Normalized Happiness

Ghostface Killah "Ghost Is Back (edit)"

nobody@vox.com(djchall) — Fri, 19 Jan 2007 23:12:14 -0800

I bought one of the most popular tracks from "More Fish" but was annoyed to learn that the first minute and a half was a pointless and chaotic New Year's Eve countdown skit. So, using QuickTime Pro I sliced the offending material off and now post the result for the enjoyment by the Vox community. The track itself is awesome–a very old school feel with a bass loop that recalls Low End Theory-era Tribe Called Quest.

Ghost Is Back (edit)

Ghostface Killah

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Bloc Party "The Prayer" and Modest Mouse "Dashboard" mp3s

nobody@vox.com(djchall) — Sat, 06 Jan 2007 21:07:51 -0800

Thanks to the power of the Hype Machine, I now have proper mp3s of the new Bloc Party and Modest Mouse songs.

The Prayer

Bloc Party

Dashboard

Modest Mouse

Upon first (or third) listen, I'd say the Bloc Party song is the more ambitious of the two, in that it's a lot weirder and darker than their first album. Modest Mouse's song is more of a comfortable continuation of the stripped down, poppified sound of "Good News For People Who Love Bad News." Not saying I don't like it; in fact, I like it quite a lot but that might be the problem–sometimes when I like something a lot the first few times I hear it that means I'm going to get tired of it quickly.

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Yo La Tengo are BACK

nobody@vox.com(djchall) — Sun, 30 Jul 2006 20:52:53 -0700

Matador Records just posted the first track from Yo La Tengo's forthcoming "I Am Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass." On first listen, it's a crazy guitar freak-out somewhat reminiscent of "Spec Bebop" but with vocals. They also announced tourdates, including three nights at the Fillmore in October (19,20,21.)

Ylt_hatchet

Yo La Tengo

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What's your favorite song of 2006?

nobody@vox.com(djchall) — Thu, 25 May 2006 15:07:06 -0700

Hmmm... a chance to show off the new audio features?

Except you can't insert assets from the QotD field on the Comet home page, thus necessitating a cumbersome double edit.

Here are some of mine:

And yet more:

It would be nice if Comet could play a grouping or collection of mp3s as a playlist.

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How unbelievably epic is Comet

nobody@vox.com(djchall) — Wed, 24 May 2006 16:08:26 -0700

now that you can post mp3s. Renders all previously features comletely irrelevant.

Some more recent songs of note. I wish my mp3 files had album covers embedded in them, but that's not something that iTunes seems to do.

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I'm such a nerd because...

nobody@vox.com(djchall) — Wed, 03 May 2006 19:31:46 -0700

Uh... just one thing? That's a hard question. My mp3 collection is ridiculously well organized. I can cite a relevant Simpsons quote to just about any topic you'd care to name. I own every single Rush album remastered. Those are probably my top three. I'm sure I can think of more.

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Beatles on ITMS?

nobody@vox.com(djchall) — Wed, 12 Apr 2006 20:26:14 -0700

One glaring fault of the iTunes Music Store is the lack of music by two of the greatest bands of all time, The Beatles and Led Zeppelin. Now reports are surfacing in the Apple rumorsphere of the Beatles catalong being remastered and put on the ITMS. This is interesting in light of the continuing legal struggle over the Apple trademark. It's amazing that it hasn't been settled already. I mean, Apple Records... didn't they last release an album in the 70s? Aren't half of the Beatles (some might say the talented half) dead? Really, just sell the rights to the name to Apple and start cashing checks.

This isn't a big deal for me or most people in my generation, since we all have the Beatles on record and CD. But for the kids, this is nice, since the ITMS is a major avenue for musical discovery among the younger set.

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TechCrunch compares subscription music services

nobody@vox.com(djchall) — Tue, 11 Apr 2006 13:45:31 -0700

TechCrunch just posted part II of their look at online music serivces, this one focusing on subscription "all you can eat" services . As you can see by looking at their comparison chart, there isn't really much difference between the services. Because Microsoft is providing the software, and the RIAA cartel controls the content, the market has devolved to a commodity business where the players have very little ability to differentiate themslves, beyond competing to see who can create the prettiest screens. Situations like this are not good for the consumer. Because so much of the potential value is locked up by the RIAA and Microsoft, the players actually have very little incentive to improve or even maintain their services. Not to put a fine a point on it, but Microsoft and the music labels have Yahoo, Rhapsody and the others by the short and curlies.

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TechCrunch reviews online music sites

nobody@vox.com(djchall) — Sat, 08 Apr 2006 12:41:00 -0700

In part I, they review pay per song (non-subscription) sites . Apparently Apple has had some success in this area with something called the "iTunes Music Store" (who knew?) Competing against them are a bunch of hapless sites who have all tied their wagons to the Microsoft "PlaysFerSher" train.

Unfortunately they neglect two very good indie sites, Audio Lunchbox and eMusic. They mention eMusic but they say it's:

...focused on independent labels, and we’ve removed it from the comparison even though it offers DRM-free music at an attractive price ($0.25 per song). eMusic is an awesome service - the side by side table comparision didn’t give it the credit it deserve.

Okay...

They give high marks to allofmp3.com, site twice voted most likely to harvest your credit card info for the Russian mafia. Seriously, if you want to buy music from them, I recommend cash... and several large bodyguards.

Basically here are your choices for pay as you go digital music:

i) a very well implemented and managed closed system with DRM (ITMS)
ii) a horribly crappy semi-open DRM system (Microsoft and friends)
iii) have your identity stolen by the Russian mafia (allofmp3.com)

Or you could use eMusic and AudioLunchbox. There's really never been a better reason to get into indie music.

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80s one hit wonder

nobody@vox.com(djchall) — Thu, 16 Mar 2006 14:07:35 -0800

Prompted by my mention of David Gilmour's new album, Harold was reminscing about seeing him live in 1984, going to the show to see the opening act, Icicle Works, who didn't show up due to a death in the family. I went out and managed to find their big US hit "Whisper To a Scream" on illegal file sharing, since the ITMS didn't seem to have them in stock. So here it is:

Icicle Works - Whisper To A Scream

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