Ganstagrass: When bluegrass and HipHop collide.
Introducing block rockin’ honky-tonk, New American music for the 21st century, built with love in a little studio, hand crafted, running on inspiration and imagination and duct tape, calling on the spirit of Gram Parsons and Otis Redding and KRS-ONE and Dolly Parton and Nina Simone and Willie Nelson and Missy Elliott and Johnny Cash, to write about what we feel and play what our hearts tell us, because to make it happen is reason enough, and to share it with the world is all the reason you need, because we tell the truth with music and the truth is beautiful.
I’ve listened to the first few tracks and though I’m not a big hip-hop fan, the mixes are fun in that, “Hey, who knew those two seemingly incongruent genres would work so well together?”
Some lyrics may offend: You can take the gansta out of the Rap but he’s still going to swear like a pirate.
WFMU’s Beware of the Blog presents Stairway to Heaven in 101 different versions. There’s Foo Fighters, Frank Zappa, Camper Van Beethoven, and Dolly Parton, just to hint at the veritable cornucopia of selection.
Kelli owns pretty much every Beatles album ever released, so when I decided to fill the gaps in my own digital Fab Four collection, she made it easy for me.
On Sunday while perusing the magazine rack at Chapters we came across a Rolling Stone article that may have me once again, updating my collection. It’s a short paragraph about a Beatles fan (or fans) who have created a fantastic do-it-yourself reissue of all of the Beatles recordings using a record player and original vinyl albums.
The Beatles’ albums came out on CD in 1987, but fans have long complained that the early digital technology used to remaster the recordings left them sounding hollow and thin — and that the official remasters are way overdue. That’s where Purple Chick comes in — a secretive fan (or group of fans) who has been quietly remastering classic discs like Revolver and A Hard Day’s Night, and releasing the digital files for free online. How is this possible? The Beatles’ CDs sound so bad that carefully digitized tracks from pristine vinyl copies are noticeably better — with crisper highs, a fuller soundstage, and more realistic reproduction of instruments and voices.
Check out Purple Chick Six plus three and the many megaupload links he’s posted for some of the highest fidelity digital recordings of the Beatles, ever.
I’ve compared them myself; the DIY remasters are noticeably different and in some cases better, but in at least one instance, (In My Life - Rubber Soul) the new file had the same audio in both the left and right channels, where my previous version was in true stereo. So your mileage may vary.
Also note, the files are in the open source format .FLAC and will need to be converted before they can be played in some players. (Audacity can do it).
Not Purple Chick, but 6plus3… Sorry about that Paul, and thanks for the clarifications in the comments.
Much along the lines of a famous musician being ignored while busking, how will people react to a famous artist’s painting (which might sell for millions under normal circumstances) when it is found in the street?
Klara.be did an experiment with Luc Tuymans. What if you take art out of its usual context and expose it in the street?
Hit play or watch at YouTube.
Perhaps the emphasis of how important Luc Tuyman happens to be goes on a bit long, but I’m a sucker for social experiments, so waiting for the actual experiment is worth it.
(Thanks Gary)
Back in February 2006, CBC’s The Hour made a road trip through Alberta. They interviewed me for a short segment about backmasking in which they featured my website.
For your viewing pleasure, here is the clip. (Just bear with me getting through the first 15 seconds).
The producer that arranged the interview gave me a DVD with this clip. She said she didn’t have any problem with me putting it on YouTube and now that the CBC regularly puts their content out on the web, I’m even more confident that this should be ok, copyright-wise. Nevertheless, please leave a comment if you notice the video taken offline.
I just subscribed to the Guitar Noise Podcast. In the first episode, managing editor David Hodge goes through some of the basics of strumming. If you’re just learning the guitar, as I am—my parents gave me a guitar over the holidays, then I recommend you check it out.
I hope that, as they get a little more familiar with the technology, they will take advantage of dividing their podcasts into chapters and then show relevant “artwork” such as a JPG of the strumming pattern or chords that they want you to hit. But as it stands now, it’s still a great example of using podcasts for teaching.
(Yes, I realize in order to use chapters the podcast needs to be in AAC format instead of mp3, but as an iTunes user, it’s a trade-off that works for me… Perhaps they could have two streams, a normal podcast and an enhanced m4a version.)
This amazing music video by Director Simon Laganière, for the Quebec duo Tricot Machine, uses artwork of entirely knitted yarn to animate each frame. (A tricot is a plain, warp-knitted cloth of any of various yarns.)
Over 700 unique knitted pieces were created for the video by designer Lysanne Latulippe of the fashion label Majolie.
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Since getting a guitar from my parents last month, I’ve found myself a lot more interested in all things guitar related. On that “note”, this iPhone guitar application is amazing.
I wonder what the range of songs you could play on it, seeing as it’s pretty tiny compared to an actual guitar.
Andrew Goodwin, a professor of media studies at the University of San Francisco, wrote a nice article on Led Zeppelins most famous song, Stairway to Heaven, that fans will find worthwhile reading:
In answer to the age of question of “What would you like for Christmas”, I told my parents I would be interested in having a guitar. A couple of Christmas’s later, my parents came through for me! I am now the proud owner of a fantastic sounding Fender acoustic guitar.
Learning to play has been slow but rewarding. The first couple of days were painful on my fingertips. Then suddenly, after a blister or two, I can now play for as long as I like.
It’s great.
Really.
The guitar I picked out came as a package along with extra strings, a strap, some picks, a tuner, and a “Getting Started on Guitar” DVD.
I was surprised to find how easy and useful the DVD turned out to be. The host teaches you how to play a basic chord and then another track lets you play along to some canned backup music. The process repeats, slowly building up your skill.
It’s pretty sweet; my only complaint is that after the music stops, you have to grab the remote and navigate back to the song to start it playing again. It would be nice to be able to set it to repeat, and to have more than 3 practice tracks.
Lately I discovered a method of practising that solves this problem.
I got myself a copy of “Play Guitar Today! A Complete Guide to the Basics”. It’s a music book for beginners that has a CD enclosed for backup music. Well I ripped the CD to iTunes, scanned the music, and then set each track with it’s appropriate “album art” ie. the sheet music or instruction that fits.
Now when I practise the guitar, iTunes is the teacher. The corresponding sheet music pops up and I can go to town.
It was a bit of a hassle setting this up, but I’d recommend it to anyone learning to play—it’s totally worth it.
I wonder how long it will be until they sell it like this?
As you probably already know, one of my all time favorite bands got together on Monday night for a one-off show at London’s O2 Arena. Here is a clip of Led Zeppelin playing Stairway to Heaven recorded and posted by a generous fan. I wish I would have been there.
(Thanks Emile)
Ze Frank’s extremely popular show, “The Show” is over, but Ze’s still blogging and creating music. Check out A Social Network for Two, a classy love song for our time.
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Yoko Ono is about to unveil the Imagine Peace Tower in Videy Island, Reykjavik, Iceland on October 9th 2007, John Lennon’s birthday. The tower will exist in the form of light shooting into the sky and symbolizes love, peace, and harmony.
Despite what some may criticize as a new age, hippie, pipe dream—I think it’s pretty nice.
The IMAGINE PEACE TOWER is an artwork conceived by Yoko Ono in memory of John Lennon.
It is dedicated to peace and bears the inscription IMAGINE PEACE in 24 languages.
Its construction and installation is a collaboration between Yoko Ono, the City of Reykjavik, Reykjavik Art Museum and Reykjavik Energy.
The work is in the form of a wishing well from which a very strong and tall tower of light emerges. The strength, intensity and brilliance of the light tower continually changes as the particles in the air fluctuate with the prevailing weather and atmospheric conditions unique to Iceland.
Every year it will light up between October 9th (Lennon’s birthday) and December 8th (the day of his death).
In addition the IMAGINE PEACE TOWER will be lit on New Year’s Eve, during the first week of spring and on some rare special occasions agreed between the City and Yoko Ono.
A few years ago a jukebox owned by John Lennon was discovered. On it were 40 of the famous musician’s favorite tunes. This is a documentary about the songs on that Jukebox and the influence they had on the Beatles.
Hit play or watch fullscreen at Google Video.
Accordion Guy, Joey deVilla, shares a story about a recent Craiglist wedding. His wedding music choice put a smile on my face.
I wonder how many opportunities like this we pass up everyday?
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Previously: Blogging Saves Lives and Accordian Guy’s Blog Lands Him in Trouble with Moving Bullies.