18 Tuesday Sep 2007
Posted in Music
Gomez have announced that they’re about to head back into the studio to start recording their next album which is expected to be released in the middle of 2008.
In the meantime Ian Ball has recorded and will be releasing a solo album called ‘Who Goes There’. It has a US release date, but frustratingly for the UK no date – sad given its a British artist!
For more information see the Gomez site : http://www.gomeztheband.com
13 Thursday Sep 2007
Posted in General
Yes, I’ve joined the N770 Internet tablet brigade. I have to admit I like the inherent connectivity aspect of it, not to mention the large screen and the ease to dual purpose it as a sat nav.
One of the first things I’ve done is to install Pidgin (formerly GAIM) onto the device, a piece of pie if you follow the instructions at – http://pidgin.garage.maemo.org/.
Although when using the on screen keyboard the amount of screen real estate available to seeing the messages isn’t huge. But the ability to use MSN (or any other IM protocol as Pidgin is a cross protocol solution) anywhere around the house (or with wireless access for that matter) is a great advantage.
07 Friday Sep 2007
Posted in Music
The UK side of Vagrant Records are currently selling albums at £5 – this includes artists such as Paul Westerberg and Dashboard Confessional among others! Now that’s what I call fine prices.
Their online store is here (http://www.resonancestore.com/vagrant/)
05 Wednesday Sep 2007
Posted in Music
Rough Trade have launched an album club, where each month they’ll send you a copy of what they consider the best album of the month, for a price of course. A great idea, but at £12 a month, for CD which may not appeal to your taste (after all the existing selections range from KT Tunstall to the Arcade Fire), it is a lot of money to gamble – particularly if you can buy the album elsewhere on the net for less. Admittedly the album will be sent to you with a nice set of liner notes etc.
If the CDs had been compilations of the month’s best releases and two thirds of the price then I would have seriously considered joining as that would encourage me (and probably many others) to buy albums from lesser known artists discovered though the compilation (something that Uncut’s cover CD helps with).
If you would like to know more then go here.
30 Thursday Aug 2007
Posted in Books
I’ve just finished reading Doug Coupland’s JPod. Its an odd book, some of the characters seem fairly plausible, albeit exaggerated, and others are just completely improbable.
Set in an IT context, Doug like Scott Adams must have spent some time in an IT office environment, in many respects the book often feels like Dilbert on acid.
What really irked me with this is the self referencing (Doug is also a character in his own book, and also has his characters make reference his other books – self promotion in extreme?) and the strange ‘interludes’ where he has done things like include wholesale assignments that one of the book’s characters was doing which really don’t add anything to the story.
If you want a light pointless read and like things such as Dilbert and the TV series the IT crowd, then I’d recommend borrowing a copy of the book otherwise don’t pick it up.
30 Thursday Aug 2007
Posted in Music
With the cost of reasonable quality recording from a sound/mixing desk and practicalities of moving the technology getting cheaper and easier there seems to be a trend towards official ‘bootlegs’ seems to be increasing with Tori Amos being another convert. With CD sales reportedly dropping its another avenue to replace any lost income, and a good one for artists who have a reputation for good live performances.
Call me a luddite if you like, but apart from the fact that there is now a price tag associated to the concert recording what has happened to the romance of smugging in recording equipment and trying to get yourself a spot where the sound is perfect. The trick of timing when to swap recording media and so on.
It does also leave an interesting question when is a live recording a bootleg or an official live album ?
30 Thursday Aug 2007
Posted in Music
The founder of one of the most famous clubs ever CBGB’s – Hilly Kristal has died due to complications from Lung Cancer. CBGB’s will always be remembered as the spiritual home of US Punk. Sadly the club closed last year as a result of being forced out by the landlords.
I don’t know if its me getting older – but we do seem to be receiving news of a lot of influential people from the music world passing on in recent months.
Hilly Kristal’s obituary at NME can be found here.
22 Wednesday Aug 2007
Posted in Music
Crawdaddy seem to be keeping up with their excellent standard of articles and subject matter, this time with a crate digger article on Chris Whitley’s debut album.
20 Monday Aug 2007
Posted in Photography
A little while ago I was approached by Schmap travel guides seeking permission to use one of the photos I’d taken when I was in Las Vegas. I heard back today – the photo will be used, but as a result of a technical glitch the picture wont be in the guide until the next edition. You can see where the photo will appear in the guide by going here.
The photo they will be using can be found on Flickr here.
17 Friday Aug 2007
Posted in Music, Technology
A site called MySpaceMP3.org has appeared that allows you to download music from artists that is intended to be only streamed using MySpace’s own controls. Apparently the site’s results can occasionally be flawed but it certainly presents a problem for MySpace.
Phil (aka MP3Monster)'s Blog 