posted by Mike on March 17, 2008 11:05 AM in Music
You could say that for half this decade Trent Reznor has been lost. After writing probably the most fitting funeral piece for the dying 90s - The Fragile - he has struggled to stay relevant. The music of the young century has caught up with and surpassed the industrial sounds he popularized in the late 80s. Perhaps more unnerving for Nine Inch Nails fans, Reznor's lyrics have hardly grown past the angst-ridden, teen-aimed themes he preferred when he was younger.
But something strange happened with Year Zero last April. Almost as if he was taking the title literally, the album signaled a personal and musical revolution for Reznor. Nothing was particularly innovative about the record's content, but the way it was marketed and distributed gave Nine Inch Nails fans a reason to clamor. Now, less than a year later, Ghosts purposely rids the lengthy pre-production that plagued his early releases. And more significantly, the lyrics that shackled his past work to an immature audience have vanished too.
posted by Chris on December 19, 2007 9:25 AM in Games, Music
Of course with yesterday being Rock Band Tuesday, we get a nice assortment of downloadable content for the game of the year. Last week we saw a mediocre punk pack, but this time we are treated to three fantastic tracks:
Radiohead - My Iron Lung (160pts)
The Pretenders - Brass in Pocket (160pts)
Weezer - Buddy Holly (160pts)
I downloaded them all and I must say they are quite enjoyable. It helps that I think that Radiohead is the greatest band of all time, and that Weezer defined the sound of the mid 90's, but whatever. Even the Pretenders' track is passable, even for being a pretender. Do you see what I did there? I'd like to see more tracks from the albums these are off of, or (dare I say it) the entire album available for download. I want to sing Fake Plastic Trees! I want to sing it NOW!
Hit the jump for samples or just go download them based on my advice alone. Would I steer you wrong? Come on.
There's this place you can go on our website where you register your very own personal internets nom de plume can converse with the other patrons of our fantabulous blogcast. It's actually quite near. All you have to do is click this little linky-doo and join the world's greatest forums.
And once you're there, you can with other TWG fans about stuff such as:
posted by Mike on October 18, 2007 3:42 PM in Music
A few weeks ago I mentioned Amazon's download service. With their high quality files and drm-free, affordable albums, they should rival iTunes if they can expand their selection. Well, now you can support Amazon and give us up to a 20% kickback when you buy music there. We'll be making a widget every now and then with our musical suggestions from recent reviews: it's a great way to check out some new grooves and support the podcast you love.
posted by Mike on October 11, 2007 6:13 PM in Music
There's gold at the end of the rainbow for Radiohead. In Rainbows marks the seminal genre-benders' first effort following a long run with Parlophone (in the UK) & Capitol (in the US) Records - a 10 year, 6 album relationship resulting in 5 platinum records. Indeed, Radiohead's lucrative past presents them with an interesting set of circumstances. Their early successes afforded them plenty of artistic breathing room from their major-label overseers, but never have they had an opportunity to market their music as they saw fit. Now, Thom Yorke and pals are free to do as they please, and their first showing as an independent act sounds like liberation. Add that to a daring name-your-own-price download format and you have a winner from the start.
It's your favorite part of the week when I let you know what all the best people in the world are doing. They're talking in our forums, of course! But what are they talking about? Let's take a look-see!
posted by Chris on October 1, 2007 9:01 PM in Podcast
It's a packed house this week, with Chris, Grant, Amy, Qais and a phantom Colette discussing a vast variety of things from Anime-inspired science, to a possible PS3 price cut for the holidays. There is also the requisite angry rant as the geeks rail on internet slang and the un-ironic use thereof. Download it here, or subscribe to the podcast on iTunes. Hit the jump for show notes.
Tailgating Apple's new iPod announcement, two high profile troubles for iTunes probably isn't what Steve Jobs had in mind.
First, UK megastars Radiohead interjected their two cents on why they won't lend their tunes to Apple's popular download service. Mike Schramm from The Unofficial Apple Weblog explains:
Radiohead is choosing not to sell their latest album on iTunes not because their record company is pressuring them out of the deal-- their record company is EMI, and they're more than willing to sell the record DRM free-- but because iTunes is forcing them to break up their album into songs that can be sold separately.
It seems Thom Yorke and the lads have some principles. Chiefly, to screw their Apple-devoted fans out of music all in the name of preserving the sanctity of the album. Now, this sounds a lot harsher than I want it to. I'm an album listener to the core and as such, I understand Radiohead's stance more profoundly than most. The problem lies elsewhere - they're risking alienating fans (perhaps millions of them) for a cause that is fast becoming irrelevant. The album needs to evolve with the digital times. In this case, I'll side with iTunes. Unfortunately though, this might set a precedent for musicians with the same antiquated romanticist ideals.
Secondly, Amazon launched its music download store this morning. The huge draw here is lack of DRM protection on their inexpensively peddled, high-quality MP3s. Rob Pegararo from the Washington Post expounds:
Any venture by Amazon into digital music downloads would be a big deal in the music business, but this one is also DRM-free--every track is sold as a 256-kbps MP3 file without any copying restrictions or controls. You can play them on the hardware and software of your choice.
So far, I've seen songs selling for 89 or 99 cents each and albums going for $5.69 to $9.99--in each case, a decent discount over the prices at Apple's iTunes Store, and in particular the $1.29 Apple charges for DRM-free iTunes Plus song downloads.
There's got to be a catch though, right? Amazon's one downfall, at present, is a small selection. Right now only EMI and Universal are offering their respective catalogs to the service. Ironically though, you can buy Radiohead's music on Amazon via album-only downloads. Even more ironically, the top song since the store launched has been "1 2 3 4" by Feist, the same song Apple is trying to sell the iPod Nano with. If Amazon can bring more music on board, they could soon be the proverbial thorn in Jobs' side. I'll side with Amazon on this one, Apple's got their work cut out for them.
Amidst all the RIAA legal action, could it be that they're waging war against themselves? A few trends emerging in the last five years indicate that the artists, perhaps even those that feared their music seeing early release, are discovering that internet leaks are beneficial to them. After the jump, I'll outline three pieces of evidence to support this controversial claim.
posted by Chris on April 20, 2007 11:18 AM in Games
Ever wonder what it would be like if Radiohead got a copy of Flash and started making games? Jason Nelson brings you what I think is the most accurate representation of this concept in Game Game Game and Again Game. This strange game/poem/thing features seemingly random text, strange platforming elements and great ambient music(?).
It's hard to explain. Play through the 13 levels and enjoy.
posted by Mike on October 5, 2006 12:01 AM in Music
CD Review: "The Information" by Beck
We all know Beck is a genius. He's shown us over his career that he can be a funky dancer, a shoe gazer, a singer/songwriter, and a rapper. So when you've done all that, and have come down off the cloud of the amazing Spanish-Influenced Guero, where do you go? What do you do if you're Beck? It's hard to say. But his producer Nigel Godrich had some ideas.
For the first five tracks of The Information, you're coerced into thinking the album is going to be a laid-back rehash of the solid grooves found on Midnight Vultures. At first, you're really pleased with the progress. Opener "Elevator Music" has Beck rhyming over heavy, thumping bass, dry snapping drums before opening up into a shimmering synth-laden chorus. Second track, and arguably The Information's strongest "I Think I'm In Love," borrows the playful bass from the song before, but employs a ringing U2 reminiscent piano and gorgeous vocal harmonies. Third cut "Cellphone's Dead" bounces between a Donna Summer 70's flashback and slapping Moog hits on the verses. The voice over of "One by one I'll knock you out" permeates your thought and you start to get the feeling this album is going to be an absolute classic as it continues. It switches over to "Strange Apparition" and you're pulled in further. The slow piano-clanging breakdown in the middle houses some of Beck's most earnest and bluesy singing in years. Number five is where you start recognizing that The Information is about to take sharp turn to ambience. Still, "Soldier Jane" is nice and warm, and the pads in the background smolder like a fire carrying the heat of Beck's somber melody to your heart.
Six is where the album really goes awry. Whether for good or bad, I've yet to decide, but "Nausea" shows an odd irritation in Mr. Hansen's voice and it fades shortly into "New Round." This song reveals producer Godrich's idea of creating a swelling, slow hum of a record. The tracks start all sounding like forgotten B-Sides of Sea Change and other Beck records. Occasionally, the rhythms return to the disc, but from this point on, they're all subdued and Beck's voice seems distant, lost in the blur of compression. The relentless floating is only once broken up by the bombastic flow of "1000 BPM," and The Information winds slowly and methodically to the somber 10 minute ending track, capped off by creepy spoken word passages about space travel.
Then the realization hits you that Nigel and Beck have tricked you into delving deep into an atmospheric, post-Apocalyptic wasteland and given you a strange choice. Maybe this was the plan all along. Very much like Radiohead's Kid A, Beck brings you to this foreboding crossroads after the immediately accessible Guero.
Ultimately The Information is what you make of it. It can either be a deep masterpiece, or garbage depending on your listening devotion, but it's quite possible I will decide that before I decide which stickers to put on the "Make-Your-Own-Album-Cover."
