Jeffzilla

Just unearthed Lemon Jelly’s 1999 Breezeblock, originally broadcast on BBC Radio One. I’m a huge fan of this mix, and of Lemon Jelly in general - give it a listen - uplifting and fun.

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Why make software for an increasingly dwindling market - the 1st generation (EDGE) iPhone. Instinctiv is a new company that’s making iPhone software that purports to predict what you want to listen to based on a number of factors, and the smartly shuffles your songs accordingly. But it only shuffles your own songs. Only the music you have on your phone at that moment. No network listening.

I can see how this would appeal to iPod Touch and 1st generation (slow EDGE) owners, but, since the 1st Gen iPhone is no longer on sale, that group is starting to dwindle. On the new iPhone 3g, with speedy fast 3G network connectivity, is Instinctiv really necessary? (Or, does it have a viable future?) Why not just listen to real, genuine Pandora radio, if that’s the experience you’re going for? Although it’s not out yet, I’m almost positive a real, native Pandora radio application will be released for the new iPhone 3G, which will (or, should…) use not only the iPhone’s wifi connection, but the 3G cell data connection as well.

Better yet - ever shared with a friend a Pandora station you’ve made? Cool to be able to listen to the same batch of songs, no? How about allowing iPhones running the Pandora radio application to synchronize their stations, so two iPhone listeners can listen to a synchronized Pandora station? Why not push this feature to the standard browser based web player too? It might get dicey for the music licensing, but would be cool nonetheless.

(Seen on TechCrunch)

The new Weezer music video for Pork and Beans off their forthcoming album (the red album), due out June 3rd, 2008 is quite the mirror. In one foul swoop, they managed to distill down most of the major “viral videos” from the last couple of years, including some older classics, namely All Your Base (Zero Wing). It’’s interesting to note how quickly internet video and viral video has become a mainstay of our culture and online life - enough so that it’s worked it’s way into popular music.

I don’t know if this is good or bad, or what this says about me but…. yeah, I knew instantly pretty much every single clip or parody in the video - amazing.

Here’s the video, and a list of all the source clips I could identify - disturbingly easily.

**Update….. looks like Weezer ended up disabling embedding of their video.. use the above link to check it out.

Weezer Pork and Beans video original video clips:

Numa Numa
(Brookers has a good one too - Crazed Numa Fan)
Dramatic Gopher
Japanese Gameshows from TV in Japan
Starwars Kid
Angry German Kid
Ms. Teen USA South Carolina
Tay Zonday
Liam Sullivan - Shoes
Will it Blend?
Chris Crocker
Stupid Ninja
Diet Coke and Mentos
Peanut Butter Jelly Time
Evolution of Dance
K-Fed
GI Joe
T-Shirts
Soulja Boy (yeah… I still need to be cool and learn this dance..)

Did I miss anything?

Could Last.fm be used by the music industry lawyers to find, track, and nail music piraters?

Here’s my thinking: a user downloads a pirated copy of a new, unreleased album from Bit Torrent, or any other file sharing site, puts it in their iTunes, and then starts listening. While they are listening, naturally, their Last.fm plugin is reporting back the track/artist/album names to Last.fm, to be posted in real time, time stamped, on their personal profile. If that album is unreleased, then how would the user be listening to it already? They must be stealing music. And those timestamps on each track are good evidence.

What’s the privacy like on Last.fm? Would they ever allow music industry lawyers access to their user/track database? With full access to that information, it seems it would be fairly easy to cross reference track names and listening times, then compare that information to release dates and narrow down a list of, for example, users who listened to tracks from Madonna’s new album before the release date. Then they just need to cross-reference those usernames with their real contact info/email address/other personal profile info, and bam.

The latest album from M83, Saturdays = Youth is out as of April 14th, and it’s purely wonderful. A slight departure from the sounds of the previous albums, especially digital shades, but great in its own way. This album holds its own among Anthony Gonzalez’s repertoire of M83 sounds, but fits perfectly within it. The 80’s, song driven style is solid and makes the album listenable from beginning to end. M83 is one of those sounds that I very frequently put on when I need to buckle down to some serious work, focus, or just walk around and get lost in thought.

Additionally, offering it on iTunes as iTunes Plus (DRM free) makes it actually worth going for the instant gratification iTunes route. I’m a little sad to not have the full album artwork, and feel bad for contributing to the downfall of physical packaging artwork, but love the idea of not cluttering my bookshelf with more physical jewel cases. The higher quality and DRM freeness of iTunes Plus makes it a viable music purchasing channel.

Here’s the first single from the new album: Graveyard Girl by M83

The Dozens, the band that I do marketing for/help out with is playing a gig this Friday, February 29th at Connolly’s, in NYC.  Come on out this Friday for “A gig so awesome, it could only happen once every four years”.. or so they say.

Check out their myspace page and flyer for the show on Friday. LISTEN!

 Here’s the “blurb”…
Imagine putting the last 40 years of high-grade, head-nodding rock music into a blender, hitting spin, and pouring the mixture into a New York City four-piece. The Dozens set “standard” rock formulas on their ears, with melodies and chords that sound both utterly unique and familiar. While daring to forge new musical turf, they haven’t forgotten the value of an old-fashioned guitar hook, sing-along chorus, and well-pounded beat.Led by songwriter Eli Musser, The Dozens will be releasing their debut record - pleasing both head and heart - in 2008. However, their raucous live shows truly define this band’s exciting, contagious energy. The Dozens are quickly capturing the attention of music fans in the New York City area, and working hard to spread their message: Real rock is back.  

Event Details:
Who: The Dozens
Where: Connolly’s, 121 W 45th Street, NewYork ,NY
When: Friday, February 29th, show @ 10pm