Announcements

I’m Not Dead Yet

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Yeah, it’s been awhile but I’m back.  This is the time of the year when I have more time to dedicate to music.  So with that in mind, I’m kicking off 2011 with what I have planned coming up.   Here’s just a few things:

  • There’s a bunch of gear I acquired in the last year that I will sit down and review.  I love me some knobs, keys, sliders, and buttons so I will go over the new ones I have in my setup.
  • With great hardware comes the need for software to put it all together.  I made a couple of purchases in that realm which I will wax poetic about as well.
  • Once again, I will be attending SXSW so look for previews leading up to and some live updates during the 25th anniversary of this tasty Austin conference.
  • My day job includes some hefty programming tasks so I will use that talent to start building/researching VSTs.  What’s a VST? It’s a plgin for digital audio workstations that runs on its own framework.  Yes, there are a couple of other frameworks out there, but in the interest of learning how to code for pro audio, I will be shooting the biggest target first.
  • With all of this gear, software, and love for the music, you know I will be actually creating some.  Look for some snippets to show up here and there.
  • I’ll be hitting up more concerts around the Kansas City area and will review as necessary.  Look for me at The Decemberists show in February.

There’s a couple of other surprises up my sleeve but I will reveal it when it’s necessary.  Until then, just keep tuning in.

Music

No More GaGa for Lala

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As I’m sure most of you know by now, Lala shuts down today. Thank you guys for the wonderful service you provided. I remember back in the day when they shipped out sleeves to trade CD’s with other users. They were one of the few music related internet companies that somehow managed to stay around. The CD trading stuff went away and they switched massive gears to do streaming of music you owned as well as giving an innovative ‘web play’ option. Hopefully, Lala’s new daddy, Apple, will introduce that same feature in iTunes. I’m not going to use it because there are better alternatives, but hey at least we can remember Lala for being what it was. Goodbye guys.

Concerts

The Flaming Lips Kissed Off Sandstone

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Last Friday, I had the chance to tool on down to Bonner Springs, Kansas and check out one of my favorite bands, the Flaming Lips.  Lo and behold, they brought along some other bands and tooled out of work just early enough to catch most of them.  Overall, the show was well worth about the 40 bucks I paid with 10 for parking.  It wasn’t all rainbow roses, though, so let’s go over who I saw.
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Music, SXSW

It Came From SXSW 01: Hold-Up Records Sampler

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Yeah I’m still bangin’ on how I went to SXSW and will be rubbing it in just a couple of more times.  Not because I’m a bastard (well maybe just a little), but also because I grabbed some free music down there and want to talk about what I found.  So to kick this off I will talk about the Hold-Up Records sampler mixtape found from the mountain of schwag.  Basically, it’s a label from San Diego and they rap over some original and sampled beats.  What caught my ears, however, was a great little mix of lyrics, techno, and the Postal Service of all bands.  Dat Boy Sid spits on the mic for about half of the song and then the Postal Service takes over while a different mix of  ‘Such Great Heights’ glues it all together.  Take a listen for yourself.  It’s actually fairly endearing.

[audio:http://146.190.132.255/audio/HoldUpRecords_DatBoySid_GreatHeights.mp3]
Events

Happy Record Store Day!

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Hey everyone, I just wanted to wish everyone out there a happy Record Store Day!  Every April, the vinyl record store owners across the world band together and celebrate the regal round objects that are vinyl records.  Today found me crate digging at Vinyl Renaissance and Zebedee’s RPM.  The pull was decent and so was the schwag.

The schwag consisted of some sampler cds, postcards, buttons, and stickers.  Very nice indeed!  Although the 429 Records All-Stars claims to be the best in alternative yet they sport Cracker and Everclear on the compilation.  What’s up with that?  My guess that’s why it was free.  Anywho, here’s my pull:

  • Peter Gabriel/Stephin Merritt : A single where they cover a song of each others
  • Gorillaz – White Flag:
  • Muse – Exogenises Symphony (Parts: 1-3) : After their show at Stubb’s I will get anything new by these guys
  • Paul Simon – Graceland: I think I already have this, but I had to get another copy.  One of the greatest openings ever on an album lives on this bad boy.  I’ll even go as far as to say it’s one of the best albums of the 1980s.

It’s not too late.  Hop online and buy some 45s from the online stores.  If you’re lucky enough to have a record player, plop down your favorite LP and just sit back.