December 2008
22 posts
9 tags
Jaydiohead: Jay-Z x Radiohead Mash-Up Album!
Minty Fresh Beats, a New York hip-hop/dance producer, has recently released Jaydiohead, a digital mash-up album of Jay-Z and Radiohead tracks. I initially checked this out not only because both Jay-Z and Radiohead interest me musically, but also to hear if it might be a formidable opponent to Danger Mouse’s Grey Album (a mash-up of Jay-Z’s Black Album a cappella, with tracks from the...
6 tags
Beyonce Is Possessed By Demons
I know I said I probably wouldn’t post again till after the new year, but this is too funny. This person (I can’t be arsed to look at their Blogger profile) thinks that Beyonce’s racy stage show is a sign of demon possession. I’m all for people believing in whatever they want, but people who think a pop singer who wears booty shorts is actually possessed by Satan are...
13 tags
Review: sundayschool - This Swan Will Break Your...
sundayschool are an alternative rock band out of London, UK, consisting of Chris (vocals/guitar), Robi (bass), and Omar (drums). They released two demos this year; Four Slices and the one pictured at left that I just finished listening to, This Swan Will Break Your Arm. They describe their sound as “the Kinks being beaten up by Sonic Youth & Weezer whilst Pavement skate past nonchalantly...
8 tags
Animal Collective Album Leaks; the World Goes Nuts
…or at least the people that have been scouring the internet every day for an upload. I’m going to be honest here and admit that I had never heard one single Animal Collective song before seeing the cover at left EVERYWHERE over the past few weeks, the JPG repeated 1,000+ times over across forums by people fruitlessly searching for the golden upload that never came. So, I listened to...
4 tags
I HAVE HAD ENOUGH
In case you hadn’t yet heard, the Recording Industry Association of America has switching its tactics. Instead of suing individual listeners, it is now colluding with internet providers to turn off service to people who download illegally. They really are on their death bed, aren’t they? But the thing is, it’s their own fault. CDs have been ludicrously overpriced since they first...
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Marilyn Roxie's Top 25 Singles 2008
My personal picks for the best singles of 2008, and some comments on selected tracks (Ian posted his as well), since I have raved about a lot of these previously and feel I need to devote some space to those that I have not discussed as much. This was seriously hard to do, and there are still so many excellent tracks I have not yet heard (feel free to make suggestions in the comments)! All...
7 tags
The WORST of 2008
If you’ve been following this blog recently, or you know, living, you’ll have seen the spate of best-of-2008 lists. But I’ve yet to see a worst-of-2008 list, so I decided it’d be neat if I filled that vacuum. I’ve chosen the five worst things in music this year as I see them, but since I’m not completely negative, I’ll be sure to offer something I do like...
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The 25 Best Singles of 2008
This is a continuation of my album’s ranking from last week. 1. M.I.A. – Paper Planes: The highlight of last year’s superlative Kala, “Paper Planes” was issued as a single in February, and spent the spring and summer becoming the decade’s most unlikely crossover hit, eventually peaking at #4 in the States and charting in the pop, rock, hip-hop, dance and adult contemporary charts. Its...
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Holiday Music Wishes
I have the fortune/misfortune of my birthday (December 13th) being near the holidays. The fortune is that I can potentially get many more presents around the same time at once than non-Saggitarians and Capricorns do…the misfortune possibly being that gifts may be bundled as a “birthday+holiday season+New Years+whatever” package. But, no matter… ;) I already got an...
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Blur Reunites!
I know I’m a bit late to cover this, but Blur have reunited! They are set to play two dates at Hyde Park in London next summer and it’s also rumoured that they may play Coachella and Glastonbury. I might add, the Hyde Park dates sold out within two minutes of going on sale, proving that even though Britons buy the records by Gorillaz and Graham Coxon, they still have a massive soft spot for my...
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Marilyn Roxie's Top 10 Album Picks for 2008
There are still so many more albums from 2008 I have yet to hear, as Ian’s post and many of the other end-of-year roundups I’ve been noticing have made me realize. It was hard just narrowing it down to a top ten! 1. You Are Here - thenewno2 I’ve raved about Dhani Harrison’s group since I first heard them in August. The newest sounding album of the year, by far; this could...
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Best Albums of 2008
After much deliberation, I have finally settled on what I believe were the best records released this year. My singles list will be posted later this week. 1. Santogold – Santogold: After becoming a blog darling last year with “Creator” and “Shove It,” Philadelphia’s Santi White managed to transcend the hype and issue the finest debut since Arular. Before it even came out, critics harped on the...
13 tags
Adam Green Has a New Blog!
Ex-Moldy Peach, and grand American indie-pop solo artist in his own right, Adam Green has started his own blog. Currently hosted on a German server, Adam Green Adventsblog (and in January ‘09 to be relocated to a dot-com address at the Lakeroom) captures his quirky personality through a series of pictures, and has been updated daily since the 1st of this month. Even providing the text in the...
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My Mix
After Marilyn’s post from yesterday, I started thinking about what I might include on my own mix on a bench. There’s really no sort of theme or anything. These are just fifteen songs that I really love. However, I did try and stay away from chart hits and go for things that not as many people would be familiar with, which is why if I were to do this in England, I would drop...
15 tags
Mix on a Bench: A Project
How would you like to find a mystery mix CD or tape left on a bench? What about making one? I had tossed around the idea in my head of making a mix and leaving it somewhere for awhile, and then this item on 43things reminded me again a few months ago. So, I made a playlist…that has gone untouched and unremembered for 3 months. I decided that, tonight, I am going to finish it up, and leave it...
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Review: National Snack - Apply Machine EP
Described as “Mungrul Music”, National Snack are a three-piece alternative rock/punk band from the UK, comprised of Gemma Storr (vocals, guitar), Joe Carlo (vocals, bass), and Phil Casey (drums). December 8th marks the release of their Apply Machine EP, which they’re commemorating by playing a gig at Nambucca in London at 9 pm with Hot Head Show and Pearly; see flyer below....
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Music + Art = Love
In the present day, what kind of relationship do art and music have with each other? Does each field have the kinship with the other as they have in the past? Let’s go back for a moment. There are a number of known musicians who attended art school; John Lennon (The Beatles), Bryan Ferry and Brian Eno (Roxy Music), Ray Davies (The Kinks), and Pete Townshend (The Who). The genre art rock is...
9 tags
Songbird 1.0 Released!
This brand-new download is, and will likely to continue to be, an important development in music player software, and while blogs focusing on technology have mentioned it, it has gone relatively unchecked by music blogs! Songbird is a cross-platform (Windows, Mac, Linux) 11.7 MB download; an incredibly dynamic open-source music player that was released in a beta stage in February of 2008,...
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Best Unsigned Music of 2008
In a couple of weeks, I’m going to post my full best-of-2008 list, but first I wanted to highlight some of my favourite unsigned acts of the year: Rainbow Party, Marilyn Roxie* and Mt. Moon. My criteria for choosing these particular acts were that they had to give away their music for free and it actually had to be good. There were quite a few others that I wanted to cover, such as Panda steps in...
7 tags
Ch-ch-ch...CHANGES!
In other words; big news. As of today, A Future in Noise is now a partner of the MOG Music Network (MMN)! I have also become a MOG user, profile here, utilizing the Mog-o-Matic to generate charts of my digital music collection and most recently listened to tracks. I’ve been looking through the other blogs that are a part of MMN and have been consistently impressed with the quality of music...
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And the lists begin...
Marilyn posted the top albums and singles from Last.fm users a few hours ago, and as she pointed out, there were some noticeable differences between the things we chose and what Last.fm users as a whole are into. I’m not surprised at the lack of love for Deerhunter, because the fabulous Microcastle is only a month old, but I was rather hoping to see a bit more No Age and Boris....
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Last.fm's Best of 2008
Based on what users are listening to (“scrobbles”, as it were), the top 10 charts in artists, albums, and tracks have been compiled for Last.fm’s Best of 2008 ; let’s have a look! A bit different for the most part from the list of my own (or Ian’s), but it is interesting to know what people are actually listening to. Albums which have complete full streams on...