Day and Night Digital | Irish Independent

Songs For Streaming Lovers

Though the days of making cassette tapes for a friend or a (potential) loved one have passed, the spirit of the mixtape culture lives on online. First their was Muxtape, a website that allowed music fans to upload MP3s to a simply designed page, organise the songs and share that playlist with others. With burgeoning popularity came interest from the big band wolf of music industry – the RIAA. The site was shut down despite the negotiations between the owner of the site and the very labels the RIAA represents. Not surprisingly, the users of the service liked the simplicity of the idea so much, they started looking for alternatives.

Inevitably, clone sites popped up in the aftermath which closely replicated Muxtape’s look and function. 8Tracks.com and Mixtube.org operate as near carbon copies while Favtape.com expands the concept by allowing the user to make automatic playlists from their Last.FM accounts. Meanwhile, Opentape.fm offers an open-source version which can be installed on any website thus making it harder to track copyrighted uploads. Most impressive though are unique interactive services like Blip.fm – a social network of DJ playlists and Streamdrag.com – just punch in an artist and the site plays relevant audio from Youtube videos in a playlist format.

It is worth noting that NONE of these sites allow users to download songs but obviously operate in a legal grey area and all are in danger of an ephemeral existence. Meanwhile the music industry and its representatives continue to clampdown without addressing why people are using such sites in the first place.

News Bytes

1. Jape for Christmas Number One?
   A Facebook campaign was set up last week with the aim of getting Jape’s new single ‘Phil Lynott’ to number one for Christmas. It would make a refreshing change to have a song with Irish relevance triumph over the latest X-Factor winner at the very least. [Facebook Campaign]
2. Indie Band mean business
   US band Francis And The Lights have registered themselves as a company instead of trying to sign a record deal. The New Yorkers’ record label Normative Music Company have invested $100,000 in the band as opposed to paying royalties.
3. I wanna make it with you
   Fifty Years of popular songs condensed into single sentences

Band of Blogs: Buraka Som Sistema, TVOTR, Japanese Popstars, We Have Band

1. Buraka Som Sistema
   Portugal’s finest export of African-tinged uptempo dance music (known as kuduro) unleash their debut album this week. Watch out for a DJ/MC set in Twisted Pepper, Dublin on the 11th of December. [Nialler9]
2. TV on the Radio frontman goes solo
   Not content with his involvement in one of the year’s finest records (Dear Science) Tunde Adebimpe goes it alone under the guise of Fake Male Voice. [Pitchfork]
3. Derry DJs remix Beyonce
   With club remixes for The Ting Tings and international critical acclaim under their belts, The Japanese Popstars take on Beyonce’s latest single ‘If I Were A Boy’. Listen on Myspace.
   [myspace.com/thejapanesepopstars]
4. We can haz band?
   Having formed mere months ago when they met in the London offices of EMI, three-piece We Have Band are off to a good start. Their track ‘Oh!’ and accompanying remixes are getting a lot of blog attention right now as well as being tipped as “the new Hot Chip” for 2009. [Discobelle]

Sites of the Week 02

1. Desktop Wallpaper Project
   Spruce up that boring desktop with some specifically commissioned artwork from some great artists and designers. Free every Wednesday.
   kitsunenoir.com/blog/dwp/
2. Urban Dictionary
   Ever get Guitarthritis? Have you experienced destinesia? Don’t understand what I’m talking about? Consult this site.
   urbandictionary.com
3. White People Trying To Look Serious
   No matter how hard they try, white people will always fail to look serious in party photos.
   whitepeopletryingtolookserious.com

Videos of The Week: Thriller, Moutpiece, M.I.A and MGMT

1. A Chorus of Thrillers
   A guy from France named Francois Macre records an unique acapella version of Michael Jackson’s ‘Thriller’ featuring 64 tracks of his own voice, looped and layered to impressive effect.
   
2. Moutpiece – The Wages of Sin
   Dublin DIY punks make a 94-second DIY music video in a kitchen with the help of their ma’s tights.
   
3. M.I.A covers TV theme
   M.I.A and Blaqstarr do a Baltimore club rework of Tom Waits’ ‘Way Down in the Hole’ , a song you might recognise as the theme song on The Wire.
   
4. MGMT – The Interface
   Relive the Brooklyn band’s recent Irish gigs with this four song session and interview. The band’s prog-rock leanings are undeniable.
   [Spinner]

Selling songs for soup

With more artists realising the tactic of waiting for a major label to notice them is as futile as a Johnny Borrell lyric, the rise of digital music solutions continues to flourish. Some examples stand out more than others, thanks to their innovation.

Belfast band Escape Act have used a free site called Bandcamp to debut their album Loosely Based On Fiction track-by-track through Irish music blogs, a strategy which has got them noticed. Bandcamp.mu enables bands and artists to upload their music and start selling it online in a huge variety of digital formats. The band can set the price (if at all), or “do a Radiohead” and allow the fan to pay what they want. The service was recently used by Super Extra Bonus Party to release their digital-only remix album for free.

Indiecater.com, a site run by Irish music blogger MP3hugger has also taken advantage of digital distribution by releasing old out-of-print albums by Red Star Belgrade and Sunbear alongside new music compilations for under a fiver. None of the above can match Max Tundra in the innovation stakes however. The electro-popster is selling cans of branded Kosher Chicken Soup which come with a code to download his latest album. After all, music is food for the soul right?

Videos of The Week: AC/DC, MJEX, Boy Bands & REM

1. AC/DC make nerdy music video
   The world’s first music video made in Microsoft Excel! Does this mean bored office workers are the new rock ‘n’ roll?
   acdcrocks.com/excel/
2. Boy band want to “get down” with you
   Forget the Oompa-Loompa tans already sported by Irish females. It would be a real crime if the male version as demonstrated by Canadian boy band B4-4 in this music video was allowed to proliferate. Disturbing.
3. Messiah J and the Expert live session
   Having just released their superb third album From The Word Go, MJEX play two superb live songs on MUZU.TV.


Messiah J & The Expert TV on MUZU.

4. R.E.M. - Until The Day Is Done
   The latest video from Accelerate features black and white footage culled from the band’s working rehearsals in The Olympia Theatre last summer.

Sites of the Week

1. Why That’s Delightful
   Graham Linehan’s blog is a daily compendium of hilarious online oddities brimming with the Father Ted creator’s caustic personality.
   whythatsdelightful.wordpress.com
2. More Cowbell
   Remember the SNL “More Cowbell” sketch? Finally there’s an online tool for cowbell fiends hungry for more percussive fun. Upload any song and add an adjustable amount of cowbell to it. The kind of novelty the internet was invented for.
   www.morecowbell.dj
3. Stuff White People Like
   Deadly accurate riposte of things enjoyed by white people. The Wire, hummus, The Onion, frisbee and Obama all come under scrutiny.
   stuffwhitepeoplelike.com

Band of Blogs: Passion Pit, Little Joy, Katy Perry, Black Kids

1. Passion Pit
   Get ready to be excited by Passion Pit, an electro-pop outfit from Massachusetts. Their sound is somewhere between The Avalanches and The Postal Service. Ones to watch in 2009?
   myspace.com/passionpitjams
2. Black Kids featuring Lil Wayne
   Florida’s Black Kids get the remix treatment from Rio’s The Twelves to great effect. Includes a verse from rap’s resident oddball, Lil Wayne. Didn’t see that one comin’.
   url.ie/uv7
3. Little Joy
   The Strokes’ drummer Fabrizio Moretti teams up with some friends in LA to make a simple nostalgic pop record. Dare we say it? The best Strokes-related album since Is This It.
   myspace.com/littlejoymusic
4. Katy Perry covers MGMT
   Lesbian pretender Katy Perry takes on MGMT’s funky ‘Electric Feel’ and does a random but admirable version. Plus, we can actually understand the lyrics now.
   url.ie/uv8

News Bytes

1. After years of resistance, the remaining Beatles have given their blessing to a Beatles version of Rock Band (due late ‘09), thus allowing gamers to virtually play along to the Fab Four’s extensive catalogue a la Guitar Hero.
2. The latest challenger to iTunes is available in the UK this week. Datz Music Lounge is backed by two major labels amongst others and offers 1.4 million songs. Unique selling point? It offers unlimited DRM-free downloads for 12 months. The catch? A once-off £99 fee and secure USB key requirement means it’s not for the casual music fan.
3. Consequence of Sound details the top 10 stoner albums of all-time.