Leaps And Bounds

25
May
2009

5 music tips for Twitter’s founders

categories: Digital

Twitter bird - we hope its listening — Twitter bird - we hope it's listening

Billboard published a piece by Twitter founder Biz Stone. In it, Stone gives musicians and bands five tips to make Twitter more effective. We can swallow the arrogance of this (bands have been dealing with fans all their lives) – but we agree that there is something very frustrating about being a music fan on Twitter.

So, in response, here our 5 tips from us. Here’s how Twitter can improve it’s service for the music fan.

1. Tagging profiles by genre. Imagine you can search or just browse for music Twitters? Or news. Or movies. Or anything. Adding one simple field would make the mess that is Twitter seem more manageable. There could well be hundreds of bands I love on Twitter that I have not been able to find.

2. Sorting tweets by genre. Imagine at the press of a button, you can see what your favourite musicians are up to, without having to sift through all the news and friends and anything else.

3. Trending topics by genre. You can see what people are talking about, in the field that you love. With just ten Trending Topics on display, it’s impossible to see what people are loving in just music.

4. A better profile page for graphics. Trying to squash an image as background pic around something – that is so Myspace in the 90s. Allow bands who actually have a strong look and feel to make it their own.

5. Get involved. Put your money where your Tweets are. Go out and sponsor some gigs, run some events and do more. Don’t just ask us to drive your traffic. Promote yourselves as an entertainment possibility. If you really want to be there with the fans, then get there with the fans.

You can read the original article here – http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/news/5-twitter-tips-for-bands-from-co-founder-1003976197.story

Oh yeah, why not follow us on Twitter @yauami.

25
May
2009

Wilco (the OK iPhone App)

categories: Apps, music

We are still pretty excited about Wilco (the Album), the seventh album by the Chicago outfit Wilco. Last week they released a stream of their album in response to the album leaking. They have a great track record for being proactive with fans. There’s usually entire gigs streaming off the site.

So it’s no surprise that Wilco are joining the iPhone app club. It’s a pretty basic app – a recreation of the band’s website essentially. Instead of bieing knocked out be the functionality or originality, we are struck by how standard this is.

EVERY BAND SHOULD BE DOING THIS.

We are expecting to see more of these. More and more mid level bands are getting into iPhone Apps. And there are now many companies who can build you something on the cheap. The flood is still on the way.

It’s a start for Wilco. Now their fans (of which many are super-dedicated) now have another way to communicate directly with fans. Maybe it will follow on the great stuff Nine Inch Nails did with their iPhone app. The NIN one is loaded with music, videos and I can even find NIN fans near me right now. Shockingly cool.

That said, there is a now a NIN branded iPhone game, a version of Tap Tap Revenge. There is also Coldplay and Dave Matthews Band versions. What these do for anyone, we don’t know.

Wilco iPhone App – here

Nine In Nails iPhone App – here

UPDATE: We were sad to hear about Jay Bennet. RIP.

20
May
2009

Wednesday Web: Promo News

categories: Wednesday Web

promonews.tv

Last week this column featured Sleevage, a site that dealt with the music sub-culture of album artwork. We continue the theme this week that talks about the world of music videos – Promo News.

It’s a home for British film clip directors (although some of those directors make clips for bands that aren’t British). It’s slant is the visuals and the art of the film clip. They love design and they love technology.

Many of the stories have words from the director as well. Valuable insights about this world and how it works. And also – it’s sometimes tough to find out who made a great film clip.

(We particularly loved reading about Dizzie Rascals great new clip).

And hey, we love film clips, and we find it interesting how technology is being used. Also, how videos even get out into the world these days – with youtube and other video players being the main places to see these things.

It’s the cutting edge of music film clips. Check out this site often. We do.

http://www.promonews.tv/

19
May
2009

Tuesday Tunes: Coldplay – LeftRightLeftRightLeft

categories: music, Tuesday Tunes

We recently wrote about how much we thought Coldplay were making all the right moves for a new modern huge rock band. So-called ‘hit’ albums by Springsteen, U2, Keane, Snow Patrol and Razorlight have all come and gone, but ‘Viva La Vida’ and Coldplay keep steaming on.

Now they have released a free live album – called LeftRightLeftRightLeft – as a thank you to the fans. All it costs is an email address, and for fans they have already signed up.

Can we just marvel that the biggest band in the world is giving stuff away? Puts lesser bands (every other band on the planet) to shame really.

And hey, some of you don’t like Coldplay and will never like Coldplay. That’s fine. We still think giving a live album away is cool.

Get the whole thing here – http://lrlrl.coldplay.com/leftright.html

18
May
2009

IPod ’09 rumours begin

categories: Gadgets

It’s May and we are starting to get rumours of this year’s iPods. For the last few years without fail, Apple has unveiled a new range of iPods in September. And every year, Apple fanatics try to piece together leaked tips from inside the Apple bubble and predict what is coming.

Generally, it is considered Apple’s ’08 refresh was a disappointment. The year before they launched the game-changing iPod Touch. They also made a 160GB iPod classic with a new interface, making the core device pretty much untouchable. Nanos and the Shuffle continued strong. Last year’s addition of the Genius function and a new shape for the Nano failed to set the world alight.

The first rumours we are hearing is from Macrumours. The addition of a camera in the iPod Touch and maybe even the Nano. It seems pretty certain that the new iPhones will have VIDEO camera capabilities. This could be a cool new feature in the iPod product line. The other rumour is the rainbow range of colours across all lines.

We’re not sure it’s a big enough change to impress the world at large. But then again, what is? The iPod works so well – the fact that it just works is one of the reasons it’s the best in the business.

What we would like to see? The classic/nano interface could be vastly improved. Better cataloging for video and podcasts. We see the thousands of new features for the new iPhone and we wonder if the iPod is being left behind. We hope not.

We’ll find out in September.

Apple UK –http://www.apple.com/uk/

15
May
2009

“Use It As You Will”: anarchy and the blank CD

categories: music

Danger Mouse and Sparklehorse are releasing a new album – a blank CD.

What?

Seems like their new collaboration, Dark Night Of the Soul got caught up in red tape and the label, EMI, has killed it.

Lucky for Danger Mouse, he is an inspired bugger. The full package, with 100 page book is coming out, with a blank CDR and the brilliant instructions “use it as you will”. The record company cannot stop them.

Danger Mouse is, of course, one of the most in-demand producers right now. Yet he’s had a mischievous, anarchist side. He’s a hit maker with Gnarls Barkley, but will take on producing a garage rock album with Beck. He famously made his name with a mash-up album of Jay-Z and the Beatles (the Grey Album). Sparklehorse is pretty much just Mark Linkous these days. Sparklehorse made a couple of fantastic albums in the late 90s but have been mainly quiet. Linkous’s last major project outside of Sparklehorse was a Daniel Johnston tribute.

The Dark Night Of the Soul has been on our list of things to check out, mainly due to the insane line-up of guests. Iggy Pop, Frank Black, Julian Casablancas of The Strokes, Vic Chesnutt, The Flaming Lips, Jason Lytle (of Grandaddy), James Mercer of The Shins, Nina Persson of The Cardigans, Gruff Rhys of Super Furry Animals and Suzanne Vega.

Danger Mouse especially has a track record going off course. The Grey Album was a perfect example. A limited edition album, with no cleared samples, was all over the internet. It was the first time Mr Mouse clashed with EMI. Dark Night… was released as a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it-stream. To be honest, we think Danger Mouse is more careless than clever with how he gets his music out there. We are still watching though.

So how will people use that blank CD? The crushing subtext is for people to download and burn their own copies. The finished record will no doubt hit the internet very soon. But who will actually burn it to disc? In the era of huge, affordable harddrives, is anyone backing up to CD? Will this experiment work? Will anyone actually buy a blank CD?

Use it as you will. As anachistic as all this is, we think most people will throw that blank CD in the bin, if not leave it in the shops.

Dark Night Of the Soul site –http://www.dnots.com/

Danger Mouse official site –http://www.dangermousesite.com/

Sparklehorse –http://www.sparklehorse.com/

15
May
2009

Wilco (The leak, the response, the legends)

categories: music

Wilco (the Album) featuring Wilco (the Camel)

Wilco are one of the finest bands going around right now. It’s not just their awesome recordings, the amazing live shows, or that brilliant voice. We love their approach. Case in point, this week when they discovered that their record, Wilco (the Album) had leaked. What to do? Well, might as well put it up on our website (as a stream). And ask for donations. to someone else.

Here’s what Wilco sent out to their mailing list:

Well, we made it nearly a month with copies of Wilco (the album) floating around out there before it leaked. Pretty impressive restraint in this day and age. But the inevitable happened last night. Since we know you’re curious and probably have better things to do than scour the internet for a download (though we do understand the attraction of the illicit), we’ve posted a stream of the full album at http://wilcoworld.net/records/thealbum/ . Feel free to refer to it as “wilco (the stream)” if you must.

We also have our usual guilt abatement plan for downloaders. If you have downloaded the record, we suggest you make a donation to one of the band’s favorite charities, the Inspiration Corporation — an organization we’ve supported in the past & who are doing great work in the city of Chicago. Information and donation button here: http://inspirationcorp.org/.

That’s all. Enjoy the stream.

They’ve backed it all up with a pretty fantastic album package. The vinyl with bonus CD for $20US.

Let’s face it, it’s the hardcore fans who love the band who will move mountains to hear the music. It’s those same fans that will go out and buy the awesome package when it’s out in a few weeks. And they love the band enough to support their charities as well. It’s not the first time Wilco have done this, and it seems like standard procedure for the band now. All this talk of new models for how bands can work – we think this is one of the best.

By the way – we are really loving the album. Go have a listen! http://beta.wilcoworld.net/records/thealbum/index.php

A very dry article on the ‘net buzz at Billboard

And the official Wilco website with links to pre-order the new album – http://www.wilcoworld.net

13
May
2009

The gold rush: Neil Young’s Archives

categories: music

Neil Young Archives - due June 1st — Neil Young's Archives - due 1st June

We never thought we would see the day. On June 1st, if everything goes according to plan, Neil Young will release the mammoth, 10 disc, £200+ box set called Archives. It’s been over 20 years in the making.

We first heard about this box set in a Mojo interview from 1995 (issue 25, those playing at home). That issue explains that Archives started life as Decade II (the follow-up to the almost flawless 3 LP compilation of Young’s early works), but quickly ballooned to a 20 CD set. Also in that article, Young claims “confidently” that the first volume would be out in…1996.

Years of waiting ensued. Every few years, and in just about every interview, Young would claim a release date. But nothing ever saw the light of day. Until now.

A year back, however, the biggest controversy of the project hit – there would be no CD version. Initially, it was to be only two versions, either 10 DVDs or 10 Bu-Rays.

Fans went into an uproar. Was Young being elitist? Who even had an expensive Blu-Ray player? On one hand, it seemed like Young was making a set for his baby boomer crowd only. On the other, he stands by the quality of Blu-Ray. He’s always been a stickler for sound quality, and the interface is supposed to be mind-blowing.

We were mainly worried about how we were going to rip the 10 Blu-Ray discs, but we’re sure some clever person will do it and put it all over the internet. This is what will inevitably happen when you don’t give people what they want. But in the end, Young relented, and a third, 8 CD version is also due. Mp3s will come with the DVD and BR versions.

So what is on this thing? No less than Young‘s entire career up to 1972, up to and including tracks from his blockbuster album, Harvest. 3 previously released live albums as well as all the great tracks and singles from those 70s albums, various collaborations from the era (CSN, Buffalo Springfield). Plus a full disc of teenage Neil in high school bands and a DVD of the unreleased concert film, Journey to the Past.The packaging looks amazing, and mad. The booklet reports to have lots of home photos and notes, and every bit of the blu-ray and DVD is packed with photos, info, posters and a lifetime of memorabilia.

So, we love this because it’s so ambitious. Has anyone even remotely tried something on this scale? We love Mr Young, he’s a true artist, and by that we mean he just doesn’t give a fuck about us. He follows his heart.

Yet – we are torn. We have so many of these tracks. We don’t listen to music on DVD, we don’t own a Blu-Ray (only just beginning to believe in it), and it seems almost worthless on CD. It’s also very expensive. And there’s 3 more volumes to come!

Finally, as is our way of thinking here – is this the future? We hope not. Few artists could pull it off (Dylan? Springsteen? Paul Simon?). Plus, we could not afford it. We waited so long – now we’re almost dreading the day.

Links and previews after the break

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13
May
2009

Wednesday Web: Sleevage

categories: music, Wednesday Web

Sleevage.com

Everyone is quick to proclaim the death of the album artwork these days. The CD gave artwork a good kneecapping. Cassettes were a humiliation not worth remembering. The digital era – it’s been left to rot. That’s not to say that people don’t love a good sleeve, and the people behind them take any less care or thought into their design.

Enter Sleevage, a humble little art site about album art.

It’s run by album art heads, and they write and talk about artwork that they’ve worked on, or just random famous sleeves with a story.

Just looking at the wall of album covers at the bottom of the homepage makes us feel good. Click through and find some amazing stories and thoughts.

What is the painting that covers Viva La Vida? Who is the boy on the cover of Nevermind? All answers are here.

Above that, there is the stories behind the banned Cannibal Corpse covers. And really fascinating, how album artwork elements are reused for singles, merchandise and more.

It’s all written with love. We only wish that there was hundreds more. A whole searchable database of album cover stories. It’s slowly starting – they take submissions. If you know album artwork people, please get them to get in touch with these guys.

Check out Sleevage here – http://sleevage.com

12
May
2009

Certified financial planning for the Zune

categories: Gadgets, music

Microsoft is really gunning for Apple. And their weapon of choice is price. It’s almost scare tactics. A series of ‘Laptop Hunter’ ads have been floating around, pitting PC laptops against Macs. Now, the fight is being taken to the Ipod/Zune arena.

(You know Zune, right? Craig Ferguson put it best. “Bill Gates is trying to break the iPod‘s Stranglehold on the iPod market.”)

Some crazy accounting here. I like how this guy, ‘Wes Moss’, is a certified financial planner.

Wes, by the way, was fired from the Apprentice – http://www.theapprenticerules.com/candidates/profile-wes-moss.html

OK. Let’s stop here. This is not a Microsoft bash. Although – they make it so easy.

Our problem is that this ad, and Microsoft‘s whole schtick at the moment, is misleading.

This whole price, price, price scare is – well, scary.

Putting on some dude from the Apprentice as a Financial planner, playing into families fears of the economy to stomp their wares. It reminds me of when politicians yell higher taxes into the sky in hopes of making people vote with their wallets.

And the mathematics just ain’t true. In dire economic times, does anyone want to add a new monthly bill to the burden? Who doesn’t already carry at least some music library with them? Don’t I need a new, not terribly cheap Zune to take advantage of this? And once I cancel my subscription, I can only keep 10 tracks a month. As Zune only reaches Canada and the US, if a customer moves, they have lost most of their library and have paid far more than a buck a song.

Zune is not here in Europe yet and everyone knows why. They are already struggling at home, and they don’t have what it takes to get out into the world. They really have to lift their game if they want to survive.

Our favourite Zune bashing video after the jump

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