Weezer kicks ass.

Coldplay is releasing their new album, Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends, on June 17th, 2008.  So very excited. I, of course, pre-ordered the album and got a crack at their first single, Viva La Vida, and let me tell you, if this is what the new album is going to be like, then it’s going to be one great album.  And that was a crazy run-on sentence.

There’s going to be some new great music coming out over the next few weeks — Death Cab for Cutie, Coldplay, Jason Mraz.  I’ve never really been this excited for new music before.

Downloaded the new Moby album, Last Night, and it’s really good.  Last Night is a drastic change from 1999’s Play — a bit more dancier (is that a word?), certainly less alternative.  Definitely check the album out if you’re a Moby fan.

As a side note, has it really been almost 8 years since I stopped listening to all electronic and industrial music?  Holy crap.  Freshman year of high school, all I would listen to was electronic with a bit of industrial thrown in.  DJ Shadow was on repeat, practically always.  I worshipped Prodigy’s Liam Howlett.  KMFDM got me through being suspended for a week.

Driving down to Florida one year, I had a cd book filled with my favorite electronic and industrial albums.  When we stopped at one of the rest areas, the cd book must have fell out of the car.  I didn’t realize until we were long gone.  I was absolutely heart broken — worst feeling ever.  I remember I wanted to cry.  I had so many wonderful albums in that book.

It’s amazing how music really defines certain times of your life.

I remember in 7th grade, I was absolutely obsessed with Jimi Hendrix — couldn’t get me to stop listening to him.  I have no idea how I got into Jimi that year, but I learned the majority of his songs word for word.  Then again in 7th grade, all I did was lock myself in my room programming away in BASIC on my donated 286.  So perhaps Jimi fit in perfectly.

Early 8th grade, I discovered Prodigy’s Experience and Music for the Jilted Generation.  Most of my friends were making fun of me while I listened to them, but I ignored most of the comments.  There was just something about those albums, something that I clung on to.  They were different than the norm at the time.  And I suppose that’s how I felt about myself during that year.  Not that I was different than my friends, but I was discovering my creative side and I was more interested in creating than anything else.  Sadly, when Prodigy’s Fat of the Land started getting really popular, my interest in them faded.  As my friends began listening to them (the same friends who previously made fun of me), I felt like I no longer had a connection to the music.  And thus, I moved on.

9th grade was all about the KMFDM’s, Nine Inch Nails, DJ Shadow, Orbital, Chemical Brothers — anything to get me pumped up for ice hockey.  9th grade made me want to become a DJ.  When I got suspended for a week, I locked myself in my room and just listened to KMFDM over and over again.

My 10th and 11th years is when I started discovering the music that would lead me into what I typically listen to today.  I discovered so many wonderful bands and artists those years.  But I also listened to a huge mix of things.  I cannot really define these years with one set of artists.  I do, however, remember finding the first Webster Hall album and over playing it to the point where I couldn’t listen to it any longer.

Years after high school, my music has been almost everything and anything.  Nine Inch Nails made a huge come back in my life in 2001 as it got me through a relationship break-up.  I remember continually putting up Nine Inch Nails away messages to the point where Robin actually called me out on it.  Maroon 5 and Jason Mraz made me happy again as I began dating my wonderful fiance in 2002.

And since then, the Jack Johnsons, Matt Costas, Ben Folds, and the rest, have crawled and consumed my life.   Oh, and I also have a man-crush with Justin Timberlake.

In the mix, too, rap and hip-hop has always been playing during these years.  Early on I was a huge Digital Underground and Arrested Development fan.  They spawned me into listening to Outkast, A Tribe Called Quest (loved the Anthology album), Jurasic 5, etc.

And to close, I’ll always have a spot in my heart for Das EFX.

So, Last.fm just came out and told us about their new feature which will allow us to play full-length tracks and entire albums for free.  And as the Last.fm community begins to cheer with joy, they also begin to make complete fools out of themselves.  The Last.fm blog hints to things that are to come:

Full-length tracks are now available in the US, UK, and Germany, and we’re hard at work broadening our coverage into other countries. During this initial public beta period, each track can be played up to 3 times for free before a notice appears telling you about our upcoming subscription service. The soon-to-be announced subscription service will give you unlimited plays and some other useful things.

While it is cool for Last.fm to offer such a feature, it’s nothing out of the ordinary.  In reality, it’s a great site that’ll have a subscription based music service — quite like the many other services already available.  Again, the music industry is creating yet another revenue stream masked behind a great music community. 

Someone please correct me if I’m wrong.

We created a (very) random playlist the other night. We tried to stick to the popular rap/hip-hop genre of our yesteryears. It wasn’t meant to be ‘The List’ of lists, or anything like that. We wanted to include songs that everything just about remembers, laughs about, and ultimately wants to dance to. Feel free to add to it through the comments.

In the entry I created below this one, I provided a link to a snippet of Britney’s new video for her song, “Piece of Me.”  I watched it, blah blah blah, and then watched it again — I noticed something about 16 seconds in. 

Now, take a look at the above screenshot.  It’s clearly looks like it’s not Britney’s body — the head is too big, and the skin tone is an entirely different skin color than the body.   Now, Britney’s new song is a big well, fuck you.  So, then, why isn’t she just true to herself and true to her body?  These days, she’s just a puppet. 

Oh, and remind me to never ever post about Britney again. 

Folks, I present you with today’s finest music lyrics. 

The chorus you find below is top notch as it definitely defines an entire generation, quite like the way the Beatles once did.  You’re not going to get better lyrics than these.  Sean Kingston will possibly go down as one of, if not the, best lyric composers of our time.  Lets us celebrate the fantastic music he delivers to us these days.

We can go to the tropics.
Sip piña coladas.
Shorty, I could take you there.
Or we can go to the slums,
Where killas get hung.
Shorty, I could take you there.
You know I could take ya.
(I could take ya) x 3.

Sean Kingston - Take You There

The Motion Picture of Association of America is urging some of the nation’s largest universities to deploy custom software designed to pinpoint students who may be using the schools’ networks to illegally download pirated movies. A closer look at the MPAA’s software, however, raises some serious privacy and security concerns for both the entertainment industry and the schools that choose to deploy the technology.

How this is even legal is insane.  So, MPAA wants to go back to assuming everyone is guilty to ‘protect’ it’s assets?  Whatever happened to innocent until proven guilty?

The MPAA and the RIAA are modern mafias.  They’re ruthless, gutless, and self absorbed.  While I understand pirating is illegal, their tactics to reducing it are just as illegal.  Don’t scare your consumers with threats and lawsuits.  Acknowledge there is a problem, think outside of the box, and devise a new system to counter piracy.  I know it’s not as simple as that, but there has to be something that will balance out piracy.

When first listening to Duran Duran’s new album, Red Carpet Massacre, I was thoroughly impressed.  The music hit numerous great beats, and the lyrics flowed.  But then some sense got knocked into me when I researched the new album.

Justin Timberlake and Timbaland produced most of Duran Duran’s new album.  They both contribute through some of the album with vocal versus and choruses.  However, their production, or influence, can clearly be heard in almost all tracks.  The album is certainly not overproduced (also known as Britney’s new album), but you can, again, tell it’s produced by JT/Timbaland. 

There’s certainly nothing wrong with JT and Timbaland’s production of Red Carpet Massacre — they made it a great album.  But it’s certainly not Duran Duran and “Hungry Like the Wolf” and “I Don’t Want Your Love.”  But, I suppose, it’s a new Duran Duran for the pop market; produced for mass consumption. 

You see, it’s just that the album is more of a TT album than that of a DD album.  But the songs that are DD songs, they certainly hold on to their roots.  But those songs are limited compared to the TT influence. 

My take on DD’s album?  A rating of 3 out of 5.  If TT released this album as their own?  A rating of 4 out of 5. 

This past weekend, Rebecca and I made the trip to Ohio for a good friend’s wedding. Wedding was great — good food, fun people, nice location. On Sunday, we had some time to kill, so we decided to venture into Cleveland, and possibly hit up the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

We arrived into Cleveland, and were shocked how lifeless it felt, in terms of people walking around. But then again, it was Sunday and it’s a smaller city compared to what we’re used to, New York City, which is absolutely crazy twenty-four-seven. Okay, okay, lifeless is a bad word.  Maybe empty is a better substitute?  And I was surely wrong when comparing apples to oranges.  The buildings were new and delightful to gaze upon, and the city was super clean, which, lets be honest, is the complete opposite of some parts of New York City.  Okay, again, comparing apples to oranges.  Anyways.

We ended up driving to the edge of Cleveland, near the Brown’s stadium, to check out Lake Erie. Never seeing a large lake before, we had no idea what to expect. Sure enough, it appeared to be like any large body of water near a city — it was almost endless, and it smelt like, well, a large body of water. So, we walked a bit, and then had no idea what to do.

We opted to check out the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. I mean, how could that be a let down? Yeah, well forty bucks and about an hour or so later, we sure felt let down.

The bottom floor, which has all the memorabilia, and the like, was worth the visit — just not a twenty bucks each visit. There were items that sent chills down my spine, certain things that I couldn’t stop glaring at, and music I just wanted to go home and research more about. Reading the real written lyrics of John Lennon and Jimmy Hendrix was just inspiring — there were times where you could actually feel what they were feeling just by reading their lyrics made up of their handwriting.

But every floor above this floor was a complete let down. They all felt like space killers, as if they didn’t know what to do with the four additional floors above the bottom floor. Maybe they were planning on using this space as the years go on and need more room to expand? Possibly? Maybe they designed the place from the outside (outside, which is awesome) in? Whatever the case might be, charging twenty bucks each to get in just didn’t feel worth it.

Also, there was an entire lack of 1995 and onwards mention of music. None, zilch. I know that today’s music cannot be compared to yesterday’s music, but there is still quality songs being produced that could have been showcased in some of the extra space in some manner. I remember being in Cooperstown (baseball hall of fame), and they had a section specifically for players who, if remain healthy, could top records later on in their careers. The section made no mention that these players were the best, but it still showcased today’s players and their future potential.

To conclude, they overcharge. Lets face it, money sets the bar and the standards — And twenty bucks each to get in? Well, that sets the bar quite high. Cleveland was well worth checking out — I’m sure when it’s alive, it’s an awesome big small city. But the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame? I’ll pass the second time around.