Author Archives: the OCMD

Trailblazing for Radiohead

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I took a bunch of photos with my puny little digital camera at the Outside Lands Festival yesterday in Golden Gate Park, but this one captured the essence of the evening for me.  Throngs of humanity trampling barriers and blazing trail through Eucalyptus groves to get to Radiohead.  Anxiety got the best of the crowd during Beck as thousands of people realized they had to haul ass across the park to get a seat for Radiohead. And no one had the patience to be herded through the narrow walkways set up by festival organizers.  

We all got there in the end, but it was a squash.  Much more so than the All Points West show in New York two weeks ago.  But that in part was due to the festival capacity.  There were reportedly 60,000 people at Outside Lands vs. 30,000 at All Points West.  Even with the bigger crowds, however, Outside Lands was a much better organized event.  I didn’t feel like I missed half of the festival waiting in lines.  And not having to consume alcohol in a designated Beer Garden was a plus. 

The technical difficulties we experienced during Radiohead was quite a let down.  The sound cut out twice for substantial periods during the performance. But once the crowd settled down and people stopped shoving to get to their destination, we all had a fantastic time.  I’ve always had great Radiohead experiences.  And while this performance wouldn’t rank to the top of my Radiohead show list, it certainly didn’t disappoint.  They are always exceptional to see live.  Each performance is just a different degree of greatness.

To see the full Radiohead set list, go to 58Hours, a great Radiohead concert database.  My highlight for the evening? Paranoid Android.

Get this album free via eMusic’s 50 Free MP3 Promo

buy it at insound!

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iTunes Rumored to Launch Subscription Model – Finally!

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I read today on the ListeningPost about rumors that iTunes is planning to launch an unlimited music subscription service in late October with the release of iTunes 7.8.  It’s reported the annual subscription fee will be $130/year (or $100 for MobileMe subscribers) and will give users the ability to download to nearly half of all the songs in the iTunes store in a 256-Kbps format.  The other half apparently will require a new deal with copyright holders.

It sounds like the model will operate similar to Rhapsody.  Subscription songs would be playable in iTunes and would be transportable and playable on certain devices – namely the iPod and iPhone.  According to the tipster, when you log on to iTunes, you will get the option to ‘Buy’ (purchase and keep) or ‘Get’ your music (download and Play throughout iTunes Unlimited Subscription).

Hooray for Apple for taking a step in the right direction. I’ve long been a proponent of the subscription-based music model and a huge fan of services like Rhapsody.  It just makes sense.  And with the emergence of even more technologies like Topspin, we will see more and more artist going direct to fans with subscription-based offers.

Now if only Apple would budge on their DRM policy and move to pure MP3s.

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Michael Phelps Has Horrid Taste in Music

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Just when I thought swimming God Michael Phelps could do no wrong, I found this ‘Celebrity Playlist’ on Rhapsody that made me gag.  So what does the Adonis listen to pre-race to get fired up?  Twista, Usher, Outkast, Eminem and GUnit.  Blech. Sorry Michael, I tend to judge a man by the music he keeps and you just fell into the abyss on my cool quotient.  But hey, with a body like that, I can forgive and forget.

Go ahead, stream Michael’s playlist on Rhapsody – if you dare.

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Cut Copy – In Ghost Colours

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Artist: Cut Copy
Album: In Ghost Colours
File Under: Electropop
Recommended if You Like: New Order, Pet Shop Boys, Ladytron, LCD Soundsystem
Featured Tracks: Lights & Music

I just bought tickets for Cut Copy’s show at the Mezzanine in San Francisco on October 5 and realized that I haven’t featured this in my Album of the Week series yet.  For shame!  This album has been in heavy rotation in our household since it’s release in April this year and has to be one of the most fun albums of 2008.  

While it doesn’t fall into my usual genre, I can’t seem to get enough of their 80’s New Order, Pet Shop Boys sound.  And neither can Judah.  The track Lights & Music has secured top spot on his own personal Rhapsody playlist and inspired robot dance moves that made waves among hipster blogs like Hipster Runoff earlier this summer. Showing everyone it’s hip to dance with your pants off.

Get this album free via eMusic’s 50 Free MP3 Promo

buy it at insound!

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Countdown to Outside Lands!

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Whoo hoo!  Two more days to Outside Lands and Radiohead.  Here’s a mix I compiled of the bands I’m looking forward to seeing on Friday.  If I can cram it all in. Enjoy!  If you want the MP3 file, you’ll need to sign up for the OCMD Mixtape newsletter.

  1. Carney – Testify
  2. Howlin’ Rain – Dancer at the End of Time
  3. Black Mountain – Angels
  4. The Black Keys – Psychotic Girl
  5. Cold War Kids – Something is Not Right with Me
  6. The Benevento Russo Duo – Best Reason to Buy the Sun
  7. Manu Chao – Welcome to Tijuana
  8. Beck – Gamma Ray
  9. Radiohead – Bodysnatchers

Pandora Ready to Pull the Plug

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I read a disturbing article today in the Washington Post that Oakland-based Internet radio giant, Pandora, is struggling on the verge of collapse due to exorbitant royalty fees.  This came as shocking news to me.  How can the leading Internet music site, with over 1 million listeners a day and nearly 40,000 new subscribers arriving daily, be failing?

Turns out some federal panel last year, called the Copyright Royalty Board, ordered a doubling of the per-song performance royalty that Web radio stations pay to performers and record companies.  What do traditional radio stations pay for royalties? Nothing, thanks to their corporate parents and lobbying power. Satellite radio stations? About 1.6 cents per listener per hour.  But Pandora and other Internet radio stations will have to pay 2.91 cents under this new ruling.  This year, 70% of Pandora’s revenue will be eaten up by royalty fees – threatening to drive them out of business along with many other Internet radio stations like it.

Is no one outraged by this? Have we all become so complacent in our expectations of free and easy digital music distribution that we’ve stopped paying attention to this issue?  Because clearly the fight is not over. And maybe it will take a giant like Pandora to fall before people start feeling the pain and actually caring. 

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My Little Gamma Ray

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I know Beck’s ‘Gamma Ray‘ has more to do with global warming than children, but I can’t help but think of my boy Judah every time I hear that song.  After all, what are gamma rays but the smallest and most energetic form of wavelength on the electromagnetic spectrum.  That sounds exactly like… JUDAH!  His life force never ceases to amaze (or exhaust) me. This morning on the way to preschool as Beck’s Modern Guilt was playing, he asked me:  “Is this Beck, Mommy?” Awww…I just want to eat him up.  Boogers and all.

Get this album free via eMusic’s 50 Free MP3 Promo

buy it at insound!

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3 Million Records and “No one gives a damn”

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If you want evidence that the digital music era is here to stay, look no further than this story. An interesting post on Gizmodo reported that Paul Mawhinney, owner of the worlds largest vinyl record collection, is trying to sell his inventory of 3 million records. Unfortunately, he says “no one gives a damn.”

Paul used to run a record store and never sold the last copy of any album or single.  Over the years he has amassed an impressive collection of over 3 million records. Now in failing health, he’s trying to sell it. The collection has been appraised at $50 million but he’s asking a mere $3 million.  He’s had no serious offers.

While this is clearly a sign of the times, it is pretty sad that no one is stepping up to preserve such a piece of history as this.  Hey, why doesn’t the RIAA buy it?  Clearly they’re stuck in the analog music model anyway.  That would actually be a useful function of the organization – to preserve history, as opposed to thwarting progress.

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RIAA Shuts Down Muxtape

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Muxtape – the popular online mixtape service that allows users to make 12-song playlists of their music and share them online – has been temporarily shut down to resolve an undisclosed dispute with the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).

There’s no specific reason for the shutdown listed on their site, though it is likely due to it’s recent rise in popularity, including a slot on PC Magazine’s Top 100 Undiscovered Sites.

“No artists or labels have complained,” Muxtape wrote on its Tumblr blog. “The site is not closed indefinitely. Stay tuned. Beta users of Muxtape ForBands: you are unaffected by this outage.”

When is the record industry going to wake up, accept reality and join us in the 21st century?  Not soon enough apparently.

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Anatomy of a Remodel – Part 1

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Our living room has sat unfinished since the day we moved in.  And it’s all because of that couch.  I love it; it’s got that classic, vintage modern, low slung, sexy vibe. Adam hates it.  So we sat at an impasse for the past three years until we decided to call in the professional, Ken Fulk, to mediate and take this project to the finish line. We both love and trust his style and taste – as a professional and a friend.  He’s the best in San Francisco and has an eclectic, rock star style that’s hard to replicate.  So we decided his call was the final call on the couch.  The verdict?  I win. YES! Justice prevails….and perseverance.  The couch is being refinish and reupholstered as I write this.

So what does this have to do with technology?  Well, part of the overhaul of this room is the sound system. We’re installing new reference series Paradigm SA-15R in ceiling speakers for our Sonos system.  And since I’ve preached so many times before on this blog how important it is to have in wall speakers in every room to truly leverage the capabilities of the Sonos system, I thought I would give you an inside look into the installation process. It does require professional installation, but the aesthetics and audio experience are totally worth it.

Stay tuned for more remodel updates…

Cutting speaker holes in ceiling.

Cutting speaker holes in ceiling.

 

Pulling wires through walls.

Pulling wires through walls.

Speaker wire pulled and ready to mount.

Speaker wire pulled and ready to mount.

 

Paradigm Speaker installed

Paradigm Speaker installed

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