Archive for the 'music' Category
On Request
March 1st, 2011I am currently almost speechless (almost). I got an email from someone who said that they used to have one of the tracks I made long ago when I was playing with FruityLoops, and that they actually played it. More than once. At actual parties attended by actual people. Wow. The site it used to […]
Religious Popular Music
January 4th, 2011In the English speaking world, “quality” has become antonymous (is that the right word for the opposite of “synonymous”?) with “religious music”. Sure, there are a few Christian bands who make decent music (MxPx, for example), but they are few and far between. It wasn’t always that way, of course. From the 10th century, with […]
Clapping Shepard Tone
February 3rd, 2010Something that has been stuck in my mind for a few days: First, you should be familiar with the Shepard Tone. If you don’t know what that is: So, that out of the way, something that has often both bugged and amused me is the tendency of Japanese audiences to “clap the beat”. That is, […]
Steve Martin Also Tells Jokes
January 19th, 2008I used to think of Steve Martin as a comedian who also played banjo. Now I think of him as a musician who also tells jokes.
Are There Any Non-Electronic Instruments?
June 16th, 2007Ok, so the story, as we know it, is: Benjamin Franklin flies a kite, and discovers electricity. He patents it, and Gibson pays him a licensing fee to use it in their new Lightning Guitar (later renamed Electric Guitar because Lightning Guitar was a trademarked nickname used by Yngwie Malmsteem). Electricity was then used to […]
Mike Patton and Danny DeVito are Friends
May 4th, 2007Parents all have a shared set of goals for their kids: “I hope he doesn’t grow up to be a psychopath, thief, or lawyer” “I hope he grows up to be generous and kind”, that kind of thing. Then there are the particulars, which vary from person to person. Some want their kid to be […]
What Fair Use Means to You
February 22nd, 2007There is an infinite amount of material on the internet discussing copyright, so this post will fail in comparison, but I just wanted to note what use Fair Use has to y’all, with a concrete example: If you get rid of Fair Use, your mass media will start to look like Japan’s. Japan has no […]
Vocals
January 29th, 2007Late 80’s hardcore vocals are good. (Yes, I know Nomeansno isn’t really a hardcore band, but damn if those aren’t hardcore style vocals)
Strange Rumours
November 16th, 2006Heard a strange rumour today: John Zorn composed some music for Pokemon. Googling this comes up with no evidence, so I’m guessing it’s purely a rumour, but I was interested to note that googling “John Zorn Pokemon” gives 17,500 hits. Who would have ever thought there’d be that much overlap between the two?
The Mystery of Underworld – Murder Dem
November 4th, 2006Ok, so on a jungle compilation CD I own (a proper CD from a proper, evil, probably RIAA label), there is a track called “Murder Dem” by “Underworld”. I took it as granted that this was some insanely old Underworld track, and that Underworld had done some jungle tracks before moving into their modern, boring […]
