September 4th, 2012
One of my favourite blogs is that of David Hepworth, a former writer for – amongst many others – NME, Sounds and Smash Hits, the founding editor of Q, Mojo, Heat and The Word, and a presenter of Old Grey Whistle Test in the 80s. This is a man who knows music. Over the weekend [...]
March 15th, 2011
Regular readers (insert jokes here) will know I like a bit of music – playing and listening to it. So, I’ve been enjoying a little “game” on Facebook called the “30 day song challenge” where you have to select a song every day for, er, 30 days to match a certain theme: from a song [...]
November 29th, 2010
There are two main reasons why I flipped the focus of my web site to bring the blog front and centre. Firstly, as a former journalist, I enjoy writing: getting my thoughts and opinions down on ‘paper’. And, with the blog as the home page of the site, the pressure’s on me to keep it [...]
November 27th, 2010
There were two main reasons why I made the blog the main focus of my web site: to allow me to keep the content fresh and to demonstrate there was more to me than “geekiness”. With apologies to those people visiting purely for the marketing/technical/geeky posts… I’ve got the music in me and I’d like [...]
November 16th, 2010
So, this graphic is currently adorning the Apple home page, as well as featuring prominently within the iTunes application. Any guesses? My money’s on a streaming service of some kind. Ever since Apple bought Lala, there’s been an expectation that iTunes would integrate its’ streaming technology. Maybe today’s the day it happens? Music? Movies? TV? [...]
November 15th, 2010
Reading The Guardian last week I came across this story, concerning the disappearance of the b-side in popular music. It’s a shame in many ways – some of my favourite lost songs were b sides of 7 inch singles or extra tracks on CDs that I’ve bought over the years (this song comes immediately to [...]
September 14th, 2010
19.08.10: Updated with link (see end): The new video for Arcade Fire‘s “The Wilderness Downtown” has to be seen to be truly understood… but I’ll attempt to explain it. The video is an online multimedia extravaganza, with every version tailored to be personal to the viewer. When you visit the web site, it asks for [...]
September 8th, 2010
Just doing a little light reading over brekkie and – yet again – there’s a story in the “geek press” about the record companies and publishers in the US doing all they can to protect their out-dated business model. Last week, at their annual music event, Apple launched its new range of iPods. Nothing unusual [...]
August 17th, 2010
…or maybe it’s just me. “Eye of the tiger”, the Rocky classic by Survivor, played by a bunch of guys using nothing but iPads as musical instruments… oh, and occasionally spinning on their heads. The apps they used are: Real Drums Pro Keys Baby Scratch Guitar Mania (I’ve found these links myself based on information [...]
January 18th, 2010
The jury’s still out as to whether I want one… or will stick with the “boring old strings” of my usual guitars.