Year: 2006

Apple + Last.fm: If true, it would be cool

UPDATE: Turns out this was an attempt at parody. Apple is NOT buying last.fm Oh well. It’s a nice wishlist though. I still think GenreFolksonomies are cool. And even though I don’t put together many playlists manually these days (viva randomization!), SmartTransitions is an intriguing idea.

I, for one, wouldn’t mind seeing:

GenreFolksonomies
No longer will iTunes tracks be chained to single categories. Users will be able to create multiple tags across all track variables, as well as at the album, artist, and playlist levels. This intelligence isn’t tied to individual users either.

That would certainly solve my genre dilemma.

Someone is claiming that Apple has acquired Last.fm and plans of rolling a bunch of social networking features into a future version of iTunes. the more i think about this, the less inclined i am to believe it. first of all, commenting on that post is disabled, which probably means they don’t want to receive any criticism. Second of all, as titillating as it sounds, it’s just as unsubstantiated a rumor as all the fake ipod mockups that occasionally zoom around the net.

~~a quick jaunt over to the last.fm forums reveals little forthcoming information about this potential deal.~~

on the other hand, apple has been known to purchase smaller companies in order to get products to market quickly. most of its pro A/V tools were purchased from someone else. and there were other recent rumors that apple was looking to as “social networking” features to a future version of iTunes.

~~still, i can’t help but be suspicious of this particular claim.~~

Trans Am – Red Line: Rock from the future

Trans Am’s brand of future-rock has been of constant interest since the day I first heard it in early 2002. I appreciate their hard-drive rhythms and computerized effects. In fact, before i knew any better, I thought the group was from Germany. Turns out they’re actually from Washington, DC, which is why I also appreciate that they tackle political material in a way that’s direct and clever, but not too clever.

However, I have to take issue with the group’s 2000 album, Red Line. This was indeed the album that started my fascination with the band, but really only on the basis of two very good songs: I Want It All, and Play in the Summer. But after yesterday’s tunequest listen, i have to admit to myself that the rest of the album is fairly uninteresting. I mean, the albums left such an amorphous impression that I can barely remember what it sounded like specifically. I’ll hang on to it though; I never know when it might strike my fancy.

Play in the Summer, live in Austin. It’s not as good as the album version, but it gives you a good idea.

Trans Am – Play in the Summer (10/1/03)

Italian Cinema Lounge: A tunequest within a tunequest

I knew this day would eventually come, since the tunequest made it into the "i"s many months ago.

Back in 2001, I ran across a posting on the usenets called Italian Cinema Lounge. It was 225 songs taking up 700 MB and spanning eleven and a half hours of music culled from various Italian film composers from the 60s and 70s ranging from Alberto Baldan Bembo to Walter Rizzati. Fascinated by the concept, I snagged it, naturally. And let me tell you it is some very smooth music, the kind of stuff that’s been an inspiration to modern downtempo artists and urban hipsters, but more raw, orchestral and just plain jazzy.

(think Lalo Schifrin’s Enter the Dragon score)

Despite the well-earned reverence, however, listening to all of it proved to be a daunting task, and I could never quite bring myself to dive in and tackle it. About half the selection remains unheard to this day. (the flip-side is that the songs that have been played received 4 and 5 star ratings and, thus have been played numerous repeats).

Thus a new tunequest is born: to listen to all these Italian cinema masterpieces. off i go!

The Breeders – Fortunately Gone: A Short Case of Sublime Perfection

the breeders - pod

One minute and 44 seconds worth to be precise.

And the subject of this perfection is The Breeders’ Fortunately Gone from their 1990 debut record, Pod. The song is a paragon of simplicity, with a gentle, upbeat, bobbing rhythm and seductively playful singing that doesn’t hesitate to draw you in.

My only complaint is its length. It is so perfect, yet so tantalizingly short, that I can’t help but want to hear more. So, for the one time since the tunequest began this year, I made an exception and listened to a song twice. In fact, I think I blew out a car speaker on the drive home doing just that.

It won’t help though; this song will be stuck in my head for days.

It would be impolite of me to not share such a wonderful song, so here it is in all its glory:

[audio:060815FortunatelyGone.mp3]

Stravinsky’s Petrushka: Discovering Ballet

The classical bug is biting me again, so today i picked up my old habit, treating myself to an excellent ballet: Stravinsky‘s Petrushka. to be honest, I never realized how exceptional this piece of music truly is until this morning. In fact, until about a year ago, I had tended to avoid ballets all together, in favor of more abstract symphonies. But lately, I’ve discovered that ballets, specifically early-to-mid-20th century ones, seem to blend the stylistic appeal of romantic-era symphonies with the narrative function of late-20th century film scores. Though I’m sure modern film composers have been greatly inspired by their predecessor’s ballet works.

Oh, and visit The Making of a Love Triangle for more than you’d ever want to know about Petrushka.

New(ish) Velocity Girl! It’s Alright by Me

Well, not that new.

It’s from 2002/2003. but it is new to me and that is exciting. I was comfortable with the notion that the band was gone and its member had moved on to other projects and lives. Sarah has her solo project; Archie’s doing the producer thing; etc. but when researching for my previous velocity girl post, I discovered the wonderful news and it rocks my world.

There is an honest-to-goodness NEW song from the band entitled It’s Alright by Me. and it’s a free download. GO. Enjoy it!

This coincides with a report that Vgirl had reunited in 2002 to play a couple shows and were working on material for a new release. the song above very well could be the end result of those sessions, though some comments from Kelly the bassist in on this thread from april 2005 seem to suggest that there are more tracks tucked away somewhere. Unfortunately, he also suggests that any sort of new release is highly unlikely.

Still, after 10 years i’ve got some new Velocity Girl and that makes me very very happy.

Radiohead, pre-released

The opportunity was once afforded to me to acquire a copy of the infamous pre-released version of Radiohead’s Hail to the Thief. I had already become familiar with the released version of the album, so I was curious to hear the evolution from the unfinished form.

Expecting a lo-fi rough-cut, I was surprised to find that this alleged early version was rather polished. There’s only a handful of spots where I could tell the difference between the two, the most notable being Sit Down. Stand Up. Frankly, I prefer the early version of that song over the final rendition.