This is Part 2 of the interview with Marco from Filtersage. If you haven’t already done so, read Part 1 here.
PART II
MUSIC & YOU
When did you become interested in music? What was the first album or single you ever purchased?
I became more interested in music when I discovered stuff that was more intense than what was in the charts. I think that the first experience in that sense was listening to Joy Division’s ‘Unknown Pleasures’. Continue reading
Where Can I Buy One Of Those?
Although commercially Richard Thompson has never seen wildly successful days, the ‘90s will always remain as the closest he got to mass-popularity. I am more than sure that if the name Richard Thompson rings a bell when it comes to casual listeners, it is all because of songs released in that decade such as “1952 Vincent Black Lightning”, allegedly his most popular composition.
The whole decade Richard’s record company was Capitol. When they parted ways, this retrospective was issued. The CD features songs from every single album he produced during his tenure at Capitol, beginning with 1988’s “Amnesia” and ending with “Mock Tudor” (1999). It also has 2 rarities and a new track where Richard duets with son Teddy. That song is called “Persuasion” and it is a lilting ballad about second chances – definitely one of my personal favorites from this compilation.
In terms of approach, there are countless character sketches where Richard’s acidic vision of humankind is fully developed, including the minor-hit “I Feel So Good”, the startling “Cold Kisses” and “Cooksferry Queen”, a polka which has been drawn from “Mock Tudor”.
The Retro-happy Cover Of The LP
Issued for the first time in 1980, Get Happy!! was Elvis Costello’s fourth album, and (to me) the one signaling the end of his purple years. Granted, his biggest hits were yet to come, but those were to be sporadic successes. The string of consecutive Top 10 singles ended here with his cover of “I Can’t Stand Up (For Falling Down)”. The sound of the album also marks the first detour from Elvis’ “classic” New Wave sounds, as some R & B inflections are very evident throughout.
The original LP has 20 tracks. Many last little more than 2 minutes, and some are even shorter than that. Absolutely nothing has a chance of getting on your nerves, and the one “long” track (in the context of the album, obviously) is the set closer. The song is named “Riot Act” and it is one of Elvis’ most balanced lyrics from the period. Content and form are perfectly interweaved, and the disc couldn’t finish on a higher note. Continue reading
Without a doubt, this is one of the best biographies I have ever set my eyes on. This edition was first published in 1999 by Spike. The enthusiasm and integrity of biographer Tony Fletcher drives the book along its 40 chapters, and he takes upon himself to demolish a myriad of myths and legends along the way.
The Beachcombers were not a surf band. Keith’s audition did not take place as we were always told. His 21st birthday party was exaggerated. But Fletcher has a deft way of bringing some much needed light into a life that was to be incredibly aggrandized, explaining how these fabrications are really secondary to Keith Moon as a man and as a musician like no other. Continue reading
I have the pleasure to share with you the insight of Marco from Filtersage, the startup I reviewed recently. As you probably remember, Filtersage is a system that lets you explore the connections between movies and music releases from all through history.
This is part 1 of the interview, about the startup itself.
And click here for Part 2 (“Music & You”).
PART I
THE STARTUP
Tell us a little about your startup. How was it conceived? What are its most distinctive features in your opinion?
The basic idea comes from a very simple observation. When we listen to a new album or watch a movie, we usually connect it to something that we have listened to or watched before. A new album reminds us of an old favorite because of the tune or the sound; or we connect a dvd to something we watched last year because of the story, a particular scene or even the atmosphere. This is what Filtersage is about: connecting new stuff to something we have loved in the past. And it is also about exploring the connections that other users are making, so it’s possible to discover more stuff that might interest us. Filtersage is about memory and knowledge, and this is why we think that the connections you can find here are very strong and highly interesting: because these connections are memory based and knowledge based. We like to say that this happens because there is no is algorithm working, Filtersage is totally ‘human based’. Continue reading
Rotten And Vicious "Grace" The Cover
What better way to commemorate the post number 77 of MusicKO than reviewing this compilation album? As you know, the Pistols were to release only one “true” album during their turbulent career, and a soundtrack that had mostly farcical appeal. What this compilation does is to take the entire “Never Mind The Bollocks” album, add the best tracks from the “Great Rock & Roll Swindle” OST and throw in a couple of studio tracks that are found in neither album.
The sequencing of the disc is flawless – my hat off to the one who took care of that. The first 4 tracks are the singles from “Never Mind The Bollocks”, and they are followed by the studio rarities “Did You No Wrong”, “Satellite” and “No Fun”, along with some of the best tracks from the soundtrack album (“I Wanna Be Me”, “No Lip” and “Stepping Stone”). Then, you have the remaining “Bollocks” tracks in the order that they appeared on the original record if you were to take away the singles (which here are placed at the very beginning). This means that “Bodies” is followed by “No Feelings”, “Liar”, “Problems” and so on. Once this section ends, you have Vicious’ “My Way”, and the album closes with an alternate take of “Silly Thing”. This time, Steve Jones handles the lead.
Name: myMusicCircle
URL: http://www.mymusiccircle.com
This is a brand new music site that I caught wind up of today. To be frank, I think it really has what it takes to make it into the big time. Basically, it is a sort of marketplace for musicians and for every person who can be considered a music professional such as sound mixers, producers and also managers. The ones who register create profile pages that showcase their skills, and they can be contacted by people looking for services like the ones they render. On the other hand, people can post their very own projects on the site and have their pick from the offers that will start rolling in. Continue reading
A Discreet Cover For An Explosive Album
As successful as Tommy would prove to be for The Who, it would also prove to bring about a series of difficulties that were to undermine the band, the way it saw itself, and the way the audience saw it. The problem with the famed rock opera was that the sound of the record was not even remotely reminiscent of the way The Who sounded on stage, and since many people discovered them through Tommy they had no idea of the volume and electricity the band generated when playing live. How could they address that situation and make newcomers realize how they really sounded, and show their old fans that they were as demolishing as ever? The answer was to be named “Live At Leeds”, and nowadays any fan of rock & roll knows the words. They are inscribed into the collective soul of rockers, and into the cognition of those who have experienced music in its purest form.
“Leeds” found the different band members at the point in which they realized The Who was to be what they were to do for the rest of their lives. Not because they were making a substantial income, but because they had found something they truly excelled at, and something that truly inspired others to do their best. Continue reading
This is the second part of the interview with Nadav Poraz from WhoSampled.com. If you haven’t done so already, check out Part 1 here.
PART II
MUSIC & YOU
When did you become interested in music? What was the first album or single you ever purchased?
I’ve been a music fan since about the age of 8. I guess the first band I really got into was The Police – I bought all their back-catalogue when I was 10! My taste in music has changed quite dramatically since then though. Continue reading
Elvis Costello
What a task it is to pick favorites from Costello’s lyrics! I will say again what I said when reviewing my favorite Keith Moon’s drum breaks – this is just a list of lyrics I truly connect with, or that hold some kind of thematic poignancy to me. I could have a list made up of 80 lyrics and I would still feel like I omitted a worrying amount of excellent lyrics from him. I will see how many installments I end up running as regards this topic. In the meantime, these are (in no particular order) 5 of his lyrics that I relate to the most. I chose some obscure songs to start, too, so as to avoid quoting the ones everybody knows to the bone.
1)
“But if I’ve done something wrong there’s no “ifs” and “buts”
Cause I love you just as much as I hate your guts”
If someone asks you what a paradox is, do not give them a tome on rhetoric – give them this lyric. It is from the song “Alibi”, which is included on the “When I Was Cruel” album. That single song justifies purchasing it. Continue reading