Very sad, only 66.
Monkees Theme Song on Spotify: http://open.spotify.com/album/1q1LuLo92N5cl5e0GKRq7h
Tennis – Young & Old
Been listening to a lot of Young & Old by Tennis, a pop band on the Fat Possum. Great mix of hooks and rave up breaks.
Are consumers ready for better sound quality?
Musicians know all too well what they hear in the studio while tracking never quite translates to the final digital mix and definitely not to the average fan listening on ear buds. The highest highs and lowest lows are gone. The decay of a snare hit or guitar note is truncated or reduced. Computers have to compress and remove the sound information humans “don’t need to hear” before they can record the sound to disk.
Read this article from the Nashville Tennessean that describes the compression process and some new technologies being developed for the studio that will increase the fidelity of recorded music as well as improved playback systems for consumer. The amount of recorded information removed from a digital recording is astounding.
Household – Items
Brooklyn band Household latest record, Items, would have fit in perfectly in a Rodney on the Rock set (KROQ, Los Angeles) in 1979. #Household #KROQ
Chill Music Recommendations for Hot Summer Days
We’ve been beating the heat by listening to some chilled out music the last couple weeks. Eleanor Friedberger’s Last Summer isn’t quite chill but Last Summer is a very cool pop record. She’s on tour this summer, definitely worth catching one of her shows. Another pop record, this one definitely on the quiet side, and featuring beautiful piano figures and extremely hum-able melodies is Philharmonics by Agnes Obel. Another quiet, piano focused record, perfect for early morning coffee and coding, is Summvs by Alva Noto & Ryuichi Sakamoto. This one features a cover of Eno’s ‘by this river’ from Before and After Science.
Fan Funding Segment on WNYC
Last night WNYC’s music show “Soundcheck” ran a segment on fan funding. All the usual suspects were mentioned; Kickstarter, Indiegogo, Rockethub. It was a good overview and examined from the musician’s perspective. Worth a listen.
Here is the show:
Fitz & the Tantrums's Bad Ass Bass Sound
I got turned on to Fitz & the Tantrums by today’s LefsetzLetter. I’m listening to their dbut EP, Songs for a Breakup, Vol. 1 on Dangerbird Records. Nicely recorded old school soul. Killer bass sound that jumps out of the tracks but is still in the pocket. “Don’t Gotta Work it Out” is a standout track with a giant 70′s Philly soul chorus. Probably the nicest soul revival stuff I’ve heard in the last couple of years. Thanks Lefsetz!