Electronic Music Flowchart

By Greg Swan, on January 13th, 2011%

. . . → Read More: Electronic Music Flowchart

Black metal played to beer during fermentation

By Greg Swan, on January 12th, 2011%

Jester King Brewery thinks beer tastes better if you blare black metal at it during fermentation:

Description: Black Metal Imperial Stout, a.k.a. Suds of Northern Darkness, a.k.a. Iron Sword, a.k.a. El Martillo del Muerte. Black Metal is a cruel and punishing beer fermented by the sheer force of its awesome will. We are pretty sure that Kreator wrote the song “Impossible Brutality” about this beer while drinking it during their Extreme Aggression Tour.

They say you’re supposed to talk to plants to keep them healthy, so I guess, why not beer?

More here.

[thanks to Tim O'Regan of Trees Eat People for the . . . → Read More: Black metal played to beer during fermentation

XO-LP’s Mixtape Pen Pal Exchange – last day to sign up

By Greg Swan, on January 7th, 2011%

My friend Laura over at XO-LP came up with an ingenious idea.

All these music elitist douchebags make their Top 10 lists every year..blah blah blah…but what if you actually shared the music like the good old days – in a well-curated mixtape.

Laura came up with a concept to do just that…

Here are the rules
1. Email your address by January 8th (tomorrow).

2. Put together your favorite tracks of 2010.

2a. One song per artist.

2b. Shoot for at least 60 minutes of best-of-2010 tunes.

3. Burn your mixtape on a CD. (While cassettes are cooler, who still has a stereo that . . . → Read More: XO-LP’s Mixtape Pen Pal Exchange – last day to sign up

Perfect Porridge in the new MusicMaven iPhone app

By Greg Swan, on January 5th, 2011%

The new MusicMaven app is a music blog reader/player that not only pipes in content from some of the 50 best music blogs, but also lets you listen to the mp3s in each blog post and create playlists from the posts. Just like iTunes and Pandora, you can press play and use other apps while the music plays.

Really excited to be part of this stellar line-up…

Complete list of blogs:

Brooklyn Vegan

Destination: OUT

Gorilla vs. Bear

Nah Right

WFMU’s Beware of the Blog

Aurgasm

Said the Gramophone

My Old Kentucky Blog

BIGSTEREO

Aquarium Drunkard

Palms Out Sounds

I Guess I’m Floating

Motel de Moka

Chromewaves

Obscure Sound

I AM FUEL, YOU ARE FRIENDS

Smoking Section

Mashuptown

Culture Bully

Muzzle . . . → Read More: Perfect Porridge in the new MusicMaven iPhone app

What? 80% of Mainstream Songs Are Written By the Artist

By Greg Swan, on November 27th, 2010%

From Digital Music News:

Who’s actually writing their own music these days? That can be a complicated question, though in the eyes of the law, the publishing credit determines whether a performer actually wrote the song. And this is more than just a technical distinction: a writing credit entitles the performer to a piece of the publishing revenue (depending on splits, other writers, etc.)

So, we spent the week searching the databases of ASCAP, BMI, and SESAC, and cross-referencing the top 100 charting songs on BigChampagne’s Ultimate Chart (week ending 11/11). The result? A . . . → Read More: What? 80% of Mainstream Songs Are Written By the Artist

New teaser clip for the upcoming Decemberists album just went live

By Greg Swan, on November 11th, 2010%

The Decemberists‘ new album The King is Dead comes out January 18. Here’s a new teaser clip the just posted to their website.

Duke Spirit offer yet another track from Kasuma

By Greg Swan, on November 8th, 2010%

The Duke Spirit’s Kusama EP comes out December 7 — a day which will live in infamy.

Download of “Procession”

Dig it? Try this one, too — “Everybody’s Under Your Spell.”

Read my 2008 interview with The Duke . . . → Read More: Duke Spirit offer yet another track from Kasuma

These men are called musicians

By Greg Swan, on October 28th, 2010%

. . . → Read More: These men are called musicians

Coldplay, Snow Patrol, Radiohead top poll of music most likely to help people fall asleep

By Greg Swan, on October 27th, 2010%

A new survey out of the UK from Travelodge:
Listed below are the top ten musicians that help Britons nod off

1. Coldplay
2. Michael Buble
3. Snow Patrol
4. Alicia Keys
5. Jack Johnson
6. Taylor Swift
7. Mozart
8. Barry White
9. Leona Lewis
10. Radiohead

A few thoughts:

Personally, I have some issues with listening to pop music while trying to sleep.

Although a handful of Radiohead tracks may be slower, the bulk of their catalog rocks extremely hard.
Barry White is not for sleeping. It is a tool . . . → Read More: Coldplay, Snow Patrol, Radiohead top poll of music most likely to help people fall asleep

Have I mentioned how much I dislike Apple’s Ping?

By Greg Swan, on October 26th, 2010%

The Black and White Years’ Patterns doesn’t come out until November 16, so it must not be in the iTunes Store yet for me to “like” a track…

I have a watermarked review copy of The Black Keys’ Brothers, which is certainly in the iTunes Store but not recognized by Ping in this format. Again, no “like” possible here.

So incredibly . . . → Read More: Have I mentioned how much I dislike Apple’s Ping?