Musical Holocron

J.J. Johnson Quartet - Blue Trombone (Part.1-2)

2012-03-26T07:40:00.000-05:00

Having a blue Monday? This piece solves it.

Dammit, Record Labels...

2012-01-09T12:43:00.000-06:00

This is why we can't have nice things. All four major record labels are now suing Grooveshark.

Google Honors Les Paul On His Birthday

2011-06-09T08:05:00.002-05:00

I'm not sure that it will be available beyond today, but Google is honoring Les Paul on his birthday today by having an interactive Google log that allows you to play and record an electric guitar. Here's my first solo: Google Doodle: Les Paul Guitar. Have fun with it before it goes away.

Ronald Jenkees - Throwing Fire

2011-04-07T18:39:00.000-05:00

Did you ever get the feeling that you were talented, but you'd never reach moments of pure greatness?

SHOCKED!FACE is SHOCKED.

Piano Covers

2011-03-13T23:12:00.002-05:00

The piano doesn't get enough credit. I've found a treasure trove of piano players covering random rock songs that I never would have thought would make sense on the keyboard. There are many videos available on YouTube. If you wanted to learn to play the songs yourself, it's not a bad place to start. But here's just a small taste of my favorites.

DragonForce - Through the Fire and Flames - Piano 4 Hands Cover

I'd guess these guys names are Max and Leo? Everyone who's played Guitar Hero has likely heard this song. I think the piano version here is very loyal to the original.

And everyone who plays music loves free sheet music.

System Of A Down - Toxicity - Piano Cover

Vika Yermolyeva does a number of metal and classic rock song covers. Because they are all copyrighted works, they are available for free download on her site.

Steven Tyler On American Idol?

2011-01-20T23:59:00.000-06:00

I wrote a decent post yesterday about Steven Tyler as a judge on American Idol. I know I write from a hipster point of view more often than not and when I first heard that the (former?) lead singer of Aerosmith was going to be a new judge on the show, I was not immediately thrilled with the idea.

But I've come around now and I also did a 'wag my finger' at Joe Perry for his nasty comments about the whole thing.

"Pretty Hate Machine" 2010 Remastered Edition

2010-11-23T00:21:00.001-06:00

The Nine Inch Nails penultimate classic --some would say manifesto-- that is Pretty Hate Machine has been remastered and re-released in a new glorious edition. It came out today, and it is available on CD, vinyl or digital download.

Get it today at nine inch nails: pretty hate machine.

Found via Reddit.

Pink Floyd, Music Lessons, Guitar & Banjo Lessons - All on Netflix

2010-08-05T00:33:00.001-05:00

Just a quick note for those with a Netflix account. On a whim, I decided to check if they had any concert videos that I could get on DVD. I was looking for live recordings of any concert that I might like. There were a lot, but for the first few pages, they were mostly classical performances and other artists that I've never heard of. I like classical and I added one or two, but my eyes lit up when I noticed the Pink Floyd stuff. Of course, I had to do a specific search on Pink Floyd to see what else they had. The Wall made it into the queue first, but there were a lot of other discs I added. One that caught my eye was not of the band, but an instructional DVD on how to play their music style on guitar.

Interesting. Does Netflix have a lot more pages of music lessons on DVD? Yes, they do. For the more specific, they have a subcategory specifically for guitar and banjo lessons. Great!

Something else I learned about Netflix? Their DVD queue has a limit of 500 discs. That means that as a subscriber, the maximum number of movies or shows you can put into your waiting list is capped at 500. Yeah, they don't advertise that. More embarrassingly, my queue is now full. Not great, but not too bad anyhow.

Circumventing DRM Is Not Illegal

2010-07-26T12:57:00.001-05:00

I've posted before regarding copyright, but if it wasn't clear I'm not in favor of DRM. In brief; it's complicated and restricts the rights of honest users and it can be easily circumnavigated by determined pirates. Honest users who get aggravated end up seeking out "pirate" methods anyhow, just so they can use the content they paid for legally.

That's why the following story made me smile. Judge rules that circumventing DRM is not illegal. This sets the precedent that any method available for enjoying your music or movies can be used as long as your goal is not piracy. It reinforces the fair use laws and rules that are already in place.

In essence, this ruling means that you're free to break DRM on media that you own. No longer is it illegal to rip your own DVDs or crippled audio CDs onto your hard disk.

Keep on hackin'!

Thanks to Mike for posting this to his twitter.

Counting Crows Free Download

2010-07-19T22:24:00.000-05:00

Here's just a quick note. Rock band Counting Crows has a special free mp3 downloads page on Facebook. If you are fan of theirs, you'll want to bookmark the page and check it out every so often. Alternatively, you can "like" their page and they'll update you when there's new songs available. The current song is a live version of Sweet Virginia that I'm downloading right now.

...And here's a bonus video for their first hit Mr. Jones. I recall first seeing this on MTV back in college around 1995 or 1996. There was always something interesting and quirky about it even though it wasn't big budget and special effects. The mood of the visuals seemed to match the music in a way that I really appreciated.

- Sent using Google Toolbar

Massive List of "Stairway to Heaven" Covers

2010-07-02T23:54:00.000-05:00

I thought I'd linked this one a long time ago, but I went looking for it today and realized it wasn't here. Love them or hate them, here is the largest collection of cover versions of Led Zeppelin's Stairway to Heaven. My favorite? Frank Zappa's band does their rendition during a live show replete with a killer horn section. They do the entire guitar solo note-for-note... ON THE HORNS! That tickles me just the right way. Enjoy.

xkcd: Music Knowledge

2010-06-22T13:45:00.001-05:00

This is a pretty old comic at this point, but I saw it again (thanks Eddie!) and wanted to share it here. Thankfully, I know more about music than the dude in this comic, but it's still pretty funny.

I sound pretty knowledgeable about music until people figure out that I'm just naming bands from Guitar Hero.

Admittedly, I had never heard of some of the bands in the game and I'm not sure they would have caught my attention otherwise. The games have collectively exposed some of these bands to a larger audience than they would have gotten on their own. My understanding is that for the first Guitar Hero game, many of the bands and labels were hesitant because they didn't know how successful the game would be. For the sequel, musicians were vying hard for inclusion. I don't know if this is true, but it sounds good enough for me.

Addendum: For those who are confused, the comic came out pre-Guitar Hero II, meaning that it also predates Guitar Hero: Metallica. So there you go.

Free online Audio Editor - Aviary.com's Myna

2010-06-08T14:46:00.000-05:00

I've been playing around with a tool called Myna which is available from Aviary.com.

Cool

This one was one of my first attempts. I've updated it and lengthened it a bit.

cool.egg

Reese's First

This was my daughter's first chance to toy around with Myna. It's only about 12 seconds long.

reese's first.egg

Ramble On Playin'

I got a bit better here. I like this rolling guitar.

Ramble On Playin.egg

Space Frontiers

I was going for a sci-fi film score on this one.

Space Frontiers.egg

Barbarian Hordes

War! The hordes are attacking!

Barbarian Hordes.egg

Would you like to make your own? Check out Aviary.com's Myna.

Otis Redding (September 9, 1941 – December 10, 1967)

2009-12-10T13:16:00.000-06:00

My friend Robert just pointed out (on Facebook) that Otis Redding has been dead for 42 years as of today. So let's play a little of his music.

24 Songs Worth $80,000 Each? Bainwol, Smainwol!

2009-12-02T00:36:00.003-06:00

I'm writing this post today because I truly believe that you haven't had enough facepalm moments in your life yet.

I follow Cracked.com on twitter and jumped to the link immediately when I saw the tweet about 7 Inventors You Didn't Know You Wanted to Punch In the Face. I expected to see a list of gadgets or technology that end up being annoyances or death traps. But starting with #7 it seems the first winner was really just a jerk with some legal tricks. But since the jerk in question was Mitch Bainwol, CEO of the RIAA, a group I've written about before and follow with some modicum of enmity, I took careful notice.

The article gives a bit of detail and some links about the history of the RIAA's legal campaign against individuals file sharing, the history of one of it's most important cases and Mitch's role in it. In regards to Cracked's article, it occurs to me momentarily that this does not make him an "inventor" but just a "suit". Still, the suggestion that someone (maybe me) would like to punch him in the face still stands.

Mitch Bainwol RIAA
Originally uploaded by SAITOR

I won't regurgitate the whole article here. I only suggest reading it and also catching up with the relevant Wikipedia page on the case referenced. In summary, before Mitch stepped up the plate, the RIAA's legal tactics against ISPs were barely making a dent in the so-called problem, so they took their fight down to the individual. What heinous criminal did they bring charges against? An organized crime boss? A street vendor selling pirated CDs? A Russian hacker?

No. They brought suit against a mother of four in her late twenties named Jammie Thomas, a Native American descendant from the great state of Minnesota. A classic David-and-Goliath story unfolds from there, of course, with retrials still lingering as recently as July 2009. Unfortunately, as it stands right now, the jury last sided with the plaintiff (wait,... what?!) finding her liable for damages totaling ... <drum roll here>

$80,000 Per Song?! That Adds Up to $1.92 Million?!!

Though the record companies alleged that the total number of shared files was 1,702 songs, they mercifully sought relief for only 24 of these. None of these numbers can be proven very well via evidence, but that's still nearly 2 million dollars that as of right now she legally owes. There are still motions, counter-motions and so forth flying around right now and the evidence seems mighty flimsy from my vantage point.

The point I want to especially highlight from the Cracked.com article was this witty snippet that I appreciated.

...she was found guilty of sharing the most embarrassing 24 song playlist imaginable with countless Internet users.

Isn't that just awesome? The actual list of all 24 songs is outlined for all of history in bold-faced type on Wikipedia. Just savor what Jammie must feel to know that the whole world gets a peak at her private music tastes. There's a smattering of classic rock, 90's era chick-rock alternative and some gooey pop. The artists included are Aerosmith, Bryan Adams, Def Leppard, Green Day, Janet Jackson, No Doubt, Richard Marx and Vanessa Williams among others.

It's pretty safe for the Cracked writers to point their fingers and laugh at the list, especially when they are clearly taking her side. It includes many songs that are good, but many of us wouldn't admit to liking publicly. And at the same time, I can't help feel some pity and solidarity with this mom that the RIAA has chosen to pick on. So in support of her and in empathy for her situation, I've created the following playlist with all 24 songs! So here they are, Jammie's Playlist, in no particular order. I dare you to listen to it and not sing along at some point.

More Information

Found via Twitter / Cracked.com.

Update

I found this today (2010/09/26) on Reddit.

Dear Jordin Sparks, Meet Pat Benatar

2009-10-26T23:59:00.167-05:00

I've avoided watching American Idol for the last complete season. I'll admit that I had an uneasy like/dislike relationship with the show the first several seasons, but that I watched it when my wife watched it. Her interest in the show has dwindled down to non-existent from my perspective. There were dramatic parts of the show that I would get interested in when it was on, but as far as I'm concerned it's good riddance to bad rubbish.

I could write a long treatise on what I don't like about the show and the negative effects that have hampered the music industry. But I'll keep my elitism in check for right now. After all, as I mentioned there were redeemable moments that I can't ignore. There have been certain moments in the show that have been interesting and memorable that made for good television at the least. And some of the artists that graduated to stardom from the ranks of the contestants are worthy to stand alongside other more traditionally accomplished musicians.

But damn. The nerve of some of these... *sigh* ...kids can really annoy me at times. For a moment, let's focus on one named Jordin Sparks, winner of season six. I've appreciated at least one song of hers called Tattoo simply because the chorus captures an emotion I associated with the tattoo I got for myself when my son died. At it's heart, this song is a lost romantic love song. However, the theme is that someone who is gone will remain as a permanent mark on their heart. I can dig that just a bit.

Sparks' latest hit that is being overplayed on the FM dial is catchy, but altogether sounds way too familiar. And I don't mean to say that the lyrics or music were plagiarized. No, the problem is nothing so droll. It's the fact that the idea for the song's theme was already out there in a much more classic version. This story has already been told. This question has already been answered. The sad and annoying fact is that young Jordin may be too young to even know it. Confused? Perhaps the video evidence...

Jordin Sparks - Battlefield

The underlying question that young, naive Jordin is (repeatedly) asking here is WHY does love always feel like a battlefield? Hmph! What a dumb question. Do you really want to know why, Jordin? Would you like a source of wisdom to enlighten you? Well, there's no need for me to tell you what should be obvious. This question has already been answered by one of your elders and betters. And it was stated so elegantly back before you were born (probably). Once again, let's roll the video...

Pat Benatar - Love is a Battlefield

Did you catch that Jordin? Love feels like a battlefield, because IT IS a battlefield! So there you go. You might make a memorable songwriter some day Jordin. But the next time you get yourself up to asking silly questions, please be sure to consult the entire music catalog of Pat Benatar for the answer before you put any more silliness into song form. It might save you and us a lot of grief. Thanks! ::Jim

P.S. Actually, perhaps you shouldn't stop at just Pat Benatar. Other songstress classics from the 80s you should check out include Blondie, Bette Midler, Diana Ross, Barbra Streisand, Donna Summer, Kim Carnes, Dolly Parton, Sheena Easton, Pointer Sisters, Abba ... (Who am I forgetting?). Anyway, I sincerely hope this helps. So much for keeping my elitism in check, huh?

Home Taping Is Killing Record Industry Profits - Dead Kennedys

2009-09-03T00:18:00.001-05:00

kennedys
Originally uploaded by sharky_p2p

This is so classic and awesome.

Top 10 Songs for the End (of the World)

2009-08-17T22:23:00.005-05:00

New this week, I'm going to start publishing a top 10 playlist every Monday. Inspired by the movie Knowing (starring Nicolas Cage) that I rented this last weekend, I decided to focus the list on songs about the end of the world. I hope I'm not giving away something about the ending. Anyhow,...

Music about an impending apocalypse is not new, as one entry on this list, Eve of Destruction was originally written in 1965. And there are certainly older themes from every genre. There are psalms and hymnals, classical pieces, even the best recognized ragtime jazz of Louis Armstrong's When the Saints Go Marching In is talking about where Louis wants to be on the day of judgment. It's a much older tune than Mr. Armstrong and some of the lyrics are rather dire. Don't believe me?

And when the moon turns red with blood

And when the moon turns red with blood

Lord, how I want to be in that number

When the moon turns red with blood

Someone go wake up Ozzy Osbourne and tell him his stuff isn't dark enough. What could be more spooky than a blood-red moon?

So certainly we have lots of stuff to choose from here. But I wanted to narrow the field down to more modern rock music. The sound of bold electric guitars were needed for the right atmosphere. I started out thinking I'd be struggling to come up with 10 songs to fit this list, and in the end (as usual) I found it hard to whittle it down. Before I think of any more, here 'tis.

Couldn't start this list out without R.E.M's It's the End of the World As We Know It, which alternatively could be more a comment on the end of the Reagen Era or simply a fun string of nonsense --as opposed to something for Armageddon.

Then, for a more dire flavor I added Nirvana's rendition of David Bowie's The Man Who Sold the World. Not specifically about destruction but mere insanity, it still puts one in the proper mood.

The Doors come next, with their epic The End. Again, this may stray from particularly fiery images and lean towards self-destruction, but we are building up to something here. It goes on meandering for almost 12 minutes so hang on.

Soundgarden makes their first of several appearances here with Black Hole Sun. Ooh, that's more like it.

Could we have put this list up without including Metallica? They could appear multiple times, but I'll just include one of my favorites; Blackened.

Death of Mother Earth
Never a rebirth
Evolution's end
Never will it mend

Whoa, tasty! Who else is now in the mood for barbecue?

London Calling by the Clash is one of those songs I'd only heard more than once because of Guitar Hero. I know, my friends cry in shame at associating with me. Whatever. Apparently, it's about nuclear war --or more appropriately, a "nuclear error". As in, "whoops" with all capital letters. Laugh about it if you want, but my generation grew up believing this was likely.

I could have stopped here with some excellent songs. I almost did. Perhaps we draw a footnote here indicating so and still continue. Soundgarden is back with 4^th of July. Then we get Jan & Dean to bring us back to the Eve of Destruction. Metallica also gets another appearance as they Fight Fire with Fire. I tried for a good Faith No More song, and there should be many. But I chose their angry Jizzlobber not so much for the lyrics, but for the cool pipe organ sounds at the end. It's so powerful that someone should be chanting faux Latin in the background.

To round out the list (and end up with 12), Soundgarden returns once more to Blow Up The Outside World while Helloween has an afterthought in Revelation. There's a Bible reference FTW!

If you read this far, I thank you. I also want to thank the participants on a forum thread from 2005 at Rate Your Music, specifically asking for songs about the end of the world.

Incidentally, I thought I'd conclude this ever-so-optimistic list with a reminder that the world will end some day. Regardless of where you stand on the fun and friendly science vs. religion debate, both sides agree that the world will some day be destroyed completely or be uninhabitable by Homo Sapiens. Whether we cause our own end, something cosmic happens and/or something holistic happens, in the literal end it won't matter. My soul is prepared, Dr. Jones, how's yours?

Image Credit: IMDb.com

Update

Also, there's this list of movies about the (near) end of the world: Top 10 Movies where the Earth is (almost) destroyed. My favorite mentioned above did not make the cut. I'll warn you that #1 is not a movie I've ever even heard of.

Alanis Morissette's You Oughta Know; Sung by a Dude

2009-08-07T16:35:00.001-05:00

For a while now, I've been thinking that what we really needed for this song would be a rockin' cover band to have a guy sing it and put an interesting new spin on it. It's the angriest pop-rock song I've ever heard a girl sing so it's a classic. It's also ripe for being made fun of. I would have recommended changing the words around a little to reverse the story. "Does HE speak eloquently, and would you have HIS baby?" and so forth. But this works just as well. Thanks to Chad Y. for posting this video where I'd see it.

Perpetuum Jazzile - Africa

2009-07-05T15:59:00.001-05:00

This amazing choir uses their hands and body to simulate a thunderstorm.

Youngblood Brass Band - Nuclear Summer

2009-05-30T00:57:00.002-05:00

Wow. Just, ... wow. I've never heard of these guys before, but they are like the perfect blend of horns and high energy that I'd put together if I could custom create a band. It's exotic and modern and mean. You've got some jazz and bebop sounds --check! You've got a little Latin --check! You've got some vocals and they start smooth --check!! But by the end of this performance he's spittin' like a fire hose on fire --double check!!

The Trombone player starts it off with a simple riff. But each horn in turn gets their spotlight. The Tuba even gets a simple bass riff that should make any bass guitar player quit his night job. Why hasn't anyone got me their CD yet?! It's jazz you can slam dance to.

Found via Reddit.

Derek's Spring Break Singalong Playlist

2009-03-15T01:02:00.005-05:00

My friend Derek posted a list of songs on his blog that he wanted to share. Since some of my coworkers and I had been posting our own playable play lists at Top 5 Friday using Playlist.com, I thought I'd take a few minutes and create an embeddable version for Derek.

Derek described the theme as follows:

Most of them are either from soundtracks of movies/tv shows I’ve seen recently or have something to do with the theme of movies/tv, with a few exceptions.

I could find every song that Derek listed except for #5 (30th Century Man by Jigsaw Seen), #8 (Rocket Ship by Kathy McCarty) and #16 (Fearless Leader by Soul Asylum). Anyone who'd like to do so should be able to copy and paste this to their own website or blog using this code:

Check out the full list of songs at Things I Meant to Blog.

THRU YOU | Kutiman mixes YouTube

2009-03-14T23:36:00.000-05:00

If you dig a bit, you'll find that lots of musicians of every skill level post clips of themselves online. The video and audio quality varies all over the map and that's okay. But imagine if some genius takes as many of the clips as they can find and puts them together into one overdubbed sampled funk-jam that is as beautiful to listen to as it is fascinating to watch. Well, if your imagination is like mine, you probably wouldn't have reached this far. Watch as Kutiman mixes YouTube, and not just for one little song but seven! When you see genius like this, be sure to smile. Who comes up with this?

Note: If you follow me everywhere, I'm cross-posting this in at least one more spot.

Scotland the Brave

2009-02-18T12:42:00.001-06:00

This song has been in my head for the past few weeks and today a coworker helped me figure out which song it was. Thanks!

Is Britney Spears Still Relevant?

2009-01-05T00:26:00.001-06:00

I shouldn't. I really shouldn't write this, as Ms. Spears is one of the most overexposed, nominally underrated, overproduced and endlessly debated celebrity/non-celebrities these could possibly be. Even one of her few ardent fans defending her publicly became one of the most lampooned and parodied Internet sensations out there. Don't believe me? Get a t-shirt and tons of other products. Certainly she's not the craziest celebrity. Or the first crazy one. Or for that matter, the last. But was she batspit insane before stardom or did it come later? Is it the chicken or the egg?

I don't follow pop music anymore, haven't for years. I don't watch MTV. My real question is if she is even relevant anymore. And I guess by the fact that I don't care about the answer should be answer enough. But say what you will, her (and her crew) know how to make a decent video.

Britney Spears - New Music - More Music Videos

It's simple, to the point and doesn't force you to think. But does anyone really play videos anymore? Yeah, I didn't think so. See more Britney Spears in Womanizer if you want. Thanks for the eye candy Britney, now just go away.

Musical Holocron

J.J. Johnson Quartet - Blue Trombone (Part.1-2)

Dammit, Record Labels...

Google Honors Les Paul On His Birthday

Ronald Jenkees - Throwing Fire

Piano Covers

DragonForce - Through the Fire and Flames - Piano 4 Hands Cover

System Of A Down - Toxicity - Piano Cover

Steven Tyler On American Idol?

"Pretty Hate Machine" 2010 Remastered Edition

Pink Floyd, Music Lessons, Guitar & Banjo Lessons - All on Netflix

Circumventing DRM Is Not Illegal

Counting Crows Free Download

Massive List of "Stairway to Heaven" Covers

xkcd: Music Knowledge

Free online Audio Editor - Aviary.com's Myna

Cool

Reese's First

Ramble On Playin'

Space Frontiers

Barbarian Hordes

Otis Redding (September 9, 1941 – December 10, 1967)

24 Songs Worth $80,000 Each? Bainwol, Smainwol!

Mitch Bainwol RIAA Originally uploaded by SAITOR

$80,000 Per Song?! That Adds Up to $1.92 Million?!!

More Information

Update

Dear Jordin Sparks, Meet Pat Benatar

Jordin Sparks - Battlefield

Pat Benatar - Love is a Battlefield

Home Taping Is Killing Record Industry Profits - Dead Kennedys

Top 10 Songs for the End (of the World)

Update

Alanis Morissette's You Oughta Know; Sung by a Dude

Perpetuum Jazzile - Africa

Youngblood Brass Band - Nuclear Summer

Derek's Spring Break Singalong Playlist

THRU YOU | Kutiman mixes YouTube

Scotland the Brave

Is Britney Spears Still Relevant?

Mitch Bainwol RIAA
Originally uploaded by SAITOR