A moist, quivering, succulent blog about stuff.

Why musicians should piss each other off more often

So. Matthew Friedberger of The Fiery Furnaces (a band I love) took a potshot at Radiohead (another band I love) and their tribute to the British airman Harry Patch. Only he mistakenly(?) thought it was actually a song about the avant-garde American composer Harry Partch.

Later, he explained the Patch/Partch mixup was a deliberate joke, and in the process managed to also insult Beck (yet another artist whose work I like) and his Scientologist faith. You can read a nice sum-up of the proceedings at Pitchfork: http://pitchfork.com/news/37147-beck-writes-song-about-harry-partch/

But wait, it gets better. Rather than declining to respond as did Radiohead, instead Beck wrote a 10-plus-minute musical response (appropriately enough, titled “Harry Partch”), which somehow manages to lampoon/celebrate the cut-up musical approach of The Fiery Furnaces AND pay tribute to the microtonal/American gamelan style of Harry Partch, resulting in one of Beck’s strangest, coolest and most adventurous tracks in years. Oh yeah, and he’s giving it away for free. Check it out here: http://stereogum.com/mp3/Beck%20-%20Harry%20Partch.mp3

So…I guess….thank you, Matthew Friedberger?

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Hulu to go to a paid model? [sigh]

(Link via Gizmodo) Just when I started to think Hulu might be on to a successful model (stream major network shows for free, but embed impossible-to-skip streaming ads), they announce the service will be moving to for-pay. If this does come to pass, I predict a major slide back into TV torrenting, which will only hasten the demise of the major broadcast networks. Here’s hoping they wise up to reality quickly.

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Kids say the most disturbing things

  • Me: What's black and white and red all over?
  • My 6-year-old: A nun in a blender?
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Awesome New iTunes 9 Feature: Automatically Add to iTunes After you install iTunes 9, you should see a new folder pop up in your default music folder, titled “Automatically Add to iTunes.” And, just like it says on the box, any audio file you place or download into this folder gets automatically added to your iTunes Library and moves the file into the proper Artist/Album hierarchy. Sweet!

Awesome New iTunes 9 Feature: Automatically Add to iTunes

After you install iTunes 9, you should see a new folder pop up in your default music folder, titled “Automatically Add to iTunes.” And, just like it says on the box, any audio file you place or download into this folder gets automatically added to your iTunes Library and moves the file into the proper Artist/Album hierarchy. Sweet!


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Recent favorites from my Fake Band Name list

Monster Map of Lavaland

Lizzie Boredom

The Keytards

Dreadful Moisty

Beaver Rainbow

The Schaudenfriends

The Homosensuals

Sunshine Bubblewand

Balalycra

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“Sovereign Scarlet”

In digging through my various sequencer files the other day, I found this slightly King Crimson-influenced (okay, majorly King Crimson-influenced) musical rough sketch. Needless to say, I’m no Robert Fripp, so kindly excuse the dodgy guitar work.

[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]
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Cutting the cord

Just as a quick follow-up to my previous post, I was thinking it might be fun (and perhaps educational) for me to document the steps I take along the way in replacing my cable TV  service with a Mac mini-based entertainment setup.

Just curious what people would like to see—blog posts? Step-by-step videos? Both? If you have any ideas, please leave me a comment.

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Cable TV, You've Been Put on Notice

Due to various reasons, both economical and philosophical, I am giving serious thought to ditching my $60-a-month cable TV subscription and replacing it with a Mac Mini-based media center. That way, I can simply use free open-source software like Plex and Boxee to stream free video content on demand. In researching the possibilities, I discovered this blog, which takes you through one person’s experiences with cutting the cord. It’s highly valuable reading for anyone considering taking the plunge.

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Old folks review indie rock

Just discovered “Breakfast at Sulimay’s” this morning. It’s a funny Web series that features three senior citizens at a diner in Philadelphia, weighing in on the latest indie releases. Cute, raunchy, hysterical and definitely worth checking out.

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Danger Mouse flips EMI the bird

Apparently Danger Mouse (acclaimed producer and one half of the excellent Gnarls Barkley) has run into some difficulty with getting his record label to release his new collaboration with Sparklehorse and auteur David Lynch, title “Dark Night of the Soul.” His solution? Release the album art with a blank CD-R, and encourage people to track down the music by whatever means necessary. Does the term “BitTorrent” ring a bell? A truly ballsy move by a truly genius talent. Gotta love it.

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