Mark Knopfler/Emmylou Harris

The album "All The Roadrunning" came out in 2006, but I just had this song autofill on my ipod shuffle last week and loved it immediately.

You can download the song and live ipod video here:

Coheed & Cambria

Check this out...my kid's covering drums for "Welcome Home" (from Coheed and Cambria:  "Good Apollo I'm Burning Star IV, Vol 1).

Good album by the way.

Raconteurs

I am enjoying some of the tracks on the new CD . Any other Jack White fans out there? I also have to say I regret not catching the White Stripes in Mtl last year (especially since it looks like they won't be doing the live thing anymore).

Welcome to Brian's Brain

Brian's latest disk is "Have a Nice Trip". He's still planning to send out hard copies, but while we are waiting, you can download the songs right now:

My favorites tracks include: Too Stoned (Gas Giant),Willie Nelson (Clutch), Stoned and Drunk (Black Label Society), Gilligan's Island (NOFX), and Kiss Me I'm Shitfaced (Dropkick Murphy's).

The Offspring

The Offspring have a new album coming out in June.

The Hype Machine

I put this in the comments after another post, but check this out The Hype Machine.  It's a great site that follows music blog discussions.  Lots of downloadable music.  Shit loads.

Go to http://hypem.com/  or click the link above.

Where are all the people?

Alright, alright....it's not just about the music....it's about whatever.........Is There Anybody Out There!!!!!!!


Kento

Update for Musical Brain

OK guys, by now those of you have visited a few times will be able to see how this thing works functionally. Newest posts are on top and the older ones are pushed down the page. A total of 7 posts are on the page at any one time, after which they are archived for all to see...these are accessible from one of the sidebars to the right of the page. At the bottom of the page I have included the schedule list for the discs to make it public and easily visible at all times. It's not the best list but since I don't know how to write in html code its the best I can do for the moment. If anyone can tell me how I can embed a text table or other file in a Blog then I will do that. You will see from the list that Andrew is no longer on the list....he has bowed out and thus should be removed from your address lists as per his request. If other people do the same as time goes on I will update and inform you accordingly. Bye for now. And remember, its not about the Blog, its about the music, the music, the music, the music......

Kent

House Music History Lesson: Part II

Rather than creating endless narrative on the history of this genre, I think it might be better to direct you to those that have done much better than I could ever do, and to use this space to actually provide some actual music samples.

Here's an article taken from DJ Magazine that will give anyone interested more detail than you could ever want.

...and if you want even more, here's an article from Wikipedia (which actually has a very good summary).

Check out these classic and influential house music tracks from the Chicago scene in the early to mid-1980's (while I was in university in Chicago, I had the opportunity to see some of these guys...never realized the eventual influence they'd have).

Notice that there's still quite a bit of disco influence in the early years of house, it's not until the early 1980's that the first affordable drum machines were available.  Mixers and drum machines were used to give an edge.

The following are examples of the sorts of tracks that were early influences for Chicago DJ's and were classics in the early Chicago scene:

The Italo Disco track "Dirty Talk":

Kraftwerk was another major influence.  Here's Kraftwerk's "Tour de France":

Afrika Bambaatta and the Soul Sonic Force--"Looking for the Perfect Beat":

And Man Parrish's "Hip Hop Be Bop":

Here are some clips of original house creations by old school Chicago house DJ's:

Frankie Knuckles' (original DJ at The Warehouse) "Your Love":

Steve "Silk" Hurley's "Jack Your Body":

Farley "Jackmaster" Funk's "Love Can't Turn Around":

Finally, Jesse Saunders' trance-like "On and on"...some say this was the first true house single ever released:

Stay tuned for the next evolutions:  deep house and acid house....

Tip for VIrgins to the Blogosphere--Set Up an RSS Feed

If you don't want to keep checking this blog regularly for new posts, and would rather have new stuff "fed" to you automatically when the blog changes, I strongly recommend using RSS.

RSS ("Really Simple Syndication") works via either a reader or via email.  

I read a lot of blogs, and personally don't like to clutter my email with the feeds.  Instead, I use Google Reader (actually, I have a iGoogle homepage that has tabs to organize the RSS feeds from blogs of interest).  There are many others, though, if you don't like Google.

Bottom line:  I don't have to check for new stuff...the system automatically sends it to me.

John Frusciante

Known primarily for his work as guitarist for the Red Hot Chilli Peppers, John Frusciante has released a total of 14 solo albums, his most popular of which is 2004's "Shadows Collide With People". I included the track "Regret" on my September disk, and three more tracks ("Omission", "Time Goes Back", and "The Slaughter") can be previewed here:


Much of his solo material is initially written on an acoustic or unamplified electric guitar. He prefers to record his albums on analog tapes (and other relatively primitive equipment) due to his belief that this can actually serve to speed up the recording process. He feels that modern computerized recording technology gives only an illusion of efficiency, and that "music comes alive when [you] are creating it fast". He enjoys the challenge of having to record something in very few takes, and believes that when musicians are unable to handle the pressure of having to record something quickly, they often get frustrated, or bogged down by perfectionism. 1.

Karkwa's New Release

I recently fell in love with Karkwa, who just released their third album «Le volume du vent» last week.
It’s first single, «Échapper au sort» tells the story of a young man living on the streets, a short narrative of a body reclaimed by an icy winter.
The album is great and you will find a mix of many influences in their type of music such as RadioHead, Pink Floyd and ColdPlay. Let me switch in french to describe a little bit more the style of my new «coup-de-coeur».

La formation rock-alternative Karkwa fait un grand bruit sur la scene musicale quebecoise en ce moment.
Ils ont adroitement su creer un reseau complexe de sonorites. Cette environnement sonore est tout a fait enveloppant.

La poesie sombre de leur textes francophones est litteralement «planante» et les paroles sont tres riches malgres leur simplicite. Les melodies sont accrochantes et nombreuses a s'entermeler dans chacunes des pièces. Le beat est present tout au long de l'album et se multipie meme dans une seule et meme chanson. On passe d'un univers doux a tres intense en quelques secondes. Les sonorités world, le jazz et le rock s'entremêlent et c'est un pur plaisir auditif.

Plus d'information est disponible sur le groupe sur le site de «bande à part» (pour obsédés musicaux) au
http://www.bandeapart.fm/artistes_enrichies.asp?id=1080
ou sur leur site officiel:
http://www.karkwa.com/

Bonne écoute!

first time

Okay, hope this works, and yet again, thanks for all the work Kent. Cherrie and I amassing our musical choices already, but think we will continue to record whole albums. All bets off re: amsterdam after that phone chat on fri. Kent, and here I thought you might attend for an hour or two.... Rosalie