Archive for the ‘Music’ Category

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You can’t always get what you want: Or, why oil production declines with rock and roll

November 13, 2009

Michael Giberson

From the “too good not to share” category: “The Hubbert Peak Theory of Rock, or, Why We’re All Out of Good Songs,” from the pop culture scrutineers at Overthinking It.

A few years ago, Rolling Stone magazine added fuel to the music snobbery fire with its “500 Greatest Songs of All Time” list.  Anyone casually paging through the list would notice that the bulk of the list was comprised of songs from the 60’s and 70’s, just like the music snobs always say.

I, however, wasn’t content with the casual analysis.  So I punched the list into Excel, crunched some numbers, and found an interesting parallel between the decline of rock music quality and, of all things, the decline in US oil discovery and production:

Oil production and quality rock and roll

(Sources: Rolling Stone Magazine, US Department of Energy)

Looks like a correlation to me. More analysis offered at the link.

(HT to Tom Fowler at NewsWatch: Energy.)

Posted in Music | Tagged | 3 Comments »

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Nostalgia and Duran Duran

November 10, 2009

Michael Giberson

“Ah, the good old days, back before the talkies television video the internet killed the silent movie star the movie business the radio star pop star creativity.”

At least that is the message I took from a speech by Duran Duran bassist John Taylor, “Is the internet stifling new music?,” a question Taylor answers in the affirmative. Are his remarks any deeper than nostalgia for the musical world as he discovered it?

There may be fewer big music stars today because of the internet, for the same kinds of reasons that it is getting harder to get admitted into the best colleges.  Today, talent is more willing to travel. But, again for the same kinds of reasons it is getting easier to get admitted to some college somewhere, it is probably getting easier to get into the music business than ever before.

Creativity is not suffering, just old and familiar ways of doing business.

(HT Marginal Revolution for both links.)

Posted in Music | Tagged , | 1 Comment »

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Pandora+iPhone = Excellent car radio even in Lubbock

October 23, 2009

Michael Giberson

I haven’t been much of a radio music fan since, I don’t know, high school.  I liked music that wasn’t played much by the local radio stations and in general the signal-to-noise ratio on most radio stations was too small.  Cassette tapes, then CDs were part of the answer, but that cuts off access to new tunes.

Fast forward to the present. Lubbock radio is mostly not too interesting for me.  Classic Rock. Pop. Pop Rock. Country. Latin.  One “alternative” station with a weak signal but wide-ranging playlist, and usually my choice in the car. (Too be fair, Washington DC music radio wasn’t too interesting, either, after the demise of WHFS other than the occasional jazz programs and Texas Fred’s Zydeco show on WPFW.)

Now there is a new option.  Pandora is one of my favorite online music services.  Recently picked up an iPhone.  More recently added the Pandora iPhone app.  Just discovered that the adapter my wife has to connect her iPod to the car radio also works fine with my iPhone.

I can run Pandora in my car.  If you have Pandora and a compatible phone and a way to link to your car radio, so can you.

Fantastic.  And when I get to my destination I can pop the iPhone out of the adapter, insert headphone jack, and keep the music rolling.

How about little Snooks Eaglin radio to celebrate?

Posted in How cool is this?, Music | Tagged , , | 1 Comment »

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Life imitates art: Nissan to give electric car a “beautiful and futuristic” noise

September 22, 2009

Michael Giberson

From the LA Times car culture blog Up to Speed:

LeafA campaign backed by automakers and some lawmakers to make electric or hybrid cars noisier in a bid to increase safety for pedestrians and cyclists has taken a strange, “Blade Runner”-type twist.

Nissan sound engineers have announced that the Leaf electric car set for release next year will emit a “beautiful and futuristic” noise similar to the sound of flying cars — or “spinners” — that buzz around 2019 Los Angeles in Ridley Scott’s dystopian thriller based on a Philip K. Dick science fiction novel.

“We decided that if we’re going to do this, if we have to make sound, then we’re going to make it beautiful and futuristic,” Toshiyuki Tabata, Nissan’s noise and vibration expert, told Bloomberg. “We wanted something a bit different, something closer to the world of art.” (Links and LEAF image from source.)

The article points out that some people think we’ll download sounds for our future electric cars like we currently can download ringtones for phones. The Blade Runner police cruiser is pictured below, but if I’m going to get a futuristic movie-based car I’d rather have one of the Audi’s that Will Smith drove in I, Robot.

Can I get one that plays “Theme from Shaft”?

(Related story on Slashdot via Marginal Revolution.)

Posted in Music, Technology | Tagged , | 5 Comments »

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Friday fun: iTunes’ underplayed list

August 28, 2009

Lynne Kiesling

If you have an eclectic music collection, here’s some fun, especially if you’ve recently added a variety of music but haven’t listened to it yet: put the “underplayed” list on random and hit play. I’ve had the following in succession:

  1. Gang of Four, At Home He Feels Like A Tourist
  2. Mendelssohn, Sonata 1 for cello and piano, 2nd movement
  3. Gene Krupa and Buddy Rich, Perdido (this is a kickin’ drum-off between the two, awesome!)
  4. R.E.M., Strange
  5. John Wesley Harding, Ordinary Weekend

It’s a bit disjointed, but the fun and surprise of rediscovering long-dormant parts of the collection far outweighs that.

Posted in Music | Tagged | 2 Comments »

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Pixies US tour

July 28, 2009

Lynne Kiesling

Just a quick follow-up to Mike’s weekend post about the Pixies: they have announced some US dates on their current tour (sorry, Mike and Craig, none in Texas):

November:

4 The Palladium, Los Angeles, CA – on sale TBA
8 Fox Theater, Oakland, CA – on sale August 16
9 Fox Theater, Oakland, CA – on sale August 16
12 Paramount Theatre, Seattle, WA – on sale August 1
13 Paramount Theatre, Seattle, WA – on sale August 1
14 Hult Center, Eugene, OR – on sale August 14
16 The Fillmore, Denver, CO – on sale September 12
20 Aragon Ballroom, Chicago, IL – on sale September 12
21 Aragon Ballroom, Chicago, IL – on sale September 12
23 Hammerstein Ballroom, New York, NY – on sale August 14
24 Hammerstein Ballroom, New York, NY – on sale August 14
25 Hammerstein Ballroom, New York, NY – on sale August 14
27 Wang Center, Boston, MA – on sale September 12
30 Constitution Hall, Washington, D.C. – on sale September 11

Yay!

Posted in Music | Tagged | 1 Comment »

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Oh! Pandora

July 25, 2009

Michael Giberson

It is late on a Friday, and I want to go to sleep. But I had Pandora on in the background while I worked on the computer, and now that I’m stopping work, I want to keep listening to the music.

It has been a long long time since over-the-air radio has kept me awake at night, wanting to hear what was next.

Tonight this is why I love Pandora: Pixies Radio.

Posted in Music | Tagged | 3 Comments »

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Happy birthday Nikola Tesla!

July 10, 2009

Lynne Kiesling

Today’s Nikola Tesla’s 153rd birthday, as you can see celebrated in the Google page logo today (Hat tip: D.O.U.G., thanks!). If we owe our modern electricity-enabled civilization to any one scientist, it’s Tesla — alternating current, induction motors, transformers, you name it. Tesla rocks.

And for you 80s music fans, Tesla’s birthday post is yet again a thinly-veiled excuse to link to a great song from a great 80s band — “Tesla Girls”, Orchestral Manoeuvers in the Dark:

Posted in Economic history, Electricity, Music | Tagged , , | 4 Comments »

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Meet James Ensor, Belgium’s famous painter, at New York’s MOMA

July 1, 2009

Lynne Kiesling

The Museum of Modern Art is hosting an exhibition of James Ensor’s work. Ensor was a late 19th-early 20th century Belgian painter, and the best word I can think of to describe his work is … eclectic. From the NYT review of the exhibition:

He was an aggrieved traditionalist with a pop-culture itch, equally entertained by Rubens and tabloid cartoons. He was a sophisticated artist who helped shape early Modernism, not in a Paris studio but in an attic room over a novelty shop in a resort town on the North Sea. …

He’s hard to pin down. Gothic fantasist, political satirist, religious visionary: one minute he’s doing biblical scenes, the next the equivalent of biker tattoos, in a style that veers between crude and dainty.

I’ve only seen some of his work, I think at the art museum in Hamburg Columbus, Ohio. Definitely worth a look if you are going to be in New York.

Of course, those of you who know me know that this post is nothing more than a thin veneer over an excuse to link to the outstanding They Might Be Giants song, “Meet James Ensor”:

By the way, note the way-sweet use of the brushes on the snare drum to hold the rhythm together. Lovely accompaniment to the voices, guitar, and accordion (*love* the accordion!).

Posted in Miscellany, Music | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments »

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A century of Benny Goodman

June 4, 2009

Lynne Kiesling

Last Saturday was the centenary of the birth of Benjamin J. Goodman, otherwise known as Benny, the King of Swing. His music, and his signature virtuoso clarinet work, changed music forever. To riff off of something my favorite musician said about Buddy Rich, I defy any sentient being not to be moved by hearing “Sing, Sing, Sing”! Especially the original 1938 Carnegie Hall concert recording, for which I have a great fondness, because it was also a breakout event for one of the other most transformative musicians ever, drummer Gene Krupa. Coincidentally, the centenary of Krupa’s birth was January 15, 2009. Any of you who appreciate the crisp backbone that the hi-hat adds to music should thank your lucky stars for Gene Krupa, the inventor of the hi-hat.

I was reminded of how fantastic Goodman and Krupa (and when they played with Teddy Wilson and Lionel Hampton as the Benny Goodman Quartet) remain to this day by this truly outstanding NPR story from last Wednesday on Goodman. I encourage you to click through and listen to the whole commentary if you missed it; it’s a wonderful tribute to Goodman and his century.

Posted in Music | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment »

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