fruit tree music

Gary V waxes poetic about marketing. And, uh, his new Sirius XM...

Fri, 03 Sep 2010 05:11:45 -0500

Gary V waxes poetic about marketing. And, uh, his new Sirius XM show.

Blink and you’ll miss it: Gary said something really important here. Marketing is all about interacting with people. Period. Not just on Facebook, not just on the radio, but in all aspects of life.

If you care about the people you’re interacting with, they’ll care about you. It’s simple. Just show up, care, and work really hard at it. I think that sums up Gary’s marketing approach, no?

A CD jewel case that contains a circuit and speaker. Interactive...

Thu, 02 Sep 2010 18:31:50 -0500

A CD jewel case that contains a circuit and speaker. Interactive music packaging. Love it.

"O Sting, where is thy death?"

Thu, 02 Sep 2010 14:32:47 -0500

“O Sting, where is thy death?”

- “On the Inevitable Decline Into Mediocrity of the Popular Musician Who Attains a Comfortable Middle Age”

[via The New Yorker]

BRABUS iBusiness Is an Apple Fan’s Dream Mobile...

Thu, 02 Sep 2010 11:48:01 -0500

BRABUS iBusiness Is an Apple Fan’s Dream Mobile Office

Understated.

Is it bad that I kind of want this? “The IPADock”,...

Thu, 02 Sep 2010 07:59:52 -0500

Is it bad that I kind of want this?

“The IPADock”, the mother of all docks.

[via Gadget Lab | Wired.com]

Working with music

Wed, 01 Sep 2010 18:00:21 -0500

Working with music:

Just what the title says. I’m simply training myself to be able to work while music plays, which I’ve never before been able to do.

For always, I’ve been one of those fidgety fuckers who requires total silence, even from the dog, in order to concentrate to where I can get any meaningful work…

Oh, Sandy.

Quick Thoughts on Today's Apple Event

Wed, 01 Sep 2010 15:07:00 -0500

The new iPods look pretty decent. Nothing huge to talk about there save the iPod Nano - a complete redesign. I love the idea of a tiny multi-touch screen but I worry about people with big hands having trouble navigating on the device.

They still missed the mark with AppleTV. They’re clearly competing against Roku; even the device LOOKS like a Roku! You get Netflix streaming and a movie/tv rental function, plus YouTube and other stuff. That’s exactly what Roku offers (using Amazon for rentals)…

How about some imagination? They could’ve junked the AppleTV OS and loaded it up with iOS. That way, users could customize their AppleTV experience and find new ways of using the device. Use another iDevice to control the AppleTV - any iPod Touch, iPhone or iPad could become your new TV remote.

The gaming potential alone could be worth millions.

Not to mention, rental?? I tweeted this earlier, but… Blockbuster is bankrupt. Rental is clearly not working. Netflix, however, is king — unlimited access is what people want. They’re sidling up with their music business model but forgetting that people consume music and video differently.

iTunes 10 is available now, in theory - the download page crashed and a “Coming Soon” graphic is up now.

Ping looks like something interesting. 160 million users gathered to browse and talk about music, inside the biggest music store on the planet. That is some potential for those of us in the music business, for sure. A targeted audience of music fans; what could be better?

My pal Jack talks about how Grooveshark’s artist marketing...

Wed, 01 Sep 2010 11:00:58 -0500

My pal Jack talks about how Grooveshark’s artist marketing platform benefits both their artists and their userbase.

Love these guys.

Who’s excited? I think there’s going to be more...

Wed, 01 Sep 2010 07:26:51 -0500

Who’s excited? I think there’s going to be more than one bingo possible on this board.

[viaNerdist]

What You Get With Hulu Plus Meh.

Tue, 31 Aug 2010 20:30:13 -0500

What You Get With Hulu Plus

Meh.

Nashville House in Tennessee by Kanner Architects A little 90s...

Tue, 31 Aug 2010 16:22:47 -0500

Nashville House in Tennessee by Kanner Architects

A little 90s public library on the outside, but man it’s beautiful on the inside. Amazing that a house like this exists in Nashville.

[via Design Milk]

MGMT - Congratulations Looks like something from Never-Ending...

Tue, 31 Aug 2010 12:00:46 -0500

MGMT - Congratulations

Looks like something from Never-Ending Story 3.

What if Say Anything’s classic boombox scene used...

Tue, 31 Aug 2010 08:00:45 -0500

What if Say Anything’s classic boombox scene used Cee-Lo’s “F*ck You!” instead of Peter Gabriel?

Pretty cool. Mostly gave me the feeling that the house I grew...

Mon, 30 Aug 2010 22:54:17 -0500

Pretty cool. Mostly gave me the feeling that the house I grew up in wasn’t as magical as I remember it being. Thanks, Arcade Fire!

laughingsquid:

The Wilderness Downtown

Wow. Tiny Seattle Apartment

Mon, 30 Aug 2010 21:14:06 -0500

Wow.

Tiny Seattle Apartment

Matilda Arnold

Mon, 30 Aug 2010 17:17:55 -0500

Matilda Arnold:

Have I mentioned we have a cute daughter and she has a website?

kung fu grippe: "Watch me lean and watch me rock"

Sat, 28 Aug 2010 21:26:03 -0500

kung fu grippe: "Watch me lean and watch me rock":

Okay. Please stop whatever you’re doing and pay close attention. Because I have a very important update with regard to (re-[re-])selecting my favorite track from Girl Talk ‘s Feed the Animals .

Thank you.

For the rest of the day, and possibly through the weekend—and even until as late as…

He’s dead on. This is the best moment on the album — and that’s saying a lot.

I can’t count how many times I’ve been barreling down the road, blaring this and air guitaring with reckless abandon (not to mention shouting “YOU!!!” obnoxiously).

Music Purchases - August 2010

Sat, 28 Aug 2010 12:45:45 -0500

So, I don’t think I did this last month. But uh, I was kinda busy.

Anyway, let’s look at what I bought this month. It’s a doozy of a list:

Jamie Lidell - Compass

The sartorial electronic glitch artist turned blue eyed soul singer, Jamie Lidell returns. Man, this guy can sing. His records have striking electronic elements that come across as melodic and beautiful, not otherworldly and terrifying (as his Warp Records contemporaries often strive for). Not my favorite Jamie Lidell album, but another great effort.

Lissie - Catching a Tiger

I had the pleasure of seeing Lissie open for The Low Anthem (on my list for best show of 2010, so far) a few months back. She had a guitarist and a bass player/drummer (the guy sat at a drum kit and played bass. Fascinating).

Her album is slightly different from her live show, but it’s pop goodness with some folk and soul influences. For a first effort this is definitely worth a listen.

Sufjan Stevens - All Delighted People EP

Suffie’s back with the 808! Just kidding. Well, sort of.

This sprawling “EP” clocks in at over an hour and features some incredible highs and some expected lows (the last track is seventeen minutes and features more of those limp guitar solos he farts out). If you’re a Sufjan fan you probably already have this, but go listen anyway.

In an interesting turn of events, he announced a full album only days after quietly releasing this album via Bandcamp. The album is apparently full of electronic and dance elements, and has nothing to do with any of the 50 states. Sheesh.

Best Coast - Crazy for You

Female-led surf rock. I’ve railed against the whole garage/surf revival going on right now, but bands like this really stand out. The album opener “Boyfriend” is a classic example of this surf rock movement but doesn’t feel derivative or tired. The songs are short and succint and it just works.

The Drums - The Drums

Another surf rock band that I just love. The song “Let’s Go Surfing” needs to be in a Quiksilver commercial or something - it’s just perfect surfer music! Light, unaffected and fun. A great summer album of jangly riffs and harmonized vocals… just pure fun.

Mountain Man - Made the Harbor

This band’s touted as the female Fleet Foxes (FFF, for short). Not a bad comparison, but this isn’t a ripoff of the bearded folksters. These girls are making beautiful, minimal music - lilting vocals over gentle finger-picked guitar. It’s a gorgeous album that’ll be getting a lot of listens from me this fall.

Menomena - Mines

I believe this is one of the most creative bands working today: they wrote their own looping software which they use to sing and beatbox into, which is then synthesized and programmed, which is then re-arranged with acoustic instruments. The result is a band which truly feels modern in this age of digital technology but has scant few electronic elements.

The instrumentation and experimentation on Menomena records is just unparalleled. Saxophones, alien guitar riffs, organ, piano, Moog foot pedals, huge background vocal pads — all this works together to orchestrate the melodies and arrangements the band works out. No wonder it takes them so long to make new material.

Everyone in the band takes turns on lead vocals, often earning them a Beatles comparison, but also allowing the other band members a chance to shine on BGVs. All three (four on tour) band members are multi-instrumentalists and it really shines on this album. One of my favorites of 2010.

Scissor Sisters - Night Work

This is the gayest album I own. Seriously — just look at the cover. It’s got some great songs on it (the title track is pure disco candy) but man, some of the content is just… well, gay. It’s not as good as their previous albums (I say that a lot, don’t I?) but you should at least check out the title track.

Arcade Fire - The Suburbs

One of the more hyped up and celebrated records on this list. Maybe it’s just me, but I don’t get it. I think this is a pretty boring and safe effort.

Funeral stands as one of my favorite albums ever and one whose themes helped me through some personal loss. All that to say, it’s not working for me this time around.

“Ready to Start” is a nice song, sure, but nothing here really grabs me and won’t let me go like on their previous albums. This just sounds like a band running low on ideas.

The Books - The Way Out

I am so excited that the Books are still around. This band is one of the more unique things out there right now, and this album is certainly indicative of that. The Books are masterful audio editors and found sound splicers, but they’re also proficient string musicians and singers. The result is a jarring mix of beautiful indie pop and experimental found sound pieces; truly unique and amazing.

Much of this album got it’s start as found answering machine tapes and old self help cassettes. The band would raid local thrift stores on each stop of their tour and spend hours on the road listening to these old and forgotten tapes. The result is just amazing, especially on tracks like “Thirty Incoming” that dissects the relationships archived inside these acetone time capsules.

It’s a gorgeous and unusual record and showcases a real masterful understanding of digital audio. I feel like I could spend the rest of my life in Pro Tools editing pieces together and not come close to what’s contained in this album.

What’s your favorite album you just bought?

Clickthrough for the whole set - really cool to see 70s...

Sat, 28 Aug 2010 08:45:00 -0500

Clickthrough for the whole set - really cool to see 70s Nashville.

yvynyl:

Looking through Henry Horenstein’s incredible set of honky tonk photos. This: Harmonica Player - Merchant’s Cafe, Nashville Tennessee 1974.

"Faith is not a like-for-like relationship of equals, but the asymmetry of the like-to-unlike. It is..."

Fri, 27 Aug 2010 10:45:44 -0500

“Faith is not a like-for-like relationship of equals, but the asymmetry of the like-to-unlike. It is a subjective strength that only finds its power to act through an admission of weakness. Faith is an enactment of the self in relation to an infinite demand that both exceeds my power and yet requires all my power.”

- The Rigor of Love (via Instapaper)