Meet Daphne Oram, One Of The Unsung Figures In The History Of Electronic Music

Posted on October 13, 2011 by Emilio Pérez Miguel

Daphne Oram Was One Of The True Pioneers Of Electronic Music, And Her Work Has Finally Begun Receiving The Recognition It Always Deserved

We all know the role that individuals like Moog and Stockhausen have played in the history of electronic music, but (like always) there’s more to the picture than meets the eye.

Meet Daphne Oram, the first woman in history to direct an electronic music studio, the first woman to devise a personal studio, and the first woman to construct an electronic musical instrument. Using sine wave oscillators, reel-to-reel tape decks and other electronics, Oram managed to design and build a revolutionary device named Oramics. This could convert hand patterns to music, and that music could be stored magnetically. That’s cool-enough today, and it was even cooler way back when it happened (1965). Continue reading →

The Day Manhattan Thought Radiohead Would Play A Free Concert

Posted on October 12, 2011 by Emilio Pérez Miguel

British Rockers Radiohead Were Involved In The Latest Social Media Fiasco

Twitter is a vertiginous tool bar none. And following story shows that the actual veracity of what’s being disseminated is absolutely irrelevant. All it takes is one spark to set a mammoth wildfire going.

Last Friday, the whole of Manhattan was ecstatic at the prospect of Radiohead playing a free surprise concert that would coincide with the Occupy Wall Street protests which had been organized online. Music bloggers and publications such as Gawker, Pitchfork, Gothamist and Huffington Post reported the concert was taking place based on an announcement that had been made on the official website for the demonstration at 12:13pm EST. That read “Radiohead will play a surprise show for #occupywallstreet today at four in the afternoon.”

We now know such a message was posted because a person who claimed to be involved with Radiohead’s management contacted the Occupy Wall Street organizers via email, and expressed the band’s keenness on playing at the event (which after all, is the kind of cause Radiohead always champions).

The media picked that up, and began reporting the concert was going to be held.

When Radiohead caught wind of the rumor, they vehemently denied it. Yet, fans took it as a tactic to prevent an unmanageable crowd from gathering.

By 4:00pm Eastern Time, a crowd had congregated at Wall Street. They waited and waited for hours, and it was only when night was beginning to creep in that a spokeman for Occupy Wall Street came forth and admitted they had been hoaxed.

Occupy Wall Street organizers certainly are to blame for the confusion, as they didn’t update the post they had made earlier on the day when Radiohead made it clear they weren’t playing Friday. Even hours after the rumor had been denied by the band, the post that caused the confusion was not redacted or even updated.

This isn’t the first time Twitter is used to disseminate falsehoods. I can recall the day someone announced Gordon Lightfoot had passed away, and Canadian radio stations began paying homage to the man until he got in touch himself and made it clear he was very well alive. Continue reading →

ListnPlay – A Better Way To Watch Music Videos Online

Posted on October 10, 2011 by Emilio Pérez Miguel

Name: ListnPlay
URL: http://www.listnplay.com

As far as watching music videos online goes, YouTube is the port of call for many for many of us. But that’s mainly because there’s nothing better around. The amount of filtering one must do just to get to these clips he wants to watch and move past content which has got nothing to do with music is certainly infuriating. And VEVO (the one platform that was touted as the YouTube for the music industry) has been derided from day one, with users scoffing at this “Very Evil Video Organization”, visibly irked by the constant video ads that plague it.

Well, that’s exactly what ListnPlay intends to fix. A free-to-use service, it presents users with a simple search interface for music videos, and it also lets them create playlists that they can share with all of their friends. Those who think Debby Harry is the sexiest frontwoman in the history of music will be able to bring all these videos that have her commanding the stage, and create a playlist to support their point of view. They won’t manage to convince people like me (who wouldn’t change Emmylou Harris for anyone in the world), but they’ll be able to rest their case that little more easily. Continue reading →

Toy Division!

Posted on October 9, 2011 by Emilio Pérez Miguel

Just found this on YouTube. Absolutely, absolutely likable! I’ve embedded the original performance below (Joy Division playing “Transmission” at Something Else) for those of you who’ve never watched it before. The amount of work that has gone into this is nothing short of laudable.

I’ve recently purchased Joy Division’s “Heart & Soul”, by the way. I’ve been purchasing lots of boxed sets over the last couple of weeks, I might create a “Boxed Sets” category on MusicKO before the month runs its course.

Toy Division!

Joy Division!

Napster Is Back Again

Posted on October 7, 2011 by Emilio Pérez Miguel

You Read It Here First - Napster Is Coming Back From The Dead

I announced the return of MySpace just last week, and now I find that an even more emblematic service is trying to slip back into the public eye. I’m talking about Napster, one of the most widely-discussed P2P filesharing platforms ever.

“What do you mean ‘slip back into the public eye’? Wasn’t the service dead and gone for good?”, I hear you retort. To which I have to reply, “no, it wasn’t”.

You see, although Napster’s days as a filesharing service were over by July 2001 (when the service was forced to close down after a much-publicized legal dispute with the RIAA), the name “Napster” has changed owners a good couple of times. One of these was Roxio, which relaunched Napster as a 100% legal music service shortly after it was originally closed. It was all to no avail, and most people never noticed. To them, Napster sank from sight when it stopped being a place to get music for free. Period.

But Napster’s latest owners are intent on reclaiming some of the fire the service had on its P2P glory days.

Napster has just been acquired by Rhapsody for an undisclosed sum, and it is to be relaunched as an on-demand service letting users listen to all the music they want in exchange for a monthly subscription. Continue reading →

MyDjSpace – Where DJs Promote Their Mixes

Posted on October 4, 2011 by Emilio Pérez Miguel

Name: MyDjSpace
URL: http://www.mydjspace.com

A niche social service, you can guess exactly what kind of public MyDjSpace is aiming at. Yes, that’s right: DJs, and people who consume electronic music regularly. The former are given a splendid chance to promote their own work online, while the latter are enabled to catch wind of the latest sounds well before they become part of the mainstream.

The music that is featured on this website is split in three main categories: “DJ Mix Charts”, “Track Charts” and “Remix Charts”. And there’s also a section in which featured artists are spotlighted, one by one.

That is, those who want to promote their music right on the homepage of MyDjSpace can do so by buying credits, and have their mixes placed right where everybody can see them. If your profile hits seem to be falling like leaves in autumn, this feature should be all you need in order to start setting thing to right. Continue reading →

Wilco Crowdsources Fan Videos For Its US Tour

Posted on September 30, 2011 by Emilio Pérez Miguel

Wilco Is Touring The US & Europe In Support Of Its Eight Album, "The Whole Love". And YOU Can Be Part Of It All.

Wilco is currently touring the United States, and the band has taken a novel approach for bringing its shows to life.

The Illinois-based alternative rockers are asking fans to submit videos of all the cities they’re going to tour. The idea is that these will be projected behind the band when its playing live.

These videos can be uploaded to the band’s Vimeo page (Wilco Fan Video Project), and the band is specifically interested in “footage of settings and places that really say something about the area, its people and/or history, geography, whatever.” Wilco is on the road in support of its eighth studio album, “The Whole Love”.

This is similar to something LCD Soundsystem did recently, when the band asked fans to upload footage of clouds shot from airplane windows to use as the backdrop of its final show at Madison Square Garden.

The Return Of MySpace

Posted on September 24, 2011 by Emilio Pérez Miguel

MySpace Will Relaunch Later This Year. Justin Timberlake Is The Creative Director Of The Site Now.

MySpace was one of the hottest assets in the social networking scene until Facebook toppled it in 2008. But even then, MySpace managed to retain a loyal following among musicians that appreciated how easy it was to have their own work hosted online for all to sample. Yet, platforms like Bandcamp and Soundcloud began depriving MySpace of even these. Defeated, MySpace was finally bought by Specific Media in June for a pittance of its former value ($35 million).

And now, after a couple of months of silence Specific Media has announced the relaunch of MySpace. This time around, the focus will be on beating services like Spotify and iTunes. The launch campaign that has been planned will feature a wealth of celebrities and brands acting as promotional partners. Justin Timberlake (who owns a stake in the company) will be the site’s creative director. Timberlake has often expressed his belief that MySpace still has the potential to be the place where “fans can go to interact with their favorite entertainers, listen to music, watch videos, share and discover cool stuff and just connect.”

When it was at its height, MySpace managed to have 70 million unique visitors each month in the United States alone. Even today it gets about 20 million monthly visitors.

Yet, it remains to be seen what impact can the rebranded MySpace have in a scene dominated by services and apps like Spotify, Bandcamp and Turnatble.fm. Even YouTube is a threat to it nowadays – many people who fled MySpace actually went to the popular video sharing service, and opened up their own channels there.

So, what do you think? Is it possible for MySpace to stand in the limelight back again, or has the service basically had its day? Sound off in the “Comments” below, I’d love to know how you feel, and whether you’re giving the “new” MySpace a look when it finally comes around.

REM Break Up

Posted on September 22, 2011 by Emilio Pérez Miguel

REM (1980-2011)

After a three-decade career and fifteen studio albums (some as transcendental as “Out Of Time” and “Automatic For The People“), the fathers of alt rock have decided to disband for good.

Today, the following message was posted on the band’s website:

“To our Fans and Friends: As R.E.M., and as lifelong friends and co-conspirators, we have decided to call it a day as a band. We walk away with a great sense of gratitude, of finality, and of astonishment at all we have accomplished. To anyone who ever felt touched by our music, our deepest thanks for listening.” R.E.M.

Michael Stipe later elaborated:

“A wise man once said–‘the skill in attending a party is knowing when it’s time to leave.’ We built something extraordinary together. We did this thing. And now we’re going to walk away from it.

I hope our fans realize this wasn’t an easy decision; but all things must end, and we wanted to do it right, to do it our way.

We have to thank all the people who helped us be R.E.M. for these 31 years; our deepest gratitude to those who allowed us to do this. It’s been amazing.” Continue reading →

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