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Why Listen To Music On The Computer

Admin — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 06:36:36 +0000

When I was a young lad growing up way back in the 60’s and 70’s, I a number of times used to think how excellent it would be to be able to custom make my own albums. A bunch of your all-time favorite tunes grouped together in once place. It was possible to record tracks from the radio, or from tape to tape and LPs (Long players on vinyl disc, now replaced by CD ’s), but it was a laborious process and not really the ideal solution. Additionally, there were a number of times just several tunes you like d on an album, so may n’t justify buying say 20 hits for 3 favorite s. Well, that’s all vary d now that all of us can listen to music on the PC.
The excellent thing about the Internet is the opportunity it gives to search through the musical archives of time and find just about any musician from any era that you please. It really is that simple to both download and listen to music on the PC. Some of the modern PC ’s have excellent sound systems too, so it is not necessary to burn music to disk and performance it in the ole Hi-fi. Yes, the Internet is certainly a convenience that’s for sure. I am actually in the process of collecting my all time favorites and it is rousing to hear some of these artists and tracks following such a long time.
It’s a number of times said that individuals prohibit trying out new things once they hit their mid 30’s and that includes food and music. This is why us olds keep going on about the tunes of days gone by and disregard many new sounds, no matter how excellent they are. For individuals like me, the Internet offers a excellent opportunity to collect and listen to the nostalgic notes of the past. As I work at the PC daily, I get the opportunity to listen to music on the PC all the time and this includes the radio. In fact, I am working in South Asia at the time of writing and it is just excellent to be able to tune into my favorite radio station back home.
What about you, do you listen to music on the PC? If not, then may be it is time you got plugged in. Technology has come such a long way in recent years that the once humble PC has become not only a workstation but an entertainment center too. Yes, that’s right, movies and music videos are all possible from the click of a mouse.
Once in a while, when I am tuned into the radio, a song will be played from years back that I’d totally forgotten about, but it is a song that brings back many fond memories of that time. No problems! I just login to my favorite musical download website like ITunes or Napster, and for a tiny fee, I have just added another nostalgic noise to my ever growing archive in an instant.
But here’s a tip. If you are going to start collecting dozens or even hundreds of tunes to you PC, do not forget to back them up externally too. What may be worse that your entire music collection disappearing with a hard drive failure? It’s excellent to collect and listen to music on the PC, but it is wise to save copies outside of the PC too. Happy listening!

New Age Music – How It’s Made

Admin — Sun, 24 May 2009 06:13:12 +0000

Different styles of music have diverse “sounds.” all of us can all pretty much agree on that point. By way of example, Jazz uses seventh chords al the majority exclusively. This, and the type of chord progressions used in Jazz gives it its unique flavor. But what about new age music? Does it have it is own special ingredients? Yes it does.
Now, there are no hard and fast rules here but for the the majority part, new age music is a consonant music. That’s, there is little or noharshness going on in the music. No Saxes wailing and what not. Having said that all of us can eliminate the majority of the tense jazz chords and their voicing. So what are all of us left with? Mostly Major and minor chords based on the regular scales and the modes. The chord progressions are simple r and a number of times start on the l chord. No ll-V-l progressions here.
What about melody? In jazz, all of us have a soloist who a number of times plays many chromatic notes. This is rare in new age music because it would create dissonance. New age melodies tend to be softer and more on the spiritual side. Solos, Assuming that the re are any, are not so much concerned with the expression of the self than they are with letting the music express itself. A subtle but decidedly necessary distinction. Jazz players may have some ego invested in their performance. New age artists learn to let the music performance them. They learn to become a channel for the music itself allowing it to speak through them. Of course, I am not saying that this cannot happen in Jazz, but, just watch a Jazz performer and you’ll see what I mean.
Last but not least is rhythm. Let’s do a comparison/contrast amidst Jazz and New Age music. Jazz has a definite discernible rhythm. It’s what makes Jazz Jazz. New age music may have a pattern or an underlying rhythm to the music. It may be used to create trance like states in the listener. Drums are a number of times a part of Jazz music. Percussion is mostly absent from the New Age sound simply because it wouldn’t add to the atmosphere the majority New Age artists create. Timing is decidedly necessary to the Jazz artist. The soloist has the freedom to performance whatever he wants as long as he maintains the meter and stays in time. New Age music is more elastic in that timing is there, but is not a master of the player. The New Age player may disregard time altogether. Just listen to Zen flute music as a nice example of this.
Now, what does all this mean for the aspiring New Age artist? A couple of nice things. It means that there is a definite new age “sound” out there. That it is here to stay and that individuals like and need to hear it. And it means that there are some guidelines out there for what defines the meaning of New Age music.

Internet Music – Blessing or Curse?

Admin — Sun, 10 May 2009 04:51:42 +0000

I just learned that April 19, 2008 was Record Store Day, an opportunity to celebrate independent record stores. As record stores slowly vanish across the country, it is revealing that April 19 came and went with little fanfare. Perhaps, like me, the event was invisible to you, too. And I am sorry I missed it, because I value the place of music stores in our culture. But it got me thinking about how music is accessed and sold these days.
I am not fond of vinyl — I do not miss the pops and clicks, or the way that dust balls would build up in front of the needle and cause the sound to crackle — but those large album sleeves allowed for some nice ly inventive packaging back in the day that cannot be done with CD s. I remember the surprise of opportunity Alice Cooper’s School’s Out. The cover was the surface of one of those old grammar school desks and lifted up like the lid of the desk to reveal the interior. The record was nested inside a slinky pair of pink girl’s paper panties, which you had to slip off to performance the record. Then there was Jethro Tull’s Thick As A Brick, packaged with a fictional small town paper, “The St. Cleve Chronicle.” It was a crafty satire of a provincial newspaper replete with articles, television listings, advertisements, a crossword — even a lascivious connect-the-dots puzzle — all oozing with irony. It read like a novel, with the same characters reappearing in diverse sections.
The Internet offers a excellent way to discover, sample and purchase music, no doubt about it. It’s a excellent improvement over the experience the majority of us have had of buying a new CD and finding out you only like two of the ten tunes. And the Internet has really better the opportunity for independent artists to reach a expansive r fans than ever before. But in making snap judgments following listening to a snippet of music Web, all of us also lose the ability of tunes to grow on us. We’re like children dazzled by neon crayons, and all of us risk passing over subtler but richer hues. There’s the danger that music becomes less about artistry and more about commodity.
Still another problem is the lower d audio quality of MP3s, a digital format whereby much of the original audio signal is discarded in order to compress the file size and facilitate digital storage, downloading and other transfers. We’ve sacrificed quality for convenience. I confess, though, I love being able to shuffle tunes on my iPod. The unpredictability keeps the music fresh for me. But it is not in the absence of a price.
As all of us increasingly rely on downloadable music, I worry about what all of us lose. I still like the experience of going to record stores: the physicality of the merchandise, the role of opportunity and being exposed to something accidentally. Erykah Badu has a marvelous music video of the song “Honey” from her recently released album. An anonymous customer (actually Erykah, but her face is never shown) browses vinyl in a record store, and diverse classic album covers come alive with images of Erykah. It’s a witty video that captures the magic of the experience. The video ends with a message scrolling across the bottom of the screen: “Support your local/regional record store!!!!!” I may n’t have said it better.

Some Words on Soul Music

Admin — Fri, 08 May 2009 04:46:03 +0000

Soul is still a decidedly popular music genre which grew out of 50’s rhythm and blues. There were two decidedly diffined record labels which dominated this era, Stax and Tamala Motown.
The record label Stax started life in Memphis in 1959, founded by Jim Stewart and Estelle Axton. Around the same time Berry Gordy was creating the two record labels, Tamla and Motown in Detroit. Stax and Tamla Motown became the biggest of rivals for record sales throughout the 1960’s and 70’s. Their music idiom was the same, with a focus on the Black music form soul, but marketing and style differed significant ly.
Motown took the music market by storm at a time when white fanss were ignoring many black music forms. Their success was attributed to their light soul style with their image being aimed at the middle class market. Producing hits such as ‘Stop! In the name of love’ by the Supremes, released in 1965, and ‘Heard it through the grapevine’ by Marvin Gaye, released in 1968. artists such as the Supremes, the Four Tops and Marvin Gaye developed a clean-cut image, appearing on record sleeves and in concert wearing formal clothes such as tuxedos and evening dresses.
Stax records concentrated more on the original form of Black American Southern soul. For Stax records the original music form was more necessary than image and marketing. artists and tunes included ‘In the midnight hour’ by Wilson Pickett, released in 1965, and ‘Sittin’ on the dock of the bay’ by Otis Redding, released in 1968.
Soul music has stayed one of the the majority popular music styles right through into the 21st century mainly due to the decidedly reason in the title, the music gets into your ‘soul’. A nice choice for both young and old!

Live Music Blog Flashback-Bell Biv Devoe

SyncWordpress — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 21:43:46 +0000

Live music blog flashback- Bell Biv Devoe. Back in the early 90’s, Bell Biv Devoe or BBD as they were known were blowing up the world of hip hop/r&b. I saw a show recently on VH1 and I think they mentioned them and where they are and what they are doing. They came to mind when I received a BBD jacket from a friend today who was involved with them when they did the world tour in 91′. Kind of a crazy looking jacket with about ten different segments that were made up of all different colors.

BBD hit it big with “Poison” and the classic “Do Me”, and their album Poison sold over 3 million copies. The group was a spinoff of the mega selling group New Edition and consisted of Ronnie Devoe, Michael Bivins, and Ricky Bell. The group followed up with the album WBBD-Bootcity that was certified gold, but never reached the level of the Poison album. BBD put out a few more albums and reunited with New Edition in 1996, but have basically disappeared from the landscape of the R&B picture.

Ronnie is now a real estate agent in Atlanta and still part of New Edition. Michael Bivins got into producing and had some modest successes and now works for Puff Daddy at Bad Boy Entertainment. Ricky, I couldn’t find much on but he is working on independent projects and in fact released a very good album in 2000, that reviewed well, but didn’t sell well.

Apparently BBD was back touring in 2008. I would check it out if they came to my city to relieve that magic time and music.

Live Music Venue-The Blue Moon Saloon

SyncWordpress — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 15:44:22 +0000

Live Music Venue- The Blue Moon Saloon is one of the coolest live music venues period. It is based in Lafayette, Louisianna and was established in 2002. It has become one of world’s premier venues for roots music and is a great place to meet all kinds of people. You might rub elbows with politicians, artists, community organizations, or world travelers that happen to be crashing in Lafayette for the evening.

PG3 turned me on the spot when he was visiting recently and you need to check it out next time you are in the area. You can get a flavor for it online as they stream live many of the shows from there on a weekly basis, but it can’t replace being there in person. One great act I saw recently online was Grammy nominee Cedric Watson, who is nominated for best Cajun/Zydeco album of the year.