vanderwal.net

Groov'n to midival punditz

I am groving to Midival Punditz, which I picked up today. The midival punditz have remixed Tabla Beat Science, whom I also really enjoy. There are touches of aural passages in the midival punditz work that are very reminicent of Peter Gabiel's work.

Liars want more money to for blank media

IT Buisiness writes, "Media levy hike may force vendors to drop products", which seems to be part of my problem with the proposed increase in price of any medium to false levels that are not set my the market. In a sense the increase is being proposed by folks who are not creative, are finding they are not creating value, they have nothing productive to contribute, and have found a means to slip their overly padded pockets before the consumer again. The reasons given for the increases are the same poor lies about the starving artists. The artists are starving because of the middle men. The liars in this case have added notthing to society and want to force folks to pay their unproductive behinds more money to copy my own content I created or content I bought and would like to have fair use (my own edit of a movie or a mixed CD I can play in my car). The liars want to point fingers at you when they should point fingers at themselves. Every new media was the downfall of a media's industry. The liars cry "poor me" at each and every turn, but they are replaced with folks that learn to take advantage of the medium and create compelling content. The current band of unsuccessful business must bereplaced with a breed that understands how to take advantage of the medium. The liars know their days are numbered in their own jobs, because they are incapable of doing their jobs.

NPR finds music gems

Running errands this past weekend I heard a snippet on NPR about the All Songs Considered 2 CD. There were a few songs played and discussed that really intrigued me. This meant Saturday night I spent nearly three hours digging through the All Songs Considered site listening to the archives. I found many obscure bands that I new really want to listen to more. I often have caught bits and pieces of ASC while in the car, but never can remember who it was that piqued my interest.

This site, like many others on NPR really augments the radio experience, bringing it into an explorative medium with memory, which has been my complaint with radio for years. Radio is transitory and fleeting. Remembering a song or discussion while changing lanes, answering the phone, draining the pasta, etc inhibits structured listening that augments aural memory.

I was once embarrassed that I picked up much of my new music finds from NPR, but with much of the commercial radio market serving up untalented pablum (or perhaps misproduced talent) I have an outlet. I have found John Mayer before many others I considered to be well plugged in. There is a depth of music talent and spectrum that is missing in the overly corporate regulated airways.

A few finds from this weekends digging are The Frames who gave up the over produced song and started their own record label. Metaphor, Damien Gough/Badly Drawn Boy reminding me of Prefab Sprout, and Lanterna. Lanterna is a rather unknown band that is from Champaign, Illinois and one of the members works as a sound engineer for an NPR station, unknown to the folks at ASC.

Following this thread to music that I really enjoy from a relatively unknown... It is rumored that The Walkingbirds have received air play on an NPR site in Pennsylvania. This is great news if it is true. I have really enjoyed Scott's music that he contributes to Walkingbirds. It seems that NPR finds the gems in the rough terrain that great music is forced to walk in by the corporations that produce musical mediocrity. I am happy that NPR has blessed the gem of Walkingbirds. This has been a good few days for finding music.

Gabriel puts on a great creative show

We saw Peter Gabriel at the MCI Arena tonight (11/24), which was a great show. It was wonderful sound and as usual the show and theatrics were stunning. If you are remotely a fan of Gabriel it is well worth the price. Tony Levin is touring with him again. (Tony is also keeping a road journal that includes pictures from the show and pictures of the audience. We were sitting right in front of Tony (40 to 50 feet away). Peter is also touring with his daugher Melanie (backup vocals), David Rhodes (guitar), Rachael Z. (keyboards), Ged Lynch (drums), and Richard Evans (guitar and flute). The creativity and design of the show, as it is with most Gabriel shows, is stunning. Joy and I are talking about where we can see this tour again.

Gabriel Videos

Peter Gabriel's site has a video section with full versions from So, such as In Your Eyes, which I had never seen. This song really reminds me of the summer of 1986 when I was living in Berkeley, CA and listening to the So album driving through the Berkeley and Oakland hills to get to work in Moraga. I had listened to Gabriel from his early albums, but So really was wonderful and now brings back great memories. So also opened the world of Youssou N'Dour to me, which is some of my favorite grounding music.

Gabriel Live

We now have tickets for the November 11th November 24th Peter Gabriel show at MCI Center. I have only seen Gabriel as a part of festival shows like WOMAD and the Amnesty Internationl Tour. I am so ready to see a full show.

Scott and Peter return

I am very happy Scott is posting again. His observations are always very welcome and helpful. In today's scottandrew post he notes the joy that Peter Gabriel's new album, UP brings. I agree wholely. UP brings back memories of the first 3 Gabriel albums as well as So. I picked up the album on Saturday, while running house errands and really enjoyed listening in the car and then in my home stereo. I was so impressed.

Vote MP3

Would you vote MP3?

Tabla Beat Science

Tabla Beat Science is completely new to me, but one song has me wanting more, much more. I heard Sacred Channel (an mp3) this morning and I am very entranced. Interesting Monstah, in a July 22, 2002 posting, included this track in a review of World techno/jazz/instramental/etc songs. It seems Karsh Kale of TBS is playing in Baltimore on Saturday July 27 at 3pm at the Artscape Festival. Hmmm. [hat tip Bill]

John Mayer found on NPR

This evening on the way home NPR was interviewing John Mayer and I now have a new musician to follow. One does get to feel out of touch when one learns of an enjoyable pop musician from NPR. Oh, well, I consider myself fortunate. It also seems Mayer was the bell of the ball at SXSW 2000.

Headphone review

I tried my new headphones on my recent trip and really enjoyed them. They were great on the plane as they blocked out a lot of the extraneous noise and in those quiet times they provided fantastic sound. I was incredibly impressed.

Creative Commons comes to life

The Creative Commons is up for our perusal. This seems to be a much better approach to digital rights management than the Hollywood and music industry approach, and light years better than DCMA.

Peter Gabriel new site

Peter Gabriel has his own distinct site up. This site is offering previews of his new albulm due out in at least four more moon cycles. Join the full moon club and get previews of the album and news. The scenescapes in the videos are rather comforting.

The WSJ's Thomas Weber has an opion I strongly believe in, Record Companies Should Attempt To Compete for Music Fans' Loyalty. I have a strong belief in competition of the marketplace. Media companies have poor business leaders who do not know how to compete and take advantage of changing parameters of their business environment. When VHS came out movie companies complained that it would take away sales. Solid business minds learned not to cry wolf, but to compete. The record companies have failed in the marketplace and learning to take advantage of a changed marketplace.

Wired magazine's article on Moby delivers good insight on not only the person, but also the brand. This may be the first article by Wired that I have really liked in a long long time. Moby continually intrigues me with his morphing genre styles. I also like this techical approach and innovation. This article gave me better appreciation of the man and the brand. (There is an indirect comparison to Puff Daddy - or what ever he thinks will sell a record.)