Archive for category music
The Last Bit In Tech Condensed
Posted by jdodson in apple, free software, music, tech on June 20, 2010
I wanna do right by you, Im holding out not clicking an answer.
A few months back I started using Google Chrome as my primary browser. Still use it, you should too its rad.
I recently installed the latest Ubuntu stable 10.04 on my desktop. Its very nice. I appreciate the new free software nvidia drivers. Gwibber is amazing. Empathy is growing on me and ive used Pidgin/Gaim for years. Unsure what I think about the new Ubuntu status panel for Gnome. I liked the old one better and haven’t figured out what package to install to get it back. Rhythmbox sees the iPhone but I am not sure if it can actually add songs to it yet.
My new job got me a brand new Snow Leopard Macbook pro. It is much faster than my old Leopard Macbook pro. Boots and is actually usable in a minute or so. My old Leopard Macbook booted and was usable in 3 minutes or longer depending. A few things they changed in Snow Leopard don’t make much sense to me though. In Leopard if you double clicked the app bar it minimized the app. This is now a setting you have to turn on. Right click on the huge trackpad is turned off by default too. I heard Steve Jobs doesn’t like right click? Odd. Beyond those annoyances, it really seems like a speed improvement over Leopard. They changed a few things but nothing warranting much discussion save that when the lights dim the screen dims as well. I know this is Mac blasphemy but I find modern free software desktops to be just as usable as Snow Leopard. Plus in something like Debian and Ubuntu you get a robust toolchain included by default. Installing XCode isn’t too hard but it discludes things like wget and to get functionality like that you need something like macports. All told, not a huge deal until macports conflicts with a library you have and all hell breaks loose.
With all their flaws, Ubuntu and Mac work just fine for software development. A free software desktop will always be 127.0.0.1 for me though. Flay me as you would.
I installed VirtualBox the other day on the new Mac and its now VIRTUALBOX BY ORACLE!!!!!!!!!111one. Whoa. Same for OpenOffice. The Sun logo seemed less intrusive. I hope both programs stay free.
I still run Quicken 2002 on Ubuntu to manage my finances. I guess I could upgrade or use something else but it works so well why stop now?
Since Debian/Ubuntu deprecated Grip I don’t know what to use to rip CDs. I tried a few programs but they don’t allow really terse lame settings. I want something I can set to rip MP3′s at VBR 320k. So far, that seems like a tall order to fill. I know there is the always awesome abcde, but id prefer a graphical tool if possible. Ill let you know what I find. I care about audio fidelity in mp3s.
Scratch My Back
My Blood Cells Itch!
Recently I picked up the new Peter Gabriel album “Scratch My Back” when it was released. I got the digital+physical deluxe version. Basically I got the immediate download and then a week or so later got the physical CD delivered to the house. I approve of this method of releasing music.
First I bought it direct from the artist. Second they immediately provided a digital copy I could listen to. Oh… and the album is incredible. The album is a collection of covers of other bands interpreted through piano & orchestral arrangements. That is seen in one such Talking Heads cover, “Listening Wind”:
He also covers Arcade Fires “My Body is a Cage:
This album start to finish is amazing. Its also cool to see someone step out of the drums/bass/guitar mold and do something a bit different.
Diamond Eyes
The Deftones are coming out with a new album May 4th. I guess it was going to be released earlier but it leaked so they pushed the release back? If thats true I don’t quite understand the reasoning but I am going to buy it either way.
I buy music. Perhaps that makes me a dinosaur. That said, I still don’t understand traditional record company release cycles. Perhaps they need four years to advertise the album? If thats the case I have no idea where they are advertising the album cause I haven’t seen it. Oh well, thats not quite my business and ill leave it up to them to keep digging themselves deeper. Then again, bands like The Deftones can survive without a record label. It might be a better deal for the music fan anyway.
WARNING I WOULD RATE THIS VIDEO PG13. IT MAY CONTAIN OFFENSIVE MATERIALS THAT COULD ATTACK YOUR EYEBALLS.
Oh right, the songs are rad too.
Im Not Sure If This Is Funny Or Not
It has its moments to be sure. Dunno, it has Darth Vader rapping so I guess its funny right? Im not sure.
You decide.
SXSW 2010 Music [Part 2]
SO MUCH MUSIC!
A bit ago I wrote about a SXSW 2010 torrent containing all the music SXSW gave away on its site. Quite cool someone took the time to download them all by hand off the site and make it easy for people to get them all. After listening for 3 days straight during work I was only through about 1/4th of it. After 20 days of listening off an on(not the entire time mind you) I am in the Artist S’s. As in artists that start with S as their name.
OH right, and recently the torrent folks put up the last half of the bands. Uhm, yeah 2.05G of more music! I havent included them into this playlist yet, but I will and make my way through those songs too. 
So far its been quite a bit of fun to listen to all the bands. Some are bad, some are very very good. I might post up my favs when I am done.
Free SXSW Music 2010
SXSW Torrent 2010
Every year SXSW releases free mp3s on their site. This year is no exception and people have nabbed the music and wrapped it up in one bit torrent download. So far only one torrent is available with 656 songs rounding 3.35G!
I picked up the 2007 torrent and found some great music. This years batch seems very good as well. Been listening to it as I work and I am already in the “B” artists. I sorted the list by artist name. Total run time of the music? 1 day 17 hours and 25 minutes.
Up Music From Up Samples
Wow is right. The creativity some people express is amazing.
Zelda Reorchestrated
Posted by jdodson in music, video games on December 29, 2009
Hit the chicken with the sword!
“Six years ago, an eager 14 year old had the idea of remaking all of the songs from the hit video game series “The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time” to sound like they were being played by live musicians. He took his idea, and three demo songs to a few web forums and a few music professionals. The feedback was clear: the idea was original, but quite a daunting task.
82 tracks later, Zelda Reorchestrated has finally finished its original goal. We have completed the Ocarina of Time album!”
Billys ol’ Stang
Cool kids always bought my old Mustang!
“SMASHING PUMPKINS LEAD SINGER, BILLY CORGANS MUSTANG. IT HAS UNDERGONE A TOTAL ROTISSERIE RESTORATION. VERY TASTEFUL MILD CUSTOM. IT HAS A CLEAN LOOK, SOME EMBLEMS HAVE BEEN REMOVED AND FILLED. GORGEOUS SILVER PAINT THAT LOOKS LIKE A POLISHED METAL. ALL NEW CHROME, WEATHER STRIPS, ETC. ”
IM GLAD THAT U CAN PURCHAZE TEH CARZ FROM TEH SATARZ111!!! LOL1 K3WL1AZZ!!!!
