C O D E O R G A N

I came across this website via NPR. Codeorgan was developed by a creative British marketing company called DLKW. The site allows you to enter any URL and through an algorithm, processes the body code of the site into music. Pretty slick idea.

The music is composed of three parts: key, synth and drums. The keys are in a pentatonic scale, depending on the most common letter of the source code that is part of the A-G musical scale: major scale if that number is even, minor if it's odd (so for example, if you have 164 E's on the body source of your site, it will process that into a major pentatonic scale). 10 synthesizer effects are available and this program chooses one based on the amount of content on the particular site. Thirdly, there are also 10 different drum loops and those are chosen based on the ratio of all letters to the number of letters in the musical scale.

This is one of those sites that you can find yourself playing around with for an hour. Some sites sound horrid; some are interesting. This blog sounds kind of like a broken grandfather clock with a drum beat (though that will inevitably change once I post this). It'd be interesting to intentionally create a page based on the algorithm in order to produce good music. If anyone plays with this and finds a cool site to use, please leave the site in the comments.

Daft Punk is Back...I Think

Daft Punk is mysterious. The French duo is one of the most unique, eclectic groups and a huge contributor to the worldwide popularity of electronic/house music. Two of their albums, Homework and Discovery, are easily on my top albums of all time list. Without them, Kanye West would not be as popular (or hated, depending on how you look at it) as he is today. Not counting the live album they released in 2007, it's been almost 5 years since they've released an album. So they're due for a new album, right?

Based on a few things, I'm thinking (and hoping) yes. The first thing is their recent contribution to the "spin"-off of Guitar Hero, DJ Hero (yep...I just punned). I haven't gotten my hands on this game yet, but they apparently contributed about 11 new mixes for the game and appear as playable characters. They appeared in promotions for the game, such as this one:



The second item to support my belief that Daft Punk is coming back is their work on the score for the new Tron: Legacy film. If you're the least bit geeky, you heard about this movie in the works. If not, this sequel to the 1982 Tron will be released at the end of this year. Daft Punk has apparently composed 24 tracks for the film and rumors speculate that they make a cameo in the film also. Some tracks were leaked out which is a testament to Daft Punk's popularity; when else have tracks to a film been sought after over a year before the film even comes out?

The third Daft Punk sighting I experienced was for a recent Adidas campaign. This awesome campaign is for Adidas' Star Wars line. Just recently, Snoop Dogg and a storm trooper marched through the streets of New York to the Adidas shop, where a guy had been waiting since 1 am to get the first pair of Luke Skywalker sneaks. Anyway, this promotion came out online last month, showing a glimpse of the helmeted French duo:



So what's the deal Daft Punk? Rumors have been spreading about a 2010 tour but there were false rumors about a tour last year; apparently, they stick to Myspace (yuck!) for official tour news, so I suppose we'll all have to eagerly await.

Wu-Tang Lego

This is the best Lego interpretation I've seen...a replica video of Wu-Tang's "Da Mystery of Chessboxin'"

First of all, if you've never seen the actual video, here it is:



And now here's the Lego video version:



Awesome job to whoever made this.

Eddie Van Halen is Lame

Pablo Picasso once said, "Bad artists copy...good artists steal." In a recent case involving Eddie Van Halen's company and Nike, that quote has absolutely no relevance.

Occasionally, we hear about lawsuits between artists claiming musical or design theft, some of which are valid, but most of which are pretty vague or even ridiculous.

Coldplay's last album had the hit single, "Viva la Vida." You may have heard about the case that Joe Satriani brought up, claiming that the melody of that song was strikingly similar to his own song called "If I Could Fly" (released years before). Click the following button and you'll hear Coldplay's song first, then Satriani's...then just for fun, the two mashed together. It's easy to hear a very similar tune.



Joe Satriani is a guitar god and I don't blame him for filing a suit, especially considering he tried to contact Coldplay for months before doing so and his fans were hounding him for doing so before that. However, I think this was coincidental; I doubt Coldplay even listens to Joe Satriani's work.

Moving on, however, to a more recent case involving Eddie Van Halen and Nike. This one isn't about music, but design. Eddie apparently designed a guitar called the "Frankenstrat," pictured at right.

Obviously, a masterpiece. He combined the colors red, black and white??? In a "design" that my 3 year old nephew could replicate with a blindfold??? Man, that's insane...obviously an original idea. Ready to see what Eddie Van Halen's company, ELVH inc., is suing Nike for? Here it is:



You can lift your jaw now. ELVH inc. put out their own line of shoes with the "Frankenstrat" design. I'm going to go out on a limb and not look up the numbers, with a wild guess that Nike has sold more shoes than ELVH inc.

The point being: Eddie Van Halen deserves no compensation whatsoever for this lawsuit. I think he's just bitter that former bandmates Sammy Hagar and Michael Anthony formed a "supergroup" called Chickenfoot with (coincidentally) Joe Satriani and RHCP drummer Chad Smith.

My Life is Complete

Click here to find out why.

Victor Wooten

I had the pleasure of seeing Victor Wooten play live nearby last night for the second time in the past four months. The show did not match the one that I saw back in December when he played as part of the popular Bela Fleck & The Flecktones, but I'm not sure any live music show that I've seen could, considering we were sitting comfortably about 5 feet from Victor. That said, it's still amazing to see what Vic can do on a bass guitar; it's one of those things that I don't think could ever get boring to watch.

Last night, Vic even brought out his young son and daughter, who played drums and vocals respectively for one song. For those unfamiliar with Vic, here are a few videos that will show you how some people are just born to be musicians...

This first video is an old one, as evidenced by Victor's sweet 'stache, and shows him playing a face-melting solo. You can see that even the drummer behind him is watching him like, "How the hell does he do that?" Trust me, it's well worth the 4 minutes:



This next video is featured on the 2002 DVD release of "Live at the Quick: Bela Fleck & The Flecktones," an amazing performance that was recorded at the Quick Center for the Arts at Fairfield University, a few years before I attended (which, coincidentally, was where I saw them this past December). It's more classical in nature than the previous video, and he works in a funked-out rendition of Amazing Grace into it:



This last video is another older one, but it seems most appropriate considering he's playing with his oldest brother, Regi. Vic is the youngest of 5 boys, all of whom took up playing different instruments at a young age. In fact, the second oldest of the brothers, Roy, aka Future man, is a percussionist that is also one of the Flecktones. It was Vic's oldest brother Regi, however, that realized that if Victor started playing bass, they'd have a full band, which they did. Vic started playing at 2 years old and 42 years later, he's considered to be one of the best bassists in the world.



Vic is also a very spiritual man, which was put onto paper this past year in the book he released, called "The Music Lesson: A Spiritual Search for Growth Through Music."

Southwest Air Rapping

I don't fly much...but obviously a lot of people fly on a regular basis...monthly, weekly, every couple days...

This steward from Southwest is awesome. He decided that droaning on with the same old safety talk is pretty boring, so he rapped it:



There should be more rapping in the service industry. If there was a store that had sales associates that rapped when checking you out, I'd be one of their top customers.

311 Day

There are few bands out there that have a day of the year dedicated to them by their fans...actually, probably only one: 311. Of course, it's convenient because their band name is completely numerical with numbers below 12. U2 screwed themselves with the U...10,000 maniacs? Not even close. Of course you could probably develop an entire conspiracy theory behind bands with numbers in them and star Nic Cage in the feature film.

But anyway, it's good that today, 3/11, brought 311 to my mind. It turns out that after a 3-year hiatus, they're putting out a new album and going on a Spring/Summer Tour. 311's more recent albums are not as good as their earlier stuff, but I like them because they never really sold out and they've stayed true to their style of play through the years. The new album is called Uplifter and they'll be touring with Ziggy Marley this summer.

They will be doing a live chat, starting at 9 PM Eastern (6 PST/8 CST) for the big fans. Usually they dedicate 3/11 day to an all-day concert, but it seems they passed that up this year. Also, buying something from their site today and today only (like perhaps, some 311 hot sauce!) will enter you into a drawing for multiple prizes such as concert tickets, signed merch, etc. I'm tempted to support the group and buy some 311 beer glasses or shot glasses, but then I realized that I have enough of those for a drink a day for the rest of my life.

Tenacious D New Album

The best headline I saw all day..."Tenacious D Recording New Album..." 2006 brought us the release of Tenacious D: Pick of Destiny, with the accompanying album of songs. The album for this movie is easily comparable to Tommy from The Who: a rock opera. I love sitting at work listening to my iPod on shuffle when one of the songs from this album comes on...songs such as "Papagenu (He's my Sassafrass)" or "The Government Totally Sucks."

About 50x better, however, is Tenacious D's first album, their self-titled debut from 2001. Jack Black and Kyle Gass aka KG put out this gem of songs and skits which gets more hilarious every single time I listen to it. To hear that "The D" is working on a new album warms my heart, even though it probably won't come out for a while.

Jack Black reportedly mentioned that they went back into the studio and they worked on atleast one song, which they are hoping will be included in a remake of 1981's animated Heavy Metal. I really hope that with a new album release comes a tour because I will not pass up another opportunity to see these "legends" live.

Jimmy Fallon's Late Night Debut

You're probably aware that Jimmy Fallon is officially a late night host after the premiere of his new show last night in Conan's previous slot. I just turned my brain into "mushy mush" by watching most of it on Hulu and you can tell that he was a bit nervous, but he seemed to have done a pretty good job. I'm sure once he gets into the swing of it, he'll start doing a great job. Guests were Bobby De Niro (he lets me call him that), Justin Timberlake and Van Morrison. De Niro...well, he's De Niro...he doesn't have to say a word because he's the man. The highlight of the show was probably the interview with Justin Timberlake - I think they should probably give J-Timb his own show. His impressions of Michael McDonald and John Mayer were hilarious. See the JT interview here:



Now...it's obvious that Jimmy has the best band of all the talk show hosts in history: The freakin' Roots aka The Legendary Roots Crew aka The 5th Dynasty. I don't think anyone has ever flipped around the TV and said, "Gee, I'm going to put on Conan to see Max Weinberg" or "I want to hear what Paul Shaffer has to say tonight." The Roots, however, could definitely do that for people. They did an awesome job, but my only question is...who the hell is this bassist???


Leonard Hubbard needs to rejoin the group; unfortunately, he left the group about a year and a half ago (not sure exactly why), but he definitely looks way cooler jamming out than this white guy.

Performing DJs

I thought this was pretty interesting...this DJ has transformed various random devices into functioning beat machines:

Chris Brown-Rihanna Situation

There's something in the air in the world of celebrities and athletes lately...first Phelps, then A-rod, then this past Sunday...Chris Brown. Chris Brown may not be as well-known as the other two, but in the music world, he's become a pretty big name, known for his pop songs and MJ-inspired dancing. He fulfilled the Paparazzi dream and formed a celebrity relationship with fellow hip-hop/R&B/pop artist Rihanna.

Chris Brown has seemed like a clean-cut, Momma's boy type of guy for the past 3 years, since he came into the music world at the age of 16. He advertised for Doublemint Gum for God's sake. Well the shit hit the fan for Brown this past Sunday on the way to the Grammy's with his girlfriend Rihanna. Like I said before, I sympathize with Phelps and think his situation was blown out of proportion. A-rod...you're a cheater just like the rest. Chris Brown though...man, you've lost everyone's respect.

Apparently when driving from a pre-Grammy party to the awards in a Lambo, Chris Brown and Rihanna got in an altercation. The story goes that he pulled over because they were fighting and Rihanna took the keys out of the ignition and threw them out of the window. When Chris Brown got out of the car and couldn't find them, he apparently made death threats to Rihanna, choking her to the point of unconsciousness and there were apparently some bruises on Rihanna's face.

WTF??? Chris Brown has apparently grown up in an abusive household, as he has talked about on talk shows, which of course he has followed up by mentioning his respect for women and his feeling that women should not have to go through what he saw his mother go through. I'm sorry that he had to grow up with that, and can't imagine having to live with it, but dude...you're 19. You're a man. You broke the ultimate rule...NEVER abuse women.

Doublemint dropped Brown's endorsement...and his Got Milk? endorsement...radio stations are pulling his songs off the air...a NY radio station is even having a "Shred Chris Brown CDs and Posters" Day appropriately on Friday the 13th. And oh yea...his SESAME STREET episode? That's out the window. Your career is f-ed man...and for good reason. You're the new Bobby Brown.

I stated a protest of Kellogg's on Monday...and I was serious...but a ban on everything that is Chris Brown...this is very serious.

Nirvana - Nevermind 17 years later

17 years after the groundbreaking release of Nirvana's Nevermind, Spencer Elden posed in largely the same shot that his parents got a mere $200 from. I think he's bugged out enough about the fact that pretty much everyone in the world has seen him naked as a baby, so it was probably wise to spare everyone since he's an adult now.

Halloween Week - Music Playlist

Ok, so I've been digging around for a good Halloween soundtrack and here's what I came up with...

1. Halloween, Alaska - "Halloween": Ok, the song itself isn't very dark but I like the group.
2. Godspeed You Black Emperor! - "09-15-00 Pt. 2": This is an instrumental track that definitely has dark tones and to me, gives off a somber tone as well...but definitely nice, eery background music
3. Shawn Lee - "Halloween": This is from a video game soundtrack and is a pretty short track, but it's definitely a livelier track to bring you back up from the somber GYBE track
4. Dead Can Dance - "The Host of Seraphim": This one has that creepy operatic tone to it (what they're actually saying is beyond me but it sounds dark) and it sounds similar to the music from Eyes Wide Shut
5. Silver Mt. Zion - "13 Angels Standing Guard Round the Side of Your Bed": Appropriately, this group is made up of members from Godspeed You Black Emperor, so it has similar tones to track 2.
6. Sleepy Hollow Score - The entire score from this film is fantastic because it comes from Danny Elfman who has done most, if not all of Tim Burton's films as well as many others.
7. Ray Parker Jr. - "Ghostbusters": It doesn't matter if you're dressed up as a Ghostbuster or not on Halloween...this song will make everyone dance.
8. Halloween Theme - I watched this tonight and it's definitely one of the best horror themes...I especially like the video that I saw back in the day of guitar phenom Buckethead playing this on guitar
9. MC Hammer - "Addams Groove": Nevermind the original theme...I'd rather listen to Hammer's version
10. Dr. Dre & Ice Cube - "Natural Born Killas": I love the begining little skit of this song and how the bullet shot extends into the drop of the beat...which is the illest beat ever (yea...I said illest)
11. DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince - "A Nightmare on My Street": Oh yes...this one has to be played no matter where you are...Will Smith in his old days rhymes about Freddy haunting his street...classic.
    

Tough Security at Hollywood Radiohead Show

I just read about a quite alarming story involving security at a recent Radiohead show at the Hollywood Bowl. Apparently after the show, a couple of guys were promoting their upcoming event called the F Yeah Fest by handing out flyers while a third guy was filming it for a documentary on his site, Videothing.com. The guy behind the camera noticed close by that security was using excessive force on another fan, apparently choking him while he was pleading to leave. Now...chances are this fan did something dumb but how drastic could it be? Radiohead fans aren't exactly anarchists.

Once the security guards noticed someone was filming them, it seems it all went downhill. Apparently the guards, off-duty LAPD officers, were pushing the 3 guys around. Once the 3 started leaving, a guard commented that the video would probably end up on YouTube and that they had to get their hands on it. This is when chase gave way, into traffic even, a lot of which occurred in front of Police officers, who did nothing about it. The police response was that they give event staff "leeway." The guards eventually caught up to the tape, throwing one guy into an electrical box and smashing one's head against the pavement.

Needless to say, the guards got their hands on the tape. If you go to Videothing.com, you'll notice how the video entitled "Hollywood Beatdown" merely says "Footage Stolen."

There are plenty of movies that touch upon the corruptness of the LAPD. Plenty of allegations and news stories can back it up. What's the deal? I realize I'm reading this story from one perspective but the force that they used on the one fan that these guys just happened to catch on tape is enough to make you wonder. If "off-duty" officers are causing this uproar while the "on-duty" officers turn their back, what exactly are their duties?

Scalpers Strike Again

One topic that I touched upon that probably stirred up the biggest debate on this blog to date was scalping tickets. Arguments were made on my behalf that scalpers often take away opportunities for true fans and that they make an unearned profit on those able to afford the hiked up prices, the ultimate goal of their venture. On the other side, arguments were made that scalpers, or "ticket brokers," actually help bands to fill the seats, and ultimately break even most of the time when you consider the balance between small shows and large ones, considering they have to resort to selling tickets to large shows cheaper than face value.

The break-even analysis, I think, is the downfall of ticket scalping - it's an excuse. I've never heard of a ticket broker looking to break even just to help out the bands, whether it be Cradle of Filth or Ricky Martin. If all of you are breaking even, then stop doing it. It's up to the bands to sell the tickets, and if they get over-eager and think they can sell out Giants Stadium and don't, that's their fault.

I bring up the debate again because of a headline I just saw: "Scalpers ask $1,500 for free Bon Jovi Concert" NYC gave out 60,000 free tickets to a Bon Jovi show in Central Park this weekend, limiting 2 tickets per person. And yet scalpers are trying to make a profit off of the people who did not get a chance to get some free tickets...that's unethical. If you buy tickets to a show with the intent of going and something comes up that prevents you from going, it's understandable to try to get your money back...but if you get them for free, that's just plain greedy.

Besides, even though I'm from New Jersey, I don't like Bon Jovi or Bruce Springsteen. I wouldn't go to a free show for either of them. Save your money fans...don't buy a free ticket.

NIN Try to Fix Flawed Ticketing System

One thing that technology has ruined is the distribution of concert tickets. Unfortunately, by the time I hit the age to go to concerts, the technology was there. I remember, though, a few times when I went to a physical Ticketmaster outlet to buy tickets. Yes, you had to wait in line for long periods of time, but if you're a fan of the music, it's worth it.

At my school, events were sold at tables and you had to wait in line the day of the sale to purchase tickets. Being a dumb freshman and witnessing the massive line that assembled for Red Sox-Yankees tickets, I assumed that something similar would happen when Dave Chappelle was doing a show on campus...well man was I wrong. I was the first person in line around 7 am, waiting for 2 1/2-3 hours for tickets to go on sale...I think like 10 people came in behind me around 9:15. However, I'm proud to say that I was the biggest Dave Chappelle fan on campus.

I wish tickets were still sold like this. Instead, scalpers, ebay-ers, and ticket reselling agencies scoop up the good seats in quantity, hike up the price about 400% to those who can afford it, and leave some of the biggest fans in the back row. I recently bought Radiohead tickets. Knowing that they were going to play a show in Philly, I constantly checked their website for updates on the date and when tickets were going on sale. Out of nowhere, a presale for pit tickets started on a Wednesday morning...unfortunately, I had a meeting at work and by the time I got out, all of the pit tickets were gone. I brushed it off and waited for the public sale that following Saturday, which I woke up atleast an hour and a half in advance for, and constantly hit refresh on the ticketmaster page as it neared 10 am. My first request...lawn seats. What the hell? Fortunately, I lucked out with someone who backed out of their seats, but the seats are still toward the back.

I would gladly camp out for front-row seats to Radiohead. Anyone who is a big enough fan of a certain group would probably do the same, and the people who are grabbing all of the good seats just to make a profit probably would not.

Well, Trent Reznor is seeing this, and has made a small effort toward fixing it. It's nothing new...fans that are registered on the NIN site get first access to the best seats at their shows. I think that there's probably no way to cutting out technology and going back to selling tickets at physical outlets with physical lines of people, so I suppose this is one of the best ways to get the good tickets in the hands of the real fans.

Technology has had a huge impact on music and artists need to realize that sometimes that impact can hinder the true fans from being true fans. There's a movement toward cutting out the middleman between the artist and the fans with music...why not do the same with their concerts?

Free Metallica Music?

When I was growing up and deciding which music genres to become a fan of, my older brothers played a big role. I often listened to the music that they purchased and much of it molded my taste for music. One band particular: Metallica.

I loved Metallica's older music and purchased and listened to all of their older albums. The best albums were the ones with the original group, before tragedy struck bassist Cliff Burton: Kill 'Em All, Ride The Lightning, and Master of Puppets. "Anesthesia (Pulling Teeth)" has an incredible bass solo which I attempted to nail as I began playing bass guitar. When bassist Jason Newsted took over, they still put out some good albums. ...And Justice for All has some killer guitar solos and of course one of their best known albums: The Black Album. [You know an album is good if fans refer to it as the (insert color) album (Weezer's blue album is another).] Then they cut their hair.

Load wasn't bad...Reload was "ehh." I liked their innovation with S&M, when they played with an entire orchestra. But that was about the time that things went faster downhill. Y2K may have been fine for technology but it hit Metallica the wrong way I guess. They battled Napster. Jason Newsted quit. A few years went by and they put out a crappy album with a bass player who I can't even name. That was 5 years ago.

Out of left field, I saw a headline that "Metallica may join the free music movement," which has been innovated by Radiohead and Trent Reznor. Wait, what? Let's go back to "They battled Napster." Lars Ulrich was the #1 enemy of the music fan with internet access. He went to the headquarters of Napster with a list of users that were sharing Metallica's music, demanding that all of them get blocked. I know that I'll never forget that...I doubt anyone else that was downloading music at that time will either.

I suppose it's a good thing that Lars (because I doubt Kirk Hammett, guitar god, was that opposed to pirating music...he's a mellow dude) came to the realization that you can not stop the "illegal" downloading. This free music movement should not only be about the price though. It's about principle and your opinion of a group. Radiohead is probably my favorite group and the only album of theirs that I paid any money for was the one that they offered for free. I'm holding a grudge with Lars though...I'm not taking their freebies and I hope other people who were against what he did with Napster do the same.

Lil Jon is Making Wine

This is probably one of the best headlines that I've seen in a while..."Rapper Lil Jon starts his own wine label." Awesome. The best part is what it will be called..."Little Jonathan Winery." When questioned on his knowledge of wine, he said, "I'm not no 'drink wine every day' kind of dude...I'm not like an expert, so don't ask me no questions...I just like the taste."

This is like something from Chappelle's show...I had to recheck the date of the article to make sure it wasn't an April Fool's joke. I wonder what the names of the wine will be...pinot crunk?

I'm not gonna lie...if I see this stuff on the shelves, I'm definitely picking some up. YEAAAA!!!!

Radiohead - Nude Remix

Well, Radiohead is at it again. I just got an e-mail about their new single, a remix of "Nude" from their recently released In Rainbows. In celebration of their release of this single, which they note, "we still have those in England" (singles), they have taken apart the original release of the track into "stems" for you to purchase.

Something that I've never done but would definitely like to get into is using music remix software to produce various mixes on songs, etc. Radiohead has made the stems available of this track (bass, drums, voice, guitar, and strings/FX), and is encouraging fans to purchase any or all of the stems and produce their own remix of the track. They have made a site for users to upload their remixes, which can be judged and voted on.

This is nothing new - people have remixed songs on their own for a long time. This is the first time that I have seen a band offer a track's stems and encourage fans to do it though...really cool. Radiohead is nailing all of the opportunities that the web gives bands. I hope they keep it up.

As for their online video contest, which I brought up a couple weeks ago as good usage in "the 5th P of Marketing," I've checked out a few of the videos that have been submitted which are pretty good...check them out here.