting stories. This edition is long overdue. Medialoper: 5 Ways to Improve eMusic I love eMusic. At ~$0.25 per song, it's easily one of the best values in the digital download arena. While generally functional, parts of the site could use some overhauling. Medialoper leads the discussion on how. Cognitive Daily: Even the musically untrained respond differently to new symphonic movements "A new study of brain responses to music has found ...

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I don't know how I missed it, but Ratatat quietly released Loud Pipes as the third single from Classics a couple months ago. The record is out on vinyl only and, in addition to the title track, it features three attractive and compelling b-sides: Loud Pipes (Outtakes). Bears only the slightest resemblance to its namesake. The beat and instrumentation are there, but otherwise, it's a whole other song. Kennedy (e-rock remix). ...

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One of the lesser-used features of iTunes is its visualizer, the colorful animated display that accompanies any music that's playing. The visuals are a fun little distraction, but once the novelty wears off, the usefulness of the function tends to be limited. Though, in college, a PowerBook and an LCD projector made for a pretty rockin portable party system. Ol' trusty G-Force iTunes, from version 1.0, has shipped with a default ...

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Yeah, What They Said, links to interesting stories that I don't have time to write about. Some people call it "link sharing." In television and movies, "sourced" music is music that is heard by the characters in the scene. That's opposed to the underscore, which is heard only by the audience. StarTrek.com has a series of articles on the source music used in: The Original Series The Next Generation Deep Space Nine Voyager and ...

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The ringing in my ears serves as a reminder that I have permanently lost a portion of my hearing, but I'm telling you it is worth it. I just got home from Ratatat's show in midtown Atlanta and I have something to admit to you: Seeing Ratatat perform live is one of my favorite things in the world. This show marks the third time I've managed to catch a performance ...

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So I was itching for something to do this evening, and inspired by WFMU's recent 10 Albums in 10 Minutes contest, I decided to cram the 45 minutes of Ratatat's self-titled debut album into a 60 second playing time. Here's the result. It's a pretty smooth overview: [audio:070329Ratatatin60secs.mp3]

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